5 Coolest Marketing Ideas We Saw at San Diego Comic-Con 2016The annual geek event has no shortage of creative marketing tactics we all could learn from.
ByRocky Vy•
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Geek culture, tech and marketing all collided at the San Diego Convention Center (and surrounding venues) forComic-Con International: San Diego-- commonly referred to as simply Comic-Con or SDCC -- from July 21 to 24.
For the typical entrepreneur, this annual, four-day "nerd" event may not seem all too interesting. But after 46 years, SDCC has transformed from a simple comic book publishers gathering to a global event that it makes up nearly one-quarter of San Diego Convention Center'sentire yearly traffic.
Not yet impressed? Here are some important numbersfrom the convention center.
For businesses in and around this industry, attending the event is a no-brainer. There are more than 1,000 exhibitors who participate in SDCC, from the typical comic book publishers to the designer who makes superhero-themed jewelry. However, as the event becomes bigger, competing for attention becomes increasingly important.
There are hundreds of listicles out there showcasing cool and fun things people have seen at SDCC, but here, we'll focus on the ones we believe will be of interest to our business-savvy readers.
1. Nostalgia is alive and well.
Bringing back something old andmaking it new againwas the theme for the past few years, and it continues to be so now. Probably the most visible at SDCC was the promotion around the newPower Rangersmovie. (In case you haven't heard, the popular '90s action series is being brought back to life on the big screen in a new, supposedly darker way.)
All sorts of vendors provided their own merchandise surrounding the popular franchise, but, of course, Bandai America unveiled at its booth some seriously kick-ass figures for the movie and also from the older series.
Also jumping on the nostalgia train was Nickelodeon, which announced at the convention that it was creating a made-for-TV movie inspired by the '90s game show,Legends of the Hidden Temple. To capitalize on the announcement, Nick's booth housed an Olmec installation where attendees could take pictures and sold Olmec T-shirts to fans.
Although the promotion had been around for a few weeks now in select cities,Ghostbustersand Lyft partnered up toprovide free rides to lucky fansaround the SDCC area. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to experience the Ecto-1, but here's a pic:
Seems like I didn't miss out on much, however. These guys from GameSpotrecorded their experiencein the car and, apparently, it failed to deliver.
2. The use of street marketing.
It costs a lot of money to exhibit at Comic-con (a typical boothcan cost around $900), so many companies take to the streets to promote their products.
Adding to the already-crowded hysteria on the streets of the Gaslamp Quarter, Syfy enlisted Elvis impersonators on stilts and bluefinned showgirls to promote its nextSharknado电影(是的,显然球迷在社交媒体请求for another one of those.)
A video posted by ?Karla (@love_anything_beautiful) on Jul 25, 2016 at 12:25pm PDT
Did you know that two of the investors from ABC'sShark Tankstarred inpreviousSharknadomovies? I wonder if there will be another in the third installment...
While this business is not necessarily geeky, it serves food, and we nerds gotta eat, right? Burger joint Slater's 50/50 tasked "crusaders" to spread the gospel of bacon.
The satirical promotion seemed to put smiles on people's faces, and the bacon mascot (who the business said "does not discriminate" -- hey, have you asked the vegans about that?) happily posed for pictures with the SDPD. If God was watching, he might have gotten hungry.
Speaking of gods, the restaurant got some great celebrity exposure fromArrow's Stephen Amell.
A photo posted by Stephen Amell (@stephenamell)on Jul 22, 2016 at 5:25pm PDT
More than 233,000 likes with no paid social promotion? Nice.
3. Get inside Conan's head with VR.
Surprisingly,virtual realitydid not have a huge presence on the show floor. However, TBS doubled down on the tech.
In 2015,Conanoffered fansexclusive 360-degree video accessto the #ConanCon show during SDCC. This year, the TBS booth gave fans the unique and fun opportunity to literally get inside Conan O'Brien's head ... well, at least through the use of a VR headset disguised as a humongous Conan Pop! Vinyl figurehead.
After the 2010Tonight Showfiasco, Conan went on to amass a large following, most of whom are digitally savvy. The show's producers and Conan himself have been keeping fans engaged through tech innovation and fun merchandise, like these Pop! Vinyl Figures ofdifferent kinds of Conans.
4. A life-sized Tony Stark for the superfans.
While this isn't so much of a marketing ploy as it is simply just giving die-hard fans what they want, this large replica of everyone's favorite comic book entrepreneur was an exceptionally well-crafted stand-out.
The MCU version of theElon Musk-inspired, Downey-portrayed Tony Stark figure from Beast Kingdom was only $12,000, which apparently may have been the SDCC exclusive price, sinceon this toy siteit is listed for $16,200.
Related:10 Famous Comic Book Entrepreneurs
5. Free ice cream on a hot day.
There is very little that gets people more excited than free ice cream on a hot California day.
The 2015 slapstick slasher filmThe Final Girlswas not only selling tickets to its showing during SDCC; it also gave out free ice cream from its "I Scream" truck right outside the Grand Horton to those who posted about the truck via their social media accounts.
A photo posted by Scott Corle (@westcoastgeek) on Jul 23, 2016 at 2:55pm PDT
Apparently, you can get us Californians to do just about anything for free cold stuff in the middle of summer (duh, said Caption Obvious.)
可能有很多更有趣的3月keting ploys at SDCC that we missed. Tell us about them over onEntrepreneur'sFacebook pageor myTwitter account.
