David Glanzer Comic Con San Diego PR Director Interview (Video) #SDCC

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David Glanzer Comic Con San Diego PR Director Interview (Video) #SDCC David Glanzer Comic Con PR Boss Status Report Interview

David Glanzer, Comic Con International’s Director of Marketing and Sponsorships, gives me an annual “checkin” interview. I always give him a promotion – this time he’s President of Comic Con!

This year, Glanzer said the campus set up worked extremely well. “NBC had an activation. UbiSofi had an activation. FXX had a Simpson’s activation. There were some other activations as well. And I think it helped to alleviate the congestion within the building. I don’t know exactly how many (people) we have yet. I still think it’s going to be about 130,000. But I think these outside activations have helped to diffuse the crowd issues we have had.”

Mr. Glanzer says Comic Con is contracted to stay through 2016, but there are issues, and the foremost one is size. I will say, just as an annual goer, that Hall H needs to be expanded by double its size. But also, the problem here is that financing to do that quickly is not as easy to get as it once was since California Governor Jerry Brown killed (for now) Redevelopment Law in the state (which allowed the use of property tax revenue to finance improvements in places like the San Diego Convention Center). So, another way – perhaps Mello-Roos Financing – has to be sought. But Glanzer says both parties, city and Comic Con, are working together and that something will be done to keep it in San Diego for years to come.

Hotel Room Rates Are High But Glanzer Sees Relief

Hotel rooms in San Diego for Comic Con are as much as 300 percent higher than normal. It’s to the point that taking a family of four to the event is almost prohibitively expensive. Some say that they double up with others – but that’s the response of a person who doesn’t have kids. Glanzer says Comic Con is for young people ages 17 to 34 and many can’t afford the high prices. Then, some bring their kids, which makes the idea of doubling up impossible. “The hotels are working with us (to reduce the prices), and hopefully we will be able to stay a lot longer.”

Comic Con Wants WonderCon in San Francisco

WonderCon has been in Anaheim for the past two years. Prior to that, it’s home has been in the San Francisco Bay Area. WonderCon was born in Oakland before it moved over to San Francisco to take advantage of the larger convention space. Over that time, it grew to the point where it drew 40,000 people for its last year in SF; now it’s over 70,000 down in Anaheim. Still, everyone, except the Anaheim business people, want to return to San Francisco. The departure was due to expansion work on Moscone Center, but that’s supposed to have been done now. Comic Con is ready to come back. “We’re in constant touch with them,” Glanzer says “the problem is when they do propose dates, it’s 3 to 6 months before the event is to start (rather than a year).” He says it’s hard to get exhibitors to be ready with that time frame. “We’d love to come back. San Francisco’s an awesome city.”

The Comic Con Brand Dilution Problem

There are now a lot of Comic Cons, from New York to Denver, and more cities, like Salt Lake City. I asked Glanzer about that, and if they own the name “Comic Con.” First, they do own the name. Second, we did not talk about the legal issue with Salt Lake, but he did send a message: “The fact of the matter is we don’t want people to be confused by attending shows that don’t live up to the standards we have.”

In my view, Comic Con International has perhaps been too nice in allowing others to use their name without legal challenge. It’s really time to stop that before it gets really out of hand.

Stay tuned. http://ift.tt/1tnZwnu

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