Sonic the Hedgehog at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: An oral history

On November 25, 1993, Sonic the Hedgehog made his debut as a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. He was the first video game character to appear at the parade and he featured prominently in the event’s marketing on shopping bags and posters. They were enthusiastic. The mainstream was finally embracing video games. Later that morning however, all this enthusiasm was dampened by an unfortunate incident.

A gust of wind blew the Sonic balloon 64 feet into a lamppost as it exited Columbus Circle. It lifted the post and injured two persons: a child, and an off-duty cop officer. Neither was seriously hurt, but the officer was taken to a hospital and Sonic was immediately pulled from the parade, leaving Sega executives — who had been celebrating in a hotel near Times Square — to question what went wrong.

Though Sonic has appeared at multiple similar events over the years, more often than not without issue, the balloon malfunction in 1993 remains one of those stories that just won’t go away, helped in part by footage recently resurfacing online. So as the blue hedgehog gets ready to join the parade again this year, Polygon spoke to those responsible for the original Macy’s promotion as well as eyewitnesses at the scene, to find out more about that windy day in Columbus Circle.

Partnering with Macy’s

The Macy’s collaboration was just one in a long line of marketing stunts for Sonic. After joining Mattel as a toy maker, Tom Kalinske was appointed CEO and President of Sega of America in October 1990. Sega became a household name under his direction. Kalinske, along with the rest of the marketing team at Sega of America, pitched the character as a rival to Nintendo’s Mario. Sonic became an instant hit, in video games as well as TV and comic book shows.

Kalinske claims that at one point Sonic had a higher Q score, or “Quotient score,” than Mickey Mouse; advertising research company Marketing Evaluations Inc. used the Q score to measure the consumer familiarity and appeal of brands, celebrities, companies, and entertainment products. A huge part of Sonic’s success came down to Sega of America’s aggressive marketing campaigns and love of strange ideas.

Tom KalinskeSega of America, former CEO and President

Many of the items we did in those days were unusual. It doesn’t seem like it by today’s standards, but, believe it or not, no one advertised on MTV back then that was a game company. That was our first attempt. We were the first to set up their Sega Genesis game outside of concerts. Sega Genesis players were not represented on all college campuses in America. [who we asked to walk]Go to the fraternities or dormitories, plug it into the TV and start playing Sega Genesis. […]This was very unusual marketing. We did many similar things. So the idea of a balloon in the Macy’s parade fits right in with the rest of that.

Ellen Beth Van Buskirk KnappSega of America, former marketing services manager

Sonic is going to change the world, but no one believed it would. To get a McDonald’s Happy Meal was impossible, right?

In fact, I remember going to some pitch down at Coke, who were doing a lot of promotions, and saying, “This is the latest character that is going to drive teenage boys. You really really want to co-op with us.” And I have forgotten the name of the executive who was in charge of these promotions, but he [wore]The entire meeting was held in sunglasses. We were not to be disturbed by his behavior.

This was all changed. This was in large part because of Tom Abramson [vice president of marketing and promotions at Sega]His dynamic personality and energy. We started using Sonic soon enough to put him in our cereal boxes and in TV cartoons. There were many promotions and merchandising. Macy’s falls into this.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

Tom Abramson came up with the idea of wanting to go and put a balloon in the Macy’s parade, which was just an incredible idea because of the viewership, which was tremendous, and here’s Sonic larger than life.

Ellen Beth Van Buskirk KnappSega of America, former marketing services manager

Doing a Macy’s balloon, you talk about eyeballs; you talk about television; you talk about cross-marketing and the idea of spiffing retailers into something they can’t get on their own. The return on investment is a bit lower. [prominent]You still need to get in front [former Sega of America executive vice president]Paul Rioux is the finance guy […]You can fight for your cause. If they said yes, though, then you could put it in your budget and you’d have to manage it through. This was what I did.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

This is the whole idea. [the campaign] was to increase hardware purchases and software purchases … it wasn’t tied to the launch of a specific game. Which is great, because on Thanksgiving you have four or five weeks until Christmas, so therefore it’s a maximum selling period for the people who were trying to go and decide if they want a SNES or they want a Genesis or a Mega Drive.

Tom [Abramson] approached the parade department at Macy’s to talk about the possibility of this […] and video game characters hadn’t been done before. They were often well-known characters and had a lot of experience. But we were able to go and convince Macy’s that Sonic would be a great addition to the parade.

We also paid for the balloon.

Design of the Sonic balloon

After Macy’s and Sega of America reached an agreement, the Sega marketing team provided the Macy’s Parade Studio — the production facility in Hoboken, New Jersey responsible for making the balloons — with a Sonic bible.

Madeline Canepa (now Madeline Canepa Schröder), former Sega of America product managers, created The Bible in 1991 as a guide for partners. It was intended to provide information on Sonic history, colors and how they looked from different angles. Studio used the reference as a guide to develop different sketches for Sega of America, which was then approved by Sega of America before arriving at what is now known as classic Sonic.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

At the time, we hadn’t done much evolution of Sonic. So we didn’t have modern Sonic. Sonic was Sonic. Sonic wasn’t Sonic. […]The fancy Sonic was the highly-detailed Sonic featured on the covers of the games. It’s kind of like a photograph of Sonic, where the shadows are in the right place. […]

Tom [Abramson], working with us, would say, “This is the pose we want Sonic to be in during the parade,” and the Macy’s designers would go away and say, “Okay, here’s how we will go and replicate it in terms of what’s there.”

Tom KalinskeSega of America, former CEO and President

Tom Abramson […]He was great at working with partners. We used to call it, “Let’s use other people’s money for our marketing.” So a lot of it was along that idea of let’s get a partner to spend some money and we’ll spend some money and the two put together is better than one. […]This was basically the modus operandi. To maximize your promotions’ value. He interacted with them.

Ellen Beth Van Buskirk KnappSega of America, former marketing services manager

Sonic needed to be friendly and approachable, as well as having a bit of sass. You had to be able to satisfy the client. Sega, in the end, was the client because we spent a lot for it.

Brenda LynchFormerly the Sonic Account Head at PR firm Manning, Selvage, Lee

The key was that Sonic was the fastest video game character of the time, so the Macy’s Parade balloon had to reflect his attitude. There were many discussions and designs to ensure the balloon reflected Sonic’s iconic need for speed.

Before Sonic’s design, parade balloons had floated along the street parallel to their parade routes. Sonic was captured mid-flight upward. The ground crew was able to control the balloon more effectively because they had longer ropes at the front and back.

Parade day

Rex, a debuting character at the parade on Thanksgiving Day was joined by the Sonic balloon. We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s StoryThe streets of New York were dominated by Beethoven the Dog and Bart Simpson, along with old favourites like Ronald McDonald and Bart Simpson. It was not an ideal situation.

Manhattan was windy and cold on this day. So, as a precaution, Macy’s assigned extra handlers to each balloon, and flew the balloons lower to the ground than originally planned. Every balloon was piloted by a captain, who trained the handlers. Outside of the American Museum of Natural History, the pilot and captain for each balloon briefed the group of handlers — made up largely of volunteers from neighboring Macy’s stores — on hand signals and how to maneuver themselves to cope with crosswinds. Sprinting over crosswalks was necessary because the buildings are a wind tunnel and the handlers had to hold the balloon at the Columbus Circle.

As the parade got underway, Sega of America staff were watching from an event thrown for Sega merchandisers and retailers at a hotel opposite the Marriott Marquis in Times Square — the plan being to see the Sonic balloon just before it reached its destination at downtown Macy’s. The guest of honour never came.

Ellen Beth Van Buskirk KnappSega of America, former marketing services manager

We were having, let’s just say a gathering or a party of all our important dignitaries: merchandisers, sales, retailers, everybody we worked with. The whole purpose of this event was to entertain people and fly them to New York for Thanksgiving Day. […] but he didn’t get there. So everybody at the party was like, “Where’s Sonic? Where’s Sonic?”

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

Sonic wasn’t visible when we looked out the window. It felt like. Now, they have to find him.All the Sonic balloon handlers followed suit. As they passed, there wasn’t a balloon. At that time, we didn’t know what in the world had happened. This was an unusual moment in our lives.

Arik CohenRonald McDonald balloon man and eyewitness

Ronald McDonald was my balloon handler, and it was just behind Sonic. […]Sonic hit right near the Columbus Circle exit. After it had made its way around Columbus Circle, it struck a lamppost at the end of Broadway.

They had made it to the next part of the circle and had let their balloon go into Columbus Circle. Then everything was shut down because people were hurt. Sonic fell down. We could almost hear the crowd rumbling. And then all of a sudden, our balloon captain was like, “I need you guys to focus because the winds are bad here.”

We literally were getting directions to move left, right and keep going. [the line] tight. And we spent what seemed like an eternity — but was probably only 10 minutes — going back and forth. Finally, security officers appeared in the same direction as us and gave permission to go. That’s when we saw the balloon on its side already deflated.

Brenda LynchFormerly the Sonic Account Head at PR firm Manning, Selvage, Lee

It was my memory that the glass fell on the crowd when it hit the lamppost. A retired officer and a child were both injured. The police walkie talkies reported the incident as a “police officer down,” adding to the chaos of the day.

We didn’t want the press saying Sonic had taken down a police officer. […]It was as though every television station across America had the same story. It was clear to me that I knew the authors for this story. FriendsThis story was so hilarious that it inspired The One Where Underdog Goes Away, a TV series. [which aired one year later]With Underdog taking the place of Sonic.

Tom KalinskeSega of America, former CEO and President

It was my greatest worry, however, about the injuries. I’m not sure we knew the full extent of that, that day. We probably didn’t know the full extent of that until a day or two later.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

Then we learned that the man had fallen into a lamp pole. We then heard about someone getting hurt. It seems that only one person was injured, according to what we were told. According to what I remember, it was the police officer. The police officer was actually checked on by someone who we sent to the hospital.

Brenda LynchFormerly the Sonic Account Head at PR firm Manning, Selvage, Lee

With my wife and our two young children, I was in town for Thanksgiving Day coverage. After that we were going to take a break and go on vacation. Instead of going into the press room, I spent the next two days in hospital, making sure that the injured people were safe and not adding to the drama.

Ellen Beth Van Buskirk KnappSega of America, former marketing services manager

[There was] huge concern [inside Sega]. In the current state we find ourselves in, there is a high-litigious, activist-oriented society, all equipped with mobile devices that can capture injustices around the globe.

Had that been the case in ‘93 we might have had a different outcome. But in ‘93/’94, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. […]The harm done to us was minimal. [what it was]And it worked out well for them. It was okay for us. It turned out to be okay for Macy’s.

Tom KalinskeSega of America, former CEO and President

It really wasn’t as big a deal as people make it out to be, other than a person getting hurt, frankly.

That was my biggest worry when I first heard of it. It was, “My god, how serious is it?” Because we didn’t know initially. So the fact the balloon didn’t come down the street in front of maybe 5,000 people on the street watching, it didn’t matter, as long as the millions watching on TV saw the Sonic balloon. Frankly, from a marketing standpoint, it wasn’t really a disaster at all.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

It was unfortunate that it hurt two people, but it wasn’t a long-lasting story. I think it was in some of the New York papers and on TV for the next day, but then it wasn’t talked about. Because of Sonic’s popularity as a character, I believe it is now being discussed. People who are interested in learning more about Sonic can bring the subject up to their local library and find all these photographs and other information. We had not seen them before. Sonic spins on regardless of the circumstances.

Photo by Kena betancur/Getty Images

Sonic again flies

Sonic’s appearance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1993 is considered by many fans to be a disaster. Sega of America’s alumni disagree with this statement.

Television broadcasts showed the same b-roll footage from Sonic’s test flight the day before the balloon was pulled. Sega expected this to give Sonic the TV coverage he deserved. The injuries sustained also weren’t serious, with all involved acknowledging that the weather was the cause of the incident.

Sega fixed the balloon and flew it at various events including Hedgehog Day at Punxsutawney, February 1994. Sonic 3 release. Sonic even appeared at the following Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 1994, where it completed the route without a problem — and Cohen was among the handlers on Sonic that year. The balloon handlers weren’t as lucky in 1995 and 1997, with the mascot again being pulled early, but this time without injury.

A new balloon featuring modern Sonic was introduced in the 2011 parade. The balloon, which depicted an old balloon, was then retired. It’s this balloon that will be making a reappearance this year. And it’s something the Sega alumni couldn’t be happier about.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

We’re all excited about that. When the news came out, the Sonic team from way-back-when were exchanging emails like “He’s back!”

Tom KalinskeSega of America, former CEO and President

It’s going to be interesting to see this Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’m sure this will get a lot of attention, because it crashed 30 years ago. This year, it will likely get more attention than ever before.

Ellen Beth Van Buskirk KnappSega of America, former marketing services manager

The Sega alumni still talk to each other, so it’s like “Hey, Tom’s got an interview,” or “Sonic’s going to be here,” or “Do you know it’s the anniversary?” Al’s really good at marking anniversaries. This is the background and it’s clear that we have an amazing connected network of people who are all in the same boat.

Each Thanksgiving Day, I look forward to the parade. It is on. It’s a good thing I had coffee. […] There’s a certain amount of nostalgia and verisimilitude. It’s like you get to be transported into a place that’s different.

Al Nilsen Sega of America, former head of global marketing

It’s the most bizarre thing about going online to read all the stories of people who love Sonic and the original. SonicRemember, Love and Honor the Launch of SonicAnd the launch of Genesis. Now Sonic will be leading the retro gaming adventure that’s taking place. That’s the thing that gets all of us. Now, 30 years later we find ourselves talking about and sharing our passions for the things we did.