Comic-Con: The Queen of the Convention

SAN DIEGO - The heat at Comic-Con International, the annual convention for fans of fantasy, science-fiction, horror, animation, video games and related toys, comes from cavernous Hall H, a 6,500-seat space where studios try to work attendees into a frenzy by showing exclusive snippets of coming movies and TV shows.

But the convention floor is where the queen of Comic-Con can be found.

Lisa Gregorian, chief marketing officer of Warner Brothers Television Group, runs what is unquestionably Comic-Con’s most full-tilt studio charge. Over the coming days, this tour de force will oversee screenings, panels and autograph signings for 17 Warner-produced shows, including “The Vampire Diaries,” “Revolution” and “The Big Bang Theory.” Her show advertising is everywhere in downtown San Diego - the drama “Person of Interest,” for instance, appears on 40,000 hotel room key cards.

She also created Lawn Con, a picnic area outside the convention center for families that promotes Warner-produced cartoons (“Teen Titans Go!”). And then there is the official 2,400-square-foot Time Warner booth, which this year displays props and costumes from TV programs and films like Tom Cruise’s coming “Edge of Tomorrow,” allows attendees to play Warner video games, and holds DC Comics autograph signings and HBO meet-and-greets.

“We’re like the department store that anchors the mall,” she said Wednesday evening, the convention’s preview night, as she surveyed her kingdom from the booth’s second-story platform.

Why such an aggressive push, especially as some other studios pull back? Disney, for instance, has a presence here, but is focused more on the D23 Expo, a fan convention of its own planned for Aug. 9 to 11 in Anaheim.

“Marketing and promotion for the fall TV season is starting earlier and earlier, and this convention comes at the perfect time for us,” Ms. Gregorian said. “All the traditional media now comes, and we get huge amplification on social networks.”

Hollywood types who turn up their noses, Ms. Gregorian said, glancing over at a pack of attendees wearing horned helmets, “simply don’t get it.”

“Our business is about red carpets and stanchions a lot of the time,” she added, “but we strongly believe â€" in the age of social media - that we need to also go directly to the fans and make them feel really special.”