Age of The Nerd
Debuting a bigger and better Funkoville experience, the “funnest little town in the USA” offered attending fans the opportunity to shop in designated Funko Games, Loungefly and Mondo stores, as well as visit a Bitty Pop! storefront and throwback to the ‘90s and ‘00s through a Blockbuster-inspired experience in celebration of Funko’s launch of Rewind.
Encased in VHS-type packaging unique to each featured IP, Rewind will include 3.75” collectible vinyl figures and packaging fashioned around the iconic Blockbuster design, giving fans the opportunity to relive the cherished memory of renting a movie on a Friday night with family and friends. The collectible will also come with a membership card designed to mirror Blockbuster’s memorable design.
Funko featured plenty of exclusives for San Diego Comic Con 2023 and fans were eager to get their hands on as many as possible! They included POP! figures from Disney, Marvel, Jurassic Park, and Transformers to only name a few.
Funko also hosted an intimate Pop! Yourself experience in Club 98, which allowed attendees to build custom Pop! figures inspired by themselves or loved ones. The launch serves as a huge step forward for Funko as the Pop! Yourself technology accentuates the company’s efforts to lead innovation in the consumer products market.
We had the incredible opportunity to try out the Pop! Yourself experience during a press visit to Club 98 in Funkoville, it was so much fun! We absolutely can’t wait to see how our custom figures will turn out! The machines were easy to use and provided a wide array of options to customize our Pop! to our own unique vision. This mass market launch and accessibility to consumers makes collecting more personal and FUN.
We had an opportunity to sit down and speak with Funko SVP Direct to Consumer at Funko, Johanna Gepford about all things Funko and the launch of Pop! Yourself. When speaking about Funko’s continued growth, Gepford says, “We are always coming out with new SKU’s every month and I think that is what is exciting about building something for everyone. If you are a fan of sports or a fan of anime or superheros, no matter what you are a fan of we want to make sure we have something that interests you and your fandom.”
Talking about the expansion of the Pop! Yourself experience, Gepford tells us, “It is already available in our two flagship stores, the one in Everett and the one in Hollywood, and it has been our number one SKU at both stores since its’ launch and we are bringing it online this quarter, and we are about to launch the beta-test, so if you sign up to be a loyalty member, yon can actually sign-up to be one of the first people to do this online, so that’s really exciting.”
She goes on to explain, “This is a lot more personal! This effects people on a personal level, as it is something you can build for yourself and it’s such a great gift item and we are excited about bringing this online to everybody and also the unboxing experience as you get the product whether you send it directly as a gift it is going to be a great experience overall.”
We could not agree more! Gepford also explains, that “This is the perfect way to celebrate a wedding, a graduation, having a baby… all of those different things besides just being holiday gifts or birthdays, it has endless potential for why you are celebrating someone and make a personalized gift for them.
Speaking about what Funko has going on for the rest of the year after SDCC, Gepford says, “We have NYCC [New York Comic Con] coming up in October and we are excited about that and Funko.com will always be posting some exciting exclusives and I can’t really talk about what they’re going to be just yet!” When talking about fan interaction with the brand, Gepford tells us, “We always want things to be a two way conversation with fans and that is what excites a lot of us, is that we have that conversation and a lot of brands don’t get to do that.”
The brand is also expanding into a more unisex market, as one of the this year’s SDCC exclusives was a larger size Transformers backpack and also a larger variety of apparel choices. Since we were in the mecca of “nerd culture” at SDCC, we asked Gepford what she “nerds” out about in her spare time, she reveals, “It varies, but me and my son kind of nerd out together! He was really into superheroes, so Marvel was really big for us and now he is transitioning into anime, so I’m transitioning with him, so that is kind of the fandom we are embracing right now and we collect together!”
Funko Fundays was back at SDCC with it’s Camp Fundays theme celebrating Funko’s 25th anniversary! Speaking about Funko’s amazing fan events, Gepford says, “We had the Fun on the Run event, which was a bus that travelled across the country and culminated here at San Diego Comic Con and we sometimes we will do a Fight Night in New York….usually at the Con’s we try to create some kind of fan event, as we love being able to get together with fans and connect as a community. ”
Stay tuned for more to come from our San Diego Comic Con coverage of Funko including Loungefly, Mondo and of course, the amazing Camp Fundays event.
