transmedia marketing playbook

Transmedia Marketing Playbook

A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture

by Matt Davis & Ryan Risenmay

December 14, 2012

A production of the Master of Communications program within the University of Washington,

a program that for more than a decade has analyzed, challenged, and instructed on digital

engagement for strategic communications. With research and contribution by Mariana

Llamas-Cendon and Lisa Kennelly and under the supervision of John Du Pre-Gaunnt, Faculty

Advisor.

http://mcdm.washington.edu/



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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 4

TRANSMEDIA MARKETING ...................................................................................................... 6

State of Marketing ..................................................................................................................... 6

Transmedia ................................................................................................................................. 7

When is a Transmedia strategy appropriate? ............................................................................. 9

STRATEGIES AND FRAMEWORK OF A TRANSMEDIA MARKETING CAMPAIGN ................... 10

Where to begin ......................................................................................................................... 10

Planning To Execute ................................................................................................................. 17

KPIs and Measuring Success ..................................................................................................... 23

Challenges with Transmedia Marketing .................................................................................. 24

CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................... 24

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 26

ABOUT MCDM ......................................................................................................................... 27

Additional Transmedia Case Study Information ...................................................................... 28



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Abstract

Media options are constantly increasing and evolving as consumers adopt new technologies.

This proliferation of media choices also fundamentally changes how marketers communicate

and engage and with consumers. Consumers often don’t use only one device or only one

communications channel, such as online social networks—and that challenges marketers to

create a connection with consumers on their own multi-channel terms, providing an

experience that is personalized, always available and easily sharable. Marketers are vying for

mere fragments of consumer attention. They need a new approach for using multiple media

channels to reach a more distracted audience.

Marketers know this shift toward multi-channel communication by many names. We’re calling

it “transmedia marketing.” It involves synchronous multi-platform social storytelling and

multi-level community engagement and participation. The vocabulary isn’t nearly as important

as is the way of thinking and the adjusted marketing approach. This extended model is not an

easy transition for most marketers and many publications to date only provide a surface-level

analysis of the marketing landscape changing from traditional to digital or statistics focused on

new media or consumer technology adoption.

The goal of this document is to provide a framework, as well as some tools to help brand and

product marketers with social storytelling and managing audience relationships with multiple

platforms; to help answer marketers questions “Where do I start?” and “What can I expect to

find?” It outlines the activities and challenges in adopting a transmedia friendly orientation to

telling a branded story. It provides a specific framework for analysis, strategic planning and

execution with some guidance on when a transmedia approach would be appropriate, such as

for product launches and rebranding support.



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Executive Summary

The age of the empowered consumer has eroded the foundations of traditional brand

marketing. The one-to-many broadcast approach of “message” style marketing used over the

past 50-plus years is increasingly unable to reach and engage audiences. Consumers have

taken control of their media experiences and when and how they will engage with a brand. At

the same time, they expect to brands to be always available on a one-to-one basis and on a

variety of levels across multiple media channels simultaneously. This challenges marketers to

change their approach with these fragmented and more concentrated audiences. Transmedia

marketing offers marketers a new framework to meet the needs of these consumers.

Why do consumers expect brands to be so attentive? Consumers are placing a higher value on

personal connections with a brand or product. These emotional, identity-defining connections,

and influences from their peers often trump generic sales pitch messages. Consumers desire

community, interactivity, and the option to participate in the story of a brand, its product, or

services.

The Millenial Generation is on the crest of this wave of behavioral change to the participatory

culture. Millenials—“digital natives” born in the 1980s and 1990s—have grown up with

technology as a central component of their daily lives.

They have come of age and are now the largest

consumer demographic. They are comfortable with

adopting new media formats and technologies, and

they move freely from interactive service to platform

to device—or use them simultaneously. From adoption

of social networking to use of smartphones and tablets

to access content, Millenials are leading the way

forward. This heavily influence the behaviors of both

“Boomer” (the over 55) and “GenX” (1960s -1980s)

groups. (2009, PewResearchCenter).

Enter transmedia marketing – a strategy that brands

can use to harnesses the change in behaviors of these

consumers. It builds upon their interest in compelling

storytelling and their preferences in determining what

part(s) of a branded experience they will engage with

at the time and place of their choosing. While

MILLENIALS DEMONSTRATE MULTI-

PLATFORM USE:

57% simultaneously checked their

emails while watching TV.

44% browsed for unrelated

information or accessed a social

network.

19% searched for information

regarding an ad they have seen.

16% browsed discounts or got

coupons related specifically to an

ad they saw while watching on TV.

Nielsen 2012



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Transmedia strategies originated in entertainment media marketing such as television, movies

and gaming, this format of marketing doesn’t mean repurposing the same old message or

marketing angle across different media platforms (known as “cross-media” marketing).

This type of storytelling for marketing purposes isn’t solely about brand recognition and

positioning, nor is it about convincing people to buy or like a brand or product. It’s about

creating deep, immersive, and extended media

experiences that open up the possibility for

sustained two-way communication between a

brand and its customer. This can create

emotional ties in which customers become

more than a passive audience. They have the

potential of becoming influencers and

participants in the development and growth of

a brand, product and even the company itself.

Transmedia marketing requires a long-term

approach to customer engagement with

extensive planning and execution along a

meaningful storyline. For brands, transmedia

marketing involves extensive staffing, resources, and thoughtful analytics and measurement of

goals and objectives. Transmedia isn’t appropriate for all marketing needs. However, when

done right, a transmedia strategy can help a brand be successful with consumers by tapping

into their innate behaviors and building relationships worthy of devotion.

TRANSMEDIA MARKETING

A long term strategy focused on building

relationships and devotion of consumers.

Integrated across digital and linear touch

points.

Multiple immersive and extended

narratives that add to an overall brand

story.

Open to audience interaction and

participation.



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Transmedia Marketing

State of Marketing

Today, in many cases and in many ways, traditional marketing is failing business. Advertising is

noise. Public relations comes across as too impersonal. Audiences don’t want to be addressed.

Technology has taught consumers today to know they don’t have to put up with traditional

ways of getting and trading information. With their devices they can sidestep the corporate

voice and join others who share insights and opinions. As a community with common interest,

they’re important; they know they are. They can easily take their conversations, commitments,

and loyalties wherever they matter most.

For today’s marketers, transmedia marketing suits a consumer base that’s progressively

changing its behavior with preference to things digital.

On the heels of consumer television turning digital and channels multiplying, viewing

technology options have become even much more prevalent, accessible, affordable, and

convenient. Consumers have always had a choice to make: what’s worth watching? And that’s

truer now than ever before.

We are now part of a multi-screen world. As people become more familiar with information

sources they value and discover ways for accessing that information, sensory overload is not in

the picture. Viewer focus can just as easily shift to the next eye-catching media program or to

platforms offering compelling content with deeper engagement. Consumers can focus on

multiple media platforms—both sequentially as well as simultaneously—when specific goals

are to be met. In business it’s much the same—people spend time with media and delivery

platforms that fit the investment and gain they perceive. Time is money in business, so it’s

critical to address people appropriately. And because most people engage across a continuum

of interests and media platforms, marketers that want to reach consumers and business

decision makers must be careful not to get caught up in the story that just one device tells

about their customers’ behavior.

Audiences now expect information and engaging entertainment to be instantaneously

accessible through a variety of media platforms. Having multiple access points and user inputs

draws the audience in. They tend to latch onto platforms that are easy to navigate and foster

participation. Their involvement can provide valuable feedback in real time, build stronger ties

with devoted followers, and can even help define or shape aspects of the story that needs to be

told as they choose what is more relevant and meaningful to them.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/104313542/Multiscreenworld-Final



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TRANSMEDIA MARKETING:

A brand communications strategy

involving synchronous multi-platform

social storytelling and multi-level

community engagement and participation.

To address a multi-screen world, marketers must adjust the traditional marketing mix into

simple and affordable communication paths that spread storytelling and engagement across

multiple platforms. Transmedia marketing sticks when it is submitted to public opinion and is

granted permission to carry some or all of the conversation. It goes where the community goes

and seems to belong. And, in a sense, as community property it has shared ownership and

grows stronger when others want to take it further.

These expectations challenge the methods that marketers may be most familiar using, but the

payoff fits the bill.

Transmedia

Transmedia marketing is more than just broadcasting out a promotional message; it’s a

strategy for creating a story-led branded experience that captures interest by tapping into

participatory behaviors of today’s consumers. A common confusion when talking about

transmedia marketing compared to other strategies

is cross-media marketing. Many marketers already

use many different traditional offline and digital

channels such as newspapers, television, radio

Facebook, web and mobile advertising to reach their

audiences. The brand message is promoted

simultaneously as an orchestrated campaign. A

transmedia marketing campaign seeds an idea and

enables audiences to self-discover, engage and contribute to that idea though many different

entry points and paths. The narrative focus is on immersing consumers in an expansive yet

navigable story world, thereby rendering meaningful emotional experiences, each building a

part of the whole story/message. The goal is to foster engaged, loyal (fanatical) communities

that not only help unfold the storyline but also advocate on behalf of a brand and its products

or services beyond any one campaign window. Transmedia marketing uses a variety of media

that could be digital only or a combination of digital with others, such as mobile and

conventional media platforms like television and print. Which media platforms are used is less

critical than ensuring that each selected platform is utilized in the most relevant way.

One of the most commonly cited transmedia marketing case studies is the recent Old Spice

campaign. With the campaign named “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” the almost

forgotten Old Spice brand successfully re-launched in 2009: repositioning it in the personal

care market mainstream, creating awareness about within younger generations (GenX and

Millenials), and boosting sales by millions. The Old Spice campaign took off in the form of

traditional TV ads. Once those TV commercials hit YouTube, it went viral. A social media

strategy was implemented using both Facebook and Twitter platforms, proving tremendously



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TRANSMEDIA MYTHS:

Transmedia marketing is only for

entertainment or media brands

and products.

Transmedia marketing is too

expensive to create and maintain.

Transmedia marketing is for

“geeks” and “technophiles.”

Transmedia marketing is just the

same thing as multi-channel or

cross media marketing.

successful with thousands of comments. To engage the audience on a larger scale, “The Old

Spice guy” Isaiah Mustafa also responded to some random Facebook comments and tweets via

YouTube, including one special to Demi Moore, who posted comments online via social media

at this regards. More than 180 YouTube videos were created with the intention of responding

to the thousands of thousands of fans it generated. Mashable’s Brenna Ehrlich wrote “This

campaign really is a perfect storm of viral marketing — not only does it target specific bloggers

(who are then more likely to cover the whole thing), it also reaches out to less prominent

individuals who can be made more aware of Old Spice. Moreover, they become personally

invested in the brand because they have actually become a part of the world it has created.”

But in recent years, a number of other iconic global

brands such as BMW, Audi, Coke, and Mattel (Additional

Transmedia Case Study Information) have used a

transmedia marketing strategy successfully. BMW

created a shorts film series called “The Hire”, which

featured a fictional character driving cars in ways that

highlighted features and capabilities of various BMW

models. Over the next couple of years, BMW expanded

this story with new videos segments online generating

over 100 Million views, distributed via DVD and even a

comic book series. Audi’s transmedia campaign called

“The Art of the Heist” created an online/offline alternate

reality game (ARG), where consumers had to look for

clues to solve an auto theft. The campaign included web

sites, as well as clues planted in various public spaces in which consumers could investigate and

learn about characters to find out more about the crime and propose whodunit theories. Coke

started with a television commercial that included a fantastical world inside the vending

machine called “Happiness Factory” that comes alive when someone orders a Coke. Based on

strong response from consumers, Coke wanted to extend this magical world with a "behind the

scenes" story. They created other stories, a website, a custom music playlist, and a video game

based on the Happiness Factory where consumers could investigate, and interact with the

world themselves. Another excellent example of transmedia marketing storytelling comes

from Mattel and their highly successful Barbie and Ken campaign. Mattel created a story

about the ups and downs of Barbie’s “relationship” with Ken over the years of these iconic toys.

Gathering input and votes from the online community Mattel was able to create participation

in the final outcome of this story culminating in a Valentine’s Day reunion of the two. Smartly,

Mattel used this love story as a vehicle to create new buzz about two of their oldest products



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and engaging new and old fans alike. The benefit of utilizing a transmedia marketing strategy

was an invigorated community.

What made each of these campaigns so successful? Focus on narratives and creating spaces

for the participation allowed development of a community of fanatics. The campaigns told

interesting stories that carried the brands products but didn’t push ad slogans or marketing

messages. The audiences connected to the story and each other using various media

platforms, fueling the demand for more and more content (stories) building reach and

exposure for the brand.

When is a Transmedia strategy appropriate?

Transmedia marketing can be used successfully for a variety of business objectives, whether

launching and growing a brand or product, shifting perceptions or generating intent and

changing behaviors. That said it is important that transmedia marketing not be about selling,

or making “the pitch.” Transmedia marketing is best used as a long-term community

engagement strategy.

Not all brand stories would be as good or appealing when told on very different levels across

very different transmedia channels. Though traditional marketing campaigns have an

associated story that drives the development of creative and messaging, the narrative is a

means to an end and is not the central purpose intended to create a community around a

branded product or service experience. This is because they are only “moments” intended to

tactically deliver a specific message or generate a response. In other words, having a good

story is a great beginning, but would that story be also worthy of devotion by the community

to which is directed? Brands and products that don’t lend themselves to a meaningful, creative

narrative that consumers will care about, or can contribute to, would have limited benefit from

a transmedia marketing campaign. For example products or services for industrial use or

things like medical or science equipment might not benefit much from a transmedia marketing

strategy.

And those marketers looking for quick results and short term gains will likely find the effort

involved to plan, and manage a transmedia campaign too expensive and challenging. Though

the story may quickly grow a vibrant community of fans, there shouldn’t be expectation that

that will immediately result in increased business performance like sales and revenues. The

payoff of transmedia is the ability to tap into the participatory behaviors of today’s consumers

to create emotional connection to the brand, and a community of like-minded fanatics that will

buy a brand’s products, and advocate on behalf of the brand over time.



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Strategies and framework of a Transmedia Marketing campaign

Where to begin

A well-developed and successful transmedia project starts more or less like any other

marketing strategy. It requires a precise definition of the marketing objective, a clear

understanding of the target community and their

inherent media behaviors, and expected measures of

success, which have to be defined and designed from

the start. From there a transmedia strategy can take a

marketing campaign to the next level leveraging a

story that creates an experience and connects a

community of consumers across multiple media

points of access.

The narrative and roles that various platforms in a

transmedia project will play to advance a particular

experience and enable community participation can be mapped out with a simple execution

model for large or small transmedia marketing campaigns. Considering the transmedia

marketing execution model (see figure 1) allows marketers to conceptualize the business

reasons for employing transmedia and connects different models for audience interaction that

can be tied to measurable and goal-oriented results.

Objective Tactics/ Transactions

Idea Exchange

Tasks/Input

Response KPIs Impact

Business goals — exchange with a purpose (social, economic, marketing, or knowledge)

Sharing methods — offer details about a concept, brand, product, or service

Transfer of information —provide valuable insights in an audience-accepted format

Media platforms — determine methods of exchange

Audience participation — plan ways to involve audiences

Analytics —observe measureable changes

Results — evaluate how business objectives are met

Figure 1: Transmedia marketing execution model

By following an execution model that starts with business objectives, marketers can approach

campaign planning with community engagement in mind and set objectives that facilitate

TRANSMEDIA FRAMEWORK:

Set objective

Create the story

Community - understand the

audience and their behaviors

Determine technologies and media

to be employed

Determine what success looks like



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storytelling and the exchange of ideas through a variety of media platforms, identifying in

advance what should be the measures of success.

Objectives

The concept of transmedia engagement is to invite audiences to participate within the

framework of a story. However, before committing to specific digital media platforms to

conduct this exchange, marketers must pinpoint what objective ultimately needs to be

accomplished. A transmedia marketing campaign should not be conducted solely on the

merits of leveraging new media platforms. The purpose of the transmedia campaign can best

be determined by its business objective(s).

Media strategist Gary Hayes of Screen Australia recommends identifying goals in three key

areas through a series of business-oriented questions.

1. Considering the perspective of the user, what do you want to achieve?

Marketers must help address the value and usage that users will glean from the

experience.

2. Considering the perspective of the creative team, what are the goals?

Stimulating the right kind of user involvement is key—not for the sake of creating

something open, new, and inviting, but for definite purpose.

3. What is the economic goal or model?

Determining up front the benefits sought after (whether commercial, marketing,

experimental, or for public good) can be the guide to staying on course throughout

execution. It can also be a measuring stick for success.

As discussed in the previous section, BMW and Audi used transmedia to launch new vehicles.

Mattel and Old Spice reinvigorated existing product lines. Coke’s campaign created a

community of followers and grew audience reach. The importance of setting the marketing

objective for the transmedia campaign can’t be underestimated. As shown in the detailed

transmedia marketing execution model (see figure 2), marketing objectives drive the nature

and extent of the narrative elements that are to be scripted versus the elements that are to be

crowd sourced. The model defines how ideas are shared, plus the tactics and transactions for

that exchange. Given that knowledge, it should become evident which media or platforms

should be used. Through it all, the business objectives should identify the desired and expected

outcomes of the campaign, and that outlines the success measures that can be tracked and

reported.



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Figure 2: Transmedia marketing execution model in detail

Without a framework model, Transmedia activities may still occur, but they do so more in

random, cross-platform fashion rather than by planned purpose and strategy. Marketers need

to be careful to not jump too quickly to the execute stage, but spend time planning the

objectives and exchanges as well as the measurable success criteria.

The Story

The narrative structure is the foundation of a transmedia project. It creates the experience that

a brand or marketing campaign intends their audience to live. The story is the core of what will

engage audiences to evolve into communities that are the critical element of transmedia

success: creating loyal fans, not just capturing eyeballs and impressions.

With traditional linear media, a marketing message is fixed. If there is a story, it has to be

(relatively) short, simple to understand. Marketing messages for linear experiences are

designed to carry the campaign on the back of one phrase for as long as possible before being

tuned out by the audience through saturation. At this stage, the method of message

distribution often may not yet be determined and therefore the message is more generic in

nature. The message can be placed offline and/or online as needed such as a thirty second

television commercial that is transformed to a static newspaper/magazine page ad or online

banner or video. It’s the same message (ad) in syndication.



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The narrative structure of a transmedia campaign,

whether in an entertainment or product marketing

environment, must have the ability to offer a connected

version of the story while also standing on its own

independently of the other platforms in which the

experience will take place. Therefore, creating an end-

to-end transmedia narrative has to be done on the

drawing board before even heading to the production

department. Not only the story arc but how it ideally

plays out across platforms starting with primary or

dominant platform. Many other factors not directly

related to the plot or characters must also be

considered. Marketers really need to know what the critical experience path of the story is,

taking into account that crossing platforms already provides dimensions to the story and the

experience itself based on how they transact activities with content and interact with each

other. Planning the dominant message path can only go so far. The actual path chosen by the

consumer and the sequence of platforms may be significantly different than the intended path

designed.

The table below (figure 3) provides some basic storytelling elements that can be used to map

out the story path and experience of the community. It also notes some key impacts and

considerations to the transmedia campaign setup and execution. Planning each element

“Social media isn't just one platform

but it's a change with people. They've

got a lot of platforms that are vying

for their attention. What brands have

come to realize is that this becomes a

huge factor in their content creation

strategy.”

John Hartman, Partner and

Transmedia Producer for Robot 22

In a 2012 interview, Brent Friedman, co-founder of Electric Farm Entertainment and

Executive Producer of MTV’s Valmont University, and Sony’s Woke Up Dead transmedia

projects, said designing something from a transmedia standpoint is very different than

writing for linear media. Considering the distribution architecture helps designers plan

everything for how people are going to be seeing it and experiencing it. This includes

knowing at every point where to move the audience and, if given the option of bypassing

certain points in the story to get from A to Z, if this will still be a satisfying experience

to the user journey. The transmedia story must allow the audience to identify

themselves within the story’s architecture and therefore want to experience it more at

their own level and preference.



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establishes the storytelling backbone of the campaign and introduces marketers to the next

critical consideration: the community.

Figure 3: Storytelling elements (based on Elements of Digital Storytelling, University of Minnesota,

2005)

Brian Marr, Director of Strategy at Smashing Ideas, notes that “building a narrative across each

piece of the marketing mix can make the engagements more compelling and deepens the

connection with your target.” Interest in the story idea is what causes the community to

develop. The community in turn participates in how the base story (message) should be

extended. This could be depth of context, character, and complexity of story, history, or side

stories that add insight to the main narrative. So understanding the connection between the

story creating the community and the community participating in the story is vital to design,

execution, and success of a transmedia campaign.



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The Community

One of the most critical elements for success of a transmedia marketing project is the

community. With the overwhelming number of marketing campaigns fighting for consumer’s

time, a transmedia initiative has to do more than just catch an individual’s attention; it has to

retain attention with a storyline and content able to provide an experience worthy of devotion.

Not everyone is going to explore the full length and breadth of a transmedia experience.

Those who actually do, become true fans. That’s the community.

Community is also the value (ROI) of the transmedia marketing investment. Not specifically

their ‘eyeballs’ or the impressions that can be counted but how much engagement they have

with the brand—devoted attention and participation in the stories and communities.

How can that kind of community be formed? In this digital “global village,” as Marshall

McLuhan called it, the audience chooses what gets their attention, expects direct, tailored

interactive experience that inspires them to participate, engage and become active as

crowdsourcing co-creators, not just spectators. A

community collects and connects around the narrative,

follows it, supports it, interacts with it and last but not

least, when appropriate - contributes to it.

Douglas Heidland, community manager for the Valemont

Commons fan site, notes, “What fans bring to the table is

the ability to develop and deploy additional assets outside

of the budget.” Marketers must decide how to leverage

those assets that spring up spontaneously and how much

of that to let audiences manage on their own. This may require devising a plan for how to react

to critical user feedback or even “hacking” as they respond to and engage with a transmedia

campaign or world.

As Friedman advises, to create a community, brands must create a space for their audience

where they are (i.e. the media and platforms they use) and give them a purpose. After

identifying the space of choice, marketers must provide a clear way for the community to

actualize their purpose. This takes audiences beyond passively absorbing whatever marketing

message is conveyed to them at a particular time in a particular place to engaged participants.

The platform

Media platforms such as the web, mobile, Facebook and similar create points of access to the

narratives in a story while contributing their own unique experience and functionality. “Ideally,

each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.” (Jenkins, 2006)

What makes community is not

age, gender, income, or other

demographics traditionally

used to segment and target

consumers; it is a common

interest, connection with and

ability to participate in an

idea—the branded story.

http://lukes.me/papers/transmedia-storytelling-the-art-of-world-building/



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Similar to the story itself, media platforms—whether traditional or digital mediums of

exchange—used in a transmedia marketing campaign convey various levels of emotion and

intimacy to the community (see figure 4).

Figure 4: Community intimacy by media platform

Whether there are two or ten, media platforms are not to be chosen randomly or by following

popular trends. Digital and/or non-digital platforms should be selected according to the

overall experience(s) the campaign intends the target audience to live.

How can the right platforms be chosen?

Taking hold on a trending technology

platform isn’t the starting point of creating a

transmedia project. The whole effort should

be planned, laid out, and developed from

story to community and then appropriate

distribution platforms. Selection criteria of a

particular media platform should be based

on its ability to enhance the story, audience

preferences, and enable consumers to find

the narratives and interact with others.

Not every media platform will serve any one

particular transmedia project. Hot trend or

not, introducing a platform that doesn’t fit

the community creates barriers for them

exploring and enjoying the story experience.

To that end, understanding the media

behaviors of the community is critical to

planning the campaign. These are generally

current behaviors but also involve those that

the community would be naturally inclined

to use.

Do transmedia campaigns need to feature a

mobile app or engagement platform?

It depends on the community and their transaction

needs. With half of all Americans now owning a

smartphone (Nielsen, March 29, 2012), serious

consideration of how they spend their time in the

mobile space can help answer this question. Google

found that 77 percent of TV viewers had another

device in hand, often using that device to search for

more information about what they were watching.

Even more significant to marketers, the research

showed that people are more apt to accomplish tasks

spontaneously with a smartphone in hand (80

percent versus 20 percent planned) than they are

with a PC or laptop device (52 percent spontaneous

versus 48 percent planned). Understanding that

consumers often want to search and transact via

mobile devices when already engaged in related

content on another media platform, can help

marketers plan how much transaction based

functionality should go into their mobile presence.”

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/smartphones-account-for-half-of-all-mobile-phones-dominate-new-phone-purchases-in-the-us

http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2012/08/navigating-new-multi-screen-world.html



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Fortunately many media platforms are increasingly becoming ubiquitous for a consumer,

which means marketers don’t have to recreate these channels. That said, if the marketer

doesn’t choose wisely which transaction platforms will best involve the audience, the desired

transmedia exchange may never take root.

In summary, a transmedia marketing strategy starts out

the same as any other marketing project. Those

fundamentals don’t change for the marketer. Setting

objectives drives the decisions on who, what how and why

the campaign is being created. What’s different with

transmedia marketing is the story and the experience is

intended to generate a community of fans for the brand

and its products or services. Understanding the behaviors

of the audience will help the marketer determine what

platforms should be used and how to measure the

engagement and adoption of the community with the idea

of the story.

Planning To Execute

Assuming the campaign objectives, story, and community have been planned with clear key

performance indicators (KPIs) and other success measurements in mind now comes the time

to kick off these initiatives. And as promising as multi-channel engagement may be, marketers

need to make sure they are able to commit and execute at a tactical level. The level of

commitment will be transparent to the community, evidenced by things they experience:

creative design, user support, cross-media connectedness, and the participatory and

interactive nature of transactions for participants. Ultimately, it’s these transactions and how

users feel supported throughout that experience that make or break a transmedia marketing

initiative.

Traditional marketing and advertising campaigns do not often have the kind of complications

that accompany a multi-platform engagement strategy. Friedman compares a transmedia

experience to live theater, which, when the switch is thrown and people are invited into the

story world, all the related elements need to interact almost like a production in front of a live

audience. Seldom may there be a dull moment once the production is in full swing. Knowing

how to assemble the initiative, manpower, and funds that fuel a campaign sets up the right

amount of support and direction for the story transactions and all stages of the project. The

following sections identify critical elements to any transmedia execution plan: story

transactions, project teams, community management and interaction, timelines, and scope

considerations.

PLATFORMS TO SELECT

Native to audience behavior.

Complimentary to the structure

and content of the narrative.

Enable communication (intimacy

and emotion) between the brand

and the consumer.



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Story transactions

Tasks and activities invite participation — they are the purpose given to the community. They

are essentially transactions that enable the community members to interact, such as build a

piece of the story, which marketers have shared with them. They are also the key to tracking

and measuring results.

For story transactions to work, marketers must see that actions center on ideas and activities

that matter from the perspective of the audience. For example, as participants gather critical

pieces of information, where should they immediately use or offer up that information within

the community? Like clearing a path of least resistance, activities should set forth the natural

next steps in the user journey through storytelling, story building, and story sharing.

Depending on the campaign timeline, the points of transaction and the transactions

themselves can vary to help unveil or construct the story. In the storytelling of Valemont

University, the lead character registers to attend the school to uncover what led to her

brother’s unsolved death. As the audience watched the episodes unfold, they were enticed to

enroll themselves in an online version of the school—a website built to uncover more than

what the episodes revealed. The more the participants got involved, the more they could

discover and share with others.

Figure 5: Activity paths/user journeys across transmedia platforms



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As figure 5 shows, thinking in terms of transmedia activity paths can help marketers plan not

only what platforms can be useful but also the timing of introducing various platforms,

content, and actions, keeping in mind that audience members may enter at any stage in the

storytelling campaign. Ideally, business objectives facilitate strategic paths of audience

engagement with a slant towards entertainment and engagement as they perceive it and value

it. Otherwise, why would they engage?

The options for audience participation are open. Many transmedia campaigns may not be set

up to utilize network television entertainment, but that shouldn’t stop marketers from

creatively telling stories through any combination of online, social, video, event, and print

marketing channels as appropriate.

Project teams

Considering what talent and skill sets are needed for the

project, marketers need to consider how to support the

desired experience. As the campaign launches, who will

build and maintain an app or a microsite? Will a full-time

community manager be required and how will that person

interface with content writers on a day-to-day basis? This

can go well beyond responding to and engaging with fan

comments. In the case of the Old Spice “The Man Your

Man Could Smell Like” campaign, managers were

curating submitted questions, passing them off to creative

teams to be quickly turned into video responses that

matched and perpetuated the campaign message.

These types of marketing projects call for new skills and

much more collaboration and coordination than what

traditional marketing projects require. Transmedia forces

a mobile design expert, for example, to design not only for that single platform’s activities but

what the activity path experience will be and how it complements and enables movement to

and from other platforms. It forces a customer care team to need to assess where a challenged

user is in his journey through the transmedia space. The project may require 24/7 support, new

analytics tools, or other business processes that were not needed before. If a new community

participant is introduced to the campaign on Facebook and YouTube before registering on the

web portal, how will user data be collected from the platforms and then reported—as one user

or as three?

By virtue of the rich transmedia

community experience, a transmedia

project team will likely span and

work across departmental

boundaries within an organization or

it may require outsourcing for

additional agency support.

An agency can offer specialized

media platform services like rich

media, mobile web and apps, social

presence development, and

intellectual property management.



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The following table illustrates how potential team members’ skill sets may need to expand to

support transmedia requirements.

Role Traditional Marketing Project

Needs

Amplified Needs with Transmedia

Marketing

Content Writer Linear narrative Diversified, synchronized story telling

Data Analyst Standard website reporting metrics

Unique tagging Tracking users across platforms

UX Designer Limited user entry points Prescribed transactions

Website experience

Multiple user entry points Varied transactions

Cross-platform user experience

Peer-based reward system

Promotional

Manager

Media buying Search marketing

Business development Product placement advertising

Third party site marketing

Figure 6: Comparative roles and skill requirements

Community management and interaction

As with traditional marketing, transmedia campaigns may aim to reach many target

audiences. Once a community has formed it must be nurtured and managed to help keep the

momentum and the participation. In addition to customers, other potential audiences—

including business partners, shareholders, industry advocates, and other constituents—may

have interest in the story to be told and could actively join in the conversation.

Planning for this ongoing community management is essential, anticipating where the the

discussion might go or interactions that a transmedia campaign starts. Depending on the

strategy and objectives, the campaign may or may not want to allow departure from the

planned storyline or experience and have to correct course.

Another mark of a community-friendly campaign is the ability to reward “shining stars” that

bring a positive influence and help perpetuate the good of the campaign or the brand itself

behind the campaign. How can devoted fans be best acknowledged? During the Old Spice

campaign, active Twitter participants were rewarded with personalized videos posted to the

campaign’s YouTube channel. Ford partnered with influential local bloggers for its Escape

http://www.mode2design.com/2012/04/17/ford-becoming-transmedia-production-company/



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Routes campaign to get insider access to contestants and help spread word of the show to a

wider audience.

How the transmedia team is equipped to respond to the 24/7 community needs of the world it

has created will be an indication of its planning and foresight. What encouragements or

support might the community need if there are problems with features and media platforms?

Are there “Ambassadors” (generally top fans that advocate for a brand) can be recruited help

answer community questions and shared their experiences to broaden the common

knowledge base.

Timelines

Knowing in advance the target lifespan of the campaign helps a transmedia team scope and

schedule their efforts (see figure 7). This can often be done simply by determining the story arc

and the finale and planning to introduce media platforms at the right time to offer the

functionality for story transactions.

Figure 7: Sample transmedia timeline

For some campaigns, affixing an endpoint is not necessary. The story continues as long as the

community uses the resource. For Ford Escape Routes, the story’s natural conclusion was the

http://www.mode2design.com/2012/04/17/ford-becoming-transmedia-production-company/



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announcement of the winning team. After that point, the site became an archive of content

and what transpired with new data entry disabled.

Some content strategy decisions can still be made on the fly based on how the brand story or

campaign evolves with user involvement. However, in many cases, marketers may choose to

plot out the entire timeline of the campaign from the beginning and put a cap on the ending.

Scope considerations

After planning for story transactions, the project team skillsets, community management, and

the timeline to implement, marketers can plot the budget for the campaign. Budget and scope

put bookends on the project from start to finish.

A good place to start scoping the work required is to identify where the brand/organization

already has a presence and build from there. If it’s seen as an extension or a restatement of

what is already familiar, transmedia can play right into audience acceptance. MTV executives

realized their audience spent time on three media screens—television, computer, and mobile

devices—and embraced the Valemont story’s ability to play to those strengths. A combination

of short television episodes (2-3 minutes each), the Valemont University website, and an online

alternate reality game on the website aimed at different groups and engagement levels with

the audience.

In scoping, marketers need to ask questions such as:

How many people are targeted through the campaign goals?

Do the campaign goals focus on a specific region, market segment, or

national/international reach?

How much may be spent on media buys, and how much will earned media balance

the campaign’s public visibility?

What content writers can effectively create, perpetuate, and further develop the

story with the target audience?

What systems need to be in place to measure transactions and KPIs according to

these business goals?

How much is required to staff the right level of support at all stages of the timeline?

Reviewing again the business goals can help size and fund the right amount of effort. No

matter how impressive or innovative any technology or method of interactivity may be, if it

doesn’t facilitate media storytelling tied to KPIs, it’s nonessential.



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KPIs and Measuring Success

How can the success of a transmedia campaign be measured? How will its impact be realized?

That all depends on the measures of success laid out at the outset. It is crucial to determine,

well before launching the campaign, what is to be achieved and the return on investment.

Marketing managers may choose “old school” KPIs, such

as an increase in the sales of a product. Or, they can be

more complex to measure, such as increasing the share

of voice in the online conversation as compared to that of

competitors.

ROI should be determined in terms of meeting the

business objectives. Concluding the campaign as

intended may in itself be as important as KPIs that are

measured through the duration of the endeavor.

Whether there is a definitive endpoint or, if at some point

the transmedia world will be turned over to the

audience/users to inhabit without brand involvement, either eventuality should be determined

before the campaign begins.

Measurable KPIs reflect user activity, which is often the nearest indication of changes in

attitude. Brian Marr, Director of Strategy at Smashing Ideas, Inc., notes that “a large portion of

the industry wants to measure actions. The number of people who took an action that led to a

sale is still easier to quantify.”

In the end, any type of return depends on the specific objectives and audience responses of the

campaign, such as:

Earned target number of marketing material downloads.

Achieved target number of product trials.

Increased brand awareness.

Increased fan base (e.g., communities on/offline devoted to the brand’s evolution that

did not previously exist, such as 10,000 Facebook fans).

Increased share of voice (e.g., brand gains conversation space compared to

competitors).

Content, story, news, etc. shared by audience including influence from key people in

the community.

Achieved target video views or uploaded user video responses.

Achieved target units sold.

“For transmedia to start really

being successful we have to start

quantifying things. We need to have

metrics. Not simply registrations

but activity data. Real metrics about

engagement are what's needed.”

Nina Bargeil, community manager

for Valemont



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Relating again to the transmedia marketing execution model, campaigns with a planned social

engagement objective can be measured based on how actively the audience participated.

Campaigns based on business economics can reveal customer commitments based on sales

transactions experienced. Brand marketing based campaigns can drive conversation which

shows audience loyalty through the sentiments expressed. And successful campaigns that

focus on delivering information for public good can be identified by behavior changes and

education. When campaigns are accountable to business objectives, measured KPIs make

clear the resulting impact on the community.

Challenges with Transmedia Marketing

Many challenges for a transmedia marketing campaign are no different than other marketing

programs. However, there are unique challenges that transmedia will introduce to marketers.

The following are examples of some of the more critical challenges but by no means represent

an exhaustive list.

Audience understanding that the story is spread out across platforms and taking

discovery initiative.

Potential change in direction (loss of content control) away from key idea/theme by

community.

Complexity of cross-platform interactions and activities.

Long-term resource commitment and coordinated approach across an organization –

tied up teams means less ability to start and manage new work during the life of the

program.

Expanded duties and responsibilities of key project team roles.

“Catching the lighting” – good ideas don’t always mean success.

Exit strategy for the program – what happens to the community so carefully built and

nurtured?

Continual growth of new channels and device choices – for longer running programs

the community may move/shift to new platforms not included in initial planning.

Financial constraints and ROI accountability

While these challenges are not necessarily ”blockers” to using transmedia, they need to be

identified, discussed and considered up front in the decision-making and planning stage to

avoid disruptions to the story, audience platforms, and KPIs.

Conclusions

Traditional one-to-many marketing messages fall short in connecting with their intended

audiences. In large part the shifts in consumers to the participatory culture and everyday



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multi-screen media behaviors causes mass-media advertising and marketing to fall on deaf

ears. The consumer controlled, multi-screen world we live in today necessitates that marketers

consider new methods to invigorate their brand message and capture consumer interest.

Transmedia marketing is a brand communications strategy that can help brands reach these

consumers. It involves synchronous multi-platform and multi-level community engagement

and participation. Rather than a one-size-fits-all “pitch” message, transmedia campaigns

consist of telling a story to build a devoted community of fans with platforms that fit naturally

with audience expectations.

Transmedia marketing is more complex than traditional marketing and presents new

challenges to marketers. The connected nature of participants and media platforms requires

more upfront campaign planning and management to deliver a meaningful experience while

ensuring the campaign can track and measure KPIs, deliver on the business objectives and

provide ROI. It affects project team collaboration as well as their roles and responsibilities,

timelines, budgets, KPI’s, and requires community management practices.

Transmedia clearly does not suit every marketing initiative, but it provides marketers a way to

connect well with today’s participatory culture. By following this playbook, brand marketers

leverage synchronized storytelling and focus on community relationships actions, not just

eyeballs and impressions, for measurable business impact.



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References

Jenkins, H. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York University

Press.

PewResearchCenter Publications, 2009. Generations Online in 2009. Retrieved online on

December 1, 2012 from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1093/generations-online .

University of Minnesota, Institute for New Media Studies 2005. Elements of Digital

Storytelling Retrieved on line on December 1, 2012 from

http://www.inms.umn.edu/projects/elements.html

http://pewresearch.org/

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1093/generations-online

http://www.inms.umn.edu/projects/elements.html



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About MCDM

The Master of Communication in Digital Media gives professionals the necessary tools to

understand and exploit the fast-changing world of media technology and distribution.

The MCDM provides students the opportunity to study the economic, political, social and

cultural impact of these new communication technologies. In this way, they will learn what is

driving this digital media revolution — and why. This is key intelligence for anyone looking to

advance his or her career through the use of media innovation.

The program stays abreast with developments in the workplace through an External Advisory

Board consisting of leading digital media communication professionals.

Directed and taught by Department of Communication faculty, the MCDM maintains the

rigorous academic standards of the University of Washington Graduate School. Courses are

based on the theory and practice of the communication discipline.

The MCDM program focuses on:

Social Media (community and distribution)

Storytelling (effective content creation)

The business of digital media in communication (revenue models,

marketing and regulation)

http://mcdm.washington.edu/



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Additional Transmedia Case Study Information

Old Spice – “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

BMW – “The Hire”

Audi – “The Art of the Heist”

Coke – “Happiness Factory”

Mattel – “Barbie and Ken Reunited”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Films

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Heist

http://video360.world-television.com/HFIII/MNRView.aspx?SiteId=IuUiwgoYSD4%3d&locale=en-GB&storyid=oV67sDr4wSw%3d

http://mashable.com/2011/05/05/barbie-ken-social-media/

transmedia marketing playbook

Documents