July 27, 2025

What Makes an IP Popular? Lessons from Comic-Con for Theme Parks

What makes an IP popular today? It’s not just the box office or streaming stats—it’s the fans who show up, dress up, and wait five hours for a free experience.

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TrendsIP

What makes an IP popular today? It’s not just the box office or streaming stats—it’s the fans who show up, dress up, and wait five hours for a free experience. At San Diego Comic-Con, Percy Jackson, Alien, and K-pop Demon Hunters proved that passion, not just numbers, powers IP. Philip and Scott break down why pop-ups are becoming the new focus groups, how activations create the data stories that boards and licensors want, and what theme park professionals can learn from the way studios test, validate, and launch IP in the wild. If you're pitching an IP partnership or designing a seasonal overlay, this episode is your blueprint. Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon.

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Okay, from our studios in Los Angeles and Tampa. This

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is Green Tag Theme Park and thirty. I'm Philip. I'm

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joined as always from my co host Scott Swinson of

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Scott Swinson Cray Development. On Green Tag, we look at

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the week's top news and explain why it matters to

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business professionals in the theme entertainment space. And this week

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was San Diego Comic Con, and so there's lots of

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talk of IPS floating around everywhere. So we thought we

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would say.

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What what, Let's let's start by making a connection here

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because I'm sure there are some listeners going comic Con.

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Great is that this is not a that's this is

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a theme park show. Where are we talking about comic Con?

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And I think what Scott and I were talking about

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before we got on the show was basically theme parks.

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This trend of using more and more IPS is a

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big trend we've been talking about in theme parks. And

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the question is for a lot of the operators, how

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do you work with IPS? And what iypiece to work with?

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And I think it seems like this very unattainable goal

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to a lot of especially smaller operators, And so we're like,

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let's link all these together, let's look at what's going

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on at San Diego concon and how that relates to

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IP selection. And yeah, so comic Con. I mean, I

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I have not been to San Diego Comic Con. I've

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been to several other comic cons and I've got another

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one coming up next week. But the the idea of

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going to a San Diego comic con that has become such.

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A massive event that it's not it's not just for

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comic nerds anymore, you know, I mean, it's it's so

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far surpassed that and you had a chance to experience

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it this week. Yes, yes, So what were some of

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the what were some of the hot ips and hot

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excuse me activations that maybe even looking for somebody to

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pick them up as an IP.

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So comic Con is is interesting to give the context

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for people that haven't been because it's a little different

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than any other comic con. I go to a lot

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of conventions anime and comically in that whole fandom area,

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and Comic Con is definitely the most unique, And if anything,

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I would say it's unique because of the ips exactly

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what we're having this conversation, and sometimes sometimes I think

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comic Con isn't for the attendees. It's for the film

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studios and the press, and which is very different than

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a regular convention.

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So many of my friends who are congoers have said

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the exact same thing. They're like, we don't even feel

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like we belong here anymore.

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Yeah, it's very strange. It's I went as credentialed media.

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I was reporting on comic Con for a traction's magazine,

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and we focused primarily on the activations, so the themed environments,

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so it's exactly what we're talking about on the show,

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like the theme how do you worlds you're walking through?

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We're not. I didn't report on any panels except for

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one to two of them, and we really focused on

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the things you could do in person. And that's what

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makes any o'comiccon so unique is that when you look

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at the attendance, it's maybe only one hundred and fifty

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thousand people, which is not massive from the Anime Expo

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is supposedly four hundred thousand, so this is like not

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close to that, except that counts the people that are

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going into the convention, like the badges that are going

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into the convention center. But with San Diego Comic Con.

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Most of the convention is not at the convention, it

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is in the like I would say four blocks that

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they closed down. So every hotel, every store, every space

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you could possibly put something in a studio has come

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in with an IP and turned it into a themed environment.

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So in Indianapolis, gen Con did the same thing with

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every surrounding hotel, every ballroom, even the indoor.

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Stadium, everything everything literally And the thing is you don't

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need badges for most of these, right, they're just activations.

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Even they build so Disney Entertainment studios. They had four

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activations this year and all of theirs were just outside

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on the waterfront or in the park nearby, and they

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just put up walls and they just build an entire

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so basic experience backing.

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I mean, there's ay they've got. They know that there's

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going to be a huge influx of their target audience,

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and there's a lot of media attention, which I think

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is probably more important than the influx of target audience.

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And it gives them an opportunity to set up, you know,

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to set up their platform, to set up their soapbox,

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to pitch their next great concept idea. As long as

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it's loosely related. It seems to fit in.

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I guess, well, so, no, that's an excellent thought. So

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I was having this discussion with a few people about

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kind of what we're all doing here. It was a

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little weird meta discussion, right, because some of us were

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in line for the fandom party and it's kind of

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why are we all here? Like what is the point

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of all this? And it's interesting, Like I said, I

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think it's for the studios and for the press, but

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it's interesting when we look at it in the IP

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lens because you know, recently there was that I don't

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want to say complaint, but there was some of those

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articles about Pixar and Disney of being like, well, if

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you want to more original stories, you need to go

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support them in the theater. Right, there was a kind

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of like the got negative press for that, and then

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there was a kind of argument of well how much

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marketing do you put behind it? So then it gets

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you to think what actually makes an IP popular? Is

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it the story itself? Like is it a good story

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of telling the story? Or is it the marketing that

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is put behind it? And when you're there at Comic Con,

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I think you really see all that really starkly represented

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because the people that put the money behind the EPs,

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that's where you get it. So it's not necessarily i think,

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a question of the IP itself or even the fans

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of the IP. It's it's like that that's there, but

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it's also the shiny object thing like how much money

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they're going to put behind the activation, how cool it's

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going to be to do the thing itself, that kind

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of drives it. So for example, Percy Jackson, so the

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ones that Disney did. Disney did Avid Elementary that it

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can of the Hill, they did Percy Jackson, and they

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did Alien. Okay, Abbot Elementary had the whole area with

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the ferris wheel. They made a whole block party where

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they gave away lunch boxes where you could go get

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your lunch box engraved and then they you'd go pick

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it up at Lost and Found right, so they would

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call your name, Oh, you lost your lunchbox and here's

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your name's on it. Right. They did a custom caricatures,

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or they would transform you into a character from Abbot

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Elementary and put you onto a poster. They did free

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shaved eyes. All these are free, by the way, everything

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here is free that's another reason why they get so

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many people. Everything all these activations are free and they're

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open to everyone without badges or with badges either way.

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So that's a lot to do for Abbot, right, But

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the popularity of the Abbot experiences was much less than

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that for the Alien or for the Percy Jackson one.

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But Percy Jackson, they're giving away either a really nice

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water bottle, like, you know, very nice, a very nice

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water bottle, or a really nice cap that you get

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and you get to go the whole experience where you

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get to do a personality quiz and be chosen by

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a god and interact with the fates and interact, you know,

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have a whole interactive experience. And then in the Alien

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you get to walk through the entire wreckage of the

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ship like from the movie, right, and then walk through

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the ship hallway in the dark where creatures may or

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may not come out at you. I mean, come on,

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so when you kind of when you weigh these and

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so just also for some points here, the Alien experience

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was about a four hour wait and the Persigestion experience

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was five hours. But then they had to shut the

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line down, and so you show up in the day

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and we were and the press. This is the only

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reason I went to tell you about it, because press

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got our own time to go in. But I was

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talking to some of the regular people in line, which

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I like to do to get a sense of and

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the person who was front in line to get in

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for the first general attendance for regular people on Thursday

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said they had driven all night just to come to

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get in line for the Percy Jackson experience and they

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have been waiting there literally all night and all morning

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to be the first regular guests to go in. And so, yes,

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Percy Jackson, there is a huge fandom for it. You

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can tell you that's what I mean. You can sense that.

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But maybe some of the other ones it's just because

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you get a bunch of free stuff and it's really cool.

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So it's it's kind of I think, figuring out where

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the passion line is. And then it gets back to

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the IP thing we just talked about, So like, how

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much have you really seen for Percy Jackson. How much promotion?

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I haven't seen. There's no Percy Jackson theme park.

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Well, but I will go. I will go, So putting

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on my putting on my corporate hat, it's like, you know,

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to answer that question, why do they invest this kind

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of stuff? Not just why are we here? But or

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why were you there? But why do they invest this

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kind of money and time and effort into these kinds

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of activations. So it kind of goes back to what

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I believe was Malcolm Gladwell who referred to people as sneezers,

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the people who are so excited about a brand, so

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excited about an IP that if you tap into that,

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you'll be able to get them to spread the enthusiasm

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organically about your IP significantly faster. So if they get

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their their lunchbox from Abbitt Elementary, or they get their

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wearing their cap from Percy Jackson, they somebody will say, oh,

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where'd you get that cool cap? And they immediately will

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gush about the experience. So that's that's exactly what this.

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So that's one of the things they will They're targeting

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their their core core audience to get organic because if

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you can get I mean, and you know this far

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better than I do, Philip, if you can get organic

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growth that Trump's paid media time and time again, it

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just expands exponentially. So you want to get the right

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people excited about your brand, excited about your IP and

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and you're right, we haven't heard a lot about Percy Jackson.

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So is this a way? And I will promise you

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that the amount they spent on that activation is significantly

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less than had they done a nationwide television spread of advertising. Now,

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did it reach a wide and audience, who knows? But

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did it reach the people who can organically spread it

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like little veins of a tree. Absolutely. The other thing

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that is very beneficial in these kinds of activations is

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they can get data. Now, we all know that data

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can be used in any way you want it to,

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but you can say, you know, there is such a

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such an impact, such an interest in this brand because

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at at C Diego Comicon, we saw x number of

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people in our full capacity was this We were at

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full capacity, People were weighing five hours in line. This

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sounds really impressive to investors, This sounds really impressive to

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people who who want that that uh you know, yeah,

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well why are we putting money in this or why

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should we extend this? So if you've got some of

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that data, which you know, granted is a bit a

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bit skewed, you know, no one's going to wait four

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hours to see any of these things, any of these

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products in line, you know, So it's it's no weak,

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but it does give them, it does get It gives

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them data points, and it targets the people who going

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to talk about their brand the most.

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I want to say data points with a story, and

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I think tying it back to our listeners, that is

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something I think you could tap if you could tap

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into that when you're trying to pitch your idea. So

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if we think about it, it's the same. These are

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gonna be the same questions that our listeners would have

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to answer if they were pitching someone to put some

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sort of IP partnership at one of your attractions. The

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data question, how do we know this is going to work?

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How do we know people are going to show up

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to it? How do we know the money spent in

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investing the IP and then building the thing is people

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are going to want to do it? And to Scott's

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I think Scott of what Scott was saying, like, I

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think my argument, because I'm a peer data maybe not

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a pure data person, but my argument has always been

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you could just look at the numbers, right, Like my

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argument would have been we should know based off of

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the amount of numbers that we have for it. But

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I think something what Scott is saying, It's like when

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you can tell them here are the numbers, but also

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here are pictures of fans all over SOT media who

241
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waited the story I just told you about Percy Jackson. Right.

242
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I could see somebody saying that in a boardroom, this

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is why we should do a Percy Jackson experience at

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our attraction, because look at the fans that came out

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to Comic Conlan. And even though in my brain, even

246
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though so my little brain is like, I mean, but

247
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if your theme park is in Tennessee and this is

248
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in San Diego, you're not necessarily gonna get the you know.

249
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But it's about the story, about showing the passion behind it.

250
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And that's and that's exactly my point saying that the

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data can be used to say anything you wanted to.

252
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You know, you can. You can take that data and

253
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say we were sold out one hundred percent, and then

254
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you can flip that data if you don't want to

255
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do it, you flip that data on its head and

256
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says this is really popular in California, but this is

257
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not going to fly here in Iowa.

258
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You know, exactly.

259
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Yeah, So you know data, data is something. This is

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where Philip and I, I won't say disagree. We both

261
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recognize the importance of data. But I'm I'm a lot more.

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That's the word I'm looking for, suspicious regarding data, because

263
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I have i'veen data used over the years. I've seen

264
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data used to say things that weren't necessarily accurate or true,

265
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or didn't come to be true because they were able

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to take the data frame it in a certain way.

267
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You know, the data only works if you understand the

268
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full perspective, if you understand where it's coming from, in

269
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what world it's living in. So but with something like this,

270
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you can use this data and you can use these stories.

271
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And you're right, Philip, the photographs are essential when it

272
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comes to pitching a new idea. If you could say,

273
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look at the enthusiasm, look at the excitement at comic Con,

274
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and of course I would be the one sitting in

275
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the back. Excuse me, do you have anything like that

276
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at a shopping mall, because comic Con is targeting this

277
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audience one hundred thousand percent.

278
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Yep, exactly, exactly. Well, and you know when you were

279
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talking it was interesting thinking about the data. I think

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that the best thing and I think we I had

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this conversation with somebody, a reporter from Collider. Parts of

282
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this conversation with reporter from Collider in line for the

283
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fandom part, which was just I guess, like a giant

284
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party to like just be excited about fan things, and

285
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it's yeah, I was like, is fandom well? Also, I

286
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mean the All American Rejects were playing also, so that

287
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was part of it. But you know, I didn't say

288
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that because I'm old, but and I was tired.

289
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But they don't do a bad show anyway.

290
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Ahead Yeah, yeah, But so it's the idea of the

291
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of testing. And we were talking about how Disney needs

292
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everything to be perfect and that they can't They almost

293
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can't afford to launch a movie or a thing that

294
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is not gonna do well because then they're under a microscope,

295
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and so they're so conservative with what they produce. And

296
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he was talking about how Netflix can make bets much

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wider because they're under less of microscope. And basically he

298
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was like, you could have all the data, you could

299
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see all this data, but like you still need to

300
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test it, and the best thing to do is to

301
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do micro tests is what we were talking about. It

302
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how do we do micro tests? And it's like, how

303
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do we do smaller, smaller testing to then get to

304
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you know, solution And he's like, well, Netflix is able

305
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to produce so much faster so they can get to

306
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a hit faster, and Disney has to do so much

307
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and find so there's like there's so much discussion about

308
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it because they can't afford to fail. He's like, and

309
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that's the problem is because there's no guarantee with this

310
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kind of stuff. And I'm like, I agree with that,

311
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and I think even in for our listeners. That's also

312
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another takeaway is what type of testing can you do

313
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to take the data and validate it in your region

314
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in a smaller scale if you can, or then and

315
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then expand it and expand it, expand it from there.

316
00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:46.360
And yeah, and we were talking about and what I

317
00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:50.519
guess my point was YouTube can do that even better

318
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because on YouTube, that's what you see. You see all

319
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these individual people who are putting out content, and then

320
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you figure out YouTube itself figures out what content you

321
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know is the best because they have so many different sources.

322
00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.960
And an example I was saying is like look like

323
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to me, the runaway hit of this whole month is

324
00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:13.279
K Pop Demon Hunters and they're nowhere at Sandigo Comic Con.

325
00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:17.519
But Capop Demon Hunters they went. Saying they went viral

326
00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:22.639
is an understatement. I mean, every human that's under it

327
00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.120
in a certain age range is talking about this show

328
00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.120
and it's absolutely like it is. It's bonkers, Like the

329
00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:34.960
fandom for this show is bonkers. And again, it's just

330
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.480
one of those things that Netflix put out and it

331
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just completely came out from less field, and you know,

332
00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:42.200
it should have been at comic Art. It should be,

333
00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.039
it should be somewhere it should be, doesn't or.

334
00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:47.039
It doesn't need to be at comic Con because they've

335
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.440
already they've already been a tested it and it's already flying.

336
00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.759
It's the things that they it's the things they need

337
00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.840
to test. It's the you know, I replace I guess

338
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my point is replaced focus groups with pop up experiences.

339
00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.200
You know, Oh that's a good idea because because focus

340
00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:04.359
groups are outdated and take too much time, you get

341
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.680
real you get real time, real time feedback. And you know,

342
00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.400
you talked about how long it takes to produce and

343
00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.400
how Netflix can produce. Netflix can produce things so much quicker.

344
00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.039
I mean, a perfect example of that is and I'm

345
00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:16.960
not gonna I am not gonna get political on the show,

346
00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:20.599
but South Park they you know, they can produce. They

347
00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:23.079
say they can produce shows in five to seven days,

348
00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:27.119
so they can be very topical. They can be bleeding

349
00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:30.799
edge when it comes to the topics that they're that

350
00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:32.599
they're talking about, and that means that they're going to

351
00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.559
go very quickly with with uh K Pop Demon Hunters

352
00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:40.039
that you just mentioned, I am clearly not in that

353
00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:43.000
age demo, but it's even it even pops up as

354
00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.839
like number four on my list of what I should

355
00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:49.359
be watching when I turn on Netflix. Uh and and

356
00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:53.200
apparently it's it's again the algorithm, which I couldn't possibly understand,

357
00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:58.000
but it's everything from sci fi to you know, the

358
00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:04.039
Korean films that I really liked, the animation. I love animation,

359
00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:06.880
so I watch a lot of animation, not necessarily that style,

360
00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:11.119
but it's it's feeding in all those little little tendrils

361
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:14.799
of information. And so I guess my point is, you're

362
00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:19.319
absolutely right. If it's if I know in my you know,

363
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:25.119
my septagenarian age bracket, if I'm familiar with with Capeop

364
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.279
Demon Hunters, it's got to be big and it's got

365
00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.640
to be blowing up in the in the right demographic.

366
00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.599
Yep. And I think I like the idea that you

367
00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.680
just that you said too about testing it, So like,

368
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:40.400
can somebody do a test experience with something like Keepop

369
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.720
Demon Hunter look at this trend, do a test pop

370
00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.400
up or do some sort of pop up test of

371
00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:47.039
a thing? Figured it out? And even back to the examples,

372
00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:49.400
if somebody is waiting four hours, if you have people

373
00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:51.519
that are willing to wait four hours to walk through

374
00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:54.920
an alien wreckage thing, that could be a good haunted house.

375
00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:57.000
I mean maybe people would pay for it, and you know,

376
00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:01.559
so then the question becomes would someone have paid to

377
00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:03.599
skip that line? And then you would know that you

378
00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:05.200
have a like a business mind.

379
00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.279
And the next question is you have to look at

380
00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:10.359
would some of paid to skip that line? Number one?

381
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:13.200
Number two? How much would we have to pay to

382
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:15.880
get that IP? Because you have to have that IP

383
00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:18.039
in order to get people to want to wait four hours,

384
00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:21.599
you know, And and I think it's a I think

385
00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:24.759
Percy Jackson is a really good example, especially comparing it

386
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.640
to K pop demon Hunters. The reason Percy Jackson is there.

387
00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:32.240
It needs sneezer, it needs people ausiastic about the brand. Again,

388
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:35.160
it's it's a It's one of those brands that, in

389
00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.880
my opinion, from my perspective, never really popped through as

390
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:41.599
a major player, but was always there. You know, it's

391
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:44.359
been it's it's been been around for a while. It's

392
00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:45.920
been around for a while. It's been films, it's been

393
00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:48.279
there's a musical on Broadway, or was a musical on Broadway.

394
00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:50.720
There's a lot, it's it's taken many forms, but it's

395
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:54.359
like they haven't quite hit their niche yet. So again,

396
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:58.640
a pop up like at San Diego Comic Con is

397
00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:02.559
a perfect opportunity to kind of refine tests, see what works,

398
00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:05.079
see what people like. Are they there just for the

399
00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.119
free stuff or is that just the way to get

400
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:09.359
them in the door. You know, there's a lot of

401
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.240
there's a lot of opportunity there, I see, and a

402
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:14.599
lot of organic opportunity. You know, I would if I

403
00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:16.960
were there and I were part of that project, I'd

404
00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.559
be watching every moment. I'd be talking to people as

405
00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:21.759
they came out, I'd be watching, I'd be I'd have

406
00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:24.559
cameras throughout the whole thing, figuring out where people are happy,

407
00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:28.200
where they're lingering, where they're moving forward, you know, all

408
00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.519
of that, all that would be so part of it.

409
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:34.920
It's it's fascinating to me, and I'm I'm excited because,

410
00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.079
like I said, I'm speaking at Tampa Bay Comic On

411
00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:42.519
or Tampa Bay Comic Convention August. I'll be there August third,

412
00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:50.119
And I'm curious because it's not nearly the hugeness of

413
00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:54.559
San Diego Comic Con. But what's interesting to me is

414
00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:59.279
the celebrities that are on the list. They're having everything

415
00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:03.960
from pretty much any there's I can't think of a

416
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:08.759
single animation studio that isn't represented by voiceover artists, so

417
00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:13.599
they have all of the animation voice artists and then

418
00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:17.160
they're having a Happy Days reunion. Henny Henry Winkler, Don

419
00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:21.279
most Anson, Williams are all going to be there. So

420
00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:25.359
it's it's kind of what we're talking about, I think

421
00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:27.880
is that they're kind of sort of dipping their toe

422
00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:30.079
into gosh, is this going to be of interest to

423
00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:32.839
this group or maybe we need maybe maybe they're looking

424
00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:35.119
at it going we need a we need an older crowd,

425
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.359
they're more likely to spend money on vintage and nostalgia

426
00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:42.440
than a younger crowd. Is I don't know, but we'll

427
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.200
we'll talk about that after I go. But it's I

428
00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:47.920
think these conventions I guess My point is these conventions

429
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:50.400
are a great opportunity to do some really good market

430
00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:51.680
research with a target audience.

431
00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:54.359
Yeah, I think if you're doing it correctly, I think

432
00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.759
what you're saying is right. I think again, it's all

433
00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.880
about the data, caption the data, paying attention to what

434
00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:03.960
going on, and for our listeners, also paying attention again

435
00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:07.039
to see what people are again, what experiences they're excited about.

436
00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:08.519
I think is is that's why I always like to

437
00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:11.240
go with the experiences to figure out and like what

438
00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:14.279
you're saying so really quickly, just to list the other

439
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.640
things for our listeners so they're aware and maybe they

440
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:19.319
could go look search up some of these videos. I

441
00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:22.039
didn't experience all these personally, but some of the ones

442
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:25.440
that were very popular. The Predator bar. They had a

443
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.200
bar experience with predator and they had like a little

444
00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:30.440
stage area where the predator would come out and kind

445
00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:34.759
of do predator things and whatever. So yeah, I don't know, but.

446
00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:37.640
You're to do predator things.

447
00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:41.079
I don't know. I saw some videos of like, okay,

448
00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:44.160
there was some alien language talking. I don't know what's

449
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:48.240
going on. Maybe it was like last Call guys kind

450
00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:53.039
of thing. But but so they got obviously the alien

451
00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:56.160
thing was was huge, and they did a day version

452
00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:59.079
of night version. The King of the Hill was more

453
00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:02.079
popular than I expect did Ashley, which again it's showing

454
00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:06.079
the research here because they're rebooting King of the Hill,

455
00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:08.079
and so they had it was all set up for

456
00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:10.400
the next generation of King of the Hill, and they

457
00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:13.519
had you could go and you could get Alamo Waters,

458
00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:16.200
you know, so instead of the beards of water can.

459
00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:18.480
I mean, it's really they had some of fun moments

460
00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:22.799
that you could recreate. And then obviously Bobby's all grown

461
00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:29.799
up now, yeah yeah, yeah. Uh. My favorite line that

462
00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:32.359
they kept playing over and over was like I don't

463
00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:34.240
know if I can kick your ass through Zoom, but

464
00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:39.680
I'm gonna try. It was it was good. Uh. Then

465
00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:44.119
they had the Lodge paramount set up like a Dexter

466
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.440
walk through a little walk through his Vault type of experience,

467
00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.680
and they had a few other things that seemed not

468
00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.240
to have not as much trash. But I think some

469
00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.759
of the random runaway hits people weren't expecting. The pac

470
00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:00.119
Band Cafe. There was a pac Band cafe. All oh

471
00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:04.480
my god. That but again we talked about this too.

472
00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:07.799
But like the idea of pac Man food and themed noodles,

473
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:09.599
I mean all these I mean people just went cars.

474
00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:11.319
People love food, and then it's pac Man. You love

475
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.119
pac Man and food and you get to eat it.

476
00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:15.200
It all fits together. They had a meeting greet with

477
00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.039
a little pac Man character that was went wild.

478
00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:20.319
It's like it's like the butter Beer bar, you know

479
00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:24.519
the butter beer caps in the various Harry Potter stores.

480
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:28.400
Because there's so many. There was a Magic the Gathering

481
00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:31.880
experience where they recreate they're doing the Magic Gathering is

482
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.079
partnering with Spider Man for their new set, and so

483
00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:37.559
they recreated some of the town from the new from

484
00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:39.200
the comp book from New York, and you could go

485
00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:40.759
and you could go the Daily Bugle and pick up

486
00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:43.160
a paper, and you could go into the desk and

487
00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:44.799
take pictures and all this so that there was those

488
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:51.759
fun experiences. And then the Twisted Metal brought bumper cars

489
00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:54.440
that were kind of like looked like the cars so

490
00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:58.039
you could play do bumper car experiences. And then you know,

491
00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:00.680
there are some smaller horror ips where they just had

492
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:03.599
horror characters that the strangers, you know, or things like

493
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.200
that where the characters just kind of roamed around areas.

494
00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:11.119
Those got popular. So there are so many. I mean,

495
00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:13.640
it's every corner you look through, but those are the

496
00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:17.279
ones I thought really broke through the noise that we

497
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:20.480
kept seeing people kept saying the wait times were just

498
00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:22.519
insane on for those.

499
00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:24.880
Well, so basically I think for our listeners, one of

500
00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:28.480
the key takeaways here is you may think that the

501
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:33.519
comic cons or the pop culture conventions are something that

502
00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:35.680
really doesn't directly tie to what you do, but they

503
00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:37.559
really are. You should go and check them, see what

504
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:40.880
people are excited about, and also learn how to handle crowds,

505
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.759
because that's another thing that they have to do, and

506
00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:46.440
you'll in some of them, I won't mention any names,

507
00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:48.240
and some that I've been to they have no idea

508
00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:51.279
how to handle crowds and it's a cluster. And in

509
00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:53.839
others they're excellent handling crowds and it makes for a

510
00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:59.359
very exciting and connected experience. So go out and check

511
00:25:59.400 --> 00:25:59.680
them out.

512
00:25:59.680 --> 00:25:59.920
That's that.

513
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.000
That's the most important thing, I.

514
00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:03.680
Think, and the last example I'm gonna have that's gonna

515
00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.839
probably tile this together. So I went to a panel

516
00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:11.160
for The Dragon Prints and The Dragon Prince was written

517
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.440
by the same people that did Avatar the Last Airbender,

518
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.000
and so it's kind of like it's very similar in

519
00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:19.920
every like in theming, you know, it's like coming of

520
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.400
age of animation. It's all in terms of the same demographic,

521
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:27.400
the same themes, it hits all those same things. Okay,

522
00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:30.160
so the dragon Prints ended, it got picked up by

523
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.039
Netflix and ended, I don't know a while ago, and

524
00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:40.039
the panel was basically they were just talking about a

525
00:26:40.039 --> 00:26:41.599
new announcement, and so I went to the panel to

526
00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:43.759
see what it was all about, and they put them

527
00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:46.599
They put it in Ballroom twenty and so that's about

528
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.640
five thousand people, and it was it was packed, I mean,

529
00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:51.160
it filled up for that and they basically announced that

530
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:57.319
they were they had written and developed the next series,

531
00:26:57.319 --> 00:26:59.640
which would be The Dragon King, which is a continuation

532
00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:01.400
of the Dragon in Prints, and it was going to

533
00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:04.640
be involving some of the voice actors from Avatar Last Airbender.

534
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:07.480
So Zuko is going to be in there playing the Dragon.

535
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:09.839
I mean, there's so they had the voice actors on stage,

536
00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:13.119
did some fun stuff. But here's the whole thing, the

537
00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:14.720
whole point. And I didn't even realize this how I

538
00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:17.000
was in it. The whole point of this panel was

539
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.599
to get people signed up for the Kickstarter to get

540
00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:23.279
the funding to produce the series. And You're just like,

541
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.680
this is insane that it's this popular of a fandom

542
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:29.000
and they need to get people in the Kickstarter. And

543
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:31.559
he did even mention on the panel. They're like, we

544
00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:33.400
just we need to be able to prove to the

545
00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:38.079
executives that there is there's enough interest to invest in

546
00:27:38.119 --> 00:27:40.000
this and this is what it's about, and this is

547
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:41.839
why we need your help on the Kickstarter. And I'm like,

548
00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.000
this is crazy to me. You're just like, this is

549
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.400
crazy because Netflix has the numbers, and they could just

550
00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:50.720
look at the numbers. What is Avatar? What is the Dragon? Prince? Like,

551
00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:53.440
they have the numbers, but they still need to.

552
00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:56.559
But they've got the room somebody sitting on their board

553
00:27:56.599 --> 00:27:58.279
going yeah, well these number are four years old or

554
00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:02.319
three years Yeah, I don't know what they are still good, right, right, right,

555
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:02.720
right right?

556
00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:05.440
So and so yeah, they're there and they did a

557
00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:08.160
whole and but again it was smart because they did

558
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:13.200
a whole cosplay incentive where they were like, they invited

559
00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:15.599
cosplayers and they're like, if you have a good cosplay,

560
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:18.000
we're going to give you these like cool buttons, you know,

561
00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:20.119
when you show up to the panel. And so they

562
00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:22.880
packed the panel not only was super fans but also

563
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.319
with super super fans who were dressed as the characters.

564
00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:28.640
And then they had camera people there getting videos of

565
00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:32.400
all the cosplayers of everybody showing their fan their love

566
00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:35.279
of Avatar and the dragon prints and I mean it

567
00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:38.200
was like it was a whole thing. But to your point,

568
00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:40.400
it's all to tell the story behind the data.

569
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:44.440
Yep, it's it's a dog and pony show for the executives.

570
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:48.400
Ends up being let me rephrase that, it provides the

571
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:51.319
material for the dog and pony show for the executives.

572
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:55.599
Because if the executives, and again I'm so jaded about

573
00:28:55.640 --> 00:28:57.359
this because I've been through it so many times, but

574
00:28:57.440 --> 00:28:59.559
if the executives were to show up at the actual panel,

575
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.599
which they probably wouldn't, but they would go, well, look,

576
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:04.640
none of these people would ever spend any money on

577
00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.240
this stuff. They're not the ones making the decisions. However,

578
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:10.599
if you show video of people dressed as their characters

579
00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:14.599
and acting out their characters and using lines from you know,

580
00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:19.920
the brand and the IP itself, the boring executives who

581
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:22.079
are sitting there with their arms crossed can't fight that

582
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:25.720
too much. You know, you've got you have just proof.

583
00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:28.799
And then you see the numbers that are signed up

584
00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.680
for the kickstarter and it's just like, oh, okay, so

585
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:35.359
I guess there is actually sometimes you know, it's funny.

586
00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:39.359
Sometimes studio executives their job is to shoot things down.

587
00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:40.119
Yep.

588
00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:42.279
Their job is to say, here's why this won't work,

589
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:46.519
and this is a great opportunity to get material that

590
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:48.759
will counteract that thought.

591
00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:52.799
Yeah, and great, great, I think takeaways also for the

592
00:29:52.839 --> 00:29:56.480
audience to think about, Like that's similar to what we're

593
00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:58.519
doing at the park level as well, is to be

594
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.680
pitching and showing that there is passion behind it and

595
00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:04.400
that people would invest and that guests would spend the

596
00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:07.279
money and go and participate in the activity.

597
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:08.920
Yeah. Every time I do a new project, I have

598
00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:11.119
to show I have to show pictures. Here's the kind

599
00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:12.960
here's the kind of thing we're going to do. Here's

600
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:15.200
the people who are going to it. Here's how popular

601
00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:19.599
it is, and and then we have to go from there. So, uh, anyway,

602
00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:23.039
utilize these conventions because you don't all have to go

603
00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:25.200
to the biggest in the world, go to the smaller ones.

604
00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:27.160
If you're in the Tampa Bay area, come by say

605
00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:34.119
hello at the Tampa Bay Comic con Comic Convention, it's

606
00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.319
August first through the third. I'll be there on the

607
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:41.759
third and I'm doing a whole session on interactive entertainment

608
00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:46.640
and how it's growing and evolving, so which you'd think

609
00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:49.279
has nothing to do with the comic convention, but again,

610
00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.000
it's expanding, and it's it's embracing what we think of

611
00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:55.680
as live entertainment, what we think of as theme park,

612
00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.359
what we think of his immersive experience. So it's, uh,

613
00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:02.400
it's a whole show, and this has been a whole

614
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:05.039
show about this because we're out of time on behalf

615
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:06.880
of Philip. This is Scott Swinson. This is Green Tag

616
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:09.200
Theme Parking thirty and we will see all of you

617
00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:09.720
next week.
Scott Swenson, ICAE Profile Photo
Scott Swenson, ICAE

For over 30 years, Scott Swenson has been bringing stories to life as a writer, director, producer, and performer. His work in theme parks, consumer events, live theatre, and television has given him a broad spectrum of experiences. In 2014, after 21 years with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Scott formed Scott Swenson Creative Development. Since then he has been providing impactful experiences for clients around the world. Whether he is installing shows on cruise ships or creating seasonal festivals for theme parks, writing educational presentations for zoos and museums or training the next generation of attractions professionals, Scott is always finding new ways to tell stories that engage, educate and entertain.

Philip Hernandez, ICAE Profile Photo
Philip Hernandez, ICAE

CEO of Gantom, Publisher of Haunted Attraction Network

Philip is a journalist reporting on the Haunted House Industry, Horror events, Theme Parks, and Halloween. He is also the CEO of Gantom Lighting and Founder / Publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network, the haunted attraction industry's most prominent news media source. He is based in Los Angeles.