October 19
2009
2009
frijole points out this bit of history involving Sega’s “Nintendon’t” ads compared to Verizon’s own “iDon’t” ads that target the Apple iPhone:
Verizon, take note.
Sega of America CEO Michael Katz instituted a two-part approach to build sales… The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo head-on and emphasize the more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis, summarized by the slogan “Genesis does what Nintendon’t”… Nonetheless, [the Sega Genesis] had a hard time overcoming Nintendo’s ubiquitous presence in the consumer’s home.
[Katz was let go in mid-1990, and replaced with Tom Kalinske.] He developed a four-point plan: cut the price of the console; create a US-based team to develop games targeted at the American market; continue and expand the aggressive advertising campaigns; and replace the bundled game with a new title, Sonic the Hedgehog. Magazines praised Sonic as one of the greatest games yet made, and Sega’s console finally took off as customers who had been waiting for the Super NES decided to purchase a Genesis instead.
— Mega Drive on Wikipedia
