From what I'm seeing right now, all those pop culture conventions or expos are becoming almost exactly one and the same since they employ literally almost the same "formula" or content at their events with the addition and exemptions of just a few who are either exclusive, not conveniently affordable or unavailable to partner or collaborate with their events, or belong to a different group not associated with them.
I'm talking about all those events evolving around toys, comics, cosplays, anime, and everything related in one way or another. This is why, if you are a fanatic of attending the said events, you would often get the chance to see almost the same people and attractions. Though the bigger ones invite foreign celebrities and attractions to add to the hype, they still use the same formula - meet and greet, book signing, photo ops, regular and VIP passes, cosplay, cosplay, and cosplay.
Thus, I was not surprised when the latest convention capitalized on cosplayers at their media launch. But these are not the ordinary cosplayers because JusticePH belongs to the top cosplayers around with outfits or costumes that are superior in materials and details. Their members are also not confined to Justice League characters alone since we could see them wearing costumes inspired by other popular characters from the movies, animation (cartoons and anime), and comic books.
They also invited celebrities like Daiana Meneses and Regine Tolentino to cosplay as two versions of Wonder Woman, and Miss Global Philippines beauty queens wearing outfits of Scarlet Witch, Harley Quinn, Diana Prince from the latest Wonder Woman movie, and also have to mention Gerard Sison as the most recognizable Superman cosplayer not because of his costume but because of his striking facial features resembling the earlier Superman actor. To top it all up, they also have senator and boxing champ Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao as their event ambassador (It would have been a lot more fun to see him cosplay, but I guess already represents the better role of "Pambansang Kamao."
If these still do not give you a hint that the event would be far greater compared to the rest, the organizers promise to make the experience of attending the convention a lot more interactive by employing challenges for the attendees where they get the chance to win prizes if they take the effort to accept the challenges. It's like being inside an RPG game itself where there are side quests where you get to win special loots or extra perks aside from glory of completing the main quest.
Could I suggest as well the ability to "level up" at their event? Like, the attendees to points for every visit to each booth, gain prizes if they reach a certain number, earn another point if they return on the second day, earn more points if they stay for several hours, earn points if they belong to the early birds, and more points if they stay until closing time. Perhaps more points if they get to join the special activities like meet and greets, and a lot more (since you're getting my drift already). Attendees who would be coming in costume could also get a certain number of points or instant freebies the moment they enter the venue. Remember that they add to the success of the event because that would mean more attractions to ogle upon (selfies, photo ops, groupfies, etc with fans).
In short, every move is equal to a certain point which they could cash-out or gift-out when they've earned a considerable amount of points already. Like a free shirt for the first 100 points, or whatever loot will be coming from the sponsors.
Though the organizers are still not able to provide a list of their intended celebrities to grace the occasion, I'm sure they will give in to the demands of the fans. They should have consultants who are well-knowledgeable about the fandom, and not just the momentary hype so they could evaluate which popular personality or groups they would be willing to spend their budget on. The sponsors would also weigh in on the decision since they would want more mileage out of their sponsorship.
Getting in more people is not the only intent but also attracting all kinds of audience and not just the usual geeks who frequent similar conventions. With the organizers having the mainstream entertainment and beauty pageant media already in their database, I would suggest they also tap the online or blogging community which could also generate a massive promotion of their event. We all know that online is the now and the future so it would be wise to also include online influencers to create interests to this newest addition to the pop culture conventions.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
Post a Comment