Valiant + Warped Tour

[chriskay99]

Didn't see a thread about this yet, so.

http://ew.com/books/2017/02/17/valiant- ... rped-tour/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/02/17 ... -festival/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/02/17 ... ion-space/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds ambitious. Not sure how it will turn out.

[nycjadie]

I don't get it.

[AnarchoMambo]

I think it's awesome. I'm a regular attendee at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago (all 12 of it's years, actually). I always make it a point to look around at the exhibitors, like the CHIRP record fair, Windy City Rollers, literary and comic 'zines, and various humanitarian causes. Even if I don't donate or buy something from them on the spot, they've earned a name-recognition from me that is long-lasting. Maybe forever, because I associate meeting them with having a good time in a carnival-like musical atmosphere.

[OhioValiantNut]

I can smell variant editions coming from this tour ... and I'm within two hours of two of the stops ... three hours of another ... four hours of another one ... but it all depends on what bands are in the venue.

[Watchtower]

Warped Tour's not only a pretty big name when it comes to music, but it also generally attracts a teenage to young adult crowd, many of whom who have probably never heard of Valiant before (as big a splash as Valiant's made in the comics industry, it's still kinda restricted just to said bubble). So yeah, this looks like it could be a really great move. Hope it goes well.

[AnarchoMambo]

It's conjecture, but with some interpretation, I think this may be the clearest indication I've heard yet, that Valiant is truly building towards character recognition for promotional and feature film. How many Warped Tour revelers would we seriously expect to pick up comic reading and collecting as a sustained hobby? Very few. But how many of these overall cultural trend-setters would we hope to rave online about YouTube Ninjak or tweet reactions to a big-budget Bloodshot film? I'm guessing that this has nothing to do with comics, and I am very pleased that Valiant appears to be playing a long game with this marketing strategy.

[slack]

Well, I live in one of the cities. Depending on what kind of exclusives we hear about... I may have to attend.

[Thegreatmagnet]

Warped Tour draws big crowds all over the country, and the attendees assumedly have positive feelings towards the festival. Valiant could get some love by association. Start giving out free promo comics, and some kids will read them. I think it's a great idea, and it seems pretty original.

[AnarchoMambo]

The great danger here, of course, is that there could be a carpet of discarded Valiant comics strewn about the grounds of a muddy festival lawn, which would be the only interaction literally tens of thousands of music fans would have with Valiant if a cover variant would be handed out indiscriminately. It screams "old media" to a non-comics crowd and frankly is no way to market these characters. Much better to give anyone who walks by the booth a card with a free download code for Valiant High. Digital downloads = progressive approach for the modern streamed music service subscriber. And if I'm guessing correctly, VEI is really building recognition for their iconic characters, so people will hit the theaters once the movies come out. ("I saw a poster for that Punk Mambo chick on a beer run at Warped Tour, dude, let's go see the movie!") That sort of thing.

Having said that, it makes sense for Kano and whoever else is set to follow this tour from city to city to set a timer, and whenever one of us lingers at the booth beyond 5 minutes, hand off a memento cover-variant comic, right? Having people hang out around a promo tent suggests popularity, sort of another important factor for a generally disinterested crowd of hipsters, authentic, or like me, aged.