University of Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray is campaigning to be on the cover of EA Sports newest version of its NCAA Football game. Murray has stated that he will wear a UFC logo on draft day if he wins. As a result
EA Sports is running a contest where people can log on to EA’s Facebook page and vote for one of four college football stars entering the pros. The players are University of Washington’s Jake Locker (my choice), Auburn’s Nick Fairley, Alabama’s Mark Ingram and Murray. Voting ends April 4th.
After finding out about this, the UFC is getting behind Murray’s campaign. Dana White announced on his twitter for his followers to log on and vote for Murray. A reminder to vote is also on the UFC’s Facebook page.
(H/t: MMA Mania)
Payout Perspective:
Good PR for the UFC, for EA’s NCAA Football game and good personal PR for Murray. Murray is a UFC fan that is a Las Vegas native. According to MMA Junkie, he has trained in MMA (or at least used MMA conditioning).
Via MMA Junkie:
“I love training MMA,” Murray told UFC.com. “It’s definitely a lot different than what I do on the football field, but some things you can translate into your game. I spent three, four weeks in Las Vegas training with [striking coach James Gifford] at Lorenzo’s gym, and that definitely helped me out a lot with my hand coordination and speed, along with working muscles that I’ve never worked on in football.
I think the EA idea to include fans to vote on the cover using its social media platform is a great way to get people involved in the process. From Murray’s personal branding, reaching out to UFC fans was a creative way to open up a segment of the audience that would not have necessarily voted for the cover. For the UFC, its another way it sees an opportunity and capitalizes on it. Certainly, the UFC could have let this slide, but it took the initiative to campaign for Murray. If Murray wins, it will be a success for the UFC and free PR. If he doesn’t, there won’t be too much lost since nothing really was invested.
Of course, with the NFL labor issues, its not clear if Murray will be in attendance in New York City. Second, its not a guarantee he is a first round pick which could give him a prime spot to show off a UFC logo.
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