Unless you have lived under a rock for the past decade or have no friends with nerdish
tastes, you have heard about the annual San Diego Comic-Con, a four-day convention which
descends on the pop culture psyche every July.
Is that the image that pops into your head when you hear the phrase,
“Comic-Con?” If so, you’re probably not alone, but you also couldn’t be more
wrong. While the first few comic conventions back in the early 1970s might have been
similar to the above scenario, things had already started to change by the mid-70s. The
first three-day convention in San Diego in 1970 brought in 300 fans to see the official
guests of Forrest J. Ackerman (a science-fiction fan and promoter) and Mike Royer (a
comic book artist and inker who later worked with the now famous Jack Kirby at DC
Comics). A mere six years later, the convention brought in over 3,000 fans and had become
big enough that a marketing genius named Charley Lippincott brought a little film called
“Star Wars” to share with fans a year prior to its theatrical release.
Flash forward to today – the 2010 Comic-Con brought in over 130,000+ attendees, this year
2015, saw 165,000 attendees. Now all attendees must register in advance, there is no more
on-site registration allowed. All this for a comic book convention? These days, it’s
significantly more than that It is a pop cultural necessity and a key cog in the
Hollywood PR machine. In the Scifi world you either make a ripple at Comic-con or your
toast.
2015 saw the marketing launch for movies like Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice
Deadpool Star Wars:The Force Awakens Suicide Squad X-Men Apocalypse and of course the
last installation of The Hunger Games
In television fans were captivated with tastes of the following;
Ash vs Evil Dead
The 100
Heroes Reborn
The Flash
Arrow
Gotham
The Walking Dead / Fear The Walking Dead
That’s what Comic-Con has turned into – a marketer’s dream for showcasing products, as
film-maker Morgan Spurlock puts it, to “the creme de la creme of all those people,
of all those fans, of all those bloggers, of all those ticket buyers who are the most
discerning of fans and who will scream from the mountaintops when they like something.”
The so-called “geeks” who attend Comic-Con have turned into “the crème de
la crème” of marketers’ target audiences.Another interesting phenomenon is that
Comic-Con has grown beyond just “genre” properties like fantasy and
science-fiction movies, video games, and television programs. The attendees are key
opinion makers.
The times sure have changed from that little convention with 300 people back in 1970.
And, it’s not just the big guys who exhibit at Comic-Con. For every Sony, Marvel, Warner
Brothers, and Hasbro with their massive booths and incredible budgets at Comic-Con, there
are just as many little companies, and even individual artists and owner-creators, who
have small booths and are looking to grab some time in the spotlight among the very
desirable audience that attends Comic-Con. As many have pointed outed, Comic-Con is a
perfect marketing case study for mass marketing versus niche marketing. Comic Con
represents both types of marketing at the same convention.
Finally, another phenomenon to come out of Comic-Con is partly a result modern society’s
addiction to social media – it’s how film-makers (and, in turn, other marketers at
Comic-Con) utilize the power of Comic-Con with reviewers and influential bloggers. People
have begun to notice that the people who are getting super excited and tweeting
excessively about the carefully crafted celebrity panels at Comic-Con aren’t just the
average everyday fans who waited in line for hours, but journalists and movie-bloggers
covering the event. The marketing teams at the major studios have realized that they can
create excitement and buzz for their properties by appealing to the geek-side of the very
same professionals who will be reviewing them for their readers. While some see this as a
huge conflict of interest, others see it as just a changing “sign of the times”
regarding the blurring lines between marketing and editorial.
The bottom line is that Comic-Con may not be exactly what you perceive it to be. For good
or ill, it’s become a social barometer for an audience with the power to propel a brand
to the heights of success, or consign it to the depths of marketing oblivion.
