As time passes by, one must have technology! The photo sticker machine was once a common memory of many adolescent people, but it still can’t beat the popularity of mobile phone photography and various eye-catching APPs. However, in July of this year, SEGA, the ancestor of the photo sticker machine and a major Japanese game manufacturer, decided to launch the latest version of the photo sticker machine. Unexpectedly, many middle-aged men become fans of it.

SEGA, a major Japanese game manufacturer, launched a photo sticker machine called "Print Club" 25 years ago. It once went viral between high school girls in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. However, with the camera function of mobile phones gradually appearing, young people stopped going to the arcade to take photo stickers anymore. SEGA announced its withdrawal from the photo stickers machine market in 2020.

In today’s video game arcade, game machines and photo sticker machines attract different groups of people. The group attracted to game machines just come to play various video games with no specific goals, such as crane machines, shooting games, and Taiko Drum Masters. On the other hand, the group attracted to the photo sticker machines come specifically with a clear goal of taking photo stickers. However, the photo sticker machines become more attractive to the younger generation when the camera function of mobile phones got stronger.

This year, SEGA announced that it will re-enter the photo sticker machine market. The latest machine is equipped with bright lights and two large screens, the photo style can be exaggerated or classic and it comes with a three-second animation shooting feature. Using an exclusive APP allows the user to see the moving AR stickers. All these features push the photo sticker machine into a new level again. At present, the photo sticker machine has advanced into a "mini photo studio", not only does it have the campus Korean drama scene design, but there are also a variety of different props and costumes to use. Not to mention the lighting and the built-in retouching program, all directly upgraded to the highest level. The photo sticker machine is almost a small photo studio now, which can meet the needs of high school girls who are already photo retouching masters.

Making good use of marketing themes and packaging can provide more contact points for integrated marketing and promotion, and can also be used as the target of a specific period of activity. July caught up with the graduation season and the practice of taking graduation photos for middle school students. The current photo sticker machines no longer just provide physical photo stickers to paste on mobile phones, as long as you scan the machine’s QR code, you can download the specially edited photo stickers and upload them to social platforms, which also contributes to the boom of photo stickers. Using all kinds of different topics to package the product and using the combination of photo sticker machine and middle-aged men to create new topics. Only by continuing to create topics can companies have a deeper connection with the current social community and better continue the salability of the product.

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 191 in October 2020