LOS ANGELES, CA – December 13, 2018– (HISPANICIZE WIRE) – 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.
Next summer, 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, July 4th-6th at the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) in California.
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.”
View the NostalgiaCon Ultimate 80s preview video HERE.
A Sneak Peek at NostalgiaCon
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 pop Americana convention will feature three full, high energy days and nights of 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. 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. From concerts to panels, the entire program of NostalgiaCon is being expertly curated for its cross-generational audience, to consistently build collaborations and connections between the 80s and today.
Among the sneak peek round of celebs slated for NostalgiaCon’s Ultimate 80s Reunion 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.
Sponsors will play a key role in how generations of families will celebrate the 80s and in how it will impact pop culture today.
“We are excited to be a part of the first ever NostalgiaCon,” said Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Best Western® Hotels & Resorts. “There’s a unique trend surfacing amongst Millennials and Generation X, which celebrates the intersection of nostalgia and innovation. Over the last few years Best Western has experienced a tremendous transformation, bringing modernization to the forefront of our long-trusted brand, and making NostalgiaCon a natural partner.”
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.
Tapping the Timeless Power of Nostalgia
Tapping into the timeless and universal qualities of nostalgia, NostalgiaCon is the first platform ever created to fully scale and celebrate the decades both in the United States and abroad through conventions, concerts, events, privately licensed entertainment, merchandise, films, social media, and more.
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 theYour 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.
Anaheim is One of Two U.S. Event Homes
Anchoring one of NostalgiaCon’s two U.S. decade events at the Anaheim Convention Center is targeted and advantageous for several key reasons. The convention center is located roughly four blocks from the gates of Disneyland, a summer travel and nostalgia-friendly mecca for families and a major incentive for people to book their trips to and around NostalgiaCon. The ACC is also the largest convention space in the U.S. outside of Las Vegas, providing ample room for NostalgiaCon to expand and evolve for many years to come. Another significant plus is that the ACC currently hosts comparable events to NostalgiaCon and is a proven successful location from which to host events of this nature. Proximity to Hollywood will also help the company tap into a larger pool of retro pop personalities. Additionally, the West Coast has a proven affinity for all things Nostalgia from classic cars, to music (80’s flashback concerts are increasingly popular and consistently selling out), to movies and more.
NostalgiaCon will be announcing its second major U.S. hub for other decade events and will also soon select its partners for its first major international franchise expansions.
About NostalgiaCon, LLC
With offices in New York’s iconic Kaufman Studios and downtown Miami, NostalgiaCon (www.NostalgiaCon80s.com) is a global fan conventions company wholly focused on celebrating the pop culture icons, influencers, music, newsmakers, entertainers, shows, films, sports, fads, toys, foods and more, that take us back to the decades we’re most fond of. NostalgiaCon is the first platform ever created to fully scale and monetize the decades both in the United States and internationally through conventions, concerts, events, privately licensed entertainment, social media, and more.
Beginning July 4-6, 2019 in Anaheim, California with the epic 80s, NostalgiaCon will capture eras in their full glory, capitalizing on the powerful force of nostalgia via the people, trends and moments that define entire generations.
NostalgiaCon 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 represented by its public relations agency of record Rogers & Cowan. Investor relations are being led The Wolfington Companies.