SEGA
The Visual Strategy Guide
Visual Strategy Guide
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Visual Strategy Guide
Contents
Contents 02 Chapter 1 04 Brand Description 06
Brand Timeline
08 Chapter 2 10 Brand Soul 12
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Personas
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Current Life
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Future Life
Brand Verve
28 Chapter 3 30 Competition 38
Brand Attributes
Visual Strategy Guide
Chapter 01
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Chapter 01
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Brand Description
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Brand Timeline
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Brand Description
About Us Founded in 1960 in Honolulu Hawaii, Sega quickly became a titan in the video game industry. Sega Corporation is a Japanese multinational video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Their main objective is planning, development, sales and operation of games for home video game consoles, PCs and smart devices, arcade games, prizes and digital services. Sega’s international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are respectively headquartered in California, and London. From 1983 until 2002, Sega also developed video game consoles. Sega was founded by American businessmen Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan on June 3, 1960; shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan. After the launch of the Genesis, Sega wanted a new series to compete with Nintendo’s Mario series. They created Sonic the Hedgehog who went on to feature in one of the best-selling video game franchises in history. Sonic the Hedgehog began with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka involving a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a winding tube; this was fleshed out with Naoto Ohshima’s character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara. Sonic’s color was chosen to match Sega’s cobalt blue logo; his shoes were inspired by Michael Jackson’s boots, and his personality by Bill Clinton’s “can-do” attitude.
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Visual Strategy Guide
Brand History
1960
1966 1965
1969
1974
1960
1969
Founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart
Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries.
1965
1973
Nihon Goraku Bussan acquired Rosen Enterprises to form Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
Sega released Pong-Tron, its first video-based game.
1966 The first electromechanical game Sega manufactured was the submarine simulator Periscope, released worldwide.
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1973
1974 Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, Ltd., Sega Enterprises, Inc.
Brand History
1982
1989
1988
2002
1998
1982
1998
Sega developed its first home video game system, the SG-1000, alongside the SC-3000.
The Dreamcast launched in Japan.
1988 Sega released the Master System’s successor, the Mega Drive, in Japan.
1989
2022
2002 The Dreamcast, discontinued in 2002, was Sega’s last video game console.
2022 Sega is re-branded.
The Genesis was launched in New York City & LA.
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Chapter 02
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Chapter 02
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Brand Soul
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Keywords
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Personas
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Current Life
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Future Life
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Visual Strategy Guide
Brand Soul Soul: Provides challenges for users to overcome in order to improve and level themselves up.
Mission Statement: Captivate the audience with their unique experiences to help people better themselves.
USP: Sega brought the fun of arcade games into your home with its iconic characters.
Potential Expansion: Sega has potential to expand into becoming a brand that gets people more active. Their soul is to provide challenges in order to create unique experiences and they can do that by creating a triathlon that will push its users to get up and be active.
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Keywords
Keywords Competitive: Giving users something to look forward to with each game and helping people want to improve and better themselves with every play.
Evolve: Users will be able to push their limits and discover new things about themselves. The goal is to help users become better versions of themselves.
Enjoyment: The game allows you to forget problems and focus your mind on something else for a bit to relax and have fun.
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Personas Personas are fictional characters created to represent real life people that would use the brand. The personas are composed of ethnographic traits which personify the character and connect them to the goals of the brand. This helps designers focus on what they can do with the brand to improve it so that the users will get the most out of it. Personas help designers think beyond just what they would like to include to what the user will need. When thinking of personas it is important to be diverse so that we can see the brand from the point of view of different people with different lifestyle. Although all these people are different, they all value these things:
Competitive: Enjoys competing with others to push themselves and others to be better
Driven: Are able to push themselves to reach that next goal and complete any challenges.
Excited: Open to trying new things for the challenge.
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Personas
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Kim Tran
The Traveler
Competitive Driven Excited
29 | Chicago | Photographer
Kim is familiar with different cultures because she gets to travel the world thanks to her job as a photographer. Kim shares her work with friends to get critiques because she feels having second opinions on her work helps make it better. Kim is used to her busy schedule of travel because she has always tried to keep herself busy with work otherwise she gets bored. Kim enjoys watching tutorial videos in her free time because she feels she can always learn something new. Kim has moved up in her field quickly because she goes the extra mile to make sure all her work is top notch. Kim makes sure she is in shape because she has to move a lot on foot during shoots and if she cannot she won’t be able to do her job. Kim tries to be different with each shoot because she wants to create unique work that others might someday use as examples.
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Jay Shetty
The Stay at home Dad Competitive Driven Excited
45 | Seattle | Dad
Jay starts his mornings off with a workout because he wants to be able to stay in shape and set a good example for his daughter. Since Jay is a stay at home day he knows he has to push himself extra hard to workout because he knows if he doesn’t he will get lazy and no work will get done. Jay follows various fitness channels on YouTube because he is able to learn new things every time that he can incorporate into his daily life. One of Jay’s hobbies is cooking, he tries to make new meals each night because he remembers being a child and having to eat the same thing everyday. Jay enjoys reading in his free time because he enjoys the stories and going on adventures with the characters. Jay is teaching his daughter how to play chess because when he was younger his father taught him and it was what made him competitive. Jay creates games for his daughter to get her to do chores because she is more willing to do them when she thinks shes winning a game.
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Maria Lopez
The Teacher
Competitive Driven Excited
42 | Oklahoma | Elementary School Teacher
Maria teaches a third grade class because she loves children and enjoys the challenge of teaching. Maria tries to use arts and crafts to help her students learn because seeing things visually helps them understand more than just reading all day. Maria gives a lot of feedback to the school because she wants her school to offer the best education for the students as they possibly can. Maria loves to invent new games for her class to play because she knows it makes learning more interesting. Maria encourages respectful behavior in her classroom because she knows when people treat others with respect not only do they feel better about themselves but the other person feels happy too. Maria shows examples of previous student work to her class because she knows that it will help them understand the material better and encourage them to do just as good a job. Maria keeps parents updated on the students progress because she wants each student to succeed.
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Colin Reed
The Student
Competitive Driven Excited
23 | Dallas | Undergraduate Student
Steven is always reading up on news about the newest games because he wants to stay informed and up to date. Steven also likes to go to the bar on his days off because he enjoys meeting new people and ends up learning cool things about them. Steven attends guest lectures from game companies because he gets to learn what the big companies are working on and gives him ideas to think about for projects he is working on. Steven is majoring in Game Design because he spent his childhood playing video games with his friends and wants others to experience that same joy. Steven still meets his friends on the weekend to play games because he enjoys the time the spend joking around and trying to one up each other. Steven gets people to test out his projects because they are able to quickly help him understand what he needs to fix and what is good so far. Steven always stays after class to chat with the professor because they always have interesting stories to tell him about the gaming world.
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Nina Nakai
The Realtor
Competitive Driven Excited
54 | Las Vegas | Real Estate Agent
Nina gets to meet all types of people at work because she sells many different types of homes in the market. Nina gets to know the people because she believes the best way to do business is to build connections with the other person. Nina attends forums and lectures to learn how to be a better Realtor because she believes that there is always room to improve at what you do. Nina has a big responsibility to do good because the company she works for belonged to her parents and now she has taken over. Nina makes sure that she can find the best deal for her clients because she wants to make sure they sign with her and not others, otherwise she would lose business. Nina prefers to hire professionals when preparing a house for sale because she wants the clients first impressions of the house to be great. Nina always notes down things from each meeting because she wants to review it in her free time and improve herself for the future.
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Noel Mendoza
The Musician
Competitive Driven Excited
36 | San Francisco | Professional Violinist
Noel enjoys going to music events because he enjoys the opportunity to listen to new music and meet like minded friends in the community. Noel enjoys tuning and messing around with his violin because he feels that just messing around and having fun is when he creates his best work. Noel has a part time gig teaching Piano because he enjoys introducing others to the craft he loves. Noel has gotten to work with famous musicians in the past because he was able to showcase his talents and work his way up to the top. Noel plans on making a record album because he thinks that will be the best way to get people to hear him play. Noel bikes to his gigs because he enjoys the solo time he has to himself right before his performances. Noel writes and composes music in his free time because he hopes someday people will play his songs.
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Not a target audience persona
Tanya Asad
The Writer
Competitive Driven Excited
33 | Miami | Magazine Writer
Tanya spends a lot of time on the computer working on her magazine articles because she knows her readers always expect great content. Tanya reads up on articles from other magazines to check what they are talking about because she gets a chance to learn from what they do and incorporate it into her own articles. Tanya tries to win any award her work has to offer because it pushes her to work harder, and even if she doesn’t win she knows she did her best. Tanya loves to hang out with her friends and go on adventures because she gets to get her mind off work for a bit and enjoy the chance to travel. Tanya’s articles do great each time because she is able to relate stories back to everyday life so more people can connect to them. Tanya loves reading feedback on her work because it gives her an opportunity to revise and improve for the next article. Tanya’s favorite part about her job is meeting new people because she gets to learn interesting things she didn’t know before.
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Not a target audience persona
Mark Edwards
The Veteran
Competitive Driven Excited
60 | New York City | Retired Veteran
Mark spends his time at home watching over his grandkids because he is disabled and unable to move too much. Mark likes to show his grandkids magic tricks because he remembers when his grandfather used to show them to him when he was younger. Mark tells his grandkids about his stories of war because he is proud of what he accomplished while serving his country. Mark wants to write a book about his time at war because he wants share his experiences with everyone. Mark loves helping his grandkids out with their homework because he remembers how he used to bond with his grandfather when he helped him with his work. Mark writes letters to his war buddies because he wants to make sure he stays in touch with them. Mark enjoys the company of other kids and parents when they come over to play with his grandkids because it gives him a chance to meet new people.
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Visual Strategy Guide
Current Life Currently Sega focuses on building games for popular consoles without a real identity of their own. They are trying to stay relevant by using their iconic characters and putting them aside other popular mascots.
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Current Life
SEGA
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Future Life The future of Sega will focus on having their own identity again by bringing people together in the community. Sega focused on bringing the game home so people can play in the comfort of their homes but now we will switch to people coming together to play with each other.
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Future Life
SEGA
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Chapter 03
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Chapter 03
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Competition
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Brand Attributes
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Competition Sega challenges its users and in return gives them an amazing experience with their games. However in the world of games they themselves have plenty of competition of their own. In this section we look at who those brands are and how they challenged Sega.
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Competition
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Current Competition Currently Sega creates video games showcasing its iconic characters to help sell their product. Here we are looking at 10 brands who are also in the video game business that are competition to Sega.
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Nintendo:
PlayStation:
Nintendo is a Japanese video game company that makes in home and handheld gaming consoles and games. They have one of the most popular characters, Mario.
PlayStation is owned by Sony and creates games and consoles sold worldwide. They have released five consoles so far each doing better than its previous model.
X Box:
EA Sports:
X Box is owned by Microsoft and creates video game consoles. It is on its fifth console so far. X Box also has its own streaming service called X Box Live.
Electronic Arts creates sports video games. They have games ranging from the NBA to the UFC, Rugby, Cricket and even Golf.
Competition
Ubisoft:
Bandai Namco:
Ubisoft is a French video game company with headquarters in Paris. They are the fourth largest publicly traded game company in America and Europe.
Bandai Namco specializes in toys, video games, arcades, anime and amusement parks. They also supply arcade machines to movie theaters and arcades across the world.
Rockstar:
Activision Blizzard:
Rockstar is a video game publishing company in America that specializes in action-adventure and racing games. Their most popular game series is Grand Theft Auto.
Activision Blizzard is a video game holding company based in California. Major games include Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and World of Warcraft.
Gameloft:
2K:
Gameloft is a French video game company that mainly focuses on mobile games in all genres.
2K is a video game company based in California that specializes in sports games. Their catalog consists of gaming series such as NBA 2K series and the BioShock series.
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Adjacent Competition While video games have been the craze for a long time, there are people that choose to do other things to achieve that same unique experience that Sega provides. Here we look at 10 brands that users might go to that do something besides making video games.
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vTech:
Hasbro:
vTech is a global supplier of electronic learning products for children up until preschool. They are also one of the top fifty electronic manufacturing services.
Hasbro is an American multinational conglomerate with toy, board games and media assets. Some of their top games include Scrabble, Monopoly and Guess Who.
Hot Wheels:
Fisher Price:
Hot Wheels is a brand for die cast toy cars. Many car manufacturers have licensed Hot Wheels to create scale models of their cars
Fisher Price creates educational toys for infants, toddlers and children. They focus on helping kids learn basic things before starting school.
Competition
Lego:
Mattel:
Lego is a line of plastic construction toys that allows children and adults to explore their creative side and build whatever they want.
Mattel is a toy manufacturing company that has a presence in over 40 countries and sells to over 150 countries.
Nerf:
Leap Frog:
Nerf is a toy brand that creates foam based weaponry and gear such as footballs, basketballs and baseball.
Leapfrog is an educational entertainment and electronic company that creates toy products designed help learning for children.
Playskool:
Goliath:
Playskool is an American company that creates educational games and toys for children. They focus making the games more than just for play but for learning as well.
Goliath is an international family owned game brand that creates toy games for children.
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Aspirational Competition We are re branding Sega into a more active brand that is still true to its soul of challenging its users to give them a unique experience. Here we look at 10 brands that do just that, that Sega will have to compete with.
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Spartan Race:
Lynda.com
Spartan Race is a triathlon race with various different types of races ranging in different distances.
Lynda.com is a learning source that offers video courses taught by industry professionals that help you achieve your personal and professional goals.
Masterclass:
Le Tour de France:
Masterclass is an on line learning course taught by a professional in a particular subject that helps develop skills in that subject.
Le Tour de France is a bike race held in France where bikers have to ride through the nearby countries and takes place over the course of a few weeks.
Competition
Youtube
SkillShare
Youtube is an online video platform where users can upload any types of videos, whether it is to entertain, inform or educate others.
Skillshare is an online source where users can learn from educational videos. These videos focus more on interaction rather than lecturing.
Peloton:
Fitbit:
Peloton is an American exercise equipment and media company that creates products designed to help people exercise and bringing the classes into their homes.
Fitbit is an American consumer electronics company that creates products to help people keep track of their daily fitness goals.
Ironman:
LinkedIn:
Ironman is considered the most difficult triathlons in the world having races all over the world.
LinkedIn is an online service created for business and employment opportunities. Here users can showcase their skills and find work.
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Brand Attributes 5 RELEVANT/GOOD/POSITIVE WORDS Ambitious Creativity Unique Exciting Innovative
5 BANKRUPT/STALE/NEGATIVE WORDS Difficult Inadequate Weak Exhausting Unappealing
5 NEUTRAL WORDS Available Established Grow Performance Quality
5 WORDS YOUR BRAND HOPES TO “OWN” Rewarding Empowered Satisfying Beneficial Active
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