Interesting story from yesterday’s New York Times on the circus known as Comic-Con International.
The annual convention, which is expected to draw 130,000 participants to San Diego this July 21-24, is the place where you’ll see folks dressed up as their favorite Star Trek characters and where fans are truly fanatical.
While most of us gave up Dungeons & Dragons when we hit high school, the Comic-Con set is known for attracting freaks and geeks who are both hardcore and hard-wired, and are widely sought after for their social media savvy and buzz-building power.
Warner Brothers Television Group Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Gregorian calls them “evangelists,” and rightly so.
It makes sense, then, that the big movie studios and television production companies would choose Comic-Con as the launching pad for big-budget projects such as “Tron: Legacy” or “Sucker Punch.”
But not so fast.
Fishing where the fish are makes perfect sense, except that sometimes the fish don’t bite. And worse, they sometimes tell everyone else in the pond that the bait is not worth the bite. Both “Tron” and “Sucker Punch” failed to deliver at the box office.
Fans of the HBO show “Entourage” may fondly remember an episode from Season 2, in which Vince is troubled at Comic-Con when a well-known blogger, portrayed by Rainn Wilson, promises to write a scathing review of Vince’s new movie, “Aquaman.” (Never mind how Vince manages to score a positive review in the end.)
Imagine the power of 130,000 Rainn Wilsons dissing your movie in the months leading up to opening, and the ripple effect these evangelists create via Facebook, Twitter, message boards and chat rooms.
Betting big sometimes means losing big. Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs but he also struck out 1,383 times.
Next time you’re thinking about launching your “next big thing” at the industry’s largest trade show, consider first building buzz among your most loyal and vocal following and allowing them to carry the message to the masses.
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch is written by Bill Patterson, president of Kansas City, Mo.-based Nation Ranch, a strategic consulting firm specializing in brand management, public relations and crisis communications.
I thought this was a really well written piece that underscores the paradigm shift marketing has undergone with the introduction of social media.
The impulse of marketers is to push thier message. This is how traditional marketing thrives in printed and broadcast media. Social media demands that marketers set aside the pushing and instead win the conusmer or the fan’s trust. It really requires marketers to pick up the principle of unmarketing – marketing without being overt. Allowing the reputation of the brand and the value it adds to the conversation push your product.
Tron at ComicCon is a good example of this complex interaction. Tron was already highly anticipated by science fiction lovers and the segment I lovingly refer to as the “Geeks and Freaks” group (to channel Jud Apatow’s amazing television show). There was an enormous amount of good will around Tron, in that, these people really wanted it to do well. When it failed to deliver after all the hype these same people went to Twitter and other social media channels enmasse. Many cited the presence of Tron at “their” event and were bitter that they had gone to them to push this movie, raise expectations and then failed to deliver.
Admittedly, it may not have been possible to reach expectations regardless of whether the movie’s producers and stars showed up at Comic-Con but that feeling of betrayal that seemed to permeate the online discussion.
To be successful at marketing in the social media world means that marketers must chose their events and the way they present themselves in that sphere very carefully.
This was a great article with lots to chew on. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Michael Girard
Community Engagement, Radian6
I’d be interested to see the Radian6′s findings on the buzz on “Tron,” both before and after Comic-Con. Your reports could possibly have helped the studio reconfigure its marketing strategy midstream to counteract negative sentiment and/or reach out to different market segments to promote the movie. I never saw the original movie, but I would imagine there is a large segment of the population in my age range (and I’m 42) who had more than a passing interest in the original movie, and would have viewed the sequel as an opportunity to reconnect with their teenage selves. I see your firm’s services as being an important element in “listening” to what’s being said and in helping marketers react on the fly.