(CON)QUEST: Vid Con Killed The Tabloid Star
By Judy Lee ‘17
“Are you guys excited for Jon Cozart?”
Approximately 200 high pitch screams pierce the convention hall in a resounding mix of “yes” and “woo” as a celebrity walks onto the stage. Is he on the cover of all the tabloids? Not quite.
In fact—he doesn’t need to be. Every day, hundreds upon thousands of his almost 3 million subscribers are watching his face on their computer screens.
Indeed, the nature of celebrity has transformed once again.
For those of you who don’t know, Vid Con is held at the “Anaheim Convention Center in 2015, running from July 23rd to 25th. More than 300 of the most innovative and influential YouTube creators will perform, discuss, and connect with the more than 20,000 attendees expected at the three-day conference.”
As a budding community and convention, this year was only the 6th year for the convention. And believe me—Vid Con 2015 packed lots of revelations for me this past week.
The first thing I notice as I walk into the convention center is that the demographic is a lot younger than I expected it to be. I mean, I’m talking kids bringing their moms/dads/grandmas/grandpas with them because they’re under the age of 13. It struck me as odd since most of the YouTube stars I follow tend to fall into the 16-25 demographics, while attendees were closer to the 11-16 age range.
Of course, it probably has a simple explanation, which takes into account older demographics’ work schedules (as the con falls from Thursday to Saturday).
Another things I notice is the very loud and diverse offerings of sponsors. Everything from Taco Bell, Vine, Quest Bars, to Nickelodeon was present and didn’t seem too positive on how to market themselves to this crowd.
While they were haphazard in presence (which speaks to the very large and not quite , their decision to be present was a very smart move. Here’s why:
Vid Con may be full of youngsters, but they’re the ones navigating the new frontier of the digital movement, which has only been erupting into the mainstream in a relatively short amount of time. And at their younger age, they are more open to advertising that has already been seamlessly woven into their online experiences—perfect for establishing brand recognition and associations.
In fact, there is a system in place where attendees are given “Quest ribbons” at select sponsor booths that they can then compile for submission into a raffle (5 ribbons = 1 raffle ticket). This seems a bit sneaky, but is a fantastic idea to get the kids to explore everything the convention has to offer—which is to say, a lot.
Vid Con sets itself apart from other conventions in that it has, of late, defined various tracks through which an attendee may experience the convention. The first is the Community track, which is a general pass that allows attendees to explore live interviews, meet their favorite stars, and dabble in various booths featuring specialized merchandise.
The second is the Creator track, which “ features panels, talks, workshops, and keynotes focusing on the nuts and bolts of writing, editing, shooting, lighting, marketing, monetizing, and just creating online video.”
The third track is the Industry track, which “brings the leaders of the online video industry together for two days to discuss, predict, debate and discover the future of the online video industry with a 2-day schedule of keynotes, fireside chats, round-tables and hands-on learning.”
With this, Vid Con adds order as well as a productive edge to the usual haphazardness of conventions—very impressive for a young con, which has also begun to achieve something extremely difficult, which is to unite a vast universe of online video into a concise culture.
Unlike Anime Expo and Comic Con,
Vid Con isn’t about a specific genre—it seeks to contain an entirely
new frontier of a rapidly burgeoning industry. Will that burst the con at its seams
and sink the endeavor, or will this prove to work in its favor?
With six years under its belt, this convention certainly seems to lean toward the latter.
