So I went to Magic City Comic Con last Saturday (check out my last blog post for the announcement~) and I had a blast! Not only was I able to dress out as one of my favorite anime characters, Hiroomi Nase from Kyoukai no Kanata, but I also got the chance to experience new things, meet new people, and also learn a bit of the marketing taking place underneath the surface of it all.
Downstairs is a large section for all the vendors to sell their products to hungry anime fans with tons of money in their wallets. These vendors sell everything from figurines, books, jewelry, shirts, cosplay, wigs, posters, props, the list is seemingly endless. With all these products out for grabs, they make huge profits from con go-ers looking for the perfect item to decorate their room or themselves. I, personally, bought a poster from one of my favorite animes, Free! Whether it was a good buy for me or not doesn't really matter, but the vendors certainly gained profit from my purchase.
Cons are perhaps the best way for international businesses in popular fan-bases to earn money. For example, the Japanese toy makers, Tomy, have had a booming success with cons thanks to their distribution and sales of popular anime figurines provided at cons and online. Whether con go-ers are able to purchase the items at the con may depend on their interests and the amount of cash readily available, but it certainly does make for some good advertisement for future online purchases.
Same applies for most cosplay stores available at the cons. Wig vendors are always present to spread awareness of their business to cosplayers at cons. Usually, they have providers online to ship costumes, wigs, or props to consumers such as Arda Wigs, Epic Cosplay, and Cosplay Sky. Advertisement of these cons, in fact, are also spread through TV advertisements. For the past three weeks, I've been seeing ads on the CW channel promoting Magic City for possible comic book fans. It was a good way of bringing attention to the event as well as make more sales for the next event.
Overall, I would highly recommend visiting a con if you haven't done so already. It is very exciting and new and a brand new experience!!
I found this really interesting because it opened my eyes to the idea that events like cons, in this case Magic City Comic Cons is an amazing convergence technique for international businesses/shows to gain exposure and also of course make revenue.
ReplyDeleteAlso your pictures are awesome!!