Sega vs Nintendo: A Marketing Masterclass

Believe it or not, back in the 80s and early 90s, only two names dominated the video game industry: Nintendo and Sega. 

By the late 80s, Nintendo had the video game market firmly in their grasp thanks to the success of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. 

Then along came Sega with the Genesis.

They wanted a piece of the console pie, so they hired Mattel’s Tom Kalinske as CEO to lead the charge. 

He soon developed his now famous five-point battle plan:

1. Lower the price

2. Defeat Mario

3. More sports games

4. Make it cool for teens

5. Make fun of Nintendo 

In terms of marketing, Nintendo didn’t know what hit them. 

To kick things off, Sega needed their own mascot to rival Mario, which seemed impossible at the time. And then Sonic the Hedgehog hit the scene. 

He was positioned as cool, rebellious, and edgy, in stark contrast to Nintendo’s kid-friendly Mario. 

Sonic immediately grabbed the hearts of teenage gamers and the wallets of their parents. 

Sega then needed an effective way of highlighting the technical superiority of their 16-bit Genesis console over Nintendo’s 8-bit NES. They did this with the brilliant “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” marketing campaign. 

The campaign made fun of Nintendo while showing off games that NES fans could only dream of playing on their ageing NES consoles. 

The FOMO was strong. 

Pushing it further, Sega bragged about their console’s “Blast Processing” in their ads. There was no such thing. Just another marketing stunt, but no one knew it at the time. 

Of course, the plan worked and Sega Genesis became a massive hit, taking a large chunk of market share from Nintendo. 

Despite Sega’s later misfortunes due to poor management decisions, the success they had with the Genesis proves that a great marketing strategy built on innovation and differentiation can give you the power to take on the biggest behemoths in the business world.