Prioritise brand engagement over brands' logo presence at Comic Con: Jatin Varma

From running a company that published comic books and produced television shows, back in 2011, when organising events wasn’t on the tick boxes, Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India, realised that a convention around comic books hadn't happened in India ever and therefore came up with the idea of having one in NCR’s Delhi Haat.

Little did he know at that point in time that a simple idea of putting a fun convention together would become a long-term business for the comic book collector who himself had never really travelled for such conventions abroad and only had an understanding basis purely on what he might have read, heard from friends or seen online.

“I tried to put together something which would be close to what I would like to attend as a comic fan and the sole aim behind the same was to have as many artists and publishers available to be at the show via social media and word of mouth promotions,” he said.

He also recalled that when the first Comic Con happened in India in February 2011 and received a great response, it really clicked in his mind that this was not only something that was interesting but also had the potential to grow into something bigger.

Cut to a little over a decade later, Comic Con India is making its debut in Chennai on February 17-18, 2024, as the company plans to test out new cities every few years depending on the size of the city and whether or not they have an infrastructure where the event can take place for many years.

Having said that, it was post-pandemic that Varma realised that there was a need to aggressively go and try out more and more cities beyond Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. As a result, Comic Con last year took place in Ahmedabad and this year, it’ll be held in Chennai.

Commenting on how the Comic Con scenario is different in India as compared to the rest of the world, Varma stated that primarily North America and Europe have not only been showing interest in the comic book business for decades but have been holding Comic Cons and growing the pop culture space for the past half-a-century which had led to the blowing up of the San Diego Comic Con.

“In India, while we have a small comic book community and we have only one or two big publishers which is why the journey has not been similar and more of a leapfrog growth. In fact,   the size of our conventions and the type of things that happen here in India are as big as what would happen in North America, but the biggest difference is that in the case of Comic Con India, a lot of fans that come to the convention are from movies and TV shows rather than comic books, but the fandom is similar,” he opined.

He also pointed out that this is not because Indians don’t want to read comic books but because we just don't have access to comic books or even comic book stores, historically, which is why we kind of grew into them in a very different manner.

“We’ve had our own little publishers and creators amongst others but it was and still continues to be a very niche space. Hence it's been more like a community wherein a lot of the newer comic books are driven by self-publishers or creators or artists themselves,” he added.

Having said that, Comic Con India, is pegged as a very lucrative offering for brands who wish to leverage the concept of comic books, cosplay, merchandising, gaming and even experiential, Varma stated.

“For marketers who have licensed IPs, it's a very straightforward fit as one of the best places to market or showcase these IPs in the Comic Con. However, the way that we kind of present Comic Con to other brands is that this is not just about having a license for a character that might be popular, but as a place where you get fans who are in the key demographic of 18-36 years of age,” he stated.

He also pointed out that, unlike many other events such as a music concert, people don’t come to the Comic Con events for just one experience, but multiple ones, and therefore end up spending an average of four-five hours of the nine hours show, as they truly go around experiencing every element of it, making it a great opportunity for experiential marketing.

“If you're looking at targeting Gen Z or millennials, this is the place to come to. And unlike other live events, Comic Con has a unique offering which is that the fans are there waiting to engage with you because that's what they've signed up for and are spending hours and hours upon,” he said.

Throwing light on the branding and placement opportunities available to marketers, he mentioned that being multi-tiered, the biggest thing for any brand who is sponsoring or engaging with the event at large is to physically be present at the show and that too at a place where fans get to see the brand the moment they walk in. Also, the brands form a part of the event’s digital messaging and can directly reach out to the visitors via Comic Con India.

“We also offer specifically curated events for brands that are held outside of Comic Con and are completely branded, based on the brand in question and their focus on bringing together the super fans or a specific tier of our visitors. Additionally, we also curate physical inserts for brands that are launching or testing out a new product and want to sample everything,” he added.

With this, he also mentioned that even though Comic Con India has only been taking place in Tier I cities as of now, the fans that follow and engage with the event’s digital handles are from all over cities like Nagpur, Jabalpur, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and many others.

That being said, the way the event is structured as of now is on economies of scale so as to justify the cost and the revenue, which is why the event takes place in Tier I cities, however, as per Varma, if the company can crack a better formula in future, Comic Con India will also make its way to smaller cities as well in the coming times.

Upon being questioned if there has been a substantial spike in the sponsorship opportunities and the brand participants on a YoY basis for Comic Con India, he replied that while earlier the case included a healthy mix of calling brands, exhibitors, etc. and pitching the event to them, post-pandemic, the tables have turned to the people who were to be called earlier to now receiving calls from them.

“The events industry has been witnessing a pent-up demand in the aftermath of Covid, so much so that we saw more than what we believe is about 50% of the audience that came in last year were coming to the event for the first time,” he said.

Commenting on how Comic Con fares out for marketers and brands, he stated that being a marketing platform, each brand that engages with Comic Con has different kinds of targets, some of which include showcasing a newly launched product or even a licensed character for their services or products, etc.

“Therefore, what we focus on is the number of visitors and the amount of time they spend with us and the opportunity for a brand to engage therein via opportunities like marketing to this audience both live and digitally. Apart from this, a lot of companies from outside of India who are entering the market also end up using Comic Con as a test platform to connect with prospective consumers and get their feedback whilst understanding how they think and what they like,” he added.

He also mentioned that in the past, brands such as Maruti Suzuki, Meta, Bingo, Doritos, Celio, The Souled Store, TVS, etc. have all been associated with Comic Con India.

In Varma’s view, the relationship between brands and Comic Con India is not just about having a brand logo everywhere, but about generally doing something interesting with visitors wherein not only will they receive the consumers’ feedback via surveys but also have people’s opinions and thoughts as they engage with the brands live.

Further, he also emphasised that given that Comic Con India is a smaller organisation at the moment, the primary focus for promotions in terms of both time and effort is on digital marketing as well as a lot of in-person meet-ups and small events just to increase the interest in the larger events.

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