Comic-Con is underway, and TV is at the center of the activities and experiences for the endless fans that have descended upon San Diego. A&E announced an enormous experiential activation around Coma, the two-part Ridley and Tony Scott movie (starring Six Feet Under’s Lauren Ambrose) that will premiere on Labor Day. We were given a tour and interviews with the team that created the terrifying shareable moments popping up around the convention.
Turning Coma-goers into ambassadors for the movie around the convention:
Comic-Con’s enormity is tough to grasp. There’s so much going on that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the different things you can be doing. I came across multiple people with disgusting looking bloody scars on their arms, making me wonder where this was happening and how I could get one. After all, they looked very real!
When you first enter the Coma experience, “doctors” take you to a spooky patient area where they spend fifteen minutes branding your arm, leg, forehead or anywhere you wanted with a Coma “scar” — a very realistic 3D tattoo. Here’s an interview with Lori Peterzell A&E’s VP of Brand Strategy and Marketing detailing how much thought the network put into the experience, with “brand” ambassadors roaming the streets of San Diego:
Here’s a quick interview with the Mess Studios TV makeup artist who designed over 15,000 coma scars — by hand — with her business partner:
Becoming part of Coma’s marketing:
After receiving your Coma scar, you’re then taking through the Jefferson Institute where creepy doctors are performing experiments on patients who unfortunately decided to let the hospital slip them into a coma. You’re eventually taken to another great opportunity where the network lets you embed yourself in the marketing for the movie and then share the finished product.
Here’s the finished product of yours truly:
The team that design that share-worthy experience:
A&E worked with BLT (who designed ComaConspiracy.com and the graphic work) and Bottlerocket Marketing created the experience that lives in a creepy lot near the south side of the convention center. We interviewed Bottlerocket Chairman and CEO John Zamoiski about Coma and the numerous other, real-life experiences they’ve created (which includes The Walking Dead’s experience in the exhibition hall). Zamoiski also discusses how important social media is to both let everyone know about the experience and extend it to others from those that have been there. The company has worked with eighteen different cable networks.
A&E’s done a great job at creating a unique experience that literally branded convention goers with the film in a gross, terrifying way that will leave viewers excited to see how similar, gross and terrifying the actual movie will be at the end of the summer.