Malo Events has announced the launch in the UK of MegaCon Festival, a series of new pop culture shows from the creators of MCM Comic-Con, Social in the City and TokFEST.
The festival aims to combine all modern media into an epic celebration of all things pop culture.
MegaCon will debut 26-27 March 2022 at Birmingham’s NEC, with additional shows in July 2022 at Manchester Central and Dublin RDS
Organisers hope to reach 20,000-30,000 fans and consumers for its inaugural events. Backed by MCM Comic-con’s original founder, the festival creators have plans to expand the show and plan to grow significantly the Birmingham show into a headline event.
MegaCon will offer a series of events aimed at pop culture fans, comic-book lovers, streamers, gamers, movie fanatics and the cosplay community.
Exhibitor targets will be major movie companies, fashion brands (cosplay, modern street fashion and culture), comics and pop culture retailers covering anime and manga, and big names from the world of gaming and technology.
Each MegaCon event will run across two days, featuring live stages. There will be experiential stands and themed photo zones, as well as a retail zone filled with geeky memorabilia.
The show launch is the brainchild of Bryan Cooney, who established Malo Events in 2017 and which is headed up by Tom Burns and Aleshia Jones. Their portfolio now includes, Kidtropolis, The Digital Kids Show, Social in The City, Comic Con Ireland and most recently TokFEST, a festival for TikTok Creators.
TokFEST took place in September and brought together 5,000+ fans and creators for a weekend of live stage content, meet and greets and photo experiences.
Bryan Cooney, Malo Events Founder said: “We’re so excited to announce the latest addition to our portfolio, MegaCon. The events industry has taken a battering over the course of the pandemic, so it’s great to be bouncing back with the launch of lots of new and exciting shows.
“We plan for Megacon to go beyond what the UK and Irish market have seen before; we’re creating a show which typically attracts a niche audience and making it more mainstream with a stellar line up which will appeal to the masses.”
Shaun Hinds, chief executive at Manchester Central said: “We are delighted to have been chosen as one of the host venues for Megacon’s launch next year. We’ve seen that there’s a huge appetite for people to get back to live event experiences on this scale and we’re excited to see this show come to life at Manchester Central!”
Catherine Penny, exhibition sales director at the NEC added: “We are delighted to be working with Malo Events as they bring another new show to the NEC. TokFEST proved to be a big hit with a digitally-focused audience keen to reconnect face to face, demonstrating how important live event interaction is to our audiences. It’s exciting to see how organisers are evolving their proposition for the events market, with the NEC as a key venue.”
