To launch FIFA 18, and find a wider audience, we wanted to prove the virtual game had the power to influence real football and culture beyond. So we created and hid a new skill move called ‘El Tornado’ in the game, then challenged gamers to find it – and PUT YOUR SPIN ON IT. Pro footballers, FIFA’s biggest Youtube influencers, football skillers, digital artists, rappers Run the Jewels and partnerships with Adidas and Coke kicked off a frenzied search for the secret combo across multiple social channels. Once discovered, a whole new audience began uploading their own versions of the trick, then creating how-to videos, memes, remixes and real-life trick attempts by the thousands. Pro-Footballers, pressured by fans, demanded EA allow their virtual-selves to do the move, we launched ‘El Tornado Certified’. Footballers who posted video evidence of their El Tornado ability received FIFA18 footage confirming their upgraded in-game character.

The campaign was executed globally across multiple platforms in the week before the game launch, centering around the trick hidden in the console game itself. A TVC and online film bursting at the seams with influencers ranging from pro footballers, to Youtubers, skillers, digital artists and musicians, challenged our audience to find the hidden combo and PUT YOUR SPIN ON IT. #ElTornado attempts began flooding in. After launch, Youtube tutorials (both branded and organic) helped newcomers to pull it off, weekly El Tornado goal highlights videos celebrated those pulled it off best. Real life attempts were showcased on Instagram. When Pro-Footballers, pressured by fans, demanded that EA allow their virtual-selves to do the move, we launched ‘El Tornado Certified’. Footballers who posted video evidence of their El Tornado ability to their social feeds, received FIFA18 footage confirming their upgraded in-game character.

50K+ trick uploads

304M+ views of film

+244% earned media coverage

+250% launch conversation and social mentions

42M El Tornado GIFS posted

+20% new players recruited

Broke all FIFA franchise engagement records.

We were targeting a hugely diverse young, global audience, but they all shared a passion for football and football culture and we wanted to use that to bring them into FIFA18.

They chose entertainment based on wanting to connect with friends, so they would listen to, watch and play the things that their friends and celebrity heroes talked about most.

Our goal was, therefore, to make FIFA the biggest talking point in football and gaming culture. To achieve this, we needed to create a social phenomenon that could change behaviour and fuel debate across real football, FIFA18 and social channels

By hiding a new move in FIFA 18 and using pro footballers, celebrities, and other gamers to challenge football fans to ‘Put your spin on it’, we created a simple, global mechanic to drive attempts at #ElTornado across everything from GIFs, to PlayStation uploads and training ground Instagram films.

FIFA is one of the most popular computer games in the world. Already known to football fans across the globe, to expand FIFA’s reach further, we needed to attract casual gamers – those who only buy games their friends, family and idols talk about. Therefore, the only way to convince these people to buy the new FIFA18 game was to make it the hottest topic in the social groups and newsfeeds of our audience.