Genesis Does
From Sega Retro
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Genesis Does was an marketing campaign run by Sega of America (and director of marketing Al Nilsen) in conjunction with its then-advertising agency Bozell between September and December 1990[1].
It stands as the earliest example of a Sega-led "attack ad", in which the campaign specifically called out the supposed inadequacies of the rival 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System when compared to the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in this region). Previous campaigns had focused on the Genesis' ability to bring "16-bit" arcade games into the home, however this focus was dropped for what would become at least six years of Sega favourably comparing itself to the competition.
The Genesis Does campaign also coincided with a number of celebrity-endorsed Genesis games for the 1990 holiday season, including Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf, Tommy Lasorda Baseball, Pat Riley Basketball, James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing, and most importantly to Sega, Joe Montana Football and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.
This was not the first campaign to poke fun at a rival video game system - Atari, Mattel and Coleco had attacked each other in the early 1980s, but it was the first in the post-Nintendo age, following the North American video game crash of 1983/1984. Rivals NEC would also take aim at the NES with its TurboGrafx-16 system, while Sega would later concentrate its fire on the Super NES from mid-1991 onwards.
Promotional material
Print advertisements
also published in:
- Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #13: "August 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[2]
- GamePro (US) #12: "July 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[3]
- VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) #18: "July 1990" (1990-0x-xx)[4]
also published in:
- GamePro (US) #13: "August 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[5]
- VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) #19: "August 1990" (1990-0x-xx)[6]
also published in:
also published in:
- Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #15: "October 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[8]
- GamePro (US) #15: "October 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[9]
- VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) #21: "October 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[10]
also published in:
- GamePro (US) #16: "November 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[11]
- Game Players Sega Guide! (US) #0101: "Vol. 1, No. 1: Fall 1990" (1990-10-xx)[12]
- Sega Visions (US) #3: "Winter 1990/1991" (1990-xx-xx)[13]
Television advertisements
(Sports)
References
- ↑ File:SegaVisions US 02.pdf, page 27
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "August 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 7
- ↑ GamePro, "July 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 61
- ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "July 1990" (US; 1990-0x-xx), page 59
- ↑ GamePro, "August 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 53
- ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "August 1990" (US; 1990-0x-xx), page 13
- ↑ GamePro, "September 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 71
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "October 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 69
- ↑ GamePro, "October 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 73
- ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "October 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 39
- ↑ GamePro, "November 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 100
- ↑ Game Players Sega Guide!, "Vol. 1, No. 1: Fall 1990" (US; 1990-10-xx), page 8
- ↑ Sega Visions, "Winter 1990/1991" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 22
- ↑ GamePro, "December 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 126
- ↑ GamePro, "January 1991" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 102