EA Sports Auctioning Wii Charity Bundles

Act fast for celebrity-signed Wii consoles

EA Sports recently teamed up with CharityBuzz to auction off celebrity-based Wii bundles to raise awareness for the March of Dimes charity.

EA Sports PR Manager Lisa Bruce spoke with us recently about the charity, and how EA Sports is getting involved in supporting the March of Dimes.

It started with an event held by EA Sports, called "Active for Life."  Bruce says that they "had celebrities come in and create customized workouts and avatars. They would go to the system, recreate their avatar to look like them and choose their favorite workouts."

"That would then be saved onto a Wii that they autographed. So they would sign the Wii and say, 'I'm active for,' either family or whatever it was they chose to be active for."

These custom celebrity bundles are then placed in auctions on CharityBuzz.com, a website devoted to hosting auctions in support of various major charities.  In this case, the charity EA Sports is supporting is the March of Dimes.

Fans of the celebrities can bid to win an autographed Wii console, which has the customized EA Sports Active avatar and workout personalized by that celebrity, along with a copy of EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer, and EA Sports Active: More Workouts.

O'Dell is instrumental

The EA Sports Active for Life event was hosted by celebrity and March of Dimes spokeswoman Nancy O'Dell.  O'Dell (left) also contributed her personalized auction package to the auctions.  As Bruce puts it, her role in this event doesn't seem to end there.

"She's been a strong supporter of the March of Dimes for almost 12 years now. She's very passionate about it. It's a great cause, it's something that fits well with what we do with EA Sports Active."

Bruce adds that the charity is a nice tie-in to the EA Sports Active brand, and is a natural fit.  "We really believe in the work they do, we think it's great."

EA Sports Active: More in 2010

It's no secret that EA Sports has seen runaway success with the Active gaming brand.  Bruce thinks the rationale behind "exer-gaming" made EA Sports Active the multi-million seller it is today.

"I think it really falls on the trend of interactive fitness, it's really popular right now. It's fairly accessible and convenient.  For the cost of the gym membership compared to a Wii, it's becoming a viable option for people to work out now."

With two games having already seen release in 2010, EA Sports will no doubt jump ahead into 2010 with more Active games.  Bruce doesn't disagree with this notion.

"We have big plans for the franchise, and it is a franchise we're looking to expand with various products in 2010, so you'll have to stay tuned to see what we come out with."

Bid for a good cause

The EA Sports/CharityBuzz auctions won't be lasting much longer.  In fact, the auctions end on February 10th.

With about 20 celebrity Wii packages to bid on, with proceeds going towards the great March of Dimes cause, we cannot encourage you more to go check out the auctions hosted on CharityBuzz before it's too late.

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