transmedia marketing playbook
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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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
2
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
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
3
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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
4
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
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
6
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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
7
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
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
10
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
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
12
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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
14
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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
15
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.
Transmedia Marketing Playbook
A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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.”
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A guide to theory and practice of marketing in the participatory culture
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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”
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