Comic-Con Notebook: Syfy's Massive Launch for "Defiance"; the TV Guide Magazine Yacht Becomes the New Con Hot Zone - Ed Martin

After one attends several San Diego ComicCons it becomes increasingly difficult to be impressed by any of the many marketing campaigns that dominate the city39s convention center and the surrounding Gaslamp district and harbor areas throughout the fourday pop culture extravaganza From giant images that drape buildings to Pedicab signage to costumed characters and scantily clad models maneuvering through the thousands of people who are coming or going to or from the convention center at any given moment there are only so many things that marketing and promotion specialists can do to get their messages across Chances are regular Congoers have seen it all before amp8230 or so I thought until I saw the expansive campaign for quotDefiancequot Syfy and Trion39s upcoming scripted sciencefiction series and massively multiplayer online game of the same nameThe biggest and boldest facet of this campaign amp8211 one that generated hundreds of thousands of impressions amp8211 was a formidable building drape over the towering San Diego Marriott Marquis that featured the cast from the franchise and its title treatment This image could be seen from virtually any vantage point around the Con and throughout the city This mammoth quotDefiancequot poster competed for attention with one for the upcoming NBC series quotRevolutionquot that was similarly draped over the Hilton San Diego Bayfront at the opposite end of the convention center from the Marriott But the quotRevolutionquot drape revealed almost nothing about the show The quotDefiancequot drape introduced the cast and established its postapocalyptic settingOn a somewhat smaller but even more elaborate scale Syfy transformed the heavily trafficked restaurant at San Diego39s Hard Rock hotel into Cafamp233 Defiance The result was an impressively detailed promotional environment right down to the custom designed menus pens and napkins that complimented much larger wall displays One couldn39t walk through there without becoming intimately familiar with the franchise Cafamp233 Defiance was the site for a press breakfast Friday with the cast of the upcoming series some of whom will make appearances in the online game and executives from Syfy and Trion Syfy has maintained a significant presence in this particular restaurant for many years having transformed it during previous Cons into Cafamp233 Diem a setting from the series quotEurekaquotWhile the Marriott drape and Cafamp233 Defiance generated awareness with tens of thousands of Congoers Syfy drilled down into the media itself by creating two environments that generated talk among professionals from the television and gaming communities amp8211 one in the Wired Magazine Cafamp233 located in the Omni Hotel the other on board the TV Guide Magazine yacht docked directly behind the convention centerI never made it inside the Wired Cafamp233 but if the excitement level in that space was even half that on board the TV Guide yacht it was another win for quotDefiancequot The TV Guide yacht which made its debut last year has very quickly become an eagerly sought out rest and relaxation zone in which television stars can take a break from the nonstop interviewing autograph sessions and other appearances that come with promoting one39s series at the Con They are asked to pose for photos in the yacht39s second floor photo studio and to sometimes do brief video interviews but they are otherwise free to eat drink and hang out until their next appointment From what I saw during two visits to the yacht most of them were in no hurry to leave I think the TVGM yacht bar may have been the coolest at the Con perhaps because during my first visit to the yacht quotGame of Thronesquot creator George RR Martin was holding court there along with many members of the quotThronesquot castThe interior of the yacht was filled with pillows and banners featuring the quotDefiancequot title treatment and special quotDefiancequot cocktails were available to anyone who wanted them Most effectively there were several videogame consoles along one wall at which visitors could play an early version of the quotDefiancequot game and presumably begin generating buzz about it within the industry The game was especially popular with young male stars in particular the guys from quotGame of Thronesquot and Syfy39s quotBeing HumanquotAll of this promotion amp8211 along with a giant banner inside the convention center must have worked because a panel for quotDefiancequot held early Friday night in one of the convention center39s midsize rooms was filled to capacity which doesn39t often happen with unknown television franchises that do not boast major stars or showrunners and are almost a year away from their premieres Of course it doesn39t hurt that the cast of quotDefiancequot includes two actresses who are very popular with the ComicCon crowd Julie Benz quotDexterquot quotBuffy the Vampire Slayerquot quotAngelquot and Jaime Murray quotDexterquot quotSpartacusquot quotWarehouse 13quot

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Comic-Con Notebook: Syfy's Massive Launch for "Defiance"; the TV Guide Magazine Yacht Becomes the New Con Hot Zone - Ed Martin

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Comic-Con Notebook: Syfy's Massive Launch for "Defiance"; the TV Guide Magazine Yacht Becomes the New Con Hot Zone - Ed Martin

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