[Casshern]

One of the purposes of Sonic's creation was to be Sega's icon in not only games, but also in other mediums. Teaming up with other companies and using Sonic as a promotional figure happens to be one of those mediums.

Sonic became insanely popular when he first appeared on the scene back in 1991, so my question is....just how many promotions has Sonic appeared in?

I'll start with the most known promotions and other ones that are a little bit obscure.

1. Sonic & McDonald's

Eat it bitch.

From what I know, Sega and McDonald's first partnership came in 1994 when Sonic The Hedgehog 3 came out. The promotion consisted of giving out five toys: A Sonic The Hedgehog toy launcher toy, a Knuckles The Echidna spinner, a Tails helicopter, an Eggman toy and the one everyone forgets, a Sonic ball. There was also a toy that came out that will connect to the "Happy Meal anniversary train."


Sega will again join forces with McDonad's in 2003/2004 to give out LCD games promoting various mediums like Sonic X/ Sonic Adventure DX/Sonic Heroes. Other regions got this promotion later on.

2. Sonic & Canal +

While reading the history of Sonic book I encountered a segment about Sega France signing a contract with Canal + to show Sonic animations before an advertising spot. This apparently took place in 1993:


3. Sonic & Coca-Cola

Apparently in the UK there was a promotion that if you send Coca-Cola labels you were able to get a Sonic themed varsity jacket or a hat (I'm not so sure about that though). Apparently there was also pin given away at MGM Cannon Cinemas?

I actually have all three of these items, but if a member from the UK wants to jump in and say how you were able to get them, then by all means go ahead. Apparently this partnership was not only limited to the UK but it happened throughout various places in the world like Australia, Israel and Germany.

There also seemed to be a Japanese Coca-Cola promotion when Sonic Adventure debuted back in the 90s, this one I know nothing about.


4. Sonic & Progressive
It seemed that after Sonic's big year he became a household name again. In the beginning of 2012 he came out in commercials for Progressive:


5. Sonic Shuffle Gum

I don't know if a lot of people will remember this because I barely do. Around the time when Sonic Shuffle was going to come out, Sega did a contest with *insert gum brand* where if you won Sonic will visit your school with a Dreamcast game truck.

Obviously, Sonic Shuffle was going to be one of the games people would be able to play, but I believe other games were going to be featured. The box where the gum was kept, and the packaging itself, had this drawing on it along with the Sonic Shuffle logo.

6. Sonic & Nike

Make the shoes happen already!

I still remember waking up that day and a friend telling me that Sonic came out in a Nike video. I went to the Sonic Stadium to make a thread about it and the rest is history. A game was put in the "My time is now" trailer where viewers were told to follow the tunnels and look for clues during the video.

You took control of Sonic running around with a soccer ball beating badniks in Green Hill!

There's other promotions I left out like the Soap shoes, Cheerios and the Dreams Come True concert promotion. But I'm sure there's way more promotions out there that we are forgetting.

Anyone else has others that they might want to add?

[Vangar]

There was also some electronic toys from McDonalds, and TOMY electronic games. There has been Sonic Spaghetti and Sonic Xtreme Ice creams and stickers with ice blocks.

[Mecha Sally]

I've never seen the Tails McDonalds toy with that UFO base before. Mine has a completely different base. Was that only in certain countries?

There's a few more I remember that were listed in Sonic Jam's Hall of Fame thing:
The SEGA/Cherry Coke Summer Tour in 1993 (had a giant Sonic balloon)
SEGA sponsoring JEF United (a Japanese soccer team, had Sonic on their uniforms)
SEGA sponsoring the Formula 1 Grand Prix (another Sonic balloon was featured)

This post has been edited by Mecha Sally: 26 April 2013 - 09:29 PM

[Casshern]

Vangar, on 26 April 2013 - 09:18 PM, said:

There was also some electronic toys from McDonalds, and TOMY electronic games. There has been Sonic Spaghetti and Sonic Xtreme Ice creams and stickers with ice blocks.

Oh that pasta was sometimes delicious and sometimes it sucked. I always kick myself for not keeping the cans.


Also the commercials for it were so 90s weird.

[gold lightning]

Sorry

This post has been edited by gold lightning: 26 April 2013 - 09:52 PM

[ashthedragon]

Sega did some advertising in Spain with Sonic. They used to donate money at each year's TV charity event that used to be a tradition at the 90's, and they used to send a guy in a Sonic costume to the event. They also sponsored a TV show called " Al Ataque" back at the 90's.

Also, there are some Sonic branded colognes exclusive to Spain, and Sonic also appeared at "bollicao" ( a sweet bun brand) stickers back at 1991.


Here are some of those stickers. There was not only the ABC's, also some regular Sonic art. Sadly, I've never seen a complete collection of this, as it not only included Sonic letters and art, but also random SEGA games cover arts.





There were also Tazos ( pogs in English, I think?) from Sonic X, at Bollicao too.

This post has been edited by ashthedragon: 26 April 2013 - 10:23 PM

[GeneHF]

Surprised no one's mentioned this, as it's usually #1



Other than that, keeping on cereal, there were some Sonic themed pogs released in certain boxes of General Mills cereals. I remember getting a ton from boxes of Cookie Crisp.

Sonic's also had gum packets shaped like Game Gears with collectible trading cards, random merch like backpacks, and hilariously deformed ice cream pops. You know, the usual schtick for a cash cow mascot.

[ICEknight]

ashthedragon, on 26 April 2013 - 10:13 PM, said:

They also sponsored a TV show called " Al Ataque" back at the 90's.

They also sponsored the original run of Humor Amarillo (Takeshi's Castle) when the first game was released, moving Sonic's mouth in the title logo to make him "talk", if memory serves.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 26 April 2013 - 11:30 PM

[MooMoo]

Mecha Sally, on 26 April 2013 - 09:29 PM, said:

I've never seen the Tails McDonalds toy with that UFO base before. Mine has a completely different base. Was that only in certain countries?

I had this one in the UK, it's meant to be the Marble Garden blue spinny thing you stand on. Does that even have a name? It was a bitch to get the toy to actually move, anyway.

I also remember pasta shapes, but in the UK they were HP, and had a Marble Zone style label. I also have a vague memory of Sonic labeled Daddies Ketchup.

[Snowfire]

I remember Hardee's selling a Sonic mini-viewfinder toy, around the time Sonic & Knuckles was out. I had one of them, but its probably lost somewhere. I know some of the art in the Rare Art topic was in it however.

[Azukara]

I thought the SOAP shoe ones were the biggest, most obvious ones to bring up. After all, they were the only sort of legit advertisement that was in an actual Sonic game.

[Caniad Bach]

And there's that a key part of Knuckles' design came from a Nike deal that fell through.

[ashthedragon]

Is there any proof of that? Because I've heard it a lot of times, but have never seen any official say on that...

[MooMoo]

I'd have thought the most obvious in game advert would be the Olympic games. :T

[Mecha Sally]

GeneHF, on 26 April 2013 - 10:18 PM, said:

Other than that, keeping on cereal, there were some Sonic themed pogs released in certain boxes of General Mills cereals. I remember getting a ton from boxes of Cookie Crisp.

Sonic's also had gum packets shaped like Game Gears with collectible trading cards, random merch like backpacks, and hilariously deformed ice cream pops. You know, the usual schtick for a cash cow mascot.

I actually have one of those Game Gear things in my desk drawer right now, with the trading cards still there. They had tips for the Game Gear games printed on them. Still have some of those Cookie Crips pogs too.

MooMoo, on 27 April 2013 - 07:23 AM, said:

I had this one in the UK, it's meant to be the Marble Garden blue spinny thing you stand on. Does that even have a name? It was a bitch to get the toy to actually move, anyway.

That's what it's supposed to be? Would never have guessed.
Actually, it seems that toy worked totally different from the U.S. one:


You had to pull the string and Tails would launch into the air. Was lots of fun, although the last time I used mine it seemed to not work right anymore. =/

This post has been edited by Mecha Sally: 27 April 2013 - 03:36 PM