• by Diane Denesowicz , July 27, 2009

Greetings from the "Giant Swag Bag" capitol of the galaxy.  That would be San Diego, CA, just after the conclusion of the 40^th Annual Comic-Con.

Let's start with True Confessions.  Though the rest of the media world seems to have only discovered Comic-con in the last few years, I have been coming since 1999.  The convention was big then, now it's huge. Now that the rest of the media world has discovered it, I still go as a fan -- no all-access press pass -- but  I'm able to keep my "advertising media professional" hat on.  It's no longer about just comic books but ground zero for the movie and TV industry's efforts to market their movies and TV shows. I've heard the con attracts 120,000 people.  In the movie portion, Hollywood studios trot out stars to get buzz going on the next Twilight film, Iron Man 2, or James Cameron's Avatar.   An attendee can either choose to do the "film track" or the "TV track" or other comics-related tracks.  It's become nearly impossible to sample both films and TV.  Lines are just too long and too many things happen at the same time.  All my experience was with the TV content.  Anything I know about the film stuff, I learned on Twitter. It's hard for me to think of a non-traditional media vehicle that wasn't used in San Diego.  Yes, you have your ads on cabs and busses.  But how about pedicabs?  Check.  Rolling billboards?  Check.  Ads on Segways?  Check. The competition to get people's attention is brutal.  Fortunately, this is a hungry audience that will take anything you put in their hand or throw into their giant branded tote bags.   But there's a lot going on and no single attendee gets exposed to everything.  Still, it's worth noting:

Just because it's a "comic" convention doesn't mean fans want your TV show comic.   
Yes, there are comics fans at this convention.  Lots of them.  But, they aren't necessarily the ones that gravitate to the TV panels.   The convention has dozens of panels going on simultaneously.  Because of this, attendees segment into types.  True comic fans wouldn't find your Psych comic book authentic and non-fans aren't going to read it.  Save the money.

Don't underestimate the power of a good panel. 
Make sure your actors and producers don't just phone it in.  Lines can be hours long for the high demand panels, some attendees never leave a room once they get into it.  That means they'll sit through panels for shows they've never seen just to have a good seat for the ones they have.  I know several people who saw panels for shows they've never watched and liked the panel so much they decided they'd start watching.  On the other hand, some panels I watched this way blew it by failing to intrigue or build the show's brand.

People clamor to attend the shows they've seen rather than new ones.
The existing shows also get the bigger rooms.  It's gotten very hard to introduce new shows here.  Of what I did experience, ABC's V seemed to get a good reception.  The reaction to Vampire Diaries seemed tepid.  AMC staged a valiant effort for The Prisoner.  I liked some of what they tried, but I'm not sure buzz will follow.  Like the original, it seemed a little hard to get across.  Now that other networks have brought non-endemic shows to the convention, AMC should have considered bringing Mad Men.  Please.

As for ABC's Flash Forward, I had to choose between that and The Prisoner. 

Missed opportunity for Subway. 
The best TV panel at the convention was the one for NBC's Chuck.  Chuck reportedly is the show that got saved by an advertiser: Subway.  Many people were at the panel who organized that campaign.  Many more people actually bought the sandwiches.   To me, Subway missed an opportunity by not doing something for this crowd.  The producers gave them a nice plug, though.

As I conclude, I want to acknowledge how hard rebranded SyFy worked it during the convention.  In the "old days" when they were the biggest network at the con, they had a big booth in the exhibit area.  This round, it took over a restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel across the street from the convention center and had huge numbers of street teams.  Craig Engler, the head of Syfy.com, also tweeted constantly.  This crowd has been one of the most vocal against the name change, but I heard attendance for many of their shows was good.  In the end, it's about people connecting with the content, isn't it?