University of Washington

Action! Excitement! Transmedia! Step inside Comic-Con to discover the cultural trends that will shape our world “I’ve been in comics so long I sometimes think I invented ’em! But I just read Rob Salkowitz’s terrific new book and, y’know what? Even I learned new stuff! If you’re a comic book nut like me, miss it at your own risk!”—Stan Lee, Legendary Comic Creator and Publisher “Salkowitz tells it pretty much like it is: the good, the bad, and the ugly of the commercialization of one of America’s greatest art forms, as well as the indefatigable artistry of its creators. He is at once informative, insightful, sobering, and inspiring.”—Douglas Rushkoff, pop culture analyst and author of Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age “If you care at all about comics, this is an essential read (and if you don’t, Salkowitz just might win you over).  But it’s also grab-worthy for anyone interested in the fascinating, conflicted, unfolding future of  digital publishing and transmedia entertainment.”—Booklist (Starred Review) “What began more than four decades ago as an intimate gathering of comic book creators, fans and legends has become a packed entertainment event. Although it doesn’t have the same ring to it, Comic-Con could more appropriately be called the Transmedia Pop Culture Con where buzz for a year’s worth of projects is created, prolonged or squelched.  Yet, despite the awareness that the con is a giant marketplace where producers sell directly to customers, there has been shockingly little analysis of the business of the event before Rob Salkowitz’s new book, “Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture.”—CNN Geekout “The true gift in Rob’s book is how very hard it becomes for you to decide, whether you’re a business reader reading a pop culture book, or a comics fan reading a business book.”—PopMatters  “The book explores the business aspects of the show and how it is a microcosm of the growing transmedia aspects of both comic books and their connection to things such as film, TV, and video games. All the while, acting as a travelogue by a long-time fan of comics and Comic-Con.” —Technorati “Salkowitz’s first hand observation makes us feel like we are walking the convention floor with him. In some chapters you sense his thrill as he meets a few of his fan favorites. Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture should be a great book for comic book fans, moviegoers, pop culture followers, and marketing gurus.”—Trashwire Welcome to Comic-Con: where the future of pop culture comes to life Every summer, more than 130,000 comic fans, gamers, cosplay enthusiasts, and nerds of all stripes descend on San Diego to mingle with the top entertainment celebrities and creative industry professionals in an unprecedented celebration of popular culture in all its forms. From humble beginnings, Comic-Con has mutated into an electrifying, exhausting galaxy of movies, TV, video games, art, fashion, toys, merchandise, and buzz. It’s where the future of entertainment unspools in real time, and everyone wants to be there. In Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, author Rob Salkowitz, a recognized expert in digital media and the global digital generation (and unabashed comics enthusiast), explores how the humble art form of comics ended up at the center of the 21st-century media universe. From Comic-Con’s massive exhibit hall and panels to its exclusive parties and business suites, Salkowitz peels back the layers to show how comics culture is influencing communications, entertainment, digital technology, marketing, education, and storytelling. What can the world’s most approachable and adaptable art form tell us about the importance of individual talent and personal engagement in the era of the new global audience, the iPad, and the quarter-billion-dollar summer blockbuster? Here are some of the issues Salkowitz explores: How do you succeed in the transmedia maelstrom? Comics have hopscotched across the media landscape for decades. What can we learn from their successes and failures as we careen toward a converged digital future? Have comics cracked the digital code? Everyone is scrambling to deal with the business disruptions of digital distribution. Does the recent success of comics on tablets demonstrate a new model for other industries, or do dangers lie ahead? What’s next for “peak geek”? Will the ascendant nerd culture of the early 2010s keep its new audience engaged or burn out from overexposure? Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture combines the insights business leaders need with the details fans crave about the future ofthe world’s most dynamic industry. Even if you can’t be in San Diego in July, this book brings the excitement into focus . . . no costumes required!

Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World’s Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us About the Future of Entertainment

Young World Rising gives you an exclusive glimpse into the new trend that's transforming global business and changing the dynamics of globalizationThe global Millennial generation is 4.1 billion strong, and the spread of data networks is empowering them to build radically new kinds of organizations adapted to a flat and crowded world. Young World Rising takes you on a panoramic tour of the new centers of enterpreneurial innovation on five continents.Explore the dynamics driving the emergence of the Young WorldDemonstrate how wired Young World insurgents are reinventing entrepreneurshipGet an inside look at the most innovative Young World businesses from India, Africa, Latin America and Southeast AsiaIdentify how your organization can capitalize on the rise of the Young World to find new talent, open new markets, identify investment opportunities and moreWith more than a dozen unique and in-depth case studies, Young World Rising is essential reading for every organization coming to grips with the challenges of globalization and demographic change in the 21st century.

Young World Rising: How Youth Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up (Microsoft Executive Leadership Series)

If you want to engage, motivate, and retain young workers without driving the veteran workers away, Generation Blend can help you. This timely book explores how generational attitudes toward technology affect issues as diverse as recruitment and retention, employee training, management decision-making, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and work/life balance. Looking to solve the puzzle of productivity across the technology age gap? Start with Generation Blend.

Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap (Microsoft Executive Leadership Series)

Rob Salkowitz is author of four books on the impact of digital media and the global digital generation on business and organizations: Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture (McGraw-Hill, 2012); Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up (Wiley, 2010), Listening to the Future (w/Daniel Rasmus, Wiley, 2009) and Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap (Wiley, 2008), and currently blogs at Fast Company and FastCoCreate on pop culture and digital media issues. Rob's work has also appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, Businessweek and many other leading business publications. 

Rob has keynoted events around the world for industry associations, culture festivals, educational conferences and corporate meetings. His topics include entrepreneurship and innovation, generational issues around technology, and the disruptive effects of digital media on global business models.

He serves as Principle/Strategist for MediaPlant, LLC, a Seattle-based communications firm he co-founded in 1999, and teaches digital media at the University of Washington Graduate School of Communications. An entrepreneur since age 24, Rob has helped launch seven companies. He holds a BA in International Relations from Columbia University.

Entrepreneurship

Globalization

Innovation

Youth

Emerging Economies

MediaPlant

Generation Blend

Young World Rising

Rob Salkowitz Homepage

Entrepreneurship in Education

Young entrepreneurs around the world, empowered by digital media and fired by ambition, are driving social and economic development in the world's youngest (and sometimes poorest) regions. What can their success teach us about the future of innovation.

Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World

Carol Stax Brown

Executive Director, CCID

Fabiano Cid

Board Member, GALA

Principle/Strategist

ROB SALKOWITZ Using the lens of the San Diego Comic-Con to explore the unprecedented disruptions in communication, marketing and technology, explore the convergence of pop culture, niche & mass marketing and changes in the top down creative approach. In thespirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

TEDxFortWayne Rob Salkowitz Comic-Con and the Future of Pop Culture

Rob Salkowitz Hometown Debut Book Talk Message from the Author: My new book, Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, comes out this month from McGraw-Hill. The book combines my professional work as a business analyst and futurist with my personal passion for comics and pop culture. It's also a fun glimpse behind the scenes of North America's wildest art and trade event, the San Diego Comic-Con. Whether you are into geeky pop culture stuff, business/communications/technology, or both, I hope you will find something to enjoy. Rob Salkowitz is cofounder and Principal Consultant for the Seattle-based communication firm MediaPlant, LLC. He is also author of Young World Rising and Generation Blend and teachers at the Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) program at the University of Washington.

Rob Salkowitz

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Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World

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