Christopher Erb
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Christopher Erb (born June 19, 1972) was the Vice President of Brand Marketing at
EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
and the Executive Vice President of Brand Marketing at
Legendary Pictures Legendary Entertainment, LLC (also known as Legendary Pictures or simply Legendary) is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major stu ...
. Erb is currently the Managing Partner of tripleclix.


Career

Born in Waverly, New York and raised in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
, Erb is a graduate of the University of Washington. He is best known for his work at
EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
, building its partnership marketing group. Erb began his career in the video game industry in 2000 as a Brand Manager at
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...
. While there, he oversaw the development and launches of the ''Neopets Trading Card Game'' and the ''Star Wars Trading Card Game''. He also contributed to two ''MLB Showdown'' and two ''NFL Showdown'' TCG expansions in 2002, as well as the ''Pokémon'' and ''Dungeons & Dragons'' franchises. Erb joined EA Sports in 2005 as the Senior Director of Marketing for the Madden NFL franchise. While leading the launch of Madden NFL from '06 to '09, he helped redefine the way popular video game franchises are launched and marketed, mirroring that of major theatrical releases. This transition in marketing strategy spawned the events Maddenoliday and Maddenpalooza, both of which reinforced the notion that the annual release date of Madden NFL is a day worth celebrating for gamers. The latter of these events - Maddenpalooza - was held in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Erb and his team's work on Madden NFL 07 and 08 were awarded back to back MI6 Best Overall Marketing Campaign Silver Awards. The Madden NFL titles from 2006 to 2009 remain as four of the top 25 selling sports video games of all time in North America. In 2010, Erb became Vice President of Brand Marketing. In this capacity, he has helped guide the EA Sports brand beyond the console through strategic partnerships and licensing deals. In 2011, EA Sports opened retail locations in three airports in the US (Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City and Charlotte). In addition to airport stores, EA Sports opened its first sports bar in a partnership with Carnival Cruise Lines. In early 2012, EA Sports opened another bar location at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Both bars allow consumers to play EA Sports titles on the bar televisions. For his work in this role, he was named to the 2011 iMedia 25 List of Internet Marketing Leaders and Advertisers. Since 2010, Erb has managed partnerships between EA Sports' most popular video game franchises and numerous brands, including McDonald's, Nike, Doritos, Susan G. Komen, Louisiana Hot Sauce, and Coors Light. These partnerships have included everything from custom promotional packaging to full product line extensions, including custom gaming headsets created in partnership with Monster and Madden NFL flavored chips by Doritos. Other partnerships have included those with professional sports leagues, including a weekly gaming tour that traveled with and mirrored NFL games. In 2012, Erb was announced as one of Brand Innovators' "40 Under 40", a recognition of his team's work to transform EA Sports into a lifestyle brand that interacts socially with its consumers year round. The list, compiled annually, recognizes the achievements of brand marketers in digital media and emerging advertising technologies. While in his role at EA Sports, Erb gave talks about brand marketing's future in the digital age. In this capacity, he was the keynote speaker at Ad:Tech Sydney in 2012. Erb also spoke at Tedx Cincy and Business Insider's 2012 Social Media ROI Conference. In 2013, Erb joined
Legendary Pictures Legendary Entertainment, LLC (also known as Legendary Pictures or simply Legendary) is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major stu ...
as EVP of Brand Marketing. In his role, Erb was responsible for rebuilding the overall brand architecture and developing strategic programs that elevated Legendary's consumer brand awareness. In 2014, Erb returned to the video game industry and co-founded a strategic marketing agency named tripleclix. tripleclix has been built off Erb's previous video game experience to build brand and studio relations for the benefit of gamers. The only specialized video game-centric marketing agency of its kind, tripleclix is the connective tissue through which studios, brands, and gamers interact. With an initial team of additional employees tripleclix quickly won the trust, and business, of video game console maker Xbox. tripleclix has grown under Erb's leadership into a team of a half-dozen employees and over a dozen clients. In the short time that tripleclix has existed, it has already won several marketing awards, including a Game Marketing Award and a Clio. tripleclix, though still fully focused on game marketing, continues to branch out into new markets, producing television broadcasting and producing music soundtracks.


Personal life

On August 14, 2007, the launch date of Madden NFL 08, Erb was struck by a car in Times Square while walking home from the official Madden NFL Launch Event. After several months in the hospital, he returned to work on November 1, 2007. Erb served on the Board of Directors for the ACLU of Southern California in a fundraising capacity from 2008 to 2012. Erb currently serves as a member of the Brand Innovators Advisory Board which he has been a part of since 2010.


Video game credits

Erb has worked on numerous video game titles throughout his career, most notably: * ''
Madden NFL 06 ''Madden NFL 06'' is an American football video game released in 2005. It is the 16th installment of the Madden NFL series by EA Sports, named for color commentator John Madden. It is the first Madden game for the PlayStation Portable and Xbox 3 ...
'' * ''
Madden NFL 07 ''Madden NFL 07'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the first in the video game series to debut for the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles as launch titles and the ...
'' * ''
Madden NFL 08 ''Madden NFL 08'' is a 2007 American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 19th installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. It features Tenne ...
'' * ''
Madden NFL 09 ''Madden NFL 09'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. The game was released for the Ninten ...
'' * ''
NFL Head Coach ''NFL Head Coach'' is a National Football League video game that was released on June 20, 2006, for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows. The game allows the player to control an NFL team and become the greatest coach in NFL history. It features ...
'' * ''
NFL Street 3 ''NFL Street 3'' is the third installment of the ''NFL Street'' series, released in November 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable consoles. This installment features more game modes and unlockable features than previous versions. ...
'' * '' NFL Tour'' * ''
NASCAR 09 ''NASCAR 09'' is the twelfth simulation installment in the EA Sports NASCAR series and the sequel to 2007 game ''NASCAR 08''. It is developed by EA Tiburon and released on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in June 2008, and for J2ME, ...
''


References


External links


Christopher Erb's Twitter Pagetripleclix's Twitter Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erb, Christopher 1972 births Living people Businesspeople from Orlando, Florida American marketing people People from Waverly, Tioga County, New York