Transmedia, the future of the digital marketing.
Today we have to talk about a phenomenon that has been gaining strength for a few years and that increasingly points to the development of strategy in digital agencies, the Transmedia Storytelling. It is a set of digital techniques offered to users through different media to build a story that offers an interactive experience. In the words of Wikipedia is the following:
Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies, not to be confused with traditional cross-platform media franchises, sequels, or adaptations. Henry Jenkins, author of the seminal book Convergence Culture, warns that this is an emerging subject and different authors have different understandings of it. He warns that the term “transmedia” per se means “across media” and may be applied to superficially similar, but different phenomena. In particular, the concept of “transmedia storytelling” should not to be confused with traditional cross-platform, “transmedia” media franchises,[1] or “media mixes“. The transmedia storytelling exists in the form of transmedia narratives. Kalinov and Markova define the term as: “a multimedia product which communicates its narrative through a multitude of integrated media channels”.[2] Source: Wikipedia
Here is a very simple graphic example of how it works:
Once we understand the concept and how it works, we can delve more into its diverse applications for the development of powerful digital campaigns.
What is the transmedia goal for a brand, product or service?
Today and with the advance of telecommunications, the world is moving at a frenetic pace and vertigo, that is why both digital agencies and users demand new experiences that allow them to build and participate actively in history. Before we settled for going to the cinema and enjoying a movie when we left we shared impressions with others, we made conjectures and we built hypotheses according to what we believed. With the arrival of Transmedia, we go to the cinema and discover that there is a video game of it that links more stories, then there are social networks where videos, images and various materials that feed the story are shared, we discovered a mobile application that offers us new clues and finally we discover that there are more webisodes that feed the stories. Everything is connected, everything is ready for you to continue investigating and living an intense and interactive experience that lasts much longer and remains in time without a specific order, but always fully connected thanks to the Storytelling (here it is explained more clearly). What is clear is that the transmedia strategies that they seek as objectives are the following:
- Offer innovative experiences
- Reach a greater volume of users
- Extend the interest of the users as long as possible
- Prevail over time
Let’s see some successful examples of Transmedia digital campaigns.
To put ourselves in a situation we have made a selection of some transmedia campaigns that are worthy of mention and study, with them we can see perfectly the impact and effectiveness of them.
The beauty inside – Realised by Intel Core y Toshiba
An incredible love story that tells in 6 webisodes the powerful story of Alex and Leah, but it does not stop there, the idea of Intel and Toshiba was that any user of the world could be Alex and live the experience immersed in the narrative. You just had to have a camera, a computer, the rest you can see in the next video.
19 Kingdoms – Game of Thrones
This campaign was developed by Canal + before the premiere of the 7th season of Game of Thrones, the idea was to create an immersive experience in the users, in which they could participate actively through a map of the kingdoms (distributed fictitiously on a map of Spain). The game was carried to the end with a coronation in Madrid. Let’s say it was a kind of Digital Role game, with web support, TV spots and social networks, where the fans lived an intense adventure for 2 months before the premiere.
The other letter – Ikea
And finally we bring you this piece created by Ikea, it is a sentimental campaign, several children were asked to make 2 letters, one for the kings and one for their parents. Once finished they were asked if they could only send one to whom they would do it and the answer was to their parents. It is a campaign that is very well developed and plays with emotions, Ikea used TV spots, web and a platform in which you could make your other letter to whoever you want, the success of the campaign was resounding and is a case worthy of study. In conclusion, we have all the means and tools to make impactful transmedia campaigns, we just have to have a good idea and a strategy, the rest is to get it going and do our experiments. If you liked this article, we recommend you read this one that might interest you Beacon and proximity digital marketing.
