Video game publisher Electronic Arts has hired former Starbucks executive Chris Bruzzo as its chief marketing officer. It may seem like an odd shift to go from marketing coffee to marketing digital entertainment, but EA chief executive Andrew Wilson said that the company is engaged in a “transformation to put our player relationships at the center of everything we do.”
EA hasn’t had the greatest connection with its gamers, who have staged protests against the company in the past over things like the controversial ending in Mass Effect 3 and the ill-fated, always-connected reboot of SimCity (which failed to work at the outset for many consumers). Such uprisings led to EA being labeled the “worst company in America” in past years. Wilson, who took over at EA a year ago (and who will be the opening fireside chat speaker at our GamesBeat 2014 event), has made it a priority to put “players first.”
“Chris will lead an integrated marketing, communications, web, and digital service organization designed to advance our ability to put ‘players first,'” Wilson said in a post.
He continued, “Today, EA creates games and live services for players around the world on an ever-expanding range of platforms and unique ways to play. Partnering with our development and technology teams, Chris will ensure we are delivering personal and meaningful experiences for players every time they connect with us and play an EA game.”
At Starbucks, Bruzzo was the “architect of the Starbucks digital experience, building award-winning loyalty and personalization programs.”
Bruzzo started things like record-setting Facebook and Twitter programs and the My Starbucks Idea online community program, Wilson said.
Wilson also said that Bruzzo is a gamer familiar with a lot of EA franchises, from Ultima in the 1980s to Battlefield today.