San Diego Comic Convention appoints IMG as first-ever licensing agency

San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), organisers of the annual Comic-Con event, the iconic brand known for celebrating all things comics and related aspects of popular arts and culture, has announced that it has appointed global licensing leader IMG as its first ever exclusive licensing representative. Through this affiliation, IMG will work in partnership with SDCC to extend the reach of the non-profit’s mission of promoting comics and related popular art forms and engaging with their respective fan communities.

Bruno Maglione, President of Licensing at IMG, says: “Over 50 years ago, the Comic-Con founders simply wanted to draw attention and recognition to the comics and other art forms they loved. In doing so, they discovered a shared interest in this and related Sci-Fi, fantasy, and genre content wider than they could have possibly imagined. Today, that comic culture is mainstream entertainment culture thanks in large part to Comic-Con’s championing of this art form and its brilliant creators, and Comic-Con is the leading curator brand and guide in this space, allowing it to secure consumer attention and deliver consumer value in more ways.”

While originally focused primarily on comic books, film, and science fiction, Comic-Con has since come to encompass and celebrate related art and fantasy content, as well as anime, interactive multimedia, costuming and so much more in all its formats, with an ever-increasing menu of forums, screenings, exhibits, and workshops at the San Diego Convention Center. More than 135,000 people attend its annual convention, along with countless thousands who trek to San Diego each summer to take part in the many outside activations and activities.

IMG will be working with SDCC to identify partners who can develop products, retail destinations and experiences for the millions of fans not able to partake in the annual Comic-Con convention experience.

David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer for SDCC, says: “We began talking to IMG around six months ago and in the course of those discussions, it hit home to us that we could use our expertise to serve the ever-growing fan community in more ways, places and times than ever before. In 2021, we embarked on the new Comic-Con Museum and now, with IMG’s expertise working with specialist partners to deliver authentic brand experiences, we can pursue an exciting new phase for the Comic-Con brand.” 

Ricardo Yoselevitz, Senior Vice President of Licensing, IMG, adds: “Through its annual conventions, it’s clear that Comic-Con has become a powerful consumer brand without even trying. We are honoured to now be working with them to identify products and destinations that create new ways and avenues to engage this passionate community, while further reinforcing Comic-Con’s position as the leading curator of this form of popular art and culture.”

Comic-Con returns this year to the San Diego Convention Center July 21 – 24.

Opinion: Is the Wild West about to be tamed? – Anthony Marks

Anthony Marks is MD of Fanattik a pop culture specialist, a gifts and collectibles licensee for 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Paramount Pictures. He talks us through why the days of the Comic Con counterfeiter may just be numbered

As a self-confessed geek I have no problem admitting that I have been visiting Comic Cons for more than 25 years, and many a time I remember queuing up for hours in the rain to get into an event and spend my money on product that mainstream retailers were ignoring.

Although visitor numbers have reduced from their heyday, a big London show can attract well over 100,000 visitors over a weekend and regional shows more than 30,000.

I still visit the shows, but this time with my commercial hat on to see product from all over Europe under one roof. The shows have never ceased to amaze me with regards to how much unlicensed poor quality product is freely available to buy, so I read with interest that a representative from Marvel was seen attending this month’s Liverpool Comic Con, it definitely had the exhibitors at the show in a tizz from the reports I received.

My company started off selling licensed limited edition art prints and many years ago we went through a phase of exhibiting at shows all over Europe, we found ourselves placed next to stands selling prints featuring images downloaded from the internet and run off on a home printer. We complained to show organisers and they just didn’t care, they had to sell the space and they didn’t care who they sold it to.

The most faked brands that we noticed always seemed to be Nintendo, Star Trek and Pokemon. I couldn’t understand why the brands weren’t sending representatives to these shows which were mostly in major cities, easily commutable from their or their agents offices.

A colleague used to take pictures of stands selling fake keyrings, pin badges, glassware etc but after being threatened by stall holders numerous times he decided it wasn’t worth doing anymore, especially as the show organisers and the brands we were sending the pictures to wouldn’t act on them anyway.

Licensees invest a lot of money in testing, especially on items such as jewellery as it comes into contact with the skin, the last thing the industry needs is a red top to report how a child’s neck turned green because they were wearing a necklace bought at a show. The press won’t care that the item was unlicensed they will just report the brand featured.

These stands are not always run by someone who just wants to make a little bit of extra money by selling product they produced at home, there is one large organised group which has multiple stands not just at the London shows but I have seen them at Frankfurt, Amsterdam as well as many of the regional UK shows, blatantly selling unlicensed product imported direct from China (I saw the packing boxes behind their stands). The show organisers know who they are but don’t want to get rid of them because of the number of stands they book all in one go.

A few years ago I offered my services to one event, I would travel down to their show at my own expense and walk the halls with one of their team to try and clean things up, they wouldn’t even have to buy me a sandwich for lunch, but they turned me down.

Things are changing though.

Newham Council – which covers Excel where a lot of the London events are held – sends a team to each event, they are very good at shutting down stands selling plush if they don’t have the CE mark on them, but when it comes to other product they are a little lost and they could do with brand representatives alongside to point out what shouldn’t be for sale.

An example of a pro-active brand is Bethesda. I saw its head of European licensing at an event last year visiting existing licensee’s and the smaller stands. When he saw unlicensed product, he showed the stall holder his card and stated calmly that his legal team were at the show and would be along in half an hour, so the offending product had to be taken down.

Sure, it helped that this man was built like he could go ten rounds with a professional boxer but the fact that he could prove he was an official representative of the brand was enough to persuade the exhibitor to co-operate.

With the bigger shows wanting to form more commercial relationships in the form of sponsorship deals with the brands, things are going in the right direction. In the future the Wild West may not be totally tamed, but it will at least be a safer place for fans and licensee’s to visit.