Posted in: Comics | Tagged: alex ross, comic book legal defense fund, Comics, dynamite, entertianment, Groupee, Thomas Brooke

First Ever Digital Comics Groupee Bundle Features Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite Entertainment is partnering with Groupees.com for their first digital comic bundle to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Groupees are similar to some of the new digital bundles that we've been seeing lately like Humble Bundle. But to find out more I spoke with Thomas Brooke, the CEO, about how Groupees work.

BLEEDING COOL: As I look at your website, I see different bundles available for sale and I know that they are tied to charitable organizations. but what specifically is a Groupee and how does it differ from say Humble Bundle or other charity based digital sales options?

THOMAS BROOKE: Conceptually, we are quite similar to Humble Bundle and other bundle sites that combine a good deal for a limited time on digital media with charitable giving.  That said, at Groupees we do a few things differently. Our biggest difference is we have integrated social layers into the site in order to build community and create unique opportunities for social interactions between fans and fans and the artists whose products are featured in our bundles. We like to say we're transforming the digital download into more of a social event.

BC: Who is behind Groupees and how did it get started? What was the journey from idea to fruition?

TB: I am the Founder of Groupees. I began working on the idea for Groupees in early 2011 after selling a company I was involved with to Thomson Reuters. I wanted to focus on digital entertainment as I could see some of the challenges emerging with monetization given newer, disruptive technologies. Our basic belief was and is that increasingly people are less willing to pay for the convenience of digital and that you need to deliver something more unique than a simple download. We were always focused on social and community as a linchpin to what we were doing, and we found very quickly that users wanted to connect with each other around their passion for things like music and games, in ways that sites like Facebook or standard message boards simply did not support. We have since been focused on enriching the ways users can interact with one another on Groupees.

BC: Part of the money goes to charity. which charities are you working with or want to work with and how much of the money goes to them?

TB: Historically, we have worked with charitable organizations like Mercy Corp as well as individual charity campaigns featured on sites like IndieGogo. We like to let the artists and developers featured in a bundle decide which charity or charities they would like to see benefit and also let them decide what percentage of proceeds be donated. Typical promotions have 20% go to the designated charity but we have had promotions that have been 100% charitable.  For this promotion, Dynamite has chosen to help support The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund which they are passionate about, and we are thrilled to support such a worthwhile cause.  Organizations such as the CBLDF help protect publishers by promoting free speech.

BC: The announcement this week includes Dynamite Entertainment. How did you get hooked up with the publisher and where do you see digital comics fitting in with Groupees?

TB: With our social layer, we are able to stay connected with our community and routinely seek their input on promotions to feature. We have had lots of requests for comic book and ebook promotions so we specifically reached out to Dynamite Entertainment as we view them as a leader in the industry and a company with whom we felt philosophically aligned. We are building communities around people's passion toward digital entertainment, and we believe that comic book fans are interested in the same type of opportunity to discover new products and connect with like-minded people that we have already created with game and music lovers. With this in mind, our intention is to make comic book promotions a regular feature on Groupees. And by expanding into comics, we hope to create awareness and build the market for the publishers with whom we work. Finally, the Groupees team are also massive comic book fans, so we're all VERY geeked to be able to run promotions featuring comics like A Game of Thrones, Army of Darkness, Kevin Smith's Green Hornet, Garth Ennis' Jennifer Blood and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, all of which appear in this first promotion.

BC: Where do you want Groupees to go from here? And how do you see this kind of bundling affecting the way consumers by products in the future?

TB: We want to continue to extend our social layer to make Groupees the default destination for fans to gather online, connect, share media and interact around the passions they have for digital media entertainment. Bundling diverse products together at a good price provides discovery opportunities for consumers as the low barrier to entry makes it easy to try new things. This, in turn, provides an important promotional benefit to content creators as their products are exposed to new audiences who become fans, talk about the content, post online and share these products with their friends which produces yet further promotional effects. This basic "bundling" model is used extensively to sell lots of different types of products and services, and I imagine that will continue to be the case moving forward. That said, we don't view bundling as a transformative idea. We believe over time the real magic is in the community itself, and our focus is on how to provide unique opportunities for users and content creators to connect, share and rejoice together during promotions. We are currently working on new ideas and technology to evolve Groupees beyond these bundle promotions but everything ultimately centers around our social layers and community features.

Now that we know more, here is the deal:

Through the Groupees program, customers can purchase a bundle of digital comic book and graphic novels for a price they decide.  The first tier of digital content is unlocked with the dollar minimum investment, but consumers can double their take by reaching the $5.00 second tier. Dynamite offers another batch of comics at the third tier for a $10.00 minimum investment, including the Dynamite Art of Alex Ross art book.

For those who support the "Pay What You Want" initiative with considerable support, Dynamite will reward the top ten consumers with special prizes.  The Top Prize will see the contributor illustrated on the cover of an upcoming Dynamite comic book, alongside the title character and the cover will be drawn by artist Jae Lee.  The winner will also receive 100 copies of the comic AND the original art.  The second, third and fourth-highest contributors will be illustrated as characters on one interior page of a Dynamite comic book, while the fifth through tenth-highest contributors will receive a hand-drawn illustration of their favorite Dynamite character again by super-star artist Jae Lee.  Additionally, top-secret Group Bonuses will be unlocked for all consumers to enjoy when the overall orders reach certain thresholds.

The $1.00 Minimum Tier features:

Project Superpowers (Vol. 1)#0 – #7
Dawn/Vampirella #1
The Spider #1 – #6
Chaos! #1 – #6
Shaft #1
Sherlock Holmes: Moriarty Lives #1 – #5
Red Sonja (Vol. 2)#1 – #6
Altered States: Red Sonja

The $5.00 Minimum Tier features 48 comics:

• A Game of Thrones #1
• Vampirella: Feary Tales #1 – #2
• Warren Ellis' Project Superpowers: Blackcross #1
• Garth Ennis' Jennifer Blood #1 – #3
• Alice Cooper #1 – #3
• Bob's Burgers #1 – #2
• Army of Darkness (Vol. 3) #1 – #5
• Purgatori #1 – #4
• Kevin Smith's Green Hornet #1  – #10
• Django/Zorro #1 – #2
• Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front (Vol. 1) #1 – #4
• Pathfinder #1 – #6
• Cryptozoic Man #1 – #4
• Blood Queen Annual 2014

Finally, the $10.00 Minimum Tier features 17 comic books:

Dynamite Art of Alex Ross
Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure #1 – #7
Dreadstar #1 – #6
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Echoes #1 – #4
Part of the proceeds from the first-ever Dynamite Groupees Bundle will contribute to The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers.

Fans and curious newcomers are encouraged to visit Groupees.com between Thursday, March 26, through Monday, April 6 to take advantage of the first-ever comic bundle hosted by Groupees.

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