The Stan Lee Party MADE Money
(In the interest of disclosure, I am a first-round investor in Legion M.)
Some disparaging remarks have been made about the Stan Lee house party being lavish and unwarranted.
What you may not realize is that tickets to the party weren't free -- they started at $100 and went up to several hundred dollars. In addition, there were several corporate sponsors of the event. More than 500 people attended the party. You do the math. The party completely paid for itself and had money left over.
The hand and footprint ceremony was also paid for by the sale of fan packages, auction items, 43 corporate sponsors, and the leftover money from the house party.
As was previously noted, the ceremony provided great media coverage for Legion M, but the house party was also extremely beneficial. Many Hollywood insiders attended the party and were able to learn about Legion M and see for themselves the passion of its investors. A number of the insiders, who have attended many Hollywood parties, said Legion M's party was absolutely the best one they had ever attended. Those insiders will now go back to work and tell their colleagues about their experience.
Insiders were not the only ones who were impressed with the party. There were a number of non-investors who became investors afterward. And even existing investors were able to generate some buzz among their friends and colleagues after telling them about their experience at the party.
In today's world, PR doesn't come exclusively from TV and other mainstream media. Social media and word-of-mouth is just as important, if not more so. And in the world of Hollywood, schmoozing is absolutely essential to networking and deal-making.
Legion M was able to host two fantastically successful events, each one reaching different, but equally valuable, audiences. And although it cost the LM staff hundreds of man-hours to produce them, it didn't cost the company any significant amount of money.
As an investor, I couldn't be more proud of Legion M's accomplishment with these two events. Did they make money for the company? No. But they did open the doors for any number of potential future deals, the profit from which is incalculable.
