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===Marketing=== Lincoln unveiled ''Donkey Kong Country'' at the [[Consumer Electronics Show]] in [[Chicago]], which took place from 23 to 25 June 1994.{{sfn|Gillen|1994|p=70}} The unveiling was the finale of Nintendo's conference and did not reveal that ''Donkey Kong Country'' was a SNES game until the end of the presentation, fooling the audience into believing that it was for the upcoming Nintendo 64. Gregg Mayles recalled the audience was stunned in silence before bursting into applause.<ref name="RG: MakingOf" /> As one of the flagship games of Nintendo's [[Nintendo marketing#Play It Loud!|Play It Loud!]] promotion,<ref name="DF Retro"/> ''Donkey Kong Country'' was backed by an exceptionally large marketing campaign—"marketing [[blitzkrieg]]", as ''[[Hardcore Gaming 101]]'' put it.<ref name="HG101: DKC"/> According to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', Nintendo spent {{US$}}16 million on marketing ''Donkey Kong Country'' in America alone; at the time, major games typically had an average marketing budget of {{US$}}5 million.<ref name="LAT: Battle" /> Marketing materials emphasised the revolutionary graphics—often noting that Rare's SGI workstations had been used to create the ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]'' (1993) film's dinosaurs<ref name="Kotaku: 25Yrs">{{Cite web|last=Rogers|first=Tim|author-link=Tim Rogers (writer)|date=27 November 2019|title=Let's remember ''Donkey Kong Country'', 25 years later|url=https://kotaku.com/lets-remember-donkey-kong-country-25-years-later-1840069307|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602182711/https://kotaku.com/lets-remember-donkey-kong-country-25-years-later-1840069307|archive-date=2 June 2022|access-date=2 June 2022|website=[[Kotaku]]}}</ref>—and positioned ''Donkey Kong Country'' as a direct competitor to Sega's [[Mega-CD]] and [[32X]] platforms to remind players it was not for next-generation hardware.<ref name="NWR: Exposed" /> Nintendo sent a promotional [[VHS]] tape, ''Donkey Kong Country: Exposed'', to subscribers of the magazine ''[[Nintendo Power]]''.<ref name="DS: RetroCorner" /><ref name="NWR: Exposed">{{cite web|last=Berube|first=Justin|title=Remembering ''Donkey Kong Country'' Exposed|url=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/38417/remembering-donkey-kong-country-exposed|website=Nintendo World Report|access-date=5 June 2020|date=9 September 2014|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122212621/https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/38417/remembering-donkey-kong-country-exposed|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Exposed'', hosted by comedian [[Josh Wolf (comedian)|Josh Wolf]], provides a "behind-the-scenes" glimpse of the Treehouse, the Nintendo of America division where games are tested.<ref name="DS: RetroCorner" /><ref name="NWR: Exposed"/> ''Nintendo World Report'' wrote that ''Exposed'' was "probably the first time most people outside of Nintendo learned about the [Treehouse]" and the promotion allowed players to see the game for themself at home, rather than having to learn about it secondhand from a magazine.<ref name="NWR: Exposed"/> ''Exposed'' also features gameplay tips and interviews with localisers, [[playtester]]s, and Tim Stamper.<ref name="DS: RetroCorner" /><ref name="NWR: Exposed"/> In October 1994, Nintendo of America held an online promotional campaign through the internet service [[CompuServe]]. The campaign included downloadable video samples of the game, a trivia contest in which 800 people participated, and an hour-long [[online chat]] conference attended by 80 people, in which Lincoln, Arakawa, and vice-president of marketing Peter Main answered questions. Nintendo's CompuServe promotion marked an early instance of a major video game company using the internet to promote its products.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fitzgerald|first=Kate|date=14 November 1994|title=Videogames vie for online eyes: Sega, Nintendo, Acclaim finding target audience in front of computer screen|url=http://adage.com/article/news/videogames-vie-online-eyes-sega-nintendo-acclaim-finding-target-audience-front-computer-screen/89320/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309011652/http://adage.com/article/news/videogames-vie-online-eyes-sega-nintendo-acclaim-finding-target-audience-front-computer-screen/89320/|archive-date=9 March 2018|website=[[Ad Age]]}}</ref> Nintendo gave away ''Donkey Kong'' T-shirts as a pre-order bonus,<ref name="Kotaku: 25Yrs" /> and partnered with [[Kellogg's]] for a promotional campaign in which the packaging for Kellogg's [[breakfast cereal]]s featured ''Donkey Kong Country'' character art and announced a prize giveaway. The campaign ran from November 1994 to April 1995.{{sfn|''EGM'' staff|1995|p=66}} [[Fleetway Publications]] published a promotional comic in the UK in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Szczepaniak|first=John|date=30 September 2021|title=Check out this forgotten Donkey Kong Country comic from the UK|url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/09/check_out_this_forgotten_donkey_kong_country_comic_from_the_uk|access-date=20 July 2022|website=[[Nintendo Life]]|archive-date=20 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720115950/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/09/check_out_this_forgotten_donkey_kong_country_comic_from_the_uk|url-status=live}}</ref>
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