UX Case Study: 3rd Party Campaign Management Tool

 

Project Overview

The various game studios of Electronic Arts (EA) frequently collaborate with global brands like Nike, Adidas, and Pepsi to run co-branded promotional campaigns. Historically, campaign setup was heavily manual, complex, and dependent on EA’s Digital Platform (EADP) support teams, limiting efficiency and scalability.

The 3rd Party Campaign Manager was conceived as a self-service web platform enabling producers, developers, and live operations teams to independently create, manage, and monitor these campaigns. The goal was to empower studios, reduce operational overhead, and provide intuitive, scalable control over campaign lifecycles.

 

Early working concept of the user flow needed for the tool.

 

The UX Challenge

“Design an intuitive, role-inclusive tool that simplifies the end-to-end management of 3rd party promotional campaigns for both technical and non-technical users, while supporting complex configurations and compliance requirements.”

Core Design Problems:

  • Manual processes created delays and inconsistencies

  • Campaign setup required technical support, limiting studio autonomy

  • Lack of centralized visibility into campaign status and metrics

  • Diverse user base with varying technical expertise

Discovery & Research

Stakeholder Interviews

  • Conducted sessions with producers, developers, live operations staff, and brand marketers

  • Key pain points identified:

    • Confusion over campaign setup steps

    • Uncertainty regarding configuration completeness

    • Frustrations with the lack of real-time campaign visibility

Competitive Analysis

  • Evaluated other campaign management and entitlement tools

  • Gaps identified in customization, role-specific views, and status feedback

Campaign manager example from Hubspot

User Personas

  • Producers & Brand Marketers: Non-technical, require clear instructions and high-level status views

  • Developers & Live Ops: Technical users, need detailed configurations, testing environments, and operational controls

UX Solutions & Key Features

1. Centralized Campaign Dashboard

  • List of all campaigns (past, present, future)

  • Real-time status indicators per environment (INT, LT, PROD)

  • Filterable by partner, type, or status

2. Step-by-Step Campaign Creation Wizard

  • Guided flow tailored to user expertise

  • Supports:

    • Partner Product Bundling

    • Direct Entitlement via IDP

  • Integrated partner selection/onboarding

3. Operational Controls

  • Pause, resume, extend, or terminate campaigns across environments

  • Visual confirmations to prevent errors

4. Metrics

  • Allows the studio to see their reach in numbers of users, rewards delivered, and value derived

Wireframes & Prototypes

  • Interactive prototypes developed in Figma

  • Usability testing with user groups

  • Iterative refinements included:

    • Clearer status indicators

    • Simplified navigation; removed a few unnecessary screens

    • Improved confirmation dialogs

 

Screenshot of the Rewards screen in the Figma prototype

 

Outcomes & Impact

  • Drastically reduced manual intervention needed from EADP support teams; studios now empowered with self-service tools

  • Accelerated campaign launch timelines

  • Improved transparency with real-time status and validation feedback

  • Scalable foundation for evolving EA campaign operations

  • Usability testing confirmed improved confidence and simplicity

Reflection

This project illustrates my ability to convert complex business processes into an intuitive, scalable, user-centric platform. The 3rd Party Campaign Manager simplifies operations, accommodates diverse roles, and advances EA's promotional capabilities.

Next Steps: Ongoing monitoring of qualitative and quantitative data; iterative improvements based on those inputs.