Sega seeks agency for 63m Dreamcast launch

Sega Europe is hunting an advertising agency for the $100m (63m) pan-European launch of its new Dreamcast computer game console.

The move comes as Sega appoints a new chief executive officer – former president and ceo of EMI Records Jean François Cécillon.

Sega hopes the console, which launches this weekend in Japan, will lead the fightback against its rival Sony, whose hugely successful PlayStation has sold about 2.5 million units in the UK since its launch.

However, the Sega console has suffered teething problems and is falling short of initial production targets after supply problems.

Sega Enterprises, the computer games division, also announced this week that it had suffered a 76 per cent drop in half-year net profits from 25m to only 6m, while sales slipped 20 per cent.

Cécillon, who reports to Shoichiro Irimajiri, president of Sega Enterprises in Tokyo, replaces former chief executive Kazutoshi Miyake, who becomes chief operating officer for Sega Europe.

Cécillon says: “I will put substantial effort into creating the best executive teams possible, both at Sega’s European headquarters and within the European operating companies.”

It is unclear whether the company will use a pan-European network or different agencies on a country by country basis, or a combination of both.

Sega, whose headquarters are in Europe, has wholly-owned subsidiaries in France, Germany, Spain and the UK.

Sega UK appointed former MTV head of marketing Giles Thomas marketing director in October.