Transmedia for Companies

This post I’ll keep short and to the point. It’s my thoughts about how companies can benefit from utilizing transmedia storytelling; not only when it comes to marketing a product or a service, but also when it comes to the company itself.

There are many companies that think about transmedia and use transmedia storytelling to break through into the consciousness of the masses – Audi’s "Art of the Heist" comes to mind – and do so successfully. There are others who look to transmedia storytelling to help them accomplish other things, such as Cisco, with their salesperson-targeting "The Hunt" campaign. There are yet others, often with pretty impressive muscle, who think deeply about new forms of storytelling and new ways to grown nearer to customers. Coca Cola’s ”2020” vision is a prime example.

But the use of transmedia storytelling methods doesn’t have to stop there. Neither does it have to be companies the size of Audi, Coca Cola or Cisco who look to transmedia to help them evolve. Transmedia storytelling methods can be of tremendous use to anyone in any field.

An example: a colleague pointed me in the direction of Black Milk Clothing. It’s a good design brand with interesting creations, yet what makes me remember them is the story on their About page. In short, it’s a brilliant read about how Black Milk came to be, the story of the man behind it and his passion from years back, about not giving up and about succeeding through brilliance and perseverence.

This, in effect, goes beyond mere branding. It is the mythology, the story world of Black Milk Clothing. With this mythology as a foundation, if they decide to connect to their customers on a deeper level they have a wealth of entry points to work with and choose from. Do a competition about who can design the best re-design of the first creations of the creator. Create an app which is a replica of the stands where he tried to sell his first creations, where customers can trade second-hand items of the brand… these opportunities, and many more, spring from the mythology sketchily written on one web page.

It doesn’t end there though. Black Milk’s mythology gives the company something to point to to any future employee – ”this is where we come from, this is who we are!” – or collaborators. It’s their gene pool, basically.  It’s a true story (I assume), but as with all mythologies, it could be embellished, as long as the different new parts do not conflict with the earlier core parts.

This then is something that can be accomplished by just about any company. White books and Rules of the Company and such documents are all well and good, but they seldom tell much of the core of the company, the stories it’s built on, the future it might hold. It's also much too common to merely look ahead, when looking back from time to time can help with directions, ideas and future entry points.

Tell your company’s story. Not just with words, but also with deeds. No one tells a rulebook onwards. A good story, now that’s another thing.

Transmedia Rising - comments

The JWT report of transmedia as a trend – Transmedia Rising, downloadable here – is a good read and shows pretty well where we are right now, in the world of transmedia (which evolves at a dizzying pace, but then again, what doesn’t). The report does have branding and revenue as core elements in the report; on the other hand, no transmedia project can expect longevity without a sound business model at its core.

I did have some thoughts on a couple of the topics discussed in the post: creating the flow and digital natives. We say transmedia but in my mind we really need to think sansmedia; there is very little we can create or come up with within the borders of a project (short of true telepathy or something suchlike) that there is not a viable technical solution for, or one that can be invented. This is not to say that we should not look at platforms or tools while developing and writing, as these many times can work as inspirational material and enablers, rather than obstacles. But to start a project with the assumption that ”this will be a television, web portal and iPhone app-project” and let that assumption define the story, story world and transmedia experience, that’s just plain wrong. The digital natives experience their content without thinking about platforms or codes used, they just do it. So must our content, our stories, do. Furthermore, it really is not enough to come up with new ways to tell stories and technical solutions for it, if we do not find new ways to empower the audience and let them have their way with the content - but in a way that we as creators can still be OK with.

Coming, as I am, from the world of television (television formats to be precise), this is a process and a way of developing and producing that absolutely MUST be viewed with positive goggles on. It is far to easy to look at ones’ television documentary or drama and simply give up on getting to grips with the challenges of a many-faceted story world with multiple intertwining stories; it is equally far too easy to look at such a project from a traditional marketers’ point of view and simply long to go back to selling those 30 second ad spots for the sitcom you represent.

The reality is, of course, that this is true if one lets it be. I would suggest quite the opposite; that such a project would give a producer a multitude of ideas, that can get an audience to engage deeper and truer in a story and a story world, it can give the producer and the developer invaluable contacts to their core audience, it can lengthen the life span of the content many times over… it is building an exoskeleton of pure titanium on a hitherto lovely but limited story, enabling it to punch through the traditional storytelling walls and invite an audience to follow.

For the marketer the benefits are even clearer. As the story gain more aspects, more details, more spaces to occupy, so will the marketer gain more possibilities to connect to a brand, to reach customers, to advocate the content and thereby the associated brand(s).

To quote JWT’s report:

For marketers, this is an evolution of the integrated marketing model: Rather than a consistency across multiple touchpoints, the goal is for different channels to communicate different things (within the overarching strategy), with an emphasis on putting the brand community at the center

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Now, substitute “marketers” for “storytellers”, “marketing model” for “storytelling model” and “brand community” for “narrative superstructure” and it is very obvious that these are two sides of the same coin.

The JWT report is a good sign that transmedia thinking and development is getting into more and more people’s minds in a good way. I for one am looking forward to what 2011 brings - a year that has already started magnificently.

Interactive music videos ... well...

hat tip Ms Paeonia :)

So, the interactive music video is finally here. The music video that - as interactive television was hailed as - allows you to watch a video and click your way to all the products you see in the video, be they cars, clothes, sunglasses or whatever.

First out is the Irish band The Script - here's their MySpace page - where you during 255 seconds can click on 242 different articles. From a marketing point of view, it is a bit interesting. But to call it "enriched music video"... well, let's just say it might be "annoyingly distracting music video".

As with all new technology, it's all in how you use it. There's no point just slapping on these clickable things (well, for The Script there was a point, seeing as they were first and got their fair amount of publicity) as they don't contribute to the whole, instead just act as a distraction. Once the novelty wears off, it's no use.

My suggestion would be to carefully develop a music video where this marketing tool is a natural way of the story in the video, supporting the music, supporting the visuals, and in turn being supported by them. THAT'S something that would keep them coming back, methinks.

Anyone want to hire me to do it, gimme a pm :)

Joost again...

Just a quick note - hats off to the guys at Joost.

Not so much because it would be the best running thing with streaming media over the internet or anything like that (because it's not, even though it IS quite nifty and nice).

Nah, hats off because they manage to do it all over again. With Skype, their last venture, the buzz and the hype was building on itself, a prime example of viral marketing. With Joost, they've managed to do it again. Lots of people are talking about Joost, lots of people are writing about it, lots of people know someone who is betatesting it and have heard good things about it... and the hype keeps on growing.

With Skype, we customers got a wonderful communicating tool, and the guys at Skype got billions of dollars for it. Win-win-situation, no? Hope the same goes for Joost :)