Sega Announces Holiday Campaign

It won't be easy for Sega this holiday season. Sony and Nintendo have all but forgotten their third-place competition. Not ready to throw in the towel, Sega announced Monday its fall advertising campaign, which aims to get gamers to give the Saturn a second look and see that Sega's games have better gameplay.

The company is spending US$25 million on the "Hard Stuff" campaign that will focus on both Saturn and Sega Entertainment PC titles. The broadcast campaign will be aired on MTV October 6, featuring five different spots: Sonic R, Last Bronx, NBA Action '98, NHL Hockey '98, and World Series Baseball '98.

In addition, Sega is branching out with advertisements in alternative publications like Bikini, Skateboarding, Snowboarder, Trans World, Thrasher, and Raygun.

Sega COO Bernard Stolar said in a statement today, "This campaign looks straight into the eyes of the Sega gamer and, with a wink of humor and a good-hearted jab, says we're serious about making great games. Our customers are smart, young, and defiantly proud. They don't want gore-mania humor or corny messages thrown at them. They want to be challenged with great-playing games, and this campaign is a means to issue that challenge."