Come Fly(er) With Me - An Exploration of Dreamcast Flyers

 

For the sake of fitting an awful pun into this article's title, I've decided to call those little bits of paper whose purpose is to crassly shill a product or service, 'flyers'. Around these parts I believe the more commonly used term is 'leaflet', although I suspect folks on either side of the pond (and indeed elsewhere in the Anglosphere) will know what is being referred to regardless of which term is employed. Flyer, leaflet, handbill, pamphlet, handout, circular; why there are so many synonyms beats me.

Regardless of linguistic preferences though, the purpose of these objects in angling for sales is all the same, as is the typical end result. After being thrust into your hand on the street by a weary-eyed distributor, or unceremoniously jammed through your letterbox, most flyers are dumped straight in the (recycling) bin, perhaps after being afforded a brief glance if they are lucky. After all, once they have conveyed their message to the reader their primary purpose has been fulfilled. Fortunately though for geeks like us, a hefty crop of Dreamcast flyers have managed to survive the perils of the last 20 years and are safely tucked away in private collections. Of course, keeping a hold of printed material like this isn't a sign of deviant hoarding instincts. Oh no, this is all about curating a collection and preserving precious artefacts.

Ok, ok, calling a pre-order form for Sega Bass Fishing a precious artefact might be an egregious bastardisation of the English language. However, it wouldn't be unreasonable to presume that flyers may hold some kind of value that makes them worthy of preservation - whether that be to hobby enthusiasts with a penchant for oddities, or folks undertaking more serious research into video game history. Therefore in the interests of appeasing these pressing needs, I've recently scanned and uploaded around 20 or so Dreamcast flyers for your viewing pleasure.

What follows is a full list of the haul, with titles hyperlinked to PDF files hosted over at the virtual Aladdin's den that is Sega Retro. Scribblings on some of the more noteworthy pieces can also be found below the list for our hardier readers…

• @barai Eternal Arcadia (4 pages, Japan, 2000) 
• DeeDee Planet (2 pages, Japan, 2000)
  
• Dreamarena Xtreme Dream competition postcard (double-sided, UK, 2000)
  
• Dreamcast Karaoke (2 pages, Japan, 2001)
  
• Dreamcast E3 postcard (double-sided, USA, 1999)
  
• Dreamcast launch (6 pages, Japan, 1998)
  
• Dreamcast launch feat. Hidekazu Yukawa (1 page, Japan, 1998)
• Dreamcast launch postcard (double-sided, Spain, 1999)
• Dreamcast-Scene.com and Wind & Water Puzzle Battles (double-sided, Germany, 2008)
  
• Dreameye (4 pages, Japan, 2000)
  
• Evolution (quad-fold A4, Japan, 1998)
• Garou: Mark of the Wolves postcard (Japan, 2001)
  
• Grandia II (quad-fold A4, Japan, 2000)
• Maken X (tri-fold A4, Japan, 1999)
  
• Phantasy Star Online (tri-fold A4, Japan, 2000)
• Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear competition postcard (double-sided, UK, 2001)
• Record of Lodoss War postcard (double-sided, UK, 2000)
  
• Roadsters (2 pages, UK, 2000)
• Sega Bass Fishing (2 pages, UK, 1999)
  
• Shutoko Battle 2 (8 pages, Japan, 2000)
  
• Space Channel 5 postcard (double-sided, US, 2000)
  
• Speed Devils (2 pages, Japan, 1999)
• WAO! Sega WAO! (6 pages, Japan, 2000)
  

Genki Show-off the Goods

That's an awful lot of copy squeezed into a two-page spread! Here Genki seem to be hoping that readers will gaup in awe at the length of their race track and the selection of souped-up cars on offer.

The marketers at Sega and Genki evidently felt that Shutoko Battle 2 (Tokyo Highway Challenge 2 in PAL regions) warranted more space than usual to flaunt it's red-hot features, shelving the typical flyer format for an 8 page 'Special Guide Book'. As to be expected, the piece delves into hyperbolic detail about the game's graphical improvements, enlarged track and various modes, but also includes an interesting little interview with two of the developers, Tomo Kimura and Tsutomu Hagiwara. Props to Mr Kimura for rocking that mullet in the year 2000 - a brave move that is worthy of our upmost respect.

Wao? Yes, WAO!

Apologies for the bodged centre-fold where two pages meet. Despite this I wanted to exhibit this two-page art piece in all it's glory. The PDF linked to above provides a much higher quality view.

Given the peculiar font used, at first glance I assumed the 'WAO!' emblazoned all over this flyer was a brand name of some sort. That stylised 'O' is definitely supposed to be something other than just a letter, but I haven't the foggiest what (answers in the comments please). After digging a little further though, I discovered that 'wao' appears to just roughly translate to 'wow', and Sega are suggesting that customers would be 'wowed' by the cornucopia of internet services available via the Dreamcast. Many of the features shown, such as video-chatting via the Dreameye and on-demand downloads of Mega Drive and PC Engine classics, as fleeting as they may have been, did in fact exist. Others, such as the chance to get a medical check-up via your Dreamcast (a horrendous idea with dystopian undertones), never came to pass. In any case, the distinctive art style shown on the inner pages is quite endearing and the flyer shows how ambitious Sega were with their vision for the expansive role that the Dreamcast would play in domestic settings.

High Hopes for @barai

The @barai concept explained via cartoon strip, complete with FAQ.

 
@barai was one of many innovative concepts that was put into practice for the Dreamcast. As advertised and explained in this flyer, @barai versions only allowed players to progress part-way through a game, after which point a digital key needed to be purchased to unlock the full game. These editions sold for a much lower price than regular retail releases, thereby allowing customers to try a game without committing to a big outlay of cash. Sega clearly had hopes that @barai would catch-on, touting the likes of Illbleed and House of the Dead 2 as future releases, but that wasn't to be. Aside from Eternal Arcadia, Hundred Swords was the only other title to actually get the @barai treatment.

Xtreme Dreams

Did Sega ever really care about my Xtreme Dreams, or did they just want to lure me onto Dreamarena to inflate my dial-up internet bill even further?

XTREME! I had been blissfully ignorant of the fact that this iteration of the word 'extreme' had seeped over onto our shores, assuming that it was safely contained over in the United States. Alas, as seen here, it reared its head in the title of the 'Xtreme Dream' competition that Sega was operating for Dreamarena users in the year 2000. To enter, Dreamarena users simply had to explain their dream holiday to Sega who would then stump-up the funds to make it a reality for selected lucky winners. Who actually won this competition? Was their holiday in fact 'Xtreme'? Here lies another mystery that should be thrown onto the heaving in-tray of our in-house private investigator, Tom Charnock.

* * *

I'll mercifully wrap things up my ramblings here, but must close out with an obligatory appeal to readers. Who else has curios like these squirreled away in dusty cupboards? Why not scan and share them before they are 'accidentally' scrapped during a spring clean or perish in a mains water leak? Come on, let's be having you!

It's Thinking: An Interview With Brian Bacino - The Man Behind The Iconic Dreamcast Slogan

The Dreamcast's North American launch was one of the most successful console launches of all time. It boasted a line up of games that was unmatched in terms of variety and quality, and an air of untouchable swagger and confidence swirled around Sega that hadn't been seen since the days of the Genesis. Key to the success of the Dreamcast's introduction to the lucrative American market was undoubtedly the bombastic and memorable advertising campaign that supported the console.

The iconic 'It's Thinking' TV commercials and the memorable launch date of 9.9.99 were powerful weapons in Sega's arsenal when waging a marketing war against Sony and Nintendo for consumer dollars. However, these two components of marketing collateral did not come about by pure coincidence. They were thoughtfully constructed prongs of the same pincer movement strategy, and arguably helped to propel the Dreamcast into millions of American homes in those first few months post launch.

Here, in an exclusive interview we talk to Brian Bacino, the man behind the North American advertising campaign. As former Creative Director at respected advertising house Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) of San Francisco, Brian was instrumental in the creation of the Dreamcast brand and the system's early success...

DCJY: Brian, first allow me to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. The Dreamcast console really was a game-changer when it was released (pun intended!) and still holds a dear place in the hearts of a lot of gamers. To kick things off, could you give us a brief description of what your role was at FCB and specifically with the Sega Dreamcast commercials?

Brian Bacino: Hi Tom – thanks, I’m totally psyched to talk about the Dreamcast launch. It was an epic adventure in advertising, full of drama, plot twists and explosions! I was FCB San Francisco’s SVP Group Creative Director/Writer in charge of the launch and roll out of The Sega Dreamcast. My partner, Steve Fong, and I conceived and created the ‘It’s Thinking’ campaign and the ‘Apocalypse’ launch film – heralded in 1999 by several video game magazines as “the most epic video game commercial ever created!” Steve and I would not argue.

New Subway Commercial Features A Dreamcast

Never let it be said that we here at the Junkyard let any hint of a Dreamcast - no matter how slight - go undocumented. The latest appearance in media approaching 'mainstream' of our beloved console comes in a new web commercial for Subway's latest sandwich - the Reuben:

Keep an eye on the bottom left of the video. Thanks to Facebook group member Preston Weaver for bringing this to our attention!

ICYMI. Is that arrow big enough? Hmm...

Naturally, the Dreamcast appeared in its own series of advertisements, many of which we have documented in the not too distant past.

Related Articles:

• Why Don't We Play Together?
• In Search of the Barber (series)
• Subliminal Advertising
• The Mr Yukawa Commercials Have Been Translated
• ExistenZ - That Rubbish Movie Sponsored By Dreamcast
• The Beautiful Game

The Mr Yukawa Dreamcast TV Commercials Have Been Translated

You. You there, reading this nonsense right now. Yes you! Do you know who Mr Yukawa is? Of course you do - he's the total legend of a bloke who not only ran Sega Japan back in the day (or something), but also had his image festooned across all manner of Dreamcast clobber once upon a time. He was also in the Shenmue bonus disc (read about it here) and even had his own Dreamcast game (read about it here). Mr Yukawa became something of an icon for Sega in his home country, and was the star of a series of TV commercials for the Dreamcast but until very recently these adverts were only available in their native tongue.

Enter Mr Jim M. Ballard, a polyglot with - by his own admission - far too much free time on his hands. The devil, it is said, makes work for these idle hands but we would vehemently disagree - especially since Jim turned said appendages to adding English subtitles to the entire series of Mr Yukawa Dreamcast adverts:

You can find the rest of the series here in Jim's YouTube playlist. Thanks to this dedication, the anglophones in the room can now also share the epic ups and downs of Mr Yukawa's struggle to make Sega great again.

Related articles:

• A Quick Look At Mr Yukawa's Treasure Hunt
• A Quick Look At What's Shenmue
• Why Don't We Play Together? - Dreamcast Advertising Around Europe
• In Search Of The Barber - The Hunt For The Star Of The EU Campaign
• The Beautiful Game - Dreamcast Advertising In Football

An Interview With Pierre Santino - The Dreamcast Barber

It took us over a year, with countless emails and tweets and hours of internet searching. But we finally did it, we found The Barber. The full story is documented in this series of articles:

• In Search Of The Barber: Part One
• In Search Of The Barber: Part Two
• In Search Of The Barber: Part Three

We know how the tl;dr (too long, didn't read) modern internet works though, so the abridged version is this: a guy played a barber in a Dreamcast commercial. He was the face of the console in Europe and his image was everywhere for a few months in late 1999 and early 2000...then he simply disappeared. No record of his name, or who he was left anywhere on the promotional materials, and internet searches turned up nothing. His identity could have been lost to the digital mists of internet lore...that is until The Dreamcast Junkyard stepped in and decided to find out who he was. If you've been following this whole saga you'll know how we did it (and the assistance we had from the wider Dreamcast community), but if not I urge you to read the previous In Search Of The Barber articles to get a full appreciation for how mammoth a task this has been.

This photo is from Pierre's private collection and has never been published before.

Anyway, it's all come to this. We have found him. His name is Pierre Santino and he is alive and well living and working in France. An actor and comedian with an extensive portfolio of work spanning 40 years, Pierre was only too happy (and possibly a little surprised) when we showed him the previous articles documenting our search for him. As he is French and speaks very little English, we enlisted the help of Arnaud Bonnet (author of 1000 Jeux Vidéo, 1000 Anecdotes published by Pix'n Love Editions) who acted as an interpreter. Huge thanks go to Arnaud for his assistance in the translation of this interview from English, to French...and back again. Enough from me though. Let us turn our attention to the man of the moment - The Barber himself, Mr Pierre Santino...

The Dreamcast Beach Football Challenge

On the 15th July 2000, Sega held the inaugural Dreamcast Beach Football Challenge at Richmond Athletics Ground in Essex, UK. I say 'inaugural,' but I'm pretty sure there wasn't a repeat event the following year, as by April 2001 Sega had already taken their ball and gone home. Regardless, this event is quite interesting as it was primarily hosted by Sega Europe as a marketing campaign designed to spread awareness of the Dreamcast in Europe and the UK. Plus, the event was helped no end by the international footballing glitterati that was invited to take part.

What I wouldn't give to own that tent in the background.

Most notable amongst the sporting royalty was none other than Manchester United legend Eric Cantona, who represented with a team of French ex-international players. Other teams taking part in the tournament included Manchester United Greats, Liverpool Legends and Arsenal Allstars. Naturally, the other teams comprised ex-players from the respective clubs, and by all accounts the event was a huge crowd pleaser. According to this article from 2000, Sega imported over 750 tonnes of sand for the games to be played on, and over 4,000 spectators crammed into the venue to watch the footballing magic unfold. Elsewhere, according to a small report in Dreamcast Magazine issue 12, there were multiple console pods dotted around and lots of freebies for the attendees. France walked away the victors (thumping Manchester United 5-3 in the final), but check out these photos of this lesser-known Dreamcast event:

We're pretty confident that this whole thing was a lot more credible than the Sega Spud Dive, but ultimately it did little to alter the Dreamcast's fortunes. Were you at the Dreamcast Beach Football Challenge on that July day in 2000? Did you grab any merchandise? If so, please share your memories of the event in the comments section!

Star-Spangled Box Art

I realise that this post will date extremely quickly, but as it's US Independence Day I thought I would take a quick look at something relevant, but that we haven't really touched on in the past - the different types of US Dreamcast hardware and software packaging. But first: a public service announcement:

Happy Independence Day!

Now that's out of the way, let's begin. The PAL Dreamcast packaging never actually changed from the day the system was launched, to the day Sega drop-kicked the Dreamcast into a wheelie bin. It was always the same - the blue and white boxes, minimalist text and a few warning labels. From a design perspective, this packaging was perfectly serviceable and suited the Dreamcast's image well. There were a few special edition cardboard sleeves that went around the console boxes (and the House of the Dead 2 gun set), but for the most part PAL hardware boxes didn't vary. In the US though, the packaging underwent something of a major redesign about a year after the system's launch.

The original packaging looks like this:

How a Dreamcast looks when you've got a hangover.

As far as console boxes go, it's quite nice. The slightly out-of-focus console lit from various angles with orange and blue is certainly eye-catching, and the design on the left that mirrors the Dreamcast GD drive door and LED lens is a nice nod to the actual physical styling of the console. Indeed, Sega also used this 'side bar' design on the game boxes/manuals too. Elsewhere in the hardware catalogue, the imagery was replicated - the keyboard and controller boxes also used a similar design:

How the controller looks when you've got a hangover.

How the keyboard...you get the idea. Sigh.

In Search Of The Barber

The various Dreamcast advertising campaigns hold a certain fascination for me. The It's Thinking and Mr Sega/Yukawa campaigns from the US and Japan respectively were massively successful and we've looked at them in the recent past (just don't mention the Spud Dive). Before you groan 'not another advertising post' though, please bear with me. This is slightly different for reasons which will become apparent. The European advertising campaign for the Dreamcast launch was made up of several different TV and cinema adverts, but the one most people will be familiar with is this one:

The advert is known as Shave, and I'm sure you've seen it before or possibly even remember when it was shown on (European) TV and in cinemas back in that brief period in 1999/2000 when the world was gripped by Dreamcast-mania.

So let's break it down. Robbie Williams' Let Me Entertain You blares, rather appropriately from the speakers as a bunch of fresh-faced Foreign Legion recruits are lead into the barbers studio of some form of military installation. Three barbers await, and are labelled as players one, two and three and then quickly set about engaging in a battle to see who can shave their conscript's head the fastest. Player Two comes out on top as the guard looks on, the younger competitors beaten by the experience of their older adversary. Victorious, the character whom we will henceforth refer to as The Barber, gives a wry smile to the camera as the story comes to a close. It's not a bad advert by any means, and sets the scene perfectly - the Dreamcast was all about multi-player competition after all, what with all the online gubbins. There are some negative points, such as the way no game footage at all was used (and likewise in the other advert from this campaign entitled Buoy) but that's a different story.

Now, I did do a post fairly recently where I looked briefly at the (slightly xenophobic) European campaigns, but this time I want to focus solely on something that has been bugging me for a while: just who is the winning barber in this advert? For a very short period between 1999 and 2000, this gentleman's face was plastered all over TV and cinema screens; a poster showing him posing with a barber's chair and hair clippers could be found in pretty much every games shop in the land, and the vast majority of Dreamcast games came with a 'coming soon' pamphlet in the rear compartment with this guy all over them. But do a Google search for 'Dreamcast barber' or words to that effect...and do you know what you'll find? Nothing. Not a bean, other than a few images like this - most of which come from this very site:

So the question remains: just who is the actor who portrays The Barber? What is his name? Did he appear in any other productions and what did he make of his five minutes of fame? In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot...

The Madness Of The SEGA Spud Dive

Sega's various Dreamcast advertising campaigns are well documented here at the 'Yard. We've looked extensively at the efforts of the Japanese, American and European arms of the company to push the Dreamcast brand and also witnessed the mixed results. However, there is one publicity stunt that there is comparatively little information about online: the Sega Spud Dive.

No, we haven't gone senile - you read that right. The Spud Dive was an attempt to drum up media attention for the Dreamcast in the US right around the time of the Japanese launch in 1998, and involved members of the public literally diving into a 2000 gallon vat of cold mashed potatoes to search for the letters that make up the words 'Sega' and 'Dreamcast.' The prize for collecting the letters within the 45 second time limit? One of the first Dreamcast systems at the US launch, along with all the launch games and $1000 in cash. Not bad for swimming around in cold mash for less than a minute. According to this report from the LA Times, 100 people took part in the first Spud Dive held on Hollywood Boulevard on the morning of Monday 23rd November 1998. Sega of America spokesman Dan Stevens said of the event:

"We've heard of consumers in America who are already putting down money for the systems, so we planned an event where fans could win them now. Since it's Thanksgiving week, what could be more appropriate than mashed potatoes?"

Indeed Dan, indeed. Using that logic, maybe Sony or Microsoft should get people to jump into a vat of cold kebab meat, chips and lager next time they release a game on a Friday. Or even better, have a truck-load of said games stolen the day before release (topical joke - check). Snark aside, the Spud Dive held in 1998 seems to have been something of a success, and the local news media certainly lapped it up. Any publicity is good publicity, even if it does involve getting mashed potatoes in every orifice.

The winner of the first prize on that fateful November morning was Daniel Aguilar, and true to it's word Sega presented him with his prize almost a year later in September 1999. Peter Moore was the man who had the honour of handing Daniel his prize.

Taken shortly before Moore set fire to the factory and ran away to Microsoft

The story of the Spud Dive doesn't end here though. Almost two years later Sega Spud Dive 2000 attempted to recreate the media frenzy of the original, and as documented in this assessment of the event (by the PR firm assigned to run the promotion), it was even weirder than the first:

As the holiday season approached, both the gaming and consumer media were focused on Sony PS2. Sega’s objectives were to generate coverage for Sega Dreamcast to reinforce the Sega brand and send the message that consumers would do anything to get their hands on Sega Dreamcast, the wise alternative to the expensive, hard-to-find PS2. This coverage would increase consumers’ intent to purchase during the fourth quarter.

A stage, 2,000-gallon above-ground pool, and a fully-equipped PA system were secured for the event. Sega Dreamcast signage was prominently placed in various locations to ensure coverage. In the hours leading up to the actual event, a lottery was held to select five participants for the contest. Access also hired two actors to portray George W. Bush and Al Gore, who were still officially tied in their presidential race to ensure that media had an additional newsy angle with a great visual. Changing rooms and clean-up areas were also secured for messy contestants.

Interestingly, the analysis of the event goes into detail about the media coverage that was given to Spud Dive 2000 (or Spud Dive 2K, as it's referred to); and that local news crews from various cities around the US were invited to either film proceedings or that B-roll was supplied to them for nightly news shows. However, a quick scout around sites like YouTube and Vimeo yields no evidence that any of this has been archived online - certainly not in the usual places, anyway.

Further to this, it appears that the first Spud Dive in 1998 was actually preceded by a much smaller pilot event in 1997 to mark the release of Sonic R on the Saturn; where a 350 gallon vat was filled with potatoes and contestants had to find a golden ring in order to win prizes. Here's the press release as archived by SEGA Retro. What's with all the potato, eh Sega?

In summary, Spud Dive 2000 was an attempt by Sega of America to hi-jack sales of the newly-released PlayStation 2 right before the busy Thanksgiving shopping period...and the pièce de résistance of the whole shebang? Having two actors portraying Al Gore and George W. Bush hanging around the event in an attempt to loosely tie the whole potatoey clusterfuck to the presidential elections. Hats off to them for trying something fun and original, but you literally couldn't make this shit up. Sony are literally about to embark on a world-crushing campaign of destruction with the PlayStation 2, and meanwhile Sega have members of the public jumping into cold mashed potatoes while two jobbing lookalikes prance around telling political anecdotes.

A few months later Sega cancelled production of the Dreamcast.

The Beautiful Game

In the early days of the Dreamcast, Sega was riding high on a crest of positive publicity and the system was truly light years ahead of anything else in the console market. While Sega of America was kicking ass in the the US, the European arm of the company decided to take the crusade in a slightly different direction - to the packed stadia of the football world.

We have looked at Sega Europe's slightly misguided TV and print advertising campaign in the recent past, but one aspect of this assault on the subconscious of the 'casual' gamer was the decision to sponsor some of Europe's biggest football teams. And by 'football,' I obviously mean 'soccer.' Sega Europe sponsored four teams in total - Arsenal (England), Sampdoria (Italy), St Etienne (France) and Deportivo de la Coruña (Spain).

Why Don't We Play Together?

The American Dreamcast launch has gained something of a mythical status in this zeitgeist period of celebratory retro-overindulgence. The whole 9.9.99 campaign was a major success as far as console launches went up until that point, and the advertising slogan (It's Thinking) was a fairly interesting tagline that implied that the system was so advanced that it could become self aware at any moment, unhook itself from the TV and bludgeon you to death with an iron while you slept soundly in your cosy warm bed. Happily, reports of this type of occurence were swept under the rug by Sega of America's black ops dept and so life just went on as normal for the vast majority of us. The UK release of the Dreamcast was intended for the first half of September 1999, but due to British Telecom's testing of the Dreamcast network running over deadline, the system didn't launch until October. That's not really relevant here though - what I want to look at in this post is the marketing stategy Sega Europe employed in place of the mighty 'It's Thinking' campaign waged by their US colleagues. The story behind the Dreamcast's various UK and EU advertising campaigns is a muddled one, and involves a plethora of different agencies fighting for a slice of Sega's reported £60m marketing war chest.

This man will happily eat your soul. With Cianti.