Shocking the Interwebs audience certainly isn’t anything new to advertising (remember Diesel’s SFW birthday video in ’08?), but some brands are really jumping in with both feet and two of something else and demonstrating how important it is to really know who your audience is and what they want.  KSwiss EVP David Nichols calls this new, razor sharp Tubes campaign: “unfiltered straight talk”.  While it definitely ain’t for the “straight talk express” crowd, this video series nails it as far as bothering to understand their audience and seamlessly integrating their brand and grown up laughs.  This is one of the few times I actually enjoyed watching a branded video without  being put off by the overt presence of the brand.  I watched the piece, laughed my nads off, and found myself with an otherworldy, passionate desire to buy some mutha @#*&ing TUBES!  Kswiss isn’t alone in the cajones department.

Axe Body Spray and, more recently, the Old Spice / Twitter campaign are great entertainment.  We know it’s advertising and we’re reminded at every beat who the advertiser is and what they’re about.  The brands own it and we know it.  Because, they own it, they are being honest, I’m not offended, and I’m entertained because they know I’m not a white bread guy who wants more of the same.  I love me my Kenny MF’ing Powers and I’ll take the HONEST fun before the subtle BS any day.  I’m betting I am not alone.

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

If you look under the hood of all successful branded content, you will see an engine built of a  creative team, onscreen talent, and a brand that understands the medium and what appeals to its target audience. The success of the Old Spice / Twitter experience, was due in large part to the talent on camera and the team that was able to execute the writing and production of the personal reactions.  They knew their audience.  Bothered to deliver something new.  And reaped the rewards.

It seems like a fairly intuitive process, however we need only look to the recent Cisco Doug Webster, aka “Old Spice Copycat”, campaign to see what happens when big brands go bad and don’t do their homework…or simply try to piggyback unsuccessfully on a rock star campaign.  If we don’t know your story or characters and you don’t provide us with solid entry points into your new story, why should we care or spend our precious time watching and interacting?

Regardless of how much the audience gets involved (and UGC remains an important element of the campaign) brands must first start with high quality creative that sets the bar and the tone for this engagement.  Together, traditional and new media elements are very successful, but brand moderation and solid producing will always be a mainstay.  Once a brand sets the bar as far as the message and story, the audience can be invited into the process and all sides will be fulfilled.  Although some criticize the effort, the iPad and Modern Family combination was, by most accounts, very successful.  The integration was (1) organic to the story and character in the episode and (2) catered to the audience on every level.  This author would have been in favor of Sofia Vergara alone with her iPad in a series of web shorts, but that’s another article altogether.

Proof Is in the Sales

At this point in the game, if you’re a brand and don’t jump in with both feet when creating this type of content, you can’t expect people to stay interested, let alone give your brand any respect or a vote with their dollars.  While it’s certainly too early to gauge the sales success of the latest installment of bold brands looking to cash in on what Mashable calls “the future of Marketing”, Nielsen provided solid numbers on the  Old Spice / Twitter campaign. Total brand views on the web for the old Old Spice videos have surpassed 100 million and sales have made a 100% gain since February of 2010 according to Nielsen.

Axe, Old Spice, and KSwiss all had a clear and complete understanding of their audience.  They determined / decided that the audience that watches HBO, just might be their sweetspot.   They were able to successfully navigate the sometimes tricky real-time content space with edgy video and multi-platform elements (look for KSwiss Kenny on your Facebook page real soon).  Here’s what having balls does for us and for your brand—We don’t mind your advertising, as long as it makes sense and gives us something of value.  While its not everyone’s taste, Kenny makes me laugh….and want to buy sneakers.

We know that Kenny Powers is not for everyone (but we have no idea why).  Fear not fans of G-rated branded content!  It’s not all balls and tubes – unless you count those Swedish meatballs.  Ikea and Iliana Douglas (along with a host of other familiar faces) have been teaming up for the last couple of years to bring you Easy To Assemble.  The series has been seen over 5 million times since it launched and has managed to weave a story and breathe life into those ambiguous, Scandinavian instructions we love.

So attention brands of planet earth!  Now is the time for brands – conservative and edgy alike – to take risks in this new space.  Please make sure to hire capable, creative minds who understand your core audience.  Sorry, only the pros know how to craft content that can be edgy, and yet stay on point with relevance and message. Simply making something shocking, for the sake of standing out in the crowded digital space just doesn’t work.  If you don’t believe us, just ask Burger King.

How excited were you when you saw Episode 8 and learned about the different types of audience?  We know; Earth shattering.  Keep it together because this week we’re going to astound you yet again with information you haven’t already heard a million times.  All this talk of social media this and new media that is a good thing for your business, but it’s not the only way to reach, entertain, and retain the modern audience.

In Episode 9 we’ll take a look at why it’s so important to embrace all forms of media in an effort to connect with everyone.  We especially  want to reach out and touch those who may be thinking of crossing over to the new paradigm, but haven’t yet taken the plunge.  Although you really should consider this bandwagon because it’s fun here.  Besides, we know you’re always looking for new ways to dissuade cognitive dissonance.  Holla!

Episode 9 features: Beth Diamond, Timothy Golden, Jason Feinberg, and Zach Jordan

Photo by: Travis Jensen

In our last episode, we learned that the power of a loyal audience today is due to quality not quantity.  This week we explain the three main types of audience and how the new, “lean forward” audience engages with content across multiple platforms.  How does one engage people when they are consuming across all platforms, including live events?   Ultimately, the best way to “defrag” any audience today is to weave a compelling story that relies on traditional storytelling maxims AND speaks with a unified voice utilizing only the appropriate platforms that apply to your story.

Episode 8 features: Suzanne Diamond, Timothy Golden, and Zach Jordan

photo by: TourettesWithoutRegrets

It’s funny how technological and new media advances are exponential, audience acceptance of the same a bit less so, and the embrace of it all on the part of media professionals at a dark ages pace. We all see it coming, the warning signs have turned tangible in Web 2.0 and yet, movement on the new media / supplier side always seems to be the tardy party. It takes a loud, credible voice and not the bravery of the innocents to call us out and point out that the media Emperors are naked. Yesterday at NATPE, Michael Eisner, stepped up, called it like it most assuredly is, and told us how old media is not only indecently exposed, but on “a death march”.

Eisner tells us that made-for-the-web content is the now and the future.  Unveiling his latest web series, “The Booth“, the former Disney boss, described how the modern audience and the new finance and distribution realities mean that premiere digital content will be the way producers and audience go forward.  At its core, Eisner is telling us what we all already know, but that the financial and distribution sectors are still too afraid to accept. The audience is in charge.

All content and distribution must be crafted on their terms. Those terms demand that we give them content that is personal, relevant, authentic, and is available to them on ALL platforms (format customized for each platform and experience) on demand in the 360 Transmedia Universe where the modern audience lives. As Eisner pointed out, for millions, the web, mobile and other platforms are where they consume content. As we have said here many times before, Eisner echoed that, in a single generation, the TV- bound, passive, “lean back” audience will be a thing of the past.

He’s not just talking about how it will turn out, rather, judging from his content offerings, he shows that he knows what the audience will want—content that is consumable in one big meal, small cumulative snacks, or anything in between. And in a hint to the future, even beyond the platform agnostic universe that is just around the corner, he boldly reduces broadcast television to a second run repository (I don’t completely agree—”events” will still engender mass, quasi-communal consumption). So, reruns of our digital shows might just be the savior for the 10pm slot? Damn, Michael, you could have saved NBC a bit of angst had you spoken up sooner!

As we saw in Episode 3, there are several ways to track audience data.  You can find out, on a very granular level, who they are, where they like to play, and other important metrics that are required to make great content and distribute it strategically across the web.  In Episode 4 we find out why it’s so important to utilize this data and help you create a loyal bond with your audience.  We’ll also look at why it’s imperative to come from an authentic place when creating interesting and relevant storylines for your content.  Remember: the consumer bullshit meter is very sensitive!

Episode 4 features: Jason Feinberg, Suzanne Diamond, Timothy Golden and Zach Jordan

The other weekend, though, I was compelled to at least loosen my grip on the status quo and take a deep bow in the direction of the tsunami that is heading our way. Here’s the scoop. I looked in on my two girls (12 and 10, respectively) when I heard blaring music shaking the foundation.

I opened the door (without knocking because, well, I can). There they were, TV on full blast, watching some show where the latest quasi-pubescent heartthrob, Justin Beaver (I know his name is Bieber, but I do that just to mess with them), was guest starring. Each had their laptop (spoiled like you can’t imagine) on YouTube watching this kid “sing” really deep and meaningful songs. They also had him on their iTouches (is that the plural, or iTouchae?). One was on the phone talking to her friend, who was apparently watching / listening to the same Bieberpalooza and the other was texting about the same. In short, it was a platform agnostic, social networking, wireless, audio / visual, crowd sourced, simulcast of all things Beaver (again, just to make my kids nuts). The only thing missing was this kid live, in my house, rocking out (generous on my part) to my screaming girls and their digitally connected fan club. Of course, that came several days later when they saw him live (and, as we all know, Bieber live is like seeing The Boss live in the late 1970s—only the four hour set replaced by 3 four minute songs, primarily about school and gum). Told you they were spoiled.  By the way, while engrossed in their little BieberFest, they never even noticed I was there.  I hate Justin Bieber.

I think this is what Zach calls “living digital”.

The next day, I was telling this story to a bunch of folks at a charity event. A crowd gathered. I’d like to say that this occurred because I am a devastatingly handsome, social vortex creating, brilliant raconteur. Turns out, they all had their own recent digital life epiphanies. One 27 year old woman said her 22 year old brother thinks she is a digital dinosaur (by the way, this gal knows her stuff).

A youngish grandfather told me how his son’s 6 year old borrowed his Blackberry and asked Granddad how to make an exclamation point. Granddad’s direction to “look for the button with the black dot on the lower left side” was met with (six year old mind you) “Granddad, why didn’t you just say that I should use the ALT key?” Finally, when another youngish grandmother (do I kiss ass well or what?), told me that she saw her 2-year-old grand child “thumbing” a toy block as if it were a mobile phone while playing, the light bulb went off. If my girls and babies are doing all of this now, one can only imagine what is ahead.

Yes, Zach, you are correct. You win. The wave is a comin’, what we think is the future now will encounter obsolescence in moments, and thank the stars that we don’t “only make big splashy network TV shows anymore”. Tech will change story, story will change tech, our willingness to adopt the new will spread endlessly like the universe and alter, impact and dictate all of the above.

That said, a month or so from now when I can have things simply beamed into my head, thereby reducing my mind’s eye to a vestigial, outsourced, hunk of my gray matter, I think I am still going to want to go to the movies. Now if only everyone would stop with the damned cell phones glowing, ruining the moment and distracting me from the Academy Award winning acting dynamo known as Megan Fox.

Crackberry photo: nkpix

Transmedia, Branding and Marketing

In Part I and Part II of this blog series we outlined the basics of Transmedia storytelling, as it pertains to entertainment, and how technology is helping to shape the way we consume story across multiple platforms.  The Transmedia approach is also fast becoming popular with brands because the rules of marketing, advertising and PR are evolving in favor of the consumer. People don’t want to be talked at or “sold”. Some might argue that it’s not that people don’t want to be advertised to, but rather, we don’t want to experience bad advertising. I would argue that, good or bad, people simply don’t have time for anything that isn’t relevant to them on a very personal level. Additionally, brands are realizing they need to take a more educational approach with their messaging and the Transmedia storytelling methods are the best way to educate and engage people.

Simply put, the multi-platform narrative organically encourages people to feel empowered in an authentic way because it delivers story where people are consuming content and completely on their terms. While Transmedia is certainly going to be playing a leading role with branding and marketing, here are a few key challenges brands and agencies are facing with respect to this new paradigm:

• there are so many touch points where people enter and exit a narrative or messaging; TV, Internet, gaming, live events, etc. that managing each one of these different touch points requires a team of professionals who live and breathe the brand and can ensure the narrative remains consistent.

• the brand message/story must resonate and engage people on every platform. Not all campaigns require the use of every single form of distribution, so it’s critical for the creative team to be familiar with how people engage content on each platform.

• the metrics for reporting ROI on each of these platforms and/or touch points are in a very nascent stage. We still don’t have a consistent way to measure how each of these platforms perform in the larger picture and this is crucial before brands will begin to distribute digital dollars evenly across all platforms.

Furthermore, managing a brand these days is no longer the job of a few key people, but the responsibility of an interdependent community of creative and technology professionals. Most brands and agencies don’t possess the internal manpower to fulfill these new capacities and will need to reach out to other entities for the next few years, while the Transmedia paradigm continues to move away from the fringe and into the mainstream.

While we wait for critical mass to take hold, we need to educate ourselves on the best ways to (1) effectively use, (2) monetize and (3) measure Transmedia storytelling methods. Looking at this shift from a global perspective, licensing brands and entertainment properties across multiple platforms will certainly prove to be challenging over the next few years as we sort things out. This is all the more reason to keep on eye on other global markets, who may not be challenged in this way, to see what exciting innovations emerge.

Transmedia Predictions (in no particular order)

• Transmendia won’t always be just for the die-hard action fans or gear heads. Branding campaigns and entertainment properties will continue to drill down to the core audiences and target the hyper vigilant fans across all verticals. Writers like Aaron Sorkin (going well beyond the West Wing blog of 2006!) and Tony Kushner will contribute to intricate marketing campaigns that (a) utilize all forms of technology and (b) find interesting ways for their heady characters to engage with the audience.

• All platforms will merge into one, superfluous network and can be accessed by anyone, at any given time – regardless of hardware. The idea of co-creating content, story, and messaging will be completely in the users’ hands at this point. While people will always want to be led by the nose from a creative standpoint, they will want take story points provided by creators and assemble their own worlds, interactive components and communities.

• 3D and live events will become the cornerstones of all large, entertainment and marketing narratives within the Transmedia paradigm.

• Transmedia storytelling will reshape the educational system. When (I’m telling you one of these days they will) project based teaching/learning becomes commonplace in the educational system, Transmedia storytelling will be used to help students master  difficult subjects. Additionally, as language in the global classroom evolves, teaching/learning will rely on advanced rich media like interactive video and storytelling.

• Keep your eyes on Brazil, especially around the 2016 Olympics. This region is plowing full speed into the world of Transmedia storytelling and the kids coming up there today will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

Regardless of where you hang your hat, everyone loves a great story. Continuing to educate your clients, staying abreast of advancing technologies and expanding your network of professionals who understand Transmedia, will help guide you to a happy ending.

Technology: A Driving Force Behind Transmedia

In Part I of our series, we took a brief look at the basic elements of how Transmedia is growing in popularity around the world.  Entertainment and branding are evolving and technology is helping to usher us into this new paradigm faster every day.  For the first time in history, technology is allowing us to enjoy a seamless entertainment experience. We can start watching a TV show or video online at work, pause it; come home and finish watching it on our TV, exactly where we left off. This will soon be true of all content whether it’s books, music or games. Online games, and video games in general, have in many ways given birth to Transmedia storytelling.  Video games are finally getting the recognition they deserve when it comes to: (1) delivering a compelling narrative, (2) community building and (3) great educational value.

Gaming, and Internet use in general, is a hugely social experience and is proving to be a very successful way for people to engage with one another in a global and localized environment. Gaming, once perceived as an isolated activity, is really about bonding and community. Now that we know this and can scale this opportunity to Transmedia storytelling, we can use this as the basis for creating brand stories and entertainment properties that invite people to share information,  work more efficiently together on large projects, and ultimately retain more knowledge about a specific topic. Games have also taught us that audiences are not stupid. Left unchallenged or not specifically invited to engage with a compelling narrative on a personal level, they will move on.  Regardless of the challenges presented or the scope of the story within the context of the digital experience, people will gravitate toward live events and a visceral experience to supplement the time we spend online.

Live Events, Music and Transmedia

Live events, whether a component of brand messaging or an entertainment property, will resonate more in the coming years and in very interesting ways. As we continue to spend so much time telecommuting and engaging each other in the virtual world, we will demand engagement in the real world, perhaps more than we ever have. The live event platform of Transmedia storytelling is intrinsic to our nature and, coupled with technology, can make for a powerful universal experience and create deeper levels of audience engagement. Music has been doing this for years through concerts and other cross platform events that invite community and cross-pollination of stories and ideas.

For example, Hip Hop and digital storytelling have always been inextricably linked with one another because both have (1) always thrived on community and participation and (2) Hip Hop culture has always used digital technology to share its story with the world. An excellent example of this can be seen in the documentary “This Is The Life” that chronicles the Good Life emcees in the early 90′s in South Central LA. Mix tapes and live events were major entry points into their narrative and helped spawn some of the major artists of today. Live events can be used in a variety of creative ways and intermingled with a variety of artistic disciplines. Take for instance the Pet Shop Boys Parisian concert in 2008 (how’s that for a reference) featuring a symphony playing their music as the Russian film “Battleship Potemkin” plays on a screen behind them in Trafalgar Square.

Improv everywhere and flashmobs are also part of the live, multi platform storytelling approach that is used to engage people in a live setting. These largely brand neutral events take a simple idea, build a story around it and deliver the narrative in a live, interactive setting where people can become engaged beyond the confines of a screen or hand-held device. They also invite co-creation through video and social networking and can provide brands with additional distribution channels, that wouldn’t exist in the virtual world.

This is all very exciting, but not without its challenges. Despite the power of the born digital crowd and access to cross platform technology, there are a few hurdles that prevent Transmedia storytelling from going mainstream…yet.   In Part III of this series, we’ll take a look at some of the hurdles brands face, as far as implementing Transmedia elements into their campaigns , as well as examine some specific opportunities for brands to increase audience engagement.  We’ll also take a stab at predicting how this new paradigm will affect branding, entertainment , and our global education system in the coming years.

Photo by: sarahshaneelizabeth

Transmedia Storytelling Explained

The story of traditional branding and marketing, set against the backdrop of this nerve racking, yet exciting paradigm shift, makes yet another exciting plot twist. “360 storytelling”, “Multi-platform storytelling”, or Transmedia storytelling, as it was coined many years ago by the great MIT/USC professor Henry Jenkins, is moving away from the fringe and into the limelight. While the nomenclature continues to evolve, the idea remains consistent: Great Story + Strategic Distribution = Loyal Participants.

Some of us have been reared on this type of storytelling, while others are realizing its power through sheer necessity. Right now there is more content being produced and distributed every single minute, from every part of the globe, and across multiple platforms, than at any time in history.  How does a brand or entertainment property reach out and retain peoples’ attention and create loyalty?

In traditional branding, (1) determining the customers’ journey and (2) identifying the number of touch points where your brand will intersect with peoples’ lives, were important first steps in successfully managing a brand’s message. We’ve moved beyond the need for a great idea and unrelenting brand messaging and into a new era where:

• a compelling story is the only way to guide customers through this new crowded landscape and

• a strategic and relevant distribution strategy is the only way to encourage engagement and ultimately create loyal participants.

When people watch their favorite TV shows, it’s very common for them to be engaged with another activity – they’re online or using their mobile phone to supplement their involvement with the story. This is yet another reason why it’s so crucial to have a strong narrative that holds on all organic platforms. There are simply too many entry and exit points for the audience these days to approach things any other way. Rest assured, this type of storytelling is here to stay. Coupled with emerging social media and mobile technologies, Transmedia storytelling techniques will become the spine of every successful branding campaign in the very near future.

Transmedia Storytelling Is Gaining Popularity

The born digital generation is accelerating the popularity of this storytelling trend in marketing because this demographic expects their branding and entertainment to be completely:

(1) on demand

(2) on their terms

(3) authentic

Transmedia has been popular in filmmaking and TV for awhile and it is quickly gaining popularity in other forms of branding and media. “The Lord of the Rings” franchise and MTV’s “Valemont”, are prime examples of large scale Transmedia projects. For example, the “Valemont” fan can watch the show and, to get their complete “Valemont” fix, can use their mobile phones or log onto the website for extra pieces of story and content. This evolution in storytelling creates the need to carry a narrative across multiple platforms and technologies, and sets the stage for an engaged group of people to interact, share clues and ultimately become communities of loyal participants.

If your story lives with them, they live your story. Later this week In Part II, we’ll take a deeper look behind the technology that is bringing this new paradigm to life and make some predictions about the future of Transmedia storytelling in marketing and entertainment.

Photo by: Sabellachan

Distribution takes on many new and exciting forms in the world of 360 storytelling and needs to be strategically mapped, based on the specific needs of your story.  The bad news is, audiences will continue to fragment across an increasing number of platforms.  The good news is, the audience may be one of the best forms of distribution for your story through social networking and video sharing.  This factor becomes even more interesting, considering that 1/3 of all online videos get shared.

Traditional platforms like TV won’t disappear or lose out to online and mobile, but we’ll get to a point very soon when all these platforms hold an equal footing.  The distribution efforts of loyal fans and participants will become even more apparent in this transition.  Distribution channels in the 360 story environment may include:

1. TV
2. Online video portals
3. Social networks
4. Widgets
5. Interactive games
6. Out of home networks
7. Mobile applications

The many forms of distribution in the 360 story environment help you reach, entertain and retain the short attention span audience members who are pulled in every direction by the morass of content.  However, it’s important to note that one web widget does not a distribution strategy make.  You can have all the democratized access to free video portals and inexpensive technology in the world, but without 1) a well structured story customized for the 360 environment and 2) a complete understanding of how your story is executed within the context of these distribution platforms, these tools can prove useless and may even alienate some of your audience or clients if not utilized sparingly.  Let’s review:

1.  Your story is well crafted

2.  You’ve identified your audience

3.  You know how to communicate with them

4.  You know where your audience is watching

Now it’s time to engage and reap the rewards.  Remember: it always comes down to the emotional connection you are trying to build with your audience and doing so in an authentic way.   Because the tools in the 360 storytelling environment amplify messaging and allow your audience to co-create and control their experiences with the tools you give them, people become empowered and more willing to become distributors themselves.  There is no doubt we are all experiencing a new frontier in which the 360 storytelling experience will make for a truly platform agnostic experience where viewers will engage with entertaining content in ways beyond our wildest imaginations.

Photo by: EllynKocher