Anatomy of a Highly Successful TransMedia StoryWorld – “Conspiracy for Good”

What makes a successful cross-platform or transmedia project? Are there key ingredients? What’s the secret sauce?

THE AUTHORS REPORT:  “With the Conspiracy For Good, our definition of a successful transmedia project is one that utilizes technology to deliver story content and engage an audience in original and novel ways.  We intentionally created a story that lived all around consumers all the time, and incentivized the audience to move from one device to another in pursuit of the story, solutions to problems, and answers to mysteries.

A transmedia story is the opposite of traditional television, which lives in one place at one time, such as NBC on Monday nights at 8pm, and you sit on your couch and let the story come at you. After our writers created the Conspiracy For Good narrative, we then chopped it into 1,000 pieces and distributed those pieces across many platforms, such as characters’ Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, text messages, and updates on various websites, some of which were hard to find.  The audience then went and found the pieces.  So, when a cell phone buzzed in the pocket of one of our audience members in the middle of the day, they got to live in the story again for a few minutes and went to a particular website to learn something new about a character or a development, much like you do with your friends in your regular, everyday life.  We even distributed songs that had hidden clues. When a participant found a clue on a character’s Facebook page, for example, they were often motivated to search deeper and crowdsource, with other participants, solutions to the character¹s journey.

The Conspiracy For Good actually had a character who traveled from Zambia all the way to London and she often ran into obstacles along the way. Her dream was to build a library for school kids in Zambia, and our audience actually helped the character fund and built a real library there. The audience communicated with her and used Nokia’s Ovi Maps to guide her through northern Africa and Europe. We actually had an actor (songwriter/poet Nadirah X) and a camera crew on the road for months of travel, being guided by fans.”

“So, to the many writers and producers involved in the Conspiracy For Good, the challenge was to create a puzzle with 1,000 pieces. Everyday the audience received one or two puzzle pieces from different sources (mobile device, song, etc). Over time, the fans begin to see the bigger story that emerged as they put the pieces together, and it soon became obvious that some very big actions were about to go down in London at a particular time and place. The Conspiracy For Good really pushed the limits of transmedia storytelling‹and also old-fashion street theater – and our audience loved it.

What are the most exciting emerging technologies that filmmakers should be aware of?

It’s incredible how new technologies have democratized filmmaking. You can make a great piece of art with a cell phone camera. I know because some of our fans did just that. We used a lot of mobile technology and mobile applications because we were aligned with Nokia on the CFG pilot. The future is clearly in social media and crowdsourced experiences, and also GPS technologies. The funnest part of our 4 month long event was the scavenger hunt in the streets of London that used image recognition software and location-based gaming to uncover mysteries, move through the streets guided by your cell phones, and find underground concerts.

What can filmmakers do to encourage real engagement and participation from “the people formerly known as the audience”?

When people come across an experience that they love, they want to share it with their friends. Art is powerful when it expresses an emotion, it taps into something that bypasses our intellect and makes us feel rather than think. That is moving. And when we experience that, we want to share it with others. This is true when you hear a great song or see a video or read a poem or play a game. Transmedia is best when you tap into this.”

“A story is more powerful if the storytellers create a story architecture that invites and even necessitates that you invite your friends to participate with you. If the story involves doing real good in the real world, then it is even more exciting to invite your friends to join your cause. The Conspiracy For Good wants to inspire you to invite your friends to experience new art and music and story, and by doing so also support a real world cause. So, I would have to say that transmedia storytelling is most effective when you interact with others and actually share and create art with them. The best example of this that I’ve seen recently is this pretty incredible Johnny Cash video that needs actual fans to sketch every single frame in the video.”

TransMedia Strategies with Multi-Screen Delivery – Now In High Demand in 2011

SOURCE HEADLINE (May 4, 2011):  The explosion in syndicated content, easily embeddable code, and the torrents of clips coming to the Web are paying off in streaming media pretty much everywhere. According to the third annual survey of web media companies by D S Simon, 85% of them now carry video, representing an increase of a third from last year. Television media was already at peak penetration, with 96% of venues carrying clips, but the 2011 Web Influencers Study found that virtually every other category of news, especially newspapers and radio, now make video de rigueur.  According to Doug Simon of D S Simon, the meaning here is clear. “The big news is that online media has now officially become a video programming network.” All of which goes to show how much users bring an expectation of streaming media experiences to a site. In order to feed the need for full motion, 84% of site users says they use third party providers along with in-house media. While traditionally non-video media are embracing the trend, it doesn’t mean that all of them are going full-bore into production. Understandably, 93% of radio stations say they rely in some measure on external sources of media, with 86% of newspapers and 80% of web media. TV entities tend to rely much more on their own assets, but still 63% user third parties.  We have said it before in these pages; video is the new text, and the Web is a primary accelerant of that trend.”

Almost every Pay TV operator has a multi-screen strategy now and many are involved in laboratory or field trials, while some plan full scale launches this year. A number of big players, such as Orange in Europe and PCCW in Hong Kong, already have well
established mobile TV services with varying levels of interaction between these and their fixed broadcast packages. The ultimate
destiny is a coherent, unified and yet flexible multi-screen service, providing customers choices over delivery, device and
method of payment, ideally served over a common infrastructure.

To Read full Report (Click Box Above)

The end game for the whole digital entertainment industry is a multi-screen world where there is no distinction made at a business level on the basis of the target platform, with all devices served via a common headend and network infrastructure. This may not be as distant as some commentators think, and so operators need to be considering now how to migrate and scale their business accordingly. Scaling will have to occur across four dimensions: delivery infrastructure, the pay business model, revenue security and content rights.

Today’s market is bourgeoning with “smart devices,” from tablets to TVs to any device that can connect you to the Internet. The industry has gone through many iterations of the smart TV and we’ve seen fluctuation in consumer adoption. In a survey conducted by RedShift Research in the UK in 20101, connectivity ranked third in importance, after resolution and screen size, in consumers considerations when purchasing a new TV set. Yet, with the turn of the year, we’re seeing increased growth and adoption of connected TV sets. According to In-Stat, Web-Enabled CE Devices will reach one billion by 2015.
Consumers are starting to understand the value that connected “Smart” devices bring to the entertainment experience. However, as we step into this new world of connected everything, we need to be cognizant of how we can continue to make the entertainment experience enjoyable for consumers. TVs are entertainment devices that should allow consumers to lean back and enjoy. The most important technology a TV can have is the ability to access a wide variety of entertainment choices and help the viewer choose the content that is best for them or their family. …

The next generation of connected TVs will bring with it aggregation of content, personalization and recommendations technology.  Along with these services, it will offer a greater way for TV manufacturers and service providers to monetize their offering – advertising capabilities outside of the traditional 30 second spot. It will use metadata pervasively to search for and connect consumers to content. It will have a lot to offer the consumer in their search for what to watch.

READ REST OF ARTICLE HERE…

TransMedia Workshop in LA – In Attendance April 25

The global demand for producers familiar with the process of developing transmedia content (across several mediums like games, mobile, television and film) for studios and networks is on the rise.  This 4-hour event at the Beverly Hills Hotel was the first of its kind and unique in the world, delivering practical, how-to TransMedia training led by leading cross-platform producer and strategist Jeff Gomez.  He taught his signature TransMedia development process to business executives, content producers, marketers and creators which has been used for such blockbusters as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron Legacy, James Cameron’s Avatar, Microsoft’s Halo, Hasbro’s Transformers, Mattel’s Hot Wheels and Coca-Cola’s Happiness Factory.

An excerpt of a former magazine interviews on the Success of TransMedia and Increase in Industry Demand for TransMedia Producers tells the story for 2011 to Brands and Content Outlets.  That story is TransMedia is overturning the entertainment industry and providing many new opportunities to Brands which adopt TransMedia.

Forbes:  What exactly is “transmedia”?
Gomez:  It is the art of conveying a rich message, theme or storyline to a mass audience using multiple media platforms, such as ads, books, videogames, comics and movies. Each part of the story is unique and plays to the strengths of each medium, and the audience is often invited to participate and somehow interact with the narrative. We first saw the term used in this way by M.I.T. professor Henry Jenkins in his book Convergence Culture, published in 2006.  In today’s interconnected world, young adults, teens and even kids have become so comfortable with media technology that they flow from one platform to the next. The problem is that their content is not flowing with them. As a discipline, transmedia provides us with a foundation for the development, production and rollout of entertainment properties or consumer brands across multiple media platforms. …

Transmedia creates the flow. Instead of repeating the plots over and over again for each medium,
creators can continue and expanded their storylines, generating dazzling mythologies and complex
narratives.

Forbes:  Companies have been talking about embedding products and messages into entertainment for years.  How do you distinguish transmedia from branded entertainment?
Gomez: I think it’s important to point out that transmedia storytelling is not branded entertainment. Branded entertainment drives product awareness by tacking the brand onto something else, like product placement in a TV show. On the other hand, transmedia builds brand mythology, placing the brand front and center and building narrative around it. Think of the various tie-ins we saw around The Matrix franchise several years ago. Branded entertainment comes and goes in a flash, but transmedia storylines are timeless because they are built on a foundation of classic narrative structure. They’re good stories. Finally, the owner of the brand pays for branded content, but transmedia entertainment is designed to generate revenue because, ideally, it’s content that the audience wants and will buy. You’re giving fans more of what they want from your story: more character background, more story mythology, more opportunities to interact with the story’s creators and with one another. When people hear that Samuel L. Jackson will be playing Nick Fury in the next nine Marvel super hero movies, it helps tie that whole universe together. It’s a richer and deeper entertainment experience for the fan.  The storylines of major films like The Dark Knight, Wolverine and Watchmen are being supplemented by direct-to-DVD animation releases, each of which are selling quite well. The Watchmen videogame serves as a prequel to the movie and contains important story developments that fans want to know about. New stories set in the same world are alluring, as opposed to repurposed content, so the products
become more attractive and, in many cases, more lucrative.
Forbes:  Transmedia is often used to promote TV shows and movies, entertainment properties that already have a story built into them, but how does it work for marketers?
Gomez:   Procter & Gamble (nyse: PG – news – people) has used transmedia to extend the narrative of a soap opera, which is an ad vehicle for the company. In 2007, the packaged-goods giant commissioned Guiding Light: Jonathan’s Story, a novel published by Simon & Schuster that revealed the adventures of a major character that had been mysteriously absent from the daytime drama. The book, hyped in ads on the soap and in a blog bylined by one of the novel’s protagonists, was a media sensation and became a New York Times best-seller. We’re also seeing transmedia elements in the marketing of consumer products and advertising. With “The King” campaign from Burger King (nyse: BKC – news – people), for example, audiences have been engaged with this bizarre character, watching the commercials, purchasing and playing the videogames. In 2002, my company Starlight Runner was tasked to create a storyline around 35 die-cast metal Hot Wheels cars for Mattel (nyse: MAT – news – people) for the line’s 35th anniversary.  We worked with the company to understand the essence of the brand and watched how kids played with the toys.  Then we invented an elaborate racing universe and driver characters that, over the next three years, came to life in five computer-animated movies, a videogame, a comic book series, new play sets and an elaborate Web site.  Sales across the entire line increased dramatically.

TLP TransMedia Strategies for Broadcast News Outlets

THE NEWS ABOUT THE NEWS.  “Nearly half of respondents (48 percent) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, an increase from 40 percent who said the same a year ago. Younger adults were most likely to name the Internet as their top source —55 percent of those age 18 to 29 say they get most of their news and information online, compared to 35 percent of those age 65 and older.” (Source:  Recent Neilsen Report.)

Click Box Below for 2011 PDF from TLP.

In 2011 Samsung says SmartTVs have the potential to replace conventional cable TV services

Major Industry Players are Poised to Replace Cable TV’s Entire Business Model.

On April 28, 2011, Samsung announced it  hopes that its range of Smart TVs will replace pay TV and laptops in the lounge room within six months, by supplying video content and web browsing though your connected television, an industry conference in Hobart heard today.

SmartTV’s With these Samsung and LG Functions Will Disrupt Broadcast and Cable TV Business Models that Do Not Integrate TransMedia Strategies Which Use Them.

Smart TV is a new category of television that uses an internet connection to provide additional content such as web browsing, social networking, apps, live channels such as Bigpond TV and video-on-demand.

Evan Manolis, AV group manager at Samsung Electronics Australia, told the Korea-Australia-New Zealand (KANZ) Broadband Conference that applications such as Bigpond TV will help popularise smart TV.

“It expands the story of smart TV and gets people understanding how the TV works and how it all brings convergence together, and there’s no more need for content on set-top boxes or laptops. It’ll all be one within the next six months,” Manolis said.

Manolis said that Samsung has conducted extensive research on what people want out of a smart TV.

“They want to ensure that the user interface is easy, they want to make sure that the experience they get on a laptop — the way they search the internet, the same way that they social network — that the experience is at the same level or better, and that’s what we’ve delivered,” Manolis said.

Both Samsung and LG have launched their 2011 ranges of smart TVs in the past month.

TLP TransMedia Overview for 2011- How Can Brands Benefit?

Click Above to Download PDF

1)  What is a Transmedia Narrative?

2)  What are some recent examples?

3)  What makes TransMedia Stories  interesting to an audience?

4)  What does it mean for your Brand and how is it Monetized?

5)  How Is A TransMedia Strategy Initiated?

MIPTV 2011 – Major Broadcast TV Cases Studies of TransMedia Strategies = $$$$$$

Discover the latest developments in recent TransMedia strategies and applications deployed by major producers and distributions of content.   Learn how to make sense of multitude of development platforms and emerging distribution channels:   TV program content delivered on rich media tablets and the latest smart phones via Apps Internet/TV apps and widgets, running on the new internet enabled tv sets.

Speakers with demos include:  David Jullien, Director, Business Development, Digital Gaming, Endemol Worldwide Brands,  Jeroen Elfferich, CEO, Ex Machina, Tom McDonnell, Commercial Director, Monterosa, Daniel Saunders, Head of Content Services, Samsung Electronics Europe, and Patrice Slupowski, VP, Digital Innovation and Communities, Orange .  Social TV Apps, which enable consumption of TV programs on social media platforms, and build communities around TV programs through tablets or internet TV sets.   This session explored both the creative and business opportunities and challenges around creating and marketing TV Apps.  What is the potential of social TV?  What is the future beyond TV Apps?

IT’S ALL ABOUT TRANSMEDIA …

Moderator
Richard Kastelein, CEO, Agora Media Innovation and Publisher, Appmarket.tv

Speakers
David Jullien, Director, Business Development, Digital Gaming, Endemol Worldwide Brands
Jeroen Elfferich, CEO, Ex Machina
Tom McDonnell, Commercial Director, Monterosa
Daniel Saunders, Head of Content Services, Samsung Electronics Europe
Patrice Slupowski, VP, Digital Innovation and Communities, Orange

TLP Recommends “Finding the GAP” and “Disruptive Change” in TransMedia Strategies

Observations and insights are not the same thing.  In TransMedia, this is very important.

Observations mean raw data.  It’s a gradual accumulation of research information … that one  consciously and carefully records— exactly the way we saw or heard it … no interpretation added.

By contrast, insights are the sudden realizations.  We know them as “Aha!” moments!  They happen when we interpret the observations and discover unexpected patterns.

It’s all in the patterns … that reveal gaps between where people are now … and where they’d ideally like to be.  It’s the same with Brands.  It’s a place between now … their current reality and their desires for change in the market circumstances.  It’s described as a rift between the way something is now … and the way people assume it should be.

And whenever and wherever there is tension (observation), there is a GAP.  In TransMedia we call that an OPPORTUNITY … and for it to be highly effective … it must be DISRUPTIVE IN THE MARKETPLACE served by a Brand.

APPMARKET.TV reports:  Transmedia has been a buzz word for a while, but today it’s rapidly rising up the radar, with content creators increasingly interested in finding innovative ways to create stories that arc over various platforms, providing consumers with multiple entry points. A new trend reportfrom JWT, the world’s best-known marketing communications brand, explores why this trend is bubbling up right now, how it’s significant for marketers and where it’s going.

Understanding what transmedia means and how to develop relevant experiences that give audiences multiple entry points will be increasingly important for marketers as transmedia transitions into the status quo. The report, “Transmedia Rising,” provides an introduction to transmedia fundamentals: It includes a half-dozen case studies, insights from transmedia experts, a guide to finding more information (from events to podcasts to books and video clips) and a timeline charting some of transmedia’s milestones, from Disney to The Matrix and beyond.

“This is an era characterized by social media, multiple screens and empowered consumers, and transmedia leverages all of that while using age-old storytelling and marketing techniques,” says Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT. “For marketers, transmedia presents new opportunities for capturing consumers’ time and attention-with the potential to enhance brand mythology and create more brand evangelists.”

Take the following example.  A secretary picks up a SmartPhone and dials an important number.  If she dialed the number and it was for her work does anyone really care?  But if the secretary decides to scroll through the recent calls placed on the phone by her boss … takes a look at the photos stored on the phone, watches a few videos, updates her FaceBook posts and shoots out a few Twitters … Well … then if her boss finds out she’s looking though his contact list and finds a few work colleague female names that should not be there … and then the boss finds out.  What do you think?  Would she still have a job?  The tension builds … and when disruption is thought about today in the TransMedia marketplace … Brands are seeking differentiation and ways to step out of the massive “clutter” in advertising  …

To do that … NOTHING IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DISRUPTIVE INFLUENCE.

Tension like this story about the secretary is the focus and at the bulls eye of each compelling story that captures an audience’s attention.  It is not surprising that TransMedia pitches must include this type of analysis for them to be effective.  Often and sadly they do not.

Consider the dull stories that broadcast :30 second spots continue to deliver to a bored audience.   A man meets a woman and they live happily ever after.  Where is the tension in that?  Or in the 1960′s style of advertising, a product like washing detergent meets a consumer with “big hair” who smiles and  lives happily ever after.

Really?

It’s not believable and it’s not emotional.   And where this is no emotion?  No sale… It’s a fairly simple formula.  So if a Brand intends to capture an audience’s attention or interest, it needs a major element of tension that throws status quo out the window.

Back to the secretary’s story … assume the secretary picks up the phone … scrolls through the pictures … finds one of herself … clicks on it and sees an invitation from her boss to go out to a swank restaurant that very evening.  As she and the audience realize he (the boss) left the phone there for her to find it and he then walks into the room and they embrace.

A title rolls up and says [_____] SmartPhones work in unexpected ways.  The tension is resolved and the audience buys into the solution.

A presentation without tension presented and tension resolved is lifeless … emotionless.  It’s not effective storytelling which good TransMedia StoryWorld building requires today.

TransMedia storytelling IS THE NEW MEDIUM.  It constructs a story and serves it across different platforms.  It invites audience participation and collaboration and is simultaneously linear, nonlinear and multi-dimensional.   Both individual and collaborative, TransMedia gives the audience what they want and WHEN THEY WANT IT.

TransMedia storytelling is not the simply taking content and ‘repurposing’ it for different media.   TransMedia builds a story universe (what researchers and creators call a narrative).   TransMedia invites the audience into a StoryWrold. The storytellers capitalize on the characteristics of each medium of delivery—traditional and new—to created, re-create and contribute to a distinct part of the narrative which is satisfying as a standalone experience. And at the same time, each part as well adds a meaningful and unique contribution to the overall story experience – individual and collective. TransMedia storytelling boasts and uses multiple points of entry making the StoryWorld accessible to different types of consumers, audiences and media-users. TransMedia, at the end of the day,  relies on the audience for interactivity and response to calls to action treating them with respect at all times.  TransMedia does not “sell” them, but instead invites them to become co-participants to join, expand upon and even change the narrative.

TransMedia + Social Media + An Entertainment Property = Audience Engagement

In the new film Source Code, there’s an interactive digital StoryWorld developed in the film’s marketing campaign.  It’s a successful technique which TV serials, webisodes, mobisodes and bonus content promotions could easily integrate.

It”s a first for Summit Entertainment.  That’s the studio producing the thriller, Source Code (Jake Gyllenhaal) which has  a social media game called Source Code Mission that can be activated by Microsoft Tag technology within the movie poster.  That bit of code, which any smartphone can read, will lead to a game that takes 10 to 20 minutes and is based on the movie’s plot.  It features Gyllenhaal returning to the scene of a bombing of a Chicago commuter train and trying to change the outcome.

The use of social media games to spur interest in entertainment properties is growing rapidly.  In January, Starz launched the series Spartacus:  Gods of the Arena with a Facebook game and an iPad app.  In that same month, the CW also publicized the new season of Gossip Girl with a Facebook game. More recently, Paramount Pictures promoted the animated Johnny Depp movie Rango with a tie-in with Zynga’s FrontierVille game.

TransMedia companies worldwide are jumping into this highly creative and profitable arena integrating TV series, webisodes, mobisodes with social media and digital interactivity.  It is a Wild West environment when brands request it. And they are …

Brand integrations into these TransMedia projects with 360 degree multiplatform distribution and syndication are the new media and the medium.

The Love Kitchen – TransMedia 4 Screen Syndication Strategy

TLP is assisting TheLoveKitchen with TransMedia, 4 Screen Packaging of the reality show which is now in development.  Synopsis from Show Website.  “The Love KitchenTM is a new seductive dating and upscale cooking show combing sex appeal and food.  TLK unmasks the true personalities of the contestants by turning up the temperature on their first date.  Forget the bedroom. Ever wonder what your date is like…in the kitchen?  Our show uniquely pairs couples together in the kitchen, to see if they can stand the heat – and one another.  “True personalities come out the first date,” says Hang Holyda, the Executive Producer.   She should know.  With a Masters in Psychology, she’’s been studying this a long time – and now she’’s created a show that puts it all into practice.   You can learn a lot about a person during stressful situations.  The kitchen is the perfect place to learn the truth about your potential love interest.  “When stressed, it’s really difficult to contain one’s personality.  Cooking can be stressful, or it can be sensual. The best experience involves a little of both. “  TLK is a cross between ‘The Iron Chef’ and ‘The Dating Game.”  Cross-platformed Webisodes and Episodes offer delicious recipes to help viewers brush up on their culinary skills in a fun and competitive social setting.  Each show involves two contestants competing to win over the main date with their culinary skills and charm by cooking one at a time in front of the date.  In the end, the date chooses the winner as their future dating partner.”

And sometimes the kitchen experience is a total failure where the winning male or female would rather just go home.

Its light and full of surprises mixing secret ingredients, exotic dishes, challenging recipes and impossible situations to determine who makes the grade.”

The proposed Show Hosts are Maikka Weston and Scott Rose.  The show is owned by Success Productions: