Dive summary:
- In its second year, Course of the Force, a Star Wars-themed Olympic-style relay, is now pulling in sponsorship from some big brands like Qualcomm, State Farm, Ford, Cinemark, RealD, Xbox, Hasbro, Angry Birds and Otter Pops.
- The relay, developed by Nerdist Industries and endorsed by George Lucas, the relay will run from July 9 to 16, starting at Skywalker Ranch and ending at Comic-Con in San Diego.
- In addition to the relay, Course of the Force will include seven videos produced by Broadway Video of Saturday Night Live and 40 to 60 shorter videos of the relay itself.
From the article:
"Levin said Course of the Force helps make Comic-Con accessible to more fans and marketers. 'There are lots of brands that talk about how to rise above the noise at Comic-Con,' said Levin, who was inspired by his own Olympic torch run prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 'Each year, it's like there are three winners, and everybody else is a loser. And part of the problem with Comic-Con is that this fan base is the biggest consuming community out there, but at the end of the day, only 150,000 people get to go to the show. This gives fans all these other touchpoints.'"