Fox Kicks Off Sports Games--With Attitude

Advertiser: Fox Sports Interactive

Agency: Wong Doody, Santa Monica

Challenge: Launch the first two electronic games from the entertainment unit of Fox.

The Ads: Ads leverage Fox’s growing presence in sports programming to pitch electronic sports games. In an ad for a soccer video and computer game, people in soccer uniforms squeeze down a stairway as Fox sportscasters Kevin Frazier and Van Earl White cover the action. “Hey, we’ve got a great match here in the Murphy home,” says White. The scene cuts from the actual game to the computer game, then back to the Murphy home in time to see a soccer ball crash through a window. The game, says an announcer, “is easier on your home than the real thing.” An ad promoting a golf game takes a similar approach. Each ad ends with the tagline: “Sports game, Fox attitude.”

Comment: Welcome to the latest example of network branding. Fox is betting that with its coverage of National Football League games and development of a sports cable channel, it has built up enough credibility with sports fans to pitch video and computer games. But that may not help it with gamers, who know that Fox’s track record in electronic games thus far is spotty. $$+