With 140,000 expected attendees, Fan Expo Canada is the third-largest pop culture event in North America. It’s also a gold mine for Brock University’s recruitment team.

For the first time, Brock will have a significant presence at the annual four-day convention Sept. 1-4 in Toronto. Fan Expo Canada is similar to ComicCon shows that appeal to fans of comics, sci-fi, horror, anime and gaming.

The vast majority of show-goers are high school or early post-secondary-aged people — exactly the target audience for Brock.

“It’s a big prospective student market,” said Joseph Gottli, multimedia web specialist in Recruitment and Liaison Services. “It’s early in the cycle for choosing a university, so it’s a good way for us to get our name out there and to get them thinking about Brock before the application cycle begins.”

The show takes place in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, but the massive crowds — many of whom arrive in full costume — take over much of the downtown core. This year’s Fan Expo Canada includes appearances by Margaret Atwood, Mark Hamill, William Shatner, Stan Lee, Gillian Anderson and many other celebrities.

Brock has a booth in the MTCC’s south building, where it will be in a high-traffic area close to EB Games and Sony PlayStation. The booth is 20 feet by 20 feet and includes two large video screens.

The recruitment team has designed both an eight-page comic book that tells the Brock story, as well as Cube Pals, three-dimensional paper figures of Isaac Brock, Boomer the Badger and the Schmon Tower.

“The comic outlines the top reasons why you should choose Brock University, such as the location, exceptional student experience, the programs that would be of most interest to the attendees, and our dedication to co-op and experiential learning,” Gottli said.

The focus will be on the programs and departments at Brock that would appeal to typical Fan Expo goers the most, such as the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Communication, Pop Culture and Film, Computer Science and the new programs in Game Design and Game Programming.

“There’s a great fit between the Fan Expo Canada target market and the programs we offer at Brock University,” Gottli said.

Fan Expo Canada is the first of two major recruiting events in Toronto for the Brock. The Ontario Universities’ Fair will also be held at MTCC Sept. 23-25 and is a hugely important event that draws all 21 Ontario universities.

To increase Brock’s presence during and between both events, Marketing and Communications is launching a bold advertising campaign that will see Brock branding dominating the Skywalk between Union Station, the MTCC and Rogers Centre.

An artist’s rendering of Brock University’s booth for Fan Expo Canada.