ABSTRACT
Toy manufacturers, gaming companies, and filmmakers sell products and services at comic conventions. Such purchases frequently occur in massive exhibit halls, where fans participate in customary monetary exchanges. Beyond these financial purchases, significantly more nontraditional micro-exchanges occur as fans use cosplay to market themselves. Typically unconcerned with financial gain, most cosplayers invest significant time and effort developing a personal brand to differentiate themselves in a crowd. This process of personal branding is challenging because hordes of fans (frequently clad in flamboyant costumes) attend conventions. To communicate their unique value proposition, cosplay entrepreneurs (many without formal business training) must produce, place, promote, price, and position their personal brands. Using the disciplinary lens of marketing, this chapter explains how fans can build their love of cosplay into a business by communicating a distinct personal brand.
