The Road To STGCC: Promotional Considerations
There's essentially two types of promotional activities to be concerned with. Words and Images. You can show everyone your bestest product in full technicolor, but if there is no information about it, that limits how far you can go on an "aesthetics"-trip. And you can talk about how awesome your item might be, but if no one can see how it looks like, than how effective a sell can it be?
But of course the world does not run on that. There are countless items being sold even before images of them are released in the wold, but for the brand name they embrace. Or people might be lining up for something they saw, but disregards the price, as it is something that they WANT in the first place, credit be damned!
Things to consider when you are producing products for events:
(1) PRODUCT IMAGES
A key component, where an image DOES speak volumes! How it creates hype or desirability, the reality being some folks might take it for granted, but is in fact more necessary than anyone might realize.
Sure, since you are reading this now, online web-images are a necessity. Hi-res, low-res, as long as you get to see it, a decision can be made without product information. Do you realize, all images of toys seen online, look essentially the same size? Be it a 3" Dunny versus an 7" Dunny, as long as the product image stands alone, and is not scaled against any other object, "size" is seen the same within the boundaries of your scree size. But there is also an aspect one should consider: Hi-Res images fit for printing.
Be it for promotional collaterals, or for Event Guide prints, it may well depend on who's doing the promotion for you, but I cannot state enough of the archival needs of the product you have done.
For STGCC, besides the obvious online promotions, I had the intention to print a booklet of my toy-exclusives - and had gotten folks to render and prepare said materials too - which has since turned into a flyer-come-mini-poster (see insert image revealed here) due to a simple lack of time, which I will give away with every purchase at my booth F51.
And while the cost is something I have chosen to bear on my end, the need for hi-res print images, was dependent on collaborators, most of whom had graciously helped and provided me with!
(2) SAMPLE PRODUCTS
For the purposes of this event, there was an advanced warning of a Media Preview prior to the launch of the exhibition, whereby products and people would be put on show, for the media. This year's event would include selected invited guests chatting with journos and performing some "live" art. Along with this endeavor, there would be exhibits of exclusives to be had for the event itself - which meant for me, sample products in advance of the eventual "incoming-horde", to display, and crossing my fingers it does get some media coverage in the trades LOL.
The alternative was just purely online promotions, innit? Be that as it may, it was a chance I had wanted to take, and feel it is the very least I could do, to promote both my booth, and the folks who had taken the trouble and effort to produce exclusives for me. Shown here is a mock-up of the display I had hoped to achieve with my given products received at the time of delivery to the event organizers.
With all that said, it means a truncated timeline, and additional postage costs, for the item to reach me.
In a way early receiving of the products also act as a buffer for "Product Images", in any case images of the product themselves were not taken prior to delivery.
(3) ONLINE PROMOTIONS
Never really a straightforward affair, shouting out to the global-cyberhighway, I have my blog, my Twitter and had even started a Facebook events-page to focus on my booth itself. Far be it I can but hope other websites would pick up on my toy-news and report on them (and some have so graciously done so, without my prompting them to, which means they absolutely rock, thanks!), I would too need somehow to prepare a "news-package" featuring product-images and information, to email my cohorts, for use as a possible blogpost-feature.
I blog for a living now, and I know how tedious it might well be where usable and publishable information is concerned. Sure everyone has an opinion (and the internet is all about "opinions" now) but without the "content", it only becomes "speculation", and that in itself only holds so much promise for the future, methinks.
So right now, while I am rallying information to both post on my blog-sites and to others, I can only but depend on my collaborators to promote as much as they seem fit :)
(4) ON-SITE PROMOTIONS
And while I may be unable to afford having a cute female Cosplayer handing out flyers at the event or from my booth (*cough*), I too need to prepare poster printouts showcasing product-descriptions and artist-bios / write-ups for the items I intend to sell at STGCC. Once thing is for sure, that my 2 meters wide back-panel is to be filled up with eye-candy, and the irony being I might not even have space for my own blog-logo!
Things would have been much "simpler" if I had just gotten the items, transported them to the location, plonk them on the table and let folks buy them … but alas, that is not how I work LOL
Cheers
Andy
VISIT: Booth F51 @ The Singapore Toy Games & Comic Convention (Sept 1-2)
But of course the world does not run on that. There are countless items being sold even before images of them are released in the wold, but for the brand name they embrace. Or people might be lining up for something they saw, but disregards the price, as it is something that they WANT in the first place, credit be damned!
Things to consider when you are producing products for events:
(1) PRODUCT IMAGES
A key component, where an image DOES speak volumes! How it creates hype or desirability, the reality being some folks might take it for granted, but is in fact more necessary than anyone might realize.
Sure, since you are reading this now, online web-images are a necessity. Hi-res, low-res, as long as you get to see it, a decision can be made without product information. Do you realize, all images of toys seen online, look essentially the same size? Be it a 3" Dunny versus an 7" Dunny, as long as the product image stands alone, and is not scaled against any other object, "size" is seen the same within the boundaries of your scree size. But there is also an aspect one should consider: Hi-Res images fit for printing.
Be it for promotional collaterals, or for Event Guide prints, it may well depend on who's doing the promotion for you, but I cannot state enough of the archival needs of the product you have done.
For STGCC, besides the obvious online promotions, I had the intention to print a booklet of my toy-exclusives - and had gotten folks to render and prepare said materials too - which has since turned into a flyer-come-mini-poster (see insert image revealed here) due to a simple lack of time, which I will give away with every purchase at my booth F51.
And while the cost is something I have chosen to bear on my end, the need for hi-res print images, was dependent on collaborators, most of whom had graciously helped and provided me with!
(2) SAMPLE PRODUCTS
For the purposes of this event, there was an advanced warning of a Media Preview prior to the launch of the exhibition, whereby products and people would be put on show, for the media. This year's event would include selected invited guests chatting with journos and performing some "live" art. Along with this endeavor, there would be exhibits of exclusives to be had for the event itself - which meant for me, sample products in advance of the eventual "incoming-horde", to display, and crossing my fingers it does get some media coverage in the trades LOL.
The alternative was just purely online promotions, innit? Be that as it may, it was a chance I had wanted to take, and feel it is the very least I could do, to promote both my booth, and the folks who had taken the trouble and effort to produce exclusives for me. Shown here is a mock-up of the display I had hoped to achieve with my given products received at the time of delivery to the event organizers.
With all that said, it means a truncated timeline, and additional postage costs, for the item to reach me.
In a way early receiving of the products also act as a buffer for "Product Images", in any case images of the product themselves were not taken prior to delivery.
(3) ONLINE PROMOTIONS
Never really a straightforward affair, shouting out to the global-cyberhighway, I have my blog, my Twitter and had even started a Facebook events-page to focus on my booth itself. Far be it I can but hope other websites would pick up on my toy-news and report on them (and some have so graciously done so, without my prompting them to, which means they absolutely rock, thanks!), I would too need somehow to prepare a "news-package" featuring product-images and information, to email my cohorts, for use as a possible blogpost-feature.
I blog for a living now, and I know how tedious it might well be where usable and publishable information is concerned. Sure everyone has an opinion (and the internet is all about "opinions" now) but without the "content", it only becomes "speculation", and that in itself only holds so much promise for the future, methinks.
So right now, while I am rallying information to both post on my blog-sites and to others, I can only but depend on my collaborators to promote as much as they seem fit :)
(4) ON-SITE PROMOTIONS
And while I may be unable to afford having a cute female Cosplayer handing out flyers at the event or from my booth (*cough*), I too need to prepare poster printouts showcasing product-descriptions and artist-bios / write-ups for the items I intend to sell at STGCC. Once thing is for sure, that my 2 meters wide back-panel is to be filled up with eye-candy, and the irony being I might not even have space for my own blog-logo!
Things would have been much "simpler" if I had just gotten the items, transported them to the location, plonk them on the table and let folks buy them … but alas, that is not how I work LOL
Cheers
Andy
VISIT: Booth F51 @ The Singapore Toy Games & Comic Convention (Sept 1-2)
