Post by /\/\att on Aug 28, 2004 6:21:25 GMT -5
FCBD 4 VOTING OPENS
November isn’t the only voting coming up. Beginning this week, retailers are voting on the date for next year’s Free Comic Book Day. The potential days have been whittled down by the FCBD Committee to two options: Saturday, May 7th, the first Saturday in May, or June 18th, the day after the opening of Batman Begins.
Both dates have their pros and cons, supporters and opponents.
Making the case for May 7th is Comic Buyer’s Guide Editor Maggie Thompson:
May 7th:
1. The argument that means the most to retailers is to have an event that is both consistent and focused primarily on comics — first, last, and always — instead of (to put it in the words of one retailer) “being a barnacle on the larger ship of the movie industry.”
2. Promotional opportunities nationally and locally are stronger on a consistent date, rather than on a floating date.
3. It simplifies planning for the industry itself.
4. Eventually, the date would become a natural reaction for some. “Hey, April is almost over. Isn’t there a comics event next Saturday?”
5. It avoids massive problems that would arrive in a year without a big summer comic-book movie.
6. It avoids tying the event to a movie like Catwoman or Alien vs. Predator: that is to say, a film that (it is discovered after release) tells the public that comics are the source for lousy movies.
7. It provides the opportunity for industry-wide promotion, instead of a focus on whatever publisher happens to be connected with the specific media event of the year with a “plus you get” on the rest of the field.
8. It lets the industry target the best possible timing for attention to comics: when current customers can visit the store and when possible new customers will be in the area in which the event takes place. That’s the reason for picking the specific Saturday as the best option, in sharp contrast to 2004’s July 4 weekend event, when the public was on the move and many potential and regular current customers were on vacation. Vacationing customers are not those who will return, week after week, to the shop that invested in the distribution of comics.
Making the case for June 18th, DC’s VP, Sales and Marketing, Bob Wayne:
June 18th:
Free Comic Book Day has worked best with the efforts of committed retailers, the support of involved publishers and linkage to a strong media tie-in. Batman Begins will be the comic-book movie event of 2005. Holding Free Comic Book Day on June 18 will make it the biggest comic-book movie tie-in event of 2005.
1989's Batman brought the love of comics and its characters to a new level of public recognition as part of mainstream popular culture. Batman Begins shows the promise to take that recognition to a whole new level of creative and commercial acceptance. You can make sure your store is a leader in that effort by selecting June 18 as Free Comic Book Day 2005.
Retailers with valid Diamond accounts can vote via Diamond’s retailer services website. Voting ends on Friday, September 10th at noon, with the official date to be announced at Diamond’s Retailer Summit in Baltimore the following Monday.
thanks to newsarama for the cool info!
November isn’t the only voting coming up. Beginning this week, retailers are voting on the date for next year’s Free Comic Book Day. The potential days have been whittled down by the FCBD Committee to two options: Saturday, May 7th, the first Saturday in May, or June 18th, the day after the opening of Batman Begins.
Both dates have their pros and cons, supporters and opponents.
Making the case for May 7th is Comic Buyer’s Guide Editor Maggie Thompson:
May 7th:
1. The argument that means the most to retailers is to have an event that is both consistent and focused primarily on comics — first, last, and always — instead of (to put it in the words of one retailer) “being a barnacle on the larger ship of the movie industry.”
2. Promotional opportunities nationally and locally are stronger on a consistent date, rather than on a floating date.
3. It simplifies planning for the industry itself.
4. Eventually, the date would become a natural reaction for some. “Hey, April is almost over. Isn’t there a comics event next Saturday?”
5. It avoids massive problems that would arrive in a year without a big summer comic-book movie.
6. It avoids tying the event to a movie like Catwoman or Alien vs. Predator: that is to say, a film that (it is discovered after release) tells the public that comics are the source for lousy movies.
7. It provides the opportunity for industry-wide promotion, instead of a focus on whatever publisher happens to be connected with the specific media event of the year with a “plus you get” on the rest of the field.
8. It lets the industry target the best possible timing for attention to comics: when current customers can visit the store and when possible new customers will be in the area in which the event takes place. That’s the reason for picking the specific Saturday as the best option, in sharp contrast to 2004’s July 4 weekend event, when the public was on the move and many potential and regular current customers were on vacation. Vacationing customers are not those who will return, week after week, to the shop that invested in the distribution of comics.
Making the case for June 18th, DC’s VP, Sales and Marketing, Bob Wayne:
June 18th:
Free Comic Book Day has worked best with the efforts of committed retailers, the support of involved publishers and linkage to a strong media tie-in. Batman Begins will be the comic-book movie event of 2005. Holding Free Comic Book Day on June 18 will make it the biggest comic-book movie tie-in event of 2005.
1989's Batman brought the love of comics and its characters to a new level of public recognition as part of mainstream popular culture. Batman Begins shows the promise to take that recognition to a whole new level of creative and commercial acceptance. You can make sure your store is a leader in that effort by selecting June 18 as Free Comic Book Day 2005.
Retailers with valid Diamond accounts can vote via Diamond’s retailer services website. Voting ends on Friday, September 10th at noon, with the official date to be announced at Diamond’s Retailer Summit in Baltimore the following Monday.
thanks to newsarama for the cool info!