A busy day for ReedPOP PR!
Besides announcing the team up with the Lyte ticket exchange, they’ve also announced that Florida Supercon will be joining the ReedPOP family of shows and that Comic Con Cape Town will join their slate of African shows in 2020.
You can read bits of the Supercon PR below – it’s the biggest comics related event in Miami, with 65,000 attendees expected this year.
Supercon is also part of a family of shows, including Supercons in Raleigh (in July) and Louisville (held last Fall.) We’ve reached out to ReedPOP to inquire about those shows and will update this post with any info we find out, but it seems that these shows will remain under founder Mike Broder, while rebranding as Galaxycon.
The next edition of Florida Supercon will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center from July 4-7. Guests already announced and confirmed for this year’s event include: John Cusack (Say Anything, High Fidelity), Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate SG1, MacGyver), Creed Bratton (The Office), Christy Carlson-Romano (Kim Possible, Even Stevens), Felicia Day (MST3K, The Guild), Jason Issacs (Harry Potter, Star Trek: Discovery) and many more!
“We are thrilled with the addition of Florida Supercon to the ReedPOP family,” said Lance Fensterman, Global President of ReedPOP. “Mike Broder and his team have done an amazing job in making this show one that has incredible fan and industry support. We plan to spend time listening to the fans and exhibitors and then investing to build upon the awesome convention and continue to give the great fan base a fantastic experience.”
“I’m excited to continue to get to know the enthusiastic South Florida fan base and to have the opportunity to take an already great show and continue to make it better.” said Mike Armstrong, Vice President of ReedPOP. Armstrong will provide event leadership along with Kristina Rogers, the Event Director for New York Comic Con and C2E2.
“I am extremely proud of what our team has created in Florida Supercon with the help of our amazing fans, guests, and exhibitors. As fans ourselves, we look forward to watching as ReedPOP brings their global resources to Miami to elevate the fan experience.” said Mike Broder, Founder of Florida Supercon.
Meanwhile, ReedPOP is expanding in Africa with the Comic Con Cape Town, which will debut in 2020. It joins the Comic Con Africa, which was first held last year in Johannesburg and drew 45,000 visitors, 212 exhibitors and almost 400 media. ReedPOP already runs event ins India, South Korea, France, Australia and probably some countries I’ve forgotten.
PR below.
Reed Exhibitions Africa and ReedPOP today announced that as of 2020 the mother city will play host to its very own version of Comic Con. Comic Con Cape Town will be taking place 1 – 3 May 2020 and will have its own line up of talent geared towards the fan base of the city playing to its unique areas of strength and personality.
“With the unprecedented success of the 2018 Comic Con Africa it is the natural next step to bring this format to the city of Cape Town. While the style of this Comic Con will be slightly different to Comic Con Africa, we still expect the same level of entertainment focusing on our key pillars which include film, series, animation, cosplay, comic books and gaming. We are thrilled to be announcing the dates when we will be bringing the Comic Con magic to another South African city,” says managing director Carol Weaving.
As Cape Town is the film capital of South Africa, Comic Con Cape Town will have a stronger focus on films and series. With this in mind, Comic Con Cape Town has formed a strategic partnership with the Cape Town International Animation Festival. This festival is the only dedicated animation festival in Africa and hosts local and international delegates. This festival appeals to those that are creatives, producers and technical artists.
From 2020 onwards the Cape Town International Animation Festival will co-locate with Comic Con Cape Town. This partnership will ensure the longevity of both festivals by bringing together the fans into one venue at the same time. This partnership is aimed at creating a larger following for animation in Africa. As animation plays a big role in both films and series, this partnership is designed to grow the offering for those avid fans.
“The success of Comic Con rests in the ability to create platforms that address the wants and needs of the fans. Partnerships like this simply make sense to bring together two formats in order to grow the level of interest and skills in the animation industry. We are proud of this association and hope to be able to grow both the Cape Town Animation Festival and Comic Con Cape Town through this partnership,” says Weaving.
The talent line-up for Comic Con Cape Town will include both local and international celebrities in the film and series industry as a main focus.
The dates for the event were researched in great detail, the timing of local events need to be considered and the organisers are governed by the global calendar for Cons. When looking for a venue to host Comic Con Cape Town the venue advised the organisers that FanCon would be taking place in June 2020 which meant that hosting Comic Con Cape Town right at the beginning of May over a public holiday would allow adequate time between both events and Reed Exhibitions and Reed Pop are more than happy to collaborate and co-promote any other pop culture event for the good of the industry.
Comic Con Africa will be held from 21 – 24 September 2019, at Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg and Comic Con Cape Town will take place 1- 3 May 2020. Comic Con Africa is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention that features comic books, games, arts, movies, pop culture elements and so much more.
