FCBD 2004 - I'm letting you folks decide my vote

[lighthouse]

Just got an email from my Diamond rep... Pretty sure this is not intended for the general public, but that has never stopped me before... It's one of the biggest reasons I don't disclose the location of my shop, this way I can let you guys see what's behind the curtain...

 

Make your voice heard and help pick the best date for FCBD 2004!

 

The dates are :

 

Apr 3rd to coincide with the release of the Hellboy movie

 

May 8th which falls in line with the past two years, setting a precedent

 

July 3rd to coincide with the release of Spider-Man 2 movie and July 4th weekend

 

Let me know which date you prefer by Friday.

 

I get one vote, which has to be made by the 29th. I'll let you folks decide what my vote will be. I imagine your reaction is pretty much the same as mine... The only major industry-wide annual event and the participants get 72 hours to pick a date???... WTF?

 

Frankly, choosing a date last year was a no-brainer. X-Men II opened a day later than Spidey had the year before, so it was pretty easy to just make it the same weekend...

 

Hellboy? Who cares about Hellboy?

May 8th? WTF? Why would you put it on a day with no movie?

July 3rd? That's two months late! What's next, FCBD 2005 is in October?

 

 

 

Please vote... and you are welcome to reply with comments, especially if they are somehow related to the topic at hand...

[Darthdiesel]

July 4th holiday weekend makes most sense. I usually am up in NY for this holiday, together with family, and have cousins and nephews and nieces that would definitely be coming with me to the local "brick and mortar book bodega" to pick some of this FCBD stuff up and then we'll probably all go to an after dinner showing of Spidey 2 !!!

[awe4one]

"House.....Can you gauge whether your customer volume increased the weekend of the movies' release? Did the free comics have any impact?

 

I'd say have FCBD during the July 4th weekend.....

 

 

Jim

[lighthouse]

"House.....Can you gauge whether your customer volume increased the weekend of the movies' release? Did the free comics have any impact?

 

I'd say have FCBD during the July 4th weekend.....

 

 

Jim

 

Easily my biggest single sales day of the year... both years...

 

Now my overhead is certainly higher... No doubt about that. Between the extra labor and the $400-700 in direct costs to participate and promote the event, it's an expensive day of business... FCBD definitely increases sales for the stores that full take advantage of it.

 

As for the movies themselves... Virtually no impact from movie weekends that were not part of FCBD, at least not since Pokemon... The Pokemon movie was huge for my shop... But X-Men 1, Hulk, LXG... no bump at all...

[OldGuy]

Grrrrr. I voted for the wrong one. Don't count one vote for April 3rd and add one to July 3rd.

[Zonker]

House, I voted May 8 cause I'd like to see this become a predictable annual event to encourage some creative promotions from the publishers, distributor, etc. They've had 2 chances to milk the tie-in to a comics premiere, and I've not seen much in the way of cross-promotion. (Co-op newspaper ads saying "See the movie, then pick up some free stuff down the street at B&M Inc" or an actual in-theatre preview before the movie starts that acknowledges comics still are published in paper form, why don't you check out fcbd.com, and by the way that URL is printed on your Big Gulp Spidey/X2 plastic coca-cola cup in case you forget). Up until now the attitude seems to be Yeah we'll print some free stuff, make it available once the movie hits, and sit back & count all the new customers. Without the movie as a crutch, maybe some more creative ideas will start flowing from upstream. And I say upstream intentionally cause I know you and some of your B&M brethren are doing your damnest to make the last 2 FCBD work!

[Rickdogg]

May 8th to start an annual FCBD!

[500Club]

Grrrrr. I voted for the wrong one. Don't count one vote for April 3rd and add one to July 3rd.

 

Looking through the wrong lens of your trifocals?

[500Club]

Pencil me in as a voter for July 3.... and encourage Diamond to do what they can to get Marvel to cross-promote Spider-Man.

[lighthouse]

Well I appreciate the input from the board... looks like July 3rd is the winner by a narrow margin...

 

I have cast my vote... We'll see what happens...