Dittoe PR Helps Ensure Every Fan Knows They Have a Place at PopCon
Dittoe PR Case Study
PopCon in Indianapolis is the city’s premiere pop culture and comic convention. Founded in 2012, PopCon is a locally owned convention that celebrates all aspects of pop culture rather than hyper-focusing on a specific genre. From Star Wars to Star Trek, comics to cosplay, tabletop games to video games and beyond, PopCon brings together actors, artists, creators and their fans to nerd out over what they love.
Objective
- Build brand awareness.
- Reach and inform target audiences.
As PopCon has grown over the past decade, the creators recognized the need for a media relations partner to ensure local Indianapolis residents knew about the con, what celebrity guests they could meet, and what was in store for them upon arrival. PopCon also wanted to appeal to regional markets around Central Indiana to encourage people to visit Indy for the weekend.
Solution
- Secure pre-event coverage to encourage ticket sales.
- Coordinate live + recorded interviews with founders and celebrities.
- Manage influencer relations.
PopCon first reached out to Dittoe PR in 2016 to help promote one of its biggest guest stars of that year, filmmaker Kevin Smith. He was showing his new film “Yoga Hosers” at PopCon, and Hoosier fans of “Clerks” and “Mallrats” would not want to miss this unique opportunity. During the three weeks leading up to PopCon 2016, Dittoe PR scheduled television, radio and digital interviews with PopCon’s co-founders Carl Doninger, Kris Keys and Smith himself. Between pre-event, on-site and post-event coverage, Dittoe PR secured 80 media stories for a total of 16 million+ media impressions.
Two years later, PopCon again turned to Dittoe PR to promote its big stars of the year: LeVar Burton and Wil Wheaton of “Star Trek” fame and Pom Klementieff, who starred as Mantis in the latest “Guardians of the Galaxy” film. Dittoe PR secured local and regional online, print and broadcast coverage, including interviews with LeVar Burton, for a 12.5% and 10.6% increase in media coverage and media impressions, respectively.
For PopCon’s first event following the pandemic, the founders again sought Dittoe PR’s assistance to spread the word of the convention and the precautions they were taking to not spread COVID-19. Dittoe PR has also helped navigate unique communications challenges such as the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Since 2021, our partnership – and results – have continued to grow, including the addition of Instagram/TikTok influencer relations in 2022 and paid radio advertising management in 2023.
Results
- Consistent and increased coverage with Indianapolis’s top media outlets.
- Increased regional media presence.
- Increased influencer impact.
From 2021 to 2024, Dittoe PR’s secured media impressions for PopCon’s Indianapolis event has grown over 900%. Dittoe PR consistently secures local coverage and has continued to spread the net wider to garner interest with Midwest media, including Evansville, Fort Wayne, Muncie and Terre Haute, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky.
2022 was Dittoe PR’s first year coordinating influencer attendance and content creation for PopCon. That year’s influencers’ total combined followers equaled 212,000. As Dittoe PR worked with increasingly prominent influencers, that following grew. In 2024, the combined number of followers for the local and regional influencers who attended PopCon numbered more than 727,000, a nearly 243% increase.
In 2023 and 2024, Dittoe PR managed PopCon’s advertising budget with prominent radio stations in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, including leading pop station and home to Smiley Morning Show, WZPL-FM, and WFMS-FM, Central Indiana’s country station home to Indy’s Morning Show. Coordination included vetting the opportunities, approving on-air scripts, and managing ticket giveaways.
Despite the changing news landscape in Indianapolis, Dittoe PR has consistently secured pre-event and on-site coverage for PopCon with the Indianapolis Star and all five broadcast stations. In 2024, these six outlets alone provided over 25.7 million impressions or roughly 20% of total secured coverage. As a result, in 2024, PopCon saw a significant increase in attendance, marking one of its best years since its founding.
“PopCon has grown exponentially since our first event, and Dittoe PR has matched our progress at every turn. They adapt with us each year to account for shifts in the local media landscape – and pop culture as a whole – to ensure our target audience is well-informed of the year’s events. When we’re thrown a curveball like a pandemic or an actor’s strike, Dittoe PR helps us navigate those unique situations to keep communications running smoothly.”
Carl Doninger
CO-OWNER, POPCON
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