SEGA and the (brief) history of marketing with soccer teams

Everyone knows that when SEGA was on top, the company spent a lot of money on huge marketing campaigns. In Europe, SEGA found a different way to promote the brand to young people.

Back in the 2000s, SEGA sponsored four teams from the European league: Arsenal(England), Sampdoria(Italy), Deportivo de La Coruna(Spain), and the AS Saint-Etienne(France). These four teams ran across the field with the Dreamcast logo emblazoned on their shirts.  However, it was not the only logo to be carried by the soccer teams. SEGA also promoted the Dream Arena, which was a free online gaming service provided to all SEGA Dreamcast consoles in Europe.

Promoting Dreamcast this way was not a bad idea at all, and the majority of fans who watch soccer matches in Europe at that time were between 16 and 30 years old, which is probably the same age as people who play video games. I would like to think that being the main sponsor of a club like Arsenal must have been very expensive.

In the middle of the 90s, SEGA also used the same strategy to promote Sonic in Japan. The Tokyo team, JEF United Ichihara Chiba, had Sonic the Hedgehog on its jersey, which is one of the most iconic shirts of all time.

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