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New Media & Society
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Globalization, promotional culture and the production/consumption of online games: engaging Adidas's `Beat Rugby' Campaign

Jay Scherer

University of Alberta, Canada, jay.Scherer{at}ualberta.ca

Issues pertaining to the production and consumption of corporate websites and online games remain relatively unexplored. This study examines the cultural production of a free, downloadable rugby game and parallel website for Adidas's sponsorship of the New Zealand All Blacks entitled `Beat Rugby'. Produced by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington to articulate the Adidas brand as globally cool, the promotional apparatus targeted a specific niche of Adidas's company-wide target market known as the `jeeks': male, sports-loving and computer literate 12—20-year-olds. More than 43,000 participants downloaded and played in the three-month tournament with the winners, the virtual 15 All Blacks, flown to New Zealand to meet their `real' counterparts. The game and electronic community facilitated a range of consumption and communication experiences for a transnational audience of post-fans in a branded environment which was monitored by the cultural intermediaries at Saatchi & Saatchi on behalf of their client.

Key Words: cultural production/consumption • globalization • online sport games

New Media & Society, Vol. 9, No. 3, 475-496 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444807076978
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