This is one of those odd posts where I actually get to talk about Nine Inch Nails AND customer experience in the same breath. Exciting, non? First let’s start with a bit of media theory from Henry Jenkins.
Transmedia storytelling is a type of media convergence in which stories unfold across multiple media channels. The Matrix was one of the first popular transmedia narratives to hit the mainstream, with key elements of the mythology unfolding across film, video games, comic books, and the Animatrix series.
Since only a small number of consumers will dedicate the effort required to unearth the whole picture across multiple media, Jenkins’ postulates that transmedia storytelling drives the formation of knowledge communities and word of mouth. With every member of the community having a particular perspective and individual piece of the story to share, social currency is easily created and communities are able to form around the information passed through the network.
Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
Oh right, I promised some Nine In Nails, didn’t I? Leave it to Trent Reznor and the boys to provide one of the best examples of transmedia storytelling to date. Before the release of their latest album, Year Zero, an alternative reality game was created that slowly divulged Trent Reznor’s Orwellian picture of the United States circa the year 2022. Fans uncovered secret codes on tour merchandise and inside of bathroom stalls that lead to the discovery of telephone numbers, websites, and USB flash drives containing leaked tracks, all of which resulted in fans flocking to online NIN message boards to unravel the mystery.
Transmedia Planning: Outside-In Storytelling
Over at DesignAxiom, Irene recently wrote a great post comparing brand experience to experience design that caught my attention. Partially because I should know better, I’ll sheepishly admit to using the terms interchangeability on several occasions (never again!). To borrow Irene’s diagram:
The same inside-out vs. outside-in approach can be applied to the planning of cross channel experiences. Not surprisingly, transmedia planning has received its fair share of buzz amongst strategists and planners. For the complete lowdown on transmedia planning, read Jason Oke’s brilliant post on the Leo Burnett blog. To borrow words from Jason, go now. I’ll wait.
The main idea behind transmedia planning is to leverage the strengths of each particular channel to communicate different parts of the same brand strategy or narrative.
“Seeing the same thing executed across a bunch of channels isn’t really the most interesting use of each medium, and the best ideas are often built to really leverage the strengths of a particular channel.”
“Each channel is strong and self-contained enough to live on its own, but can then be pulled together into a greater brand narrative. The most interesting part is that this pulling together doesn’t necessarily have to be done by one person - social relationships can help forge those connections, forming a brand community that shares and builds on each others’ experiences with the brand.”
As Jason notes, transmedia planning addresses two key weaknesses of traditional media planning: first, it leverages the strengths of each individual channel, and second, by actively recognizing that people are social beings, it puts consumers at the core of controlling and influencing the message, “forcing us to think about whether we are in fact making brands and communications which are interesting enough for a community to form, and for people to want to talk about our communications.”
Well said.
Further Reading
Transmedia Storytelling 101 | Henry Jenkins
Transmedia: Branding’s Next New Thing - Part One | Grant McCracken
Transmedia: Branding’s Next New Thing - Part Two | Grant McCracken
Transmedia: Branding’s Next New Thing - Part Three | Grant McCracken
How Transmedia Storytelling Begat Transmedia Planning (Part One) | Henry Jenkins
How Transmedia Storytelling Begat Transmedia Planning (Part Two) | Henry Jenkins
My del.icio.us links tagged with transmedia
Hey Audrey - thanks for the shout-out. You’re very kind.