Welcome to the Power of Cosplay With Costume and Play

Meet the TeamWith such a vibrant community and so many individual elements making up the art form that is ‘cosplay’ navigating around this can be tricky, Costume and Play provides services to help companies understand the multiple benefits of cosplay such as its incredible audience engagement, while rooting itself firmly in the community to help grow it.

Some of Our Clients...

Jess Banks - CEOAfter repairing the bow of a fellow

cosplayer who had been disqualified, Jess made it her mission to transform

cosplay into an inclusive, fun and unified community.

Silantre Cogan - Creative Director

Silantre Cogan has been passionately creating props and costumes for the

community since 2005. One of the most prestigious cosplayers in the country winning over a dozen awards in the cosplay art form

and holds a Higher National Diploma in Theatrical Costume & Makeup.

Andrew Kenny - Technical and Logistics Manager

The big guy with the ponytail that’s usually cosplaying something vaguely appropriate to his job. SAE Institute trained technician with 2 decades experience in all tech and production.

What is Cosplay?Cosplay encourages you to dress and be a character you love, but it is the individual components of ‘cosplay’ that make it so unique. The ‘Costume’ element when crafted leads into several different skill-sets such as prop making and sewing. The ‘Play’ or ‘Performance’ element with either a made or purchased costume leads to spectacular shows such as a cosplay masquerade.

With such a vibrant community and so many individual elements making up the art form that is ‘cosplay’ navigating around this can be tricky, Costume and Play provides services to help companies understand the multiple benefits of cosplay such as its incredible audience engagement, while rooting itself firmly in the community to help grow it.

What do we do?

Our mission...▪ To stand for each individual cosplayer within the

community voicing the UK’s movement of costuming.

▪ To harness the amazing skill set within each cosplayer and present them with more opportunity.

▪ To serve the most vibrant, active and dedicated community of fans doing what we can to spread the love within it.

What does that look like?▪ Cosplayers go to more cons

than practically any other group, with 64% attending 3 or more fan events a year, and 27% going to 5 or more.

▪ Nearly a quarter (23%) of fans identify themselves as serious cosplayers, and/or people who go to shows just to engage in cosplay.

▪ (59%) said they spend between £68 and £344 at fan events. (not including basic costs like tickets, food, and parking)

The Cosplay Masquerade▪ A masquerade is the highlight of any convention experience.

It combines every element of cosplay together into a spectacular visual showcase. Masquerades are easily scalable to any size event, from a small raised platform with enthusiastic amateurs to a fully produced stage hosting National Championships and professional performances.

▪ Fully self contained or can be integrated into the larger event as required.

▪ Can be run in almost any size of venue and on almost any size of stage.

Costume & Play have experience running masquerades for events around the UK.

● BBC’s Sherlocked

● Play Expo

● Insomnia Gaming Festival

● London Film & Comic Con

● London Science Museum

▪ Individually bookable elements or combined together to make an incredible zone area showcase for your event.

▪ Tailored to all audience types for corporate product launches to attendees that have never cosplayed before!

▪ Can include wearable/ridable costumes, specific costume characters and themed interactive exhibits suited to your event.

Interactive Services

Costumes, Corporate and Installation Pieces▪ Large set pieces and Installations – Large fully wearable or free

standing set pieces from fabrication to animatronic movement. portraying complicated or large characters or to set dress an area for an event. These areas can generate large waves of interest, can be designed to be an interactive feature of the event and will generate considerable positive PR for any function or promotion.

▪▪

▪▪

▪

Examples include;▪ Sakura tree photography installation.▪ Ridable gaming characters for gaming

event. (Pig and Tiger.)▪ Live action interactive costumes such

as Jolteon. ▪ Recognisable costume appearances

such as superheros and princesses.

▪ Interactive Exhibits - Showcasing individual elements that make up cosplay, this can include props, sewing, digital cosplay, performance etc. Examples of this range from our digital 360 degree costume drawing experience to our table displays.

Workshops, Panels and Demonstrations▪ Workshops are targeted at small groups with a hands-on intimate approach

lasting 1-2 hours. They offer your customers a take-home experience that they can share with friends. Their creations act as mementos and a physical reminder of the activities and event, prolonging audience engagement.

▪ Demonstrations will cater for large crowds, last for 15 minutes and act as a way for newcomers to engage with cosplay, turning them into repeat business for your event. Attendees can leave the demonstration with a step-by-step guide on constructing their first Dagger, Helmet, Wand or Scarf.

▪ Panel Talks can be the perfect way to grow your community and increase retention rates across events by utilizing new content.

● Well known community figures will draw in community members.

● Use our panels to teach your audience about the depth and skill involved in

cosplay.

● Different guests and themes allow fresh content for every Panel.

Character Appearances and Custom Builds▪ Community costume appearances to showcase

cosplay and community at any event. (London Science Museum ‘well known gaming characters’ to represent cosplay for ‘Powerup’ event pictured. )

▪ Costumes can be made to specification for product launches. This can include animatronics (moving parts) and can be built to wear, ride or as a freestanding showcase piece.

▪ All costuming staff are trained to handle promotional elements of costuming but are grown within the community, meaning a love for the products showcased is a genuine passion. This cannot be replicated by other promotional means and methods.

Community and Guests

Costume and Play has access to the UK's top cosplayers. The influence and reach of these guests can provide a huge boost to events locally and nationally, attracting their fans and followers to meet their idols face-to-face. We also work with industry leaders in a variety of fields, e.g. prop making and costume design. The high-caliber costumes used by these guests are often shared thousands of times over social media.

Professionals we’ve worked with (Global Audience):

● Kelly Jean - Media Reach: 336,000

● Tabitha Lyons - Media Reach: 210,000

● Stacey Rebecca - Media Reach: 329,000

Local Guests we’ve worked with (Geo-targeted Audience):

● Little Red Reiki Cosplay (Sheffield) - Media Reach: 214

● Fantail Cosplay (Manchester) - Media Reach: 335

● Captain Amelia Cosplay (London) Media Reach 2,302

Zone Areas▪ All these elements can be

booked on an individual basis to suit or can be combined together.

▪ Zone areas showcase all areas of cosplay while allowing any audience demographic to directly interact with each individual element.

▪ The cosplay zone area provides an entirely unique event experience, generating substantial footfall (1000 attendees per hour for Insomnia Gaming Festival 58.)

Just for you.We can, customize, tailor and build any cosplay or costume element for your show!

All Inclusive Service for Any Event...▪ Masquerade▪ Entry and Contestant admin, contestant

performance help and choreography.▪ Technical/Production support (Audio Visual,

Stage sound, Projection and Lighting).▪ Guests▪ High Profile cosplayer Guests/Judges for the

masquerade itself and potentially other areas of the event.

▪ MCs and Presenters as required.▪ Promotion▪ Social Media Marketing of the event, Masquerade

winners and video/text interviews if required.▪ Zone Area/interactive content▪ Fully trained staff provided ranging from

coordination to promotion.▪ Unique Content▪ Interactive/personalised stage experiences for

contestants and audience as required.▪ We have worked with attendees of all ages and

from every walk of life, both professional and amateur.

Still need convincing?...

110+17,616

100+100%

Highest number of masquerade participants.

Guaranteed delivery.

Social media reach generated from one

post.

Community meetup attendees for one event.

Per hour zone area footfall.

Bums on seats for the Masquerade.

1,000

3,000

Some options…Basic: Guesting Zone Area

One Masquerade/registration table – 3 invited guest judges.

This would enable us to run up to two panels on stage and provide one – two masquerades.

This option can be added to with cosplay press focusing on reporting on the Masquerade itself and 5-10 community based guests/one cosplay group.

One Masquerade/registration table – 3 invited cosplay guests with tables.

This would enable us to run up to two panels on stage and provide one – two masquerades while

providing a small interaction area with cosplay itself (including prints, props, sewing etc.)

One Masquerade/registration table – 3 invited cosplay guests, 5 zone area tables.

This would provide the framework to cover a smaller but comprehensive zone area comprising of the 5 elements of cosplay which would also enable us to run informative demonstrations and small workshops based around those areas. (Sewing, Props, Performance, Modelling/Photography and workshops/demonstration table.)

Some options…Full Full with Stage Costumes, Commissions and

Installations

One Masquerade/registration table – 3 invited cosplay guests with tables, 5 zone area tables.

This would provide a larger more comprehensive structure with considerably fuller workshops and demonstrations along with a comprehensive and informative set up of the 5 zone area tables.

(Sewing, Props, Performance, Modelling/Photography and workshops/demonstration table)

Same as full scale with added community guests and dedicated Cosplay stage.(More stage events that we offer)

From fantasy, superheroes to princesses! We can deliver an entire world or special costumes for your event.

Installations, costumes and commissioned pieces can be added into any option or requested separately for an event.

Promotion pieces and cosplay promotional elements can also be booked directly.

Anything unique you can request and we can fulfill!

Contact us :-

Info@costumeandplay.co.uk

Thank you for your time!

Costume and Play have played a key role in growing the UK Cosplay community to new heights. Cosplay is becoming widely accepted in

society following the increasing coverage by the media and the continued steady growth of events. Our work is not done, with your help we plan on continuing this trend. Our goal is to push cosplay to

it’s full potential, recognising the skill and creativity of the community.

“[Cosplay is the] freedom to have fun being other people, being artistic and show off my skills at the same time as having oodles of fun

being someone else.” - Kym Horton, Clicker from The Last of Us.