Obama Campaign Ads Coming To Madden NFL 13

Looking for an escape from presidential politics? Don't look to gaming. Once a safe-haven, it seems even Madden 13 is now a medium for political promotion.

Taking advantage of the enhanced ad targeting capabilities that connected gaming consoles now provide, President Obama's re-election campaign is again tapping into in-game ads already appearing in a variety of EA titles including Madden 13. The ads started running over the weekend in key battleground states.

"It was made clear in the last election that reaching consumers through video games makes a significant impact, so it's no surprise to see this tactic used once again in such a competitive election," Dave Madden, EA's senior vice president of global media solutions told AdWeek. "Video games actively and emotionally engaged consumers in a way that no other medium really can and that translates into a big opportunity for political candidates."

In 2008, the campaign ran a similar promotion in what influential tech blog, GigaOm, at the time called "far and away the most prominent use of a major online game to promote a presidential candidate’s campaign." According to a survey by Electronic Arts at the time, gamers were 120 percent more likely to feel positively about a candidate after seeing him them in in-game ads and 50 percent more likely to consider voting for them.

One of the key titles in which the Obama ads will be seen this Fall is EA's Madden franchise, which has performed well since launching on August 28th. According to EA, Madden NFL 13 was up 8 percent year-over-year on HD platforms with more than 1.65M units sold in Week One to mark its best start ever on this console generation.

#dealstag