Arrive at ExCeL London, navigate MCM Industry Pass collection, head over and grab a coffee, find your table. Networking starts the moment you walk in
09:00 to 17:30
ExCeL London / ICC Capital Suite, Room 4
Free Entry / MCM Friday Industry Pass Included
The Fandom Advantage / May 2026
Register Now
MCM London Comic Con
Pop Culture Marketing
One Room. One Day
The UK's only dedicated B2B summit for marketers working across entertainment, games, anime, publishing and consumer products, and for the brands trying to connect with their audiences
Friday 22nd May 2026 / ExCeL London / ICC Capital Suite, Room 4
The Popcultr Marketing Summit brings together the people who market entertainment, games, anime, and consumer products with the brands trying to reach their audiences
Held inside MCM London Comic Con, the UK's largest pop culture event, it's a single focused day of observation-led discussion: what's changing, what's working, and what comes next
No presentations. No pitches. Just the marketing side of pop culture, discussed properly
Built for the people doing the work. From across the pop culture multiverse and the brands looking to connect with it more credibly
Sound like you? Apply for your free place.
Register Now
A single focused day. No parallel tracks, no breakout rooms. Everyone in one room, following one thread
Speaker announcements rolling on LinkedIn.
Follow Popcultr SummitArrive at ExCeL London, navigate MCM Industry Pass collection, head over and grab a coffee, find your table. Networking starts the moment you walk in
Fresh data from Experience12's proprietary MCM London fan research
To be announced
Everyone talks about understanding fandom, but what does that actually look like when it reaches the boardroom? This panel explores the gap between cultural awareness and strategic decision-making, asking how organisations move from "we know fans exist" to "we know how to build for them"
Catch up on messages, grab a coffee, network
A recurring Popcultr format. The panel breaks down the pop culture marketing moments that mattered since the last summit: the campaigns that landed, the activations that missed, and the shifts in how brands and publishers are showing up in fan spaces. Sharp, opinionated, and built for practitioners who need to know what's actually working
BookTok changed publishing overnight, but what happens when the algorithm moves on? This panel looks at how the publishing industry is navigating the creator economy, building direct relationships with readers, and rethinking how stories reach audiences when the platforms that drove discovery start pointing somewhere else
The targeting tactics that actually work when you are trying to reach fan communities on the platforms where they live. This panel gets into the specifics: what the performance marketers, social strategists and platform teams are doing to find, reach and convert inside communities that traditional media buying barely touches
Explore MCM London Comic Con. Your Industry Pass gives you full show floor access
Board games, trading cards, miniatures, tabletop RPGs. Physical play is reclaiming attention in a digital world and the marketing, licensing and retail strategies around it are evolving fast. This panel brings together the people driving the tabletop renaissance to discuss what is working, where the growth is coming from, and what brands and retailers need to understand about this resurgent category
Anime, manga, Japanese games, K-content. East Asian IP is driving huge global audiences, but the journey from one market to another is full of friction. This panel examines what gets lost in translation: the licensing structures, the marketing assumptions, the cultural nuance that disappears when IP crosses borders, and what the people on both sides of that journey are learning
Last chance to network before the final sessions
What happens when a niche fandom suddenly goes mainstream? The licensing deals, the retail strategies, the community dynamics all change overnight. This panel looks at the moment of crossover: how brands and IP owners navigate the shift from cult following to mass market without losing the community that built them
To be announced
Wrapping up the day. Key takeaways and what comes next
Waterfront Bar, ExCeL London. All summit attendees welcome
If you've read this far, you should probably join us. Register Now
"Genuinely the best marketing event I've been to in years. No filler, no fluff, just proper conversations with people who actually get it."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"I came expecting panels. I left with a completely different view of how fandom works as a marketing channel."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"The observation model is brilliant. Nobody's trying to sell you anything. Everyone's just sharing what they've seen."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"Funny af. Seriously though, this is the only event where the panellists actually disagree with each other."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"Where else do you get anime distributors, board game publishers and FMCG brand managers in the same room? Nowhere."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"The Data Drop alone justified the trip. Proper data, not just vibes. I took the deck straight back to my team."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"I network at a lot of events. This is the only one where I actually wanted to talk to every single person in the room."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"Finally an event that treats pop culture marketing as a proper discipline, not a novelty side project."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"Walked in knowing games marketing. Walked out understanding how licensing, anime and entertainment people think about the same problems completely differently."
Speaker Name Role, Company
"The lunch break at MCM was a genius move. Nothing bonds marketing people faster than watching them lose their minds over exclusive merch."
Speaker Name Role, Company
REGISTER
The Popcultr Marketing Summit is curated to keep the room relevant, useful and focussed. We review applications to make sure the audience is made up of people working in, around or seriously exploring pop culture marketing and fandom-led sectors. Most applications are reviewed within 48 hours.
Click below to open the ticket application. You'll complete your details on the next step.
Register NowThere are B2B events where pop culture marketers can meet up to discuss individual pop culture verticals whether that's film, TV, games, publishing, comics, tabletop, or consumer products. There are only rare occasions where they can learn from each other. The Popcultr Marketing Summit aims to get everyone out of their silos and in the same room discussing the shared challenges and successes of their trade
Any marketers or comms professionals who have an interest in pop culture marketing or how to connect to audiences or consumers in the worlds of pop culture or pop culture fandom
The worlds of pop culture marketing and comms are rapidly evolving. This event is designed to draw out insights to help all interested professionals identify and gain insights from people who are at the sharp end. Most importantly, not just from your sector or vertical because sometimes the best insights come from outside your direct world. All this set against the backdrop of our most important consumers: the fans
It's free to Industry Pass Holders for MCM London Comic Con. You will be signed up for a Friday Industry Pass on application. If you already have an industry pass you need to sign up for this event separately to gain entry. The only cost is your time and travel to the event (plus any accidental spend for any item or items you buy that you absolutely must own. We accept no liability for impulse purchases)
The insights that you will gain from the event will give context for everyone operating in the pop culture space. If you feel that your area is not represented in this summit, let's talk about inclusion in the next one
Yes, absolutely. Your Friday Industry Pass gives you access to MCM London Comic Con on the day. The summit has multiple breaks which gives you ample time to explore the event in between sessions
Yes. Email contact@popcultr.events to start a conversation
There'll be an opportunity to network on arrival and after the summit from 17:30 onwards at the Waterfront Bar
We are currently finalising panellists for the event. If you'd like to see if you can get involved please contact contact@popcultr.events. We're always looking for contributors. It may not work out for this event but if you get in contact we will always bear you in mind for future events
There will be 3 breaks across the day: one mid-morning, lunch and one mid-afternoon. There are complimentary teas and coffee available in the room. Time to answer all those messages and get to know your fellow pop culture marketeers
Once you have successfully applied for a ticket for the summit you will be added to the MCM Comic Con Industry Pass list. You can pick up your Industry Pass and your pass for the summit at the Industry Pass pick-up desk for MCM London Comic Con. We'll send more details closer to the event
Every attendee gets early access to the full post-event report with key takeaways, data, and frameworks from the day. It's designed to be something you can take back to your team and act on, not just a recap. We'll also share details of the next summit so you can lock in your place early
Almost certainly. Everyone should take a sip of whatever drink they have to hand at that point
No, but if it's your thing crack on
The Popcultr Marketing Summit puts your brand in front of 150+ marketers from entertainment, games, anime, publishing and consumer products: the people making decisions about where culture and commerce meet
We partner with a small number of brands whose involvement genuinely improves the experience for the room. If that sounds like you, let's talk
Enquire About Partnership
ExCeL London, ICC Capital Suite, Room 4, Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1XL
