Timeless event targets Gen X and Millennial fans of the 80s and 90s
The decade that gave us MTV, Madonna, Reagan, Rubik’s Cube, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Back to the Future is getting its own massive fan celebration in 2019.
This coming July 4th-6th at the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) in California, global decades fan conventions company NostalgiaCon is launching with an unprecedented decade takeover event reuniting fans with the pop culture icons, legends, and newsmakers of the 1980s.
NostalgiaCon (www.NostalgiaCon80s.com) is the brainchild of serial entrepreneurs Manny Ruiz, creator and producer of the nationally renowned Hispanicize event and the Mixed Reality Marketing Summit, and Sean Wolfington, Chairman and CEO of The Wolfington Companies and Chairman and CEO of CarSaver, Walmart’s’ exclusive auto buying platform.
“NostalgiaCon is what you get when you mash up the 80s with a Comic-Con and Coachella,” said Ruiz, the company’s chairman and CEO. “As a GenXer who happened to major in history and still has his personal diary from the 80s, it’s a special privilege to produce this ultimate reunion for my generation as well as for countless Millennials and others who adore all things 80s. Our first decade takeover event will be the hottest Fourth of July pop culture celebration of any kind in America.”
Set just blocks from the gates of Disneyland, the celebrity-laden, family-friendly NostalgiaCon 80s Ultimate Reunion convention (www.NostalgiaCon80s.com) expects to attract more than 30,000 fans and generate massive media and social media coverage before, during and after the event.
The three day event will feature concerts with top music acts, major celebrity panels, meet and greets showcasing music artists from the 80s and today, sports legends and pop culture icons, cosplay, retro merch drops, video arcade games and break dance competitions. Attendees will experience everything from creative brand exhibitions to collectible cars, music, fashion, sports, video games, toys, augmented reality, and much more.
Matt Frewer as Max Headroom
The first “sneak peek” annoucement of celebs slated for NostalgiaCon’s Ultimate 80s Reunion at Anaheim are Matt Frewer (“Max Headroom”), Doug E. Fresh, Monie Love, TKA, and Cover Girls. Scores of additional music artists, celebrities and sports legends from the worlds of wrestling, the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, boxing, the Olympics, and college sports, among others, will be announced in the coming weeks and months.
The event’s massive expo floor will stage everything from creative brand exhibitions to collectible cars, music, fashion, sports, video games, toys, augmented reality, and much more.
The idea for Nostalgiacon had been swirling in Ruiz head for over six years. He knew he had found the right partner in Wolfington, “When I told him about nostalgia he said ‘count me in, I’m interested’”, Ruiz recounts. It was a year and a half that he decided to finally step away from his hightly successful Hispanicize event, the largest annual event for Latino trendsetters and newsmakers in digital content creation, journalism, marketing, entertainment and tech entrepreneurship, which he produced for eight years, leave it in the good hands of his partners, and focus on Nostalgiacon. Although, a mainstream event, Nostalgiacon’s commitment to diversity will be represented in the artists and contribution made by all ethnicities.
While there is a built-in demographic for those who lived in the heyday of a particular era, there is also a newfound, younger and era-event obsessed audience. Thanks to programming, social media and YouTube, the retro pop phenomena is a huge business opportunity that is exploding onto younger generations with the resurgence of such things as vinyl records, retro video game console sell outs, fashion reboots from brands like Converse, Adidas and Supreme, the famous #TBT hashtag on social media, as well as throwback-themed shows like Stranger Things, The Goldbergs and This is Us, among others. On the music front, Spotify’s launch of the Your Time Capsule features playlists that promise to take you back to your school days, and earlier this year, Steven Spielberg’s 80s themed film Ready Player One was his biggest hit in more than 10 years.
Sponsorships will play a key role in how generations of families will celebrate the 80s and the pop culture that how it continues to impact pop culture today.
Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Best Western® Hotels & Resorts commented, “We are excited to be a part of the first ever NostalgiaCon.”
The first round of sponsors also includes City National Bank, Welk Resorts, Wonderseed Foundation, and True Connect. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Sponsorship@nostalgiacon.org.
One, three-day and VIP All Access passes to NostalgiaCon will go on a limited pre-sale in January to fans who sign up for the event’s newsletter at www.NostalgiaCon80s.com.
To follow NostalgiaCon Ultimate 80s Reunion news follow the hashtag, #NostalgiaCon80s. On social media, you can find it on Facebook, Instagram (@NostalgiaCon80s), Snap (@NostalgiaCon80s), Twitter (@NostalgiaCon80s), and YouTube. Additionally, moving forward, NostalgiaCon will regularly issue all its news and updates on Throwback Thursdays.
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