- Puma and Sega have teamed up to produce some pretty decent-looking Sonic the Hedgehog merch.
- This sort of crossover merchandising is pretty common among popular brands.
- With the Sonic movie on its way, we can probably expect even more merch from Sega.
Another day, another exploitative brand crossover. This time it’s Puma and Sonic the Hedgehog going behind the bike sheds to make out. There are sneakers, backpacks, t-shirts, and all of it is needlessly expensive.
In all honesty, this isn’t all that bad. It’s not as insane as the Louis Vuitton x League of Legends crossover, where they were basically selling a really standard t-shirt. At least all the items in this crossover actually appear to have been designed by someone who knows what they’re doing.
With the Sonic the Hedgehog movie just around the corner, you can expect the merch to start getting insane.
Sonic the Hedgehog is Going to be Everywhere
Anyone who was around in the 90s can probably remember how pervasive Sonic and Mario were. They were plastered onto anything that Sega and Nintendo thought they could sell to kids – lunchboxes, clothes, backpacks.
Now, Sega probably realizes that Sonic has just as many adult fans as he does kid ones. With a live-action film in the works, they’re going to be foaming at the mouth to slap the blue blur’s face onto everything they can get their hands on.
If the new Sonic movie is good (it won’t be), then Sonic might become a relevant brand again. With that kind of sell-ability, Sega would actually have to be insane not to capitalize on it.
Merch, Merch, Merch
Merchandising can be quite powerful. It’s typically a good source of income for the IP owner. More than that though, it puts the brand in question into the minds of people everywhere.
If you can’t go shopping without seeing Sonic the Hedgehog, he’s going to get stuck in your head. Then you’ll be reminded of all those good games from back in the day. Before long you’ll be on the internet buying up that merch, games and maybe even the movie.
Even as a Sonic fan, I think that this gamble is a bit insane. We’ve all seen the clips from the Sonic movie. While the massive redesign may have helped, it can’t save the script. This film is probably going to bomb, even if I secretly hope that it does well.
Sega shouldn’t bank on it too hard. As much as I’d love to see new Sonic the Hedgehog merch flying off the shelves, getting older has made me more cynical. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to spend far too much money on a Puma t-shirt.
This article was edited by Gerelyn Terzo.
Last modified: February 8, 2020 3:45 PM UTC
