ReedPop, organizer of New York Comic Con and a “boutique” group within Reed Exhibitions focused on staging pop culture events, is launching White Space, an invitation-only summit meeting on the business of pop culture, to be held October 13, the day New York Comic Con opens. The event is organized to be a think tank for innovators in TV, film, comics, games, technology and advertising.
White Space is a joint venture between ReedPop, MIPTV, a global TV marketplace owned and operated by Reed Exhibitions; GeekChicDaily, a pop culture newsletter, and its partner, Nerdist Industries, a producer and publisher of nerd-oriented cool stuff founded by G4TV personality Chris Hardwick. White Space will be an annual event at NYCC and the inaugural event will feature three as yet unnamed “innovators” in the media/pop culture field who will give brief addresses before the event breaks up into discussion groups.
In a release Lance Fensterman, NYCC show organizer and group v-p of ReedPop, said White Space will provide, “a discussion of the pop culture consumer,” and will focus on, “the consumer revolution and the complex and influential relationship between consumers, content, brands and devices.” Fensterman said the landscape of popular culture and how it is consumed has been transformed by digital technology, the internet and mobile devices. “Today we make our own TV,” Fensterman said, “the consumer is now the creator, creating content on demand and our marketing has changed from a megaphone to a discerning ear. Our goals at White Space is to examine this transformation and to be the ‘discernign ear’ for the future.”
In a phone interview Fensterman said that White Space will be a “conversation with some very interesting people not usually associated with New York Comic con.” While he said that he could not announce the names of those attending the event just yet, he emphasized that White Space will feature figures from the “the business of pop culture and technology, not just comics. White Space will be about bringing together interesting people in the business.”
And referring to New York Comic con, a resoundingly successful pop culture show—NYCC drew nearly 100,000 fans to last year’s show—whose growth led to the creation of the ReedPop Group, Fensterman said, “We’ve always said that ReedPop is about growing the whole pop culture sector. We’re about the business of pop culture, we’re not just throwing a big party.” Fensterman said to look for more announcements about White Space in the coming weeks prior to the opening of New York Comic Con.
