[Barry the Nomad]

Former SEGA head of marketing Al Nilsen will be appearing on the May 4th episode of the SEGAbits Swingin' Report Show! Al is probably one of our most important guests we've had on the show, and given his involvement in the upcoming Console Wars book and movie he will be even more of a legend.

I wanted to put the call out to the Sonic Retro and SEGAbits forums for questions people may have for Al regarding his days with SEGA during the early 90's. Anything involving the SEGA Genesis launch in America, working with Michael Katz and Tom Kalinske, and shaping Sonic the Hedgehog into the mascot be became in 1991.


We record on Sunday, May 4th, so post them here before then!

[muteKi]

Here's my question:

Sega's place in the console game scene in the 90s reminds me a lot of Pepsi's in the 80s; Pepsi's advertising consisted mainly of direct challenges that suggested it was a better product (I.e., the Pepsi challenge) and by positioning itself as a hipper, younger brand. These tactics tended to be very successful for Pepsi at the time, and match up pretty closely with the more successful stuff Sega of America was doing during the Genesis years -- directly challenging Nintendo ("What Nintendon't!" and pushing a much "cooler" image (such as the Sonic & Knuckles promotional event on Alcatraz). Was using these tactics adapting best practices of companies like Pepsi intentionally, or is the similarity mostly coincidence?

More succinctly: Were Sega's tactics in the 90s "console wars" inspired by the tactics of Pepsi in the 80s "cola wars"?

This post has been edited by muteKi: 22 April 2014 - 09:51 PM

[The KKM]

It was mentioned in that retrospective from a couple years ago that SEGA of America was planning to have "a famous cartoonist" redesign Sonic for the West. Wonder if Mr. Nilsen remembers/would be willing to say who this cartoonist was.

[Kiddo Cabbusses]

Can they explain why Sega ads seemed to go downhill going into the CD/32x/Saturn era? "YOU STICK IT IN YOUR GENESIS", urghh. <_<

[Black Squirrel]

The relationship with Japan is always a good one - lots of crossed wires with 32Xes and Saturns and whatever.

[Overlord]

How come they didn't try harder to keep the same name used for the Mega Drive everywhere else? Would it really have cost Sega that much to do so?

[doc eggfan]

I guess some perspectives about the Master System and it's failure in the US compared with other regions?

Did they consider re-releasing the master system as an entry level console, similar to how Atari rebranded the VCS as the 2600 when released with the 5200 and 7800?

Were any of the computer style accessories (keyboard, mouse, modem, floppy disk drive, drawing tablet) for the mega drive ever considered in the beginning as launch products?

This post has been edited by doc eggfan: 24 April 2014 - 04:30 AM

[Tanks]

Ask if they had any sort of rapport or contact in general with Nintendo. Considering this was a heated period, if any contact was ever made, it would be interesting to know whether the "Nintendon't" campaign lead to professional criticism or outright personal attacks.

[Barry the Nomad]

Thanks for the questions! We asked what we had time for! Questions we didn't ask are most likely answered in the book.