Sponsorships

From Sega Retro

Ayrton Senna holding a Sonic the Hedgehog-shaped trophy after winning the Formula One 1993 European Grand Prix. Sega sponsored the whole event in addition to sponsoring the (winning) Williams team that season.

Over the years, Sega has sponsored many events and services in order to further market its brand or products. Typically, companies such as Sega would invest money in a sponsee, allowing them to fund their activities, in exchange for a prominent display of the brand or products Sega were trying to advertise.

The following lists instances where this has occurred. Not included are cases where Sega has helped established a venture (such as GameWorks or SegaWorld London), only to withdraw their name later on.

For official endorsements of Sega products by notable people, see Endorsements.

Contents

Sports

American Football

NFL Players Party 1996/Super Bowl XXX

Sega sponsored the 1996 NFL Players Party, held at the Phoenix Civic Plaza on Thursday, January 28[1]. In addition to ofering tickets to Super Bowl XXX, there were live performances by Meat Loaf and Sawyer Brown[1].

Featured were 17 video game banks, with 4-8 Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn systems. Dieon Sanders made an appearance and competed (and won) against Rod Woodson[2]. Other sporting celebrities were also on hand to write autographs[3].

Sega also collaborated with Cartoon Network to advertise the party with call-in contests for tickets and participating Best Buy stores also offered forms for the contest[1].

Sega made available "on satellite" its Super Bowl predictions, using Prime Time NFL Football Starring Deion Sanders to simulate the match. Sega were claiming that with incorporated NFL statistics, the game could predict outcomes with a 85-90% accuracy rate[1].

NFL Players Party cards

A set of 12 collectable cards were also released to commemorate the event. The set is unusual in that each card was produced by an entirely different trading card manufacturer, so no two cards share the same design (although they are all the same physical size).

1997 NFL Players Party

2001 Las Vegas Bowl

Sega (Sports) sponsored US college football's 2001 Las Vegas Bowl, featuring the Utah Utes and the USC Trojans.

2002 Las Vegas Bowl

Sega returned the following year to sponsor the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl, featuring the New Mexico Lobos and the UCLA Bruins.

Baseball

Basketball

Levallois Sporting Club Basket (France; 1993/1994)

Merchandise

RAF Junior and Cadet leagues

[4]

Cycling

The Sega British BMX Racing Championships 1990

Main article: The Sega British BMX Racing Championships 1990.
  • Laurent Fignon, Tour de France (1993)

1993 Vuelta a España ("Regularidad" Classification)

Sega was the official sponsor[5] of the "Regularidad" Classification in the 1993 Vuelta a España. To promote the brand, Sega Spain transformed a big truck with a cargo space of 13,5 x 6[5] meters into an itinerant booth equipped with several Sega Mega Drive consoles for kids to play at no charge, which toured by all the 21 stages of the Vuelta a España, spreading joy among Spanish children.

Football

Main article: Sponsorships/Football.

Golf

1992 LPGA Sega Women's Championship

Sega was the official sponsor of the 1992 LPGA Sega Women's Championship, held at the Eagle's Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Georgia from April 16 to April 19, 1992[7] and won by American professional golfer and television golf broadcaster Dottie Pepper (competing as Dottie Mochrie).

Ice hockey

Main article: Sponsorships/Ice hockey.

Kickboxing

K-1 The Challenge '99

Sega's Dreamcast console was a sponsor for the kickboxing event "K-1 The Challenge '99", taking place on the 3rd March 1999 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan[8]. Dreamcast logos were placed at two of the four corners of the ring. Curiously no kickboxing games were ever released on the console.

Mixed martial arts

Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001

Sega and Virtua Fighter 4 sponsored Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001, an MMA event which took place on 31st December, 2001 at the Saitama Super Arena[9]. Sega and Virtua Fighter 4 logos could be seen on the ring floor (and the red/blue corners), and a set of PlayStation 2 kiosks running the game could be found in the lobby.

The event was televised on TBS as Saikyou no Kakutou ou Kettei-sen! Inoki-gun vs K-1 (最強の格闘王決定戦!猪木軍 vs K―1). The first television advertisment for PS2 Virtua Fighter 4 was aired during the break(s)[9].

Badminton

The Euro Sega Challenge 1993[10]

Skateboarding

World Cup of Skateboarding

Sega was one of the official sponsors in two editions of the Münster Monster Mastership World Cup of Skateboarding[11] (Münster Monster Mastership Skateboard-Weltmeisterschaft), most precisely in the Münster Monster Mastership 1993[12][13] and in its sucessor the Münster Monster Mastership 1994[12][13][14], both held at the Halle Münsterland convention center in Münster, Germany.

A Sega Mega-CD 2 was offered to each of the first three classified of both the halfpipe and streetstyle disciplines.

Münster Monster Mastership 1993[15]
Münster Monster Mastership 1994
Clash at Clairemont 7 (2013)

Inline skating

British Bauer In-line Skating Festival 1997 (1997)

Sega sponsored this event between 1st June and 17th August 1997[17].

Triathlon

Wildman Triathlon (1997)

[18]

Tennis

Opportunity Open

Sega/Gremlin sponsored the "Opportunity Open", a tennis tournament in San Diego, California, which took place to determine who would be the wildcard entry to the 1982 Wells Fargo Open[19].

Karen Hantze Susman won the final against Katherine Chabot Willette, with the winner's silver platter awarded by Gremlin president Duane Blough[19].

1992 Summer Olympics (Barcelona)

Sega was one of the official sponsors[20][21][5][22] of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games which were celebrated in Barcelona from July 25 to August 9, 1992.

Formerly considered a "danger" for the concentration of athletes, video games were used for the first time[23] as an entertainment for them in the 1988 Summer Olympics, in Seoul, capital of South Korea, when in an experiment, the International Olympic Committee installed a few consoles and games in the Olympic Village to entertain the athletes.

With the sucess of the experiment, the International Olympic Committee elected Sega Spain as an official sponsor and one of the several providers of entertainment for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Sega set up a 550 m²[24] venue in The Olympic Village of Poblenou (La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou) divided into five zones[25][26][27] (one for athletes only) equipped with 200 Sega Mega Drive Consoles, 60 Sega Game Gear consoles, and 11 arcade cabinets distributed across them.

Despite not being the only entertainment available to athletes and visitors in the Olympic Village, since it was equipped with a cinema, a discotheque, a Scalextric slot car racing track, Karaoke, bars and even had a beach nearby, the venue was a favourite among athletes and visitors with the special arcade cabinet R-360 becoming such a hit that caused enormous queues and forced Sega Spain to implement a minimum of plays per person to avoid conflicts as all the cabinets were put in "free play" mode.

With an attendance of 500 visitors per day, one of the most illustrious of them, in addition to the athletes, was Su Majestad el Rey de España (His Majesty the King of Spain) Felipe VI of Spain (at the time the Prince of Asturias) which was a fervorous fan[28] of the special arcade cabinet R-360, and eventually became an expert in it (he is an aircraft pilot formed in the Spanish Air Force Academy Academia General del Aire in Murcia, Spain).

According with an interview[24][29] conducted by Spanish magazine Ultima Generacion to George Taylor[30][29] (George Paul Taylor[31][32], Senior Operation Manager at Sega Amusements Spain S.L. from 1995 to 1997[33][34]), Mario Cotza[30][29] (Managing Director) and Angél G. Gallego[30][29] (Sales Manager) of Sega Amusements Spain S.L. in July 1995 the experiment paved the way for Sega to open Sega Park arcade venues in Spain, with the first of them, the Sega Park Madrid, opening on October 19, 1995.

Floor plan

Sega games/arcade cabinets featured

Sports Illustrated Sports Festival

Sega Sports sponsored the Sports Illustrated Sports Festival, a tour of Six Flags theme parks across America in 1993. Sega set up tents with playable Sega Mega Drive games, including David Robinson's Supreme Court and Mario Lemieux Hockey[38].

Motorsports

Main article: Sponsorships/Motorsports.

Film and television

Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe (1990 - 1991)

Main article: Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe.

El Rescate del Talismán (first season; 1991 - 1992)

Main article: El Rescate del Talismán.

¡¡Al Ataque!! (¡¡Te Pillé!!, bloopers segment; 1992 - 1993)

In Spain, Sega sponsored the bloopers segment ¡¡Te Pillé!! (Catch Ya!!) of the Spanish sketch, talk, comedy, variety show ¡¡Al Ataque!! (Attack!!), which ran on Spanish television channel Antena 3 from September 29, 1992 to July 6, 1993[39] and was hosted by Spanish journalist Alfonso Arús Leita, with the assistance of Spanish actress and model Goya Toledo (Gregoria Micaela Toledo Machín).

For the first thirty episodes of the show, several pre-recorded inserts, initially featuring Sonic the Hedgehog and later featuring Sega consoles were screened before and after the segment. These were later changed for a specific and more elaborated insert used until the last episode of the show as part of the European advertising campaign Sega TV (or Canal Pirata Sega as it was known in Spain).

The segment would start with an exclusive Sega promotional opening featuring the title of the segment ¡¡Te Píllé!!, the host of the show Alfonso Arús Leita would then promote the brand giving an insight about Sega and its products while one of his assistants played a game on a Sega Mega Drive, the segment would ultimately finish with a Sega promotional ending in which a Sega Mega Drive, a Sega Master System II and a Sega Game Gear were publicized with the slogan ¡¡Píllalas!! (Catch 'Em!!).

Sega consoles and products were also used occasionally by comedian actors during their performances in the sketches, to promote Sega's brand even further.

Ghostwriter

Sega was a sponsor for the 1992 series, Ghostwriter, which aired on PBS in the United States.

The Zone (1994 - 1995)

Main article: The Zone.

Segacción (1995 - 1996)

Main article: Segacción.

CyberMaster (1995 - 1997)

Main article: CyberMaster.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1997)

Sega sponsored the UK release of the film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America during 1997[18].

Existenz (1999)

Sega sponsored David Cronenberg's 1999 film, Existenz, featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law. Dreamcast Kiosks were featured at the launch party.

The UK VHS and DVD releases of the film contain special Dreamcast-related material.

VHS, UK

DVD, UK
Existenz DVD UK Box.jpg
Cover

Music

Main article: Sponsorships/Music.

Exhibits

Hollywood Cars (Barcelona, Madrid, Booth 5 - Batcave; 1993)

Hollywood Cars, was an exhibition, held in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid in 1993, organised by Master Production Entertainment, a company founded in 1988 by Argentinian Businessmen Fernando Quenard and Ignacio Brieva, who creates, develops and consults in innovative concepts in leisure and entertainment (Master Production Entertainment in collaboration with Buenos Aires-based company RobotService, the only company in Latin America dedicated to the design and manufacture of robots applied to entertainment and marketing, founded in 1979 by Argentinian robotic engineer Eduardo Gerardi, was responsible for all the technological contents of the Seville Expo '92).

In 1993, Fernando Quenard and Ignacio Brieva acquired a license from legendary American custom car builder, designer and collector Jay Ohrberg of Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars[40] (formerly Jay Ohrberg's Star Cars) to exhibit his famous collection of unique cars (seen in more than 100 movies, TV shows and videos Jay was responsible for designing and building the vehicles featured in, Batman Returns, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Back to the Future, RoboCop, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and several others) and went on a tour of ehxibitions held in Spain and several Latin American countries.

Sega was the official sponsor of booth 5 (the Batcave) in the two editions of the Hollywood Cars ehxibition held in Spain.

Barcelona

Madrid

Virtual 2!M - Realidad Virtual & Vision en Relieve (Madrid 1993)[42]

The Virtual 2!M[43][44] was an event focused on Virtual Reality and Electronic Art, organized by the Spanish technology company Realidad Virtual S.L. (founded in 1991[45] by José Antonio Mayo, a Spanish science journalist specialized in arts and new technologies, who was co-director of the digital culture and creativity festival Artfutura from 1994 to 2000) a subsidiary of Madrid-based Spanish multinational telecommunications company Telefónica S.A, and directed[44] by Alejandro Sacristán (Alejandro Sacristán Gómez[46], lead vocalist of the legendary Madrilenian electronic music band Aviador Dro[47][48][49][50] since 1980, a year after its formation in 1979, and an Expert in Virtual Reality and immersive digital content, he was a pioneer in the first wave of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Stereoscopy and the 90s Cyberculture movement since 1992, and is currently a curator of the festival Artfutura as well as a columnist for popular science magazine Muy Interesante) which was held from May 2 through May 15, 1993 in a 1000 m² tent located in the Paseo (boulevard) de San Francisco de Sales, in Madrid (a tent previously set up for the celebrations of the V Centennial of the city of Madrid in 1993[43]).

With a cost of 45,000,000[42] pesetas and held as part of the festivities of "Dos de Mayo" (May 2, Madrid's Community Day[51], hence the name of the event) the event was backed by the Council of Education and Culture of Madrid and many other companies including Sega[52] (Sega Spain), which set up two booths equipped with thirty Sega Mega Drive consoles in two of the eight[43] zones of the venue (Zone 2 and Zone 8), to entertain the visitors of the event (a total of sixty consoles).

Floor plan

Award ceremonies

British Academy Games Awards

Sega Europe sponsored the BAFTA Young Game Designers Awawrds between 2014 and 2017 (The Creative Assembly remained a sponsor in 2018), and has sponsored the BAFTA Game Awards since 2015.

Neo Awards 2018

Institutions

St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital Hedgehog Unit (1993)

In 1993, Sega sponsored[54] the hedgehog unit of St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, United Kingdom's first hospital for wild animals, founded in 1983 in Haddenham , Buckinghamshire, England, by British wildlife campaigner and expert Les Stocker[55] (Leslie Stocker) and specialised in the rescue and treatment of wild animals.

A television advertisement for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from Sega's European advertising campaign Sega TV, featured[54] an address for donations to the unit.

Miscellaneous

Universal Studios (1994)

Apparently Sega and MCA/Universal were due to open a $20 million USD, 30k-50k sq ft attraction at Universal Studios in 1994. May have become Innoventions at Epcot instead?

Nickelodeon Studios (1995)

Sega was a sponsor of one of the attractions of Nickelodeon Studios, then part of the Universal Studios Florida theme park.

Canal+ (France; 1992)

Sega Splash 4 Starlight

Sega Splash 4 Starlight[56][57]

A Nite to Unite for Kids 2001

Sega was a major sponsor fo the annual "Nite to Unite" awards in 2001.

External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Billboard, "January 27, 1996" (US; 1996-01-27), page 98
  2. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "April 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 108
  3. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "April 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 110
  4. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "May 2000" (UK; 2000-04-06), page 29
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mega Sega, "xxxx 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 10
  6. http://gclaglorietaotrasfotos.blogspot.com/2009/06/vuelta-espana-1993.html (Wayback Machine: 2019-04-15 12:43)
  7. http://www.kronishsports.com/SE/Golf/LPGA/1990s/1992.htm (Wayback Machine: 2006-03-29 01:40)
  8. Dreamcast Magazine, "1999-13 (1999-04-16)" (JP; 1999-04-02), page 6
  9. 9.0 9.1 http://www.sega.co.jp/event/ev_vf4inoki.html (Wayback Machine: 2002-01-27 06:44)
  10. http://badmintoneurope.com/cms/?&pageid=23550 (Wayback Machine: 2020-09-01 12:38)
  11. http://www.wcsk8.com/history-of-wcs (archive.today)
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 http://mastership.de/de/history/results.phtml (Wayback Machine: 2005-03-06 18:34)
  13. 13.0 13.1 Portugal Radical , Ulifer - Produções de Publicidade, Lda., page 21
  14. Portugal Radical , Ulifer - Produções de Publicidade, Lda., page 22
  15. File:Münster Monster Mastership 1993.mp4
  16. http://www.worldskate.org/news/17-world-skate/2721-mr-titus-dittmann-from-germany-appointed-as-firs-cisb-chairman.html (archive.today)
  17. Press release: 1997-04-21: Sega Skates Off With 'Extreme Sports' Sponsorship
  18. 18.0 18.1 Press release: 1997-05-15: Sega's Summer Sponsorships of Sports, Games and Rock 'n' Roll
  19. 19.0 19.1 Cash Box, "September 18, 1982" (US; 1982-09-18), page 42
  20. Press Release: 1992-07-24: Mil opciones para el ocio
  21. Hobby Consolas, "Septiembre 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 20
  22. Game Machine, "1992-08-15" (JP; 1992-08-15), page 14
  23. Mega Force, "Agosto 1992" (ES; 1992-xx-xx), page 12
  24. 24.0 24.1 Última Generación, "Julio/Agosto 1995" (ES; 1995-0x-xx), page 108
  25. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-xx-xx), page 9
  26. File:Memoria Oficial de los Juegos de la XXV Olímpiada, Barcelona 1992 Volume Three ES Book.pdf, page 198
  27. File:Memoria Oficial de los Juegos de la XXV Olímpiada, Barcelona 1992 Volume Three ES Book.pdf, page 199
  28. Hobby Consolas, "Septiembre 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 24
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 https://www.sega-16.com/2020/04/classic-interview-sega-amusements-spain/ (Wayback Machine: 2020-05-20 12:01)
  30. 30.0 30.1 30.2 Última Generación, "Julio/Agosto 1995" (ES; 1995-0x-xx), page 105
  31. File:George Paul Taylor Profile.pdf, page 1
  32. File:George Paul Taylor Profile.pdf, page 2
  33. File:George Paul Taylor Profile.pdf, page 6
  34. File:George Paul Taylor Profile.pdf, page 7
  35. File:Memoria Oficial de los Juegos de la XXV Olímpiada, Barcelona 1992 Volume Three ES Book.pdf, page 192
  36. File:Memoria Oficial de los Juegos de la XXV Olímpiada, Barcelona 1992 Volume Three ES Book.pdf, page 194
  37. File:Memoria Oficial de los Juegos de la XXV Olímpiada, Barcelona 1992 Volume Three ES Book.pdf, page 195
  38. Game Players, "Vol. 6 No. 11 November 1993" (US; 1993-1x-xx), page 18
  39. https://www.elcondensadordefluzo.com/2019/04/al-ataque-alfonso-arus-1992-1993.html (archive.today)
  40. 40.0 40.1 http://www.jayohrberg.com/ (Wayback Machine: 2019-04-19 16:17)
  41. Mega Sega, "xxxx 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 9
  42. 42.0 42.1 Press Release: 1993-04-28: Paseo por un paisaje irreal
  43. 43.0 43.1 43.2 https://produccion.cultural.chacena.es/arte-virtual/ (Wayback Machine: 2019-04-17 00:21)
  44. 44.0 44.1 https://theinstituteofjoyofquirimbas.com/comite-de-expertos/ (archive.today)
  45. http://www.obolo.com/mayo.html (Wayback Machine: 2019-04-17 02:13)
  46. https://www.talent-republic.tv/author/alejandro-sacristan/ (archive.today)
  47. http://www.aliencenter.de/nuclearsi/en_biografia.htm (Wayback Machine: 2019-11-10 09:17)
  48. File:AviadorDro1.jpg
  49. File:AviadorDro2.jpg
  50. File:AviadorDro3.jpg
  51. File:Madrid Bullring Arena Dos de Mayo Festivities ES Bullfight Ticket.jpg
  52. Mega Sega, "xxxx 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 8
  53. Azar, "Julio 1987" (ES; 1987-07-08), page 94
  54. 54.0 54.1 Sega Zone, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-20), page 5
  55. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/26/leslie-stocker-obituary (Wayback Machine: 2018-05-21 19:56)
  56. S: The Sega Magazine, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-06), page 18
  57. New Computer Express, "4 August 1990" (UK; 1990-08-02), page 6