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Syfy is no stranger to Comic-Con, with most of its new series each year fitting all too well into the Comic-Con mold.
This year is no different, with the network bringing a slate of new shows to promote that seem to jump right out of the Comic-Con playbook.
The lineup for this year includes The Expanse, Childhood’s End, 12 Monkeys, Z Nation, Dark Matter, Geeks Who Drink and, of course, Sharknado 3.
And to truly stand out with its Comic-Con fare, Syfy tends to wander off convention center grounds for its marketing purposes, taking over San Diego’s Gaslamp District to get as much visibility as possible. The Expanse gets its very own café, transforming Mary Jane’s Café at the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp District into The Expanse Café for the week.
Space series The Expanse doesn’t premiere until December, but Syfy is getting fans excited now, even showing the first episode of the series at its panel.
The show takes place 20 years into the future, when people live on Mars, earth and “Belters” come from surrounding Asteroid Belts.
“They live with the same problems we have today, just on a bigger scale,” says Sara Moscowitz, SVP of marketing at Syfy. That relatable (while still being a futuristic space drama) made it perfect for a restaurant takeover, she says.
The cafe isn’t just branded on the outside, though. Inside, menus feature the Expanse look, seating sections are named according to planets to go along with the space theme and each table has a free companion book and VR equipment.
The Expanse‘s VR initiative uses Google Cardboard and Syfy’s Expanse app. Fans at The Expanse Café can explore a spaceship that is featured in the upcoming show. New locations are being added leading up to the show’s premiere.
“The VR experience is perfect for this show,” Moscowitz says, adding that partnering with Google Cardboard just seemed natural. “When you do something at Comic-Con,” she says, “you want to do something really accessible to people. Between the app on your phone and Cardboard, this is one of those accessible options.”
To hype the July 22 premiere of Sharknado 3, and in the best lesson of knowing when to poke fun of yourself in recent TV memory, RiffTrax is working with Syfy to host a Mystery Science Theater screening of last summer’s Sharknado 2 at the Con Thursday night.
Sharknado started the week out with a bang, when on Wednesday a crowd of fans in shark costumes led a parade down the street in Gaslamp District to celebrate the week of sharks already in progress. The parade carried signs emblazoned with the third movie’s title, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!
The street team idea for Sharknado 3, says Moscowitz, is perfectly fitted to the movie. “They’re causing a ruckus and being silly - it’s exactly the perfect thing,” she says.
The team even ties in the theme and location of the third movie, wearing Uncle Sam costumes as an ode to the Washington, D.C. locale, with a nod to the Fourth of July holiday in there as well.
Keeping the social conversation going, as the Sharknado brand has become known for, Syfy is throwing a Sharknado 3 party, with every type of social post imaginable. It’s got a Vine booth, Twitter mirror, Periscoping, Instagram station, even a karaoke room.
“We really want to light a fire under the conversation already happening,” says Moscowitz. “People want to talk about it, to have fun with it. We just want to give them more to talk about.”
Over at Zachary Levi’s Nerd HQ, Syfy is taking advantage of the host’s promotional space for his new game show, Geeks Who Drink, which premieres July 16 on Syfy. Its other series debuting that night, Reactor, will have its host David Huntsberger on the grounds, filming and preparing for his July premiere night.
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