It's not enough to get the biggest and most popular TV and movie stars to convince fans at Comic-Con to see the latest movies or TV shows. Very attractive trailers or even full pilots won't be enough. Sometimes you have to go the extra mile to promote interest.
If anyone took the extra mile, it was Fox TV with its promotion of Fringe, about an oddball scientist who is joined by his son and and FBI agent to investigate strange phenomena which could be part of a more sinister conspiracy of abusing science and technology. People had several chances to see the pilot during preview night and the first day of the four-day event. Just in case that wasn't enough, they had this....
These large balloon billboards were spotted in downtown San Diego as part of a scavenger hunt. People went to the Fox booth to get special cards that would direct them from one place to another.
If you were on the right track, you got much more than a cookie....
You got a bottle of ginger ale (which I still have) , plus directions to the next clue, guiding you to....
People were eventually sent to a parking garage, where they went to the top to get a backpack, t-shirt and a chance to see the pilot. I would have stayed, but I wanted to get to the Balboa to see Rifftrax Live. But then, I met up with ...
A roving gang of Rocking Sexy Jesuses, who were there to promote the comedy, Hamlet 2. They had some free tickets to a sneak preview, and I snagged one...from someone else. Still saw most to Rifftrax, though.
HBO took a different approach. They invited adults to happy hours at various restaurants near the convention center. People spotted girls wearing fans and this..
"Tru Blood" is the blood substitute that vampires drink so that they don't bite us. The show looks at what would happen if vampires try to be as respectable as the living..and a mind-reading waitress.
What could be the most interesting promotion was at the Best Buy booth, which plugged the DVD release of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. In order to get a poster signed by Kal Penn and John Cho, you have to do something interesting...
Mine was a bit too small, but I got my signed poster.
I was hoping to get a signed poster from the cast of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Thing is, they closed the line before the doors opened at the big exhibit hall. Suspicious? Sure, but that's Comic-Con for you.
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