Sonic fans around the globe had a very special treat last week when Dr. Eggman hacked into Sonic s official Twitter page to wreak havoc.

The original idea came about a short time ago here in Sega’s new offices in Los Angeles. Aaron Webber (PR and Social Media Manager), Kenneth Lindenbaum (Senior Marketing Manager) and I were talking about some of the terrific Sonic-specific elements we have to work with across TV, licensed products and games to surprise and delight fans, said Ivo Gerscovich, Chief Brand Officer for Sonic, in speaking with [a]listdaily. Finding unique ways to bring the Sonic the Hedgehog characters to life quickly became the focal point of our discussion. After brainstorming a bit more, we honed in on Dr. Eggman’s hilarious antics and actor Mike Pollock’s 12 years voicing the zany character.

For Gerscovich, the idea felt very natural. The day of the takeover, Mike Pollock worked with Sonic s social media team and longtime Sonic writers to engage with fans in real-time. Dr. Eggman responded on Twitter with personalized messages and egged on celebrities like Kel Mitchell and Roger Craig Smith for nearly an entire day with the hashtag #AskEggman. 

The idea of being able to ask him wild questions in a sort of AMA style event and actually hearing his wacky responses felt like a powerful mix, he said. We wanted to go even further with this concept and make it more interactive by throwing in some entertaining video that ran while fans interacted with him in an unprecedented way.

Sonic fans loved it, praising Sonic s Twitter account and creating all kinds of fan art to show their appreciation as #AskEggman began trending.

Twitter has been a major priority for the Sonic brand over the last few months, said Kenneth Lindenbaum, Senior Marketing Manager for Sonic. We did not want to simply regurgitate expected marketing directives on our social channels like check out this new trailer or pre-order here. We wanted to be more engaging than that.

“On social, we re pioneering a new strategy that throws the old, boring, marketing text out the window, and replaces it with something fun, new, and engaging. It fits perfectly with Sonic s signature attitude and the tone and style that once made him so popular,” said Aaron Webber, PR and Social Media Manager for Sonic.

Naturally, doing a live global fan event like this while producing real time audio and video together with the voice actor presented a slew of risks and challenges. After a lot of preparation together with Ayzenberg, it was all systems go!” said Gerscovich.

In the end, all of the elements came together and culminated in a rewarding real time social experience for fans and the Sega team.

Watching the Dr. Eggman Twitter Takeover unfold in real time, seeing the fans light up as word quickly spread about the surprise event, and then seeing the analytics was a real highlight for the new Sonic team.