How swag has moved beyond buttons and flyers to connecting with their fans.
San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) is Mecca for all things pop culture, cult classics, comic books, costumes and art. With over 150,000 people flocking to Downtown San Diego to see the latest in movies, TV shows, video games and comics, it’s no wonder that so many companies fight to make their booths bigger, badder and more eye catching. Companies also know the secret to getting attention: free SWAG! With Warner Brothers partnering with Comic Con this year to put poster size swag bags in the hands of every attendee, the booths were ready with buttons, lanyards, stickers, shirts, posters and anything else they could put their promotional item on. But in the sea of all the swag and paper, what about those who really follow and care about the booth and its brand?
Social Media is an outlet for those who really like a movie, company or brand to support, follow and interact. The lack of social media presence at SDCC this year was rather surprising. With shows like Attack of the Show, webisode sensations like The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog and Twitterati like Felicia Day, Will Wheton and Kevin Smith using social media to promote themselves, their shows and whatever else they feel is worthy of their attention, the lack of social media presence by the SDCC vendors was a huge shock.
On my quest for companies that were taking advantage of social media, I came across six booths using social media to get attention and give away exclusive swag.
1.) Intel – @IntelGameOn: Intel by far had the biggest and best toys to give away via Twitter at SDCC. Intel used Twitter to run contests and give away swag while also posting pop culture questions, pictures and just generally nerding out in the exhibit hall. Intel gave away a Core i7 CPU, a Wacom Drawing Tablet and signed MegaMind comics by posting their followers to Follow them and tweet using the #SDCC & #IntelGameOn hashtags to enter. They also gave away five $25 gift cards for those who entered into the contest, but didn’t win the grand prize. As an added bonus, Ben (the tweeter for the event) gave away special swag for their tweeps (people who tweet). (http://twitpic.com/288pma)
2.) Frag Dolls and Ubisoft – @FragDolls: Frag Dolls, an all girl video game group sponsored by Ubisoft, are not newcomers to SDCC. Generally in attendance at conventions around the US throughout the year, these girls are the ultimate booth babes able to kick your butt in a first person shooter without getting a hair out of place. Through out SDCC, Frag Dolls utilized Twitter and Facebook to attract people to the Just Dance 2 booth, a new game for the XBOX 360 using their new motion sensitive technology, offering swag like sweat bands, shirts and beta keys for people doing tasks like taking a picture with cosplayers or an Ezio (the main character from Assassin’s Creed), visiting their booth and becoming a Facebook Fan of Just Dance 2, Ghost Recon 2, or Assassin’s Creed 2. They also raffled off a new XBOX 360 Elite (lucky guy – http://twitpic.com/28mzbc).
3.) San Diego Comic Con and Warner Brothers: San Diego Comic Con did a social media trick all on their own. Partnering with Warner Brothers (WB), SDCC utilized foursquare, a location based app that allows to you check-in to places you frequent getting you discounts and free stuff, by giving those who checked in at SDCC the Superman Badge. A quick flash of your Superman badge at the WB booth in the exhibit hall got you a Superman Returns mini flash-light that project the Superman emblem. Additionally, each day of SDCC, including preview night, had over 250 check-ins, earning foursquare users the coveted Swarm and Super Swarm badge.
4.) Tofu Girls: This cute, women-driven store that inspires women designers to flourish and create, utilized Facebook to drive traffic to their booth. By becoming a fan of Tofu Girls (http://www.facebook.com/tofugirls) on Facebook and telling them the secret word (flying hourglass), you won a free keychain.
5.) AZ Pop Culture Museum (AZPCM): AZPCM proved that you don’t have to have a booth to use social media. AZPCM took social media to the streets and really made their followers work for it; they played Hide-And-Tweet. We are all familiar with hide and seek; AZPCM made their followers find them. Passing out mini flyers to those who were ever-so-bored waiting in lines, they offered followers the opportunity to win exclusive limited edition toys. By following AZPCM, not only did they get live updates from all over SDCC, the followers were told where to find the AZPCM tweeter and what they needed to say to win their toys. Four lucky winners hunted down AZPCM all over SDCC. (Twitter: @AZPCM)
6.) Sony Online Entertainment (SOE): SOE is not new to using social media for exclusive swag. Last year at SDCC, SOE used MySpace to provide their many visitors the opportunity to attend an exclusive party in the Gas Lamp district of Downtown San Diego. This year, SOE used DC Universe Online (DCUO), an online game allowing players to battle as their favorite DC comic heroes of villains, to lure people into their booth, follow them on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/DCUniverseOnline) and Twitter (@DCUO) to watch for the word of the day. Over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, three words-of-the-day were revealed early in the morning (“Hero”, “Villain” and “Legend”) giving their followers the chance to get an exclusive VIP pass to their DCUO Fan Event on Saturday night. This was a very coveted and limited event; DCUO ran out of passes by 2pm each day. This exclusive word of the day really helped DCUO get real friends to their event to make it a successful night of drinks, fans and fun.
Social media swag will continue to have a growing presence at SDCC as social media becomes a dominant marketing tool. As an attendee, social media could also be used to help with the congestion in the exhibit halls by making one part of each booth for those “real” fans that are really interested in the product or company to collect their swag. It will also allow for television shows, films, companies, comics, merchandise and everything else that we love about SDCC to continue to connect and share with their consumers after SDCC is over, as well as give SDCC more value, purpose and growing power.
About the Author:
Desiree Ford
Desiree is the owner of Pink Media LLC, a social media management company in Phoenix, AZ specializing in using social media effectively, educating and making social media interactive on and off the computer. Desiree’s experience with networking, technology and connecting people with people allows for an insight into social media that others wouldn’t consider. She can also be found on Facebook and Twitter as the Foursquare Expert (@4sqExpert).
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