here is a fun little topic.

EA is spending multiple millions of $ on marketing for BF3.

If that was your job, how would you do it?

I feel that all the current sloppily cut trailers mean shit for the mainstream market that don't analyze each frame. And on a smaller television, the difference between mw3 and bf3 graphics are minimal at a glance.

Let's hear some cool ideas!

I feel that slow motion would help 'casuals' see the meticulous details of this game. Not really sure what else ;)

Show multiplayer clips like they did for Bad Company 2.   not obscure... here are 1 second snippets of the game.
 
Add Kanye West - Power to the mix as well.

Rent out the Staples center. 

Keep pushing gameplay parts like the tank scene, but livening up a little bit more for the "casuals", as it will reiterate the point that you will be doing so much that won't be possible in MW3.  They need to push that mix of infantry and vehicle combat a bit more to show how diverse this game really is compared to your usual shootout in a MW game.

Keep pushing gameplay parts like the tank scene, but livening up a little bit more for the "casuals", as it will reiterate the point that you will be doing so much that won't be possible in MW3.  They need to push that mix of infantry and vehicle combat a bit more to show how diverse this game really is compared to your usual shootout in a MW game.

Give away $200m worth of copies of the game, that'd get you some massive goodwill! 

Show the title Battlefield 3. 
 
Then show tanks and planes. And show that you can control them. 
 
??? 
 
Profit.

Add more bass to the music.

Dinosaurs ^__^

I think if they make a better mp trailer with all the crazy stuff and then mention, this is multiplayer footage in some cheesy way, it could be big. And do please poke fun at CoD like the grenade spam BC1 trailers. That was great ;)

MW3 SP experience is our fucking MP experience. Bass cue. Title card.

Dinosaurs EVERYWHERE!!!

Dinosaurs ^__^

Exploding Dinosaurs flying tanks through a black hole and coming out the other side with hawt bitches. Also Inception BWOOOOOOOOOOOONG music, shit tons of it.

naked ladies. 16 million copies day one.

Emphasize the difference between CoD multiplayer and the BF3 one, (show alot of destruction, planes and crazy battlefield shit). Because in the end the multiplayer is where the money is, the mainstream doesn't give a fuck about the single player for either MW3 or BF3.

Make promises I couldn't keep, so yes naked ladies AND dinosaurs

I'd pocket the money, hire an army of Blackwater mercenaries, and wage war against EA for the remaining money.

Put out beta for PC this summer it goes out to everyone and Put out the moding tools. Have hot naked or almost naked ladies for all are events. And advertise the game as the best thing since AIR!

Honestly, I don't envy the guys at EA who have to compete head-to-head with Activision and the MW3 hype machine. That kind of competition must be intimidating for even the most seasoned advertising vets. The only way that I can think of to really attack the CoD stranglehold on the shooter market is to strongly target the portion of the fanbase who are starting to get a bit tired of the stale elements of the CoD formula, and show those people how much better BF3 can be; capture a large enough segment of the "CoD fatigue" crowd and eventually word of mouth will boost sales and drive more players who are tired of CoD to Battlefield. If I were in charge I would make it my number one priority to push the open beta, making sure it is seen and played by as many people as possible. Obviously widespread reach is the goal of most multiplayer beta tests (since most of them are just glorified demos anyway), but it's essential for Battlefield 3 to prove itself to be a different gameplay experience than CoD to a large audience. As far as commercials go, they need to avoid slow-mo as much as possible -- that's a staple of CoD trailers. I'd show the game running at full-speed, with buildings exploding everywhere, jets flying overhead and large-scale vehicle encounters, while avoiding first-person infantry footage, to really set the "Battlefield" tone and draw a definite parallel between BF3 and MW3.

You start showing a generic 8v8 match and then you pull back and show that HEY THERE'S WAY MORE PEOPLE HERE and then you start counting them up and it isn't 32 and then about 5 people get run over by a truck and then everybody gets the shit bombed out of them by an airplane.
 
Yup.

@Ventilaator said:

You start showing a generic 8v8 match and then you pull back and show that HEY THERE'S WAY MORE PEOPLE HERE and then you start counting them up and it isn't 32 and then about 5 people get run over by a truck and then everybody gets the shit bombed out of them by an airplane. Yup.

and cut to some actors doing really dramatic gameplaying ;)

The marketing team is already doing a fabulous job. When I see the Battlefield 3 logo and hear that insanely distorted guitar accompany it, I get goosebumps. It's simple, effective, and it grabs your attention. 
 
But since you're asking how I would handle it, I'll tell you what I'd do. First of all, I'd try to make a viral marketing campaign. I'm not sure how that would work for a game like Battlefield 3, but as history has shown in the entertainment industry, viral marketing can be extremely successful. If that didn't somehow come to fruition, I'd start another advertising campaign. This one would be controversial. Since Battlefield 3 is going up against the juggernaut Call of Duty, you have to do something wild in order for to get peoples' attention. I'm not entirely sure what that would entail, but hey, it sounds good on paper.
 
That's all I got.

Rent $200 million worth of ice cream trucks. Drive said ice cream trucks through major population centers and blast the electronic BWAHHH from their trailers at random intervals every day up until release. And then keep going.

ARE YOU TIRED OF FAST PACED BULLSHIT? YOU WANNA PILOT JETS, HELICOPTERS, AND TANKS? WELL IN BF3 YOU CAN DESTROY SHIT IN A MASSIVE AREA ON LAND, AIR, AND SEA. PLAY ON PC FOR BEST EXPERIENCE.

PUT MORE DUDEBROS ON IT.

Arnold Schwarzenegger
 
thats it

@weeman105 said:

Rent $200 million worth of ice cream trucks. Drive said ice cream trucks through major population centers and blast the electronic BWAHHH from their trailers at random intervals every day up until release. And then keep going.

SO MANY ICE CREAM TRUCKS

Same stuff they've done so far, but with a proper Battlefield score playing over it.

Make promises I couldn't keep, so yes naked ladies AND dinosaurs

EA is spending about ~$200m on marketing for BF3.

"Hey it's battlefield and not the bad company kind."
Then embezzle all the marketing money.

@Ahmad_Metallic said:

@chickdigger802 said:

EA is spending about ~$200m on marketing for BF3.

Actually it's 100m

You sure? I remember the last thing I read was some gdc interview at ign them saying 'multiple millions of $'. A more recent interview or something?

@Ahmad_Metallic said:

@chickdigger802 said:

EA is spending about ~$200m on marketing for BF3.

Actually it's 100m

You sure? I remember the last thing I read was some gdc interview at ign them saying 'multiple millions of $'. A more recent interview or something?

Avoid bad mouthing Activision/Cod, no game or company get's to where it's at by bad mouthing another.
Show as many features that differ from what's already available, people who only play Cod may be bored with their 8th Cod that their looking for the next big game, Battlefield 3 will feel familiar enough but crucially offers something new.
Put out trailers that show the variety of Battlefields 3's mechanics from a single players perspective. i.e. a player runs into a battlefield, suppresses enemy, hops in a tank and gets a few kills but it get's blown up but you climb out of it and sprint to cover. From their your squad turns up, you fight the enemy heal etc and use tactics to reach your goal, the enemy airfield where you guessed it, steal an enemy aircraft. You take off get into a dog fight, bail out when hit and drift down onto a buliding with the crate that needs destroyed, you plant the bomb and get the hell out of their, trailer end's. This trailer will be similar to Battlefield 2's but from first person.

Set a battle on a map that's reminiscent of a popular MW2 map - not sure which one, I didn't play MW2.  Something fans will recognize though.  Show them playing normal, y'know, infantry taking potshots gameplay.  Then show a wall getting blown in, the guy turns, shoots the guy who blew up the wall, runs outside and sees a tank, runs back inside, the tank shoots the building and it collapses on the guy.  End of trailer.   Couldn't cost more than a mil to do that.

stop with the CoD rivalry, it just makes it look like a knockoff (obviously its not) but that's what it'd appear to someone who isn't familiar with the series.

A trailer consisting of nothing but people crashing jets

I'd push multiplayer like crazy. I'd talk about the clan and tournament support structures. 
 
I'd do ANYTHING but show the singleplayer. 
 
 
They've so far done the exact opposite of what I'd do.

• Show what it looks like on consoles, then PC. There is going to be a whole lot of sad faces when people realise that their 360/ps3 will not be able to play what they are seeing.
• Show something exciting at E3! Not a boring tank battle where not much is shown....
• Stop focusing on the single player. It looks graphically great, but boring. Yeah, CoD is over the top, but that is what a video game is meant to be like right?

Blow up a building.

Buy the ad space on a British football club's jersey, it worked for Dreamcast, no?

Synergy.

They should just do whatever they did for Medal of Honor, because apparently that shit is extremely effective. What they should not do is put major advertising into the hardcore features, because the people who care about those already know about the game.

I would spend the entire 50 millions on Liquor and Whores and Fine Foods and Drugs. All for me. Rent a spectacular villa on a outstanding and secluded beach. Fill it up with hot professional servant wenches serving my every need. Have tons of liquor and weed and whatever other chemical supplements one might fancy in ones bloodstream. Have webcams installed everywhere. Tag the transmissions with a BF3 banner and links to BF3 promotional sites.
 
All the while I'm enjoying the high life and the world can watch. It will be somewhat like this (x infinite)
 
  

Add more bass to the music, or power.

Make BF3's 'Ace Ribbon' worth a sexual favor.