Transmedia - Global Examples (Part 2)

In the world of branding, transmedia has still only played a relatively small part, though with huge potential. The foremost question that has to be put forward to brand managers is whether their brand has a story to tell. In current times though, however big the power of storytelling might be, brand managers are just not inclined to the idea of storytelling for their brands. Nor are they willing to take the risk of putting the baton in the hands of the consumer. They are more interested in selling their product rather than selling the concept of the product. Nevertheless, whenever a brand has a great story to tell, transmedia integration can really add value and radically change the ROI dynamics of the campaign

The best example of transmedia storytelling to date has been the art of the heist for the launch of the Audi A3. In 2006, Audi came up with a revolutionary ad campaign to promote its latest model in the A series. Call it alternate reality, call it transmedia storytelling but the Art of the Heist is termed as the biggest experiential marketing campaign in history. 45mn impressions and more than 500,000 consumers added their version of the story to make a gigantic plot for the original narrative.

A night before the biggest autoshow in America, where the Audi A3 was supposed to make its first appearance, the car gets stolen from the event. Security cameras showed the burglars break a window and drive the car away. This was the start of a 3 month campaign which led consumers to follow bits and pieces of the puzzle in various mediums, none of them totally giving it away. The story was littered with sub plots and random leakages of information led to an infinite combination of solutions that a consumer could reach depending on the mediums they had come in contact with. The events happened in real time so not only could the audience watch the myriad of information related to the heist flowing in, they could also influence it in the smallest possible way. The whole campaign felt like an online movie, where the audience could choose their level of involvement.

From a famous and wanted Art collector, to a renowned game developer to a master thief, the characters added depth to the campaign. The attention to detail was meticulous and hence people kept guessing whether this was a game or for real. Careful attention was given to the authenticity of the information being seeded into the campaign. The hard core audience who were running background checks or delving deeper to find more info to solve the mystery always met with information backed by authentic data. The companies being mentioned in blogs and discussed in communities actually existed. Those companies already existed in the yellow pages with complete legitimate addresses and phone numbers. Ads for those companies had already been posted in magazines and newspapers well before the start of the campaign to build realness for the campaign. Backdated emails, photos, documents, maps and plans of the heist, telephone conversations, text messages and video logs were being revealed at opportune times through the mediums most suitable for their delivery and as the campaign progressed, the complex web of information made sure that the audience had several if not infinite possibilities to choose from.

Even though movies, tv series and narratives have been using the services of transmedia to both broaden the horizon and make use of the long tail to extend the effectiveness, Art of the Heist was the first time a brand had taken leverage from this unique concept. More recently the TV series Heroes has taken the idea to a new level. The nbc microsite is the center point or the aggregator of all information related to Heroes. So its not the TV series which is in the middle of it all or leading the story, even though it is still the most powerful way to further the narrative, but it’s the microsite which amalgamates the various parallel stories. Several characters from the movie run live blogs about micro details in the story which don’t have enough place in the 1 hour episode on TV. Meanwhile, elements from the story have a parallel life of their own. For example, the TV series follows a comic book artist who can draw the future and one of the characters figures out his future through the comic book. On the microsite though, the comic book becomes bigger than what it is on TV. Back dated issues of the comic complete the puzzle as to what led to the current issue of the comic revealing the future of the hero. Audiences are pulled into the experience by getting involved and taking the story forward in the comic books. Alternate endings or connecting the thread in the comics to the story on TV are what helps build a community where the story keeps growing and becomes more intricate with every new user added to the mix. There are multiple other parallel plots and sub plots taking place in the form of webisodes which people can forward to their friends. Biographies, history and conspiracy theories related to the characters being revealed only in special radio episodes. Often new characters are added to the mix which never find their way into TV but twist the story in all kinds of tangents on parallel mediums.

in part 3 of this article i will be talking about the Pakistani perspective on transmedia and some pitfalls which need to be avoided if transmedia storytelling has to work for brands

Transmedia - Branded Storytelling (Part 1)

Storytelling has always been the best marketing tool that man has ever discovered. For thousands of years, stories have mesmerized awestricken humans and sold all sorts of theories, concepts and beliefs through their magic. Stories hence are a fundamental part of who we are and how we communicate. But stories would be of no value if there did not exist a way to spread those thoughts and beliefs to the world around us. So in order for the stories to be passed along and communicated from generation to generation and also to other cultures and societies, these stories require suitable vehicles for transportation. The invention of paper was the start of a great journey for stories which could then be saved for all of eternity. Moving forward to the 1900s to a time of mass media and broadcast tv/radio, the communication spectrum exploded. When radio came along, there was no competing medium for the next 20 years. In this time marketing campaigns either unconnected mediums with little or no integration of the message between mediums mainly due to lack of resources. After the advent of broadcast tv, and a myriad of new mass mediums like mass scale outdoor and country wide circulation of some newspapers, it was time for integrated marketing communication. With only a few channels to choose from, one could often see an adaptation of the TVC to the radio script and the same visual being used in print and outdoor advertising. Soon enough, multiple channels began to spread off and all kinds of consumer niches began to see dedicated content portals delivering to their needs. This was the time of 360 communication where a single minded proposition of the advertiser was portrayed on multiple channels, each medium running content most suitable for that medium. The major difference between IMC and 360 was that the message was tailored according to the medium so one could see a totally different story on print versus what was shown on TV ofcourse keeping with the same campaign theme. The internet had already been invented for more than 30 years when the 360 communication concept got another major addon. Web 2.0 or the power of social media made sure that the era broadcast advertising was coming to an end. Broadcasting, as the word says for itself is content sprayed on to the population. It is a one way road. But the new technologies put the power back into the hands of the people. The broadcaster can choose to spray but the consumer will chose what he wants to see. Also the consumer now has total control to manipulate the content in the way he sees fit. Welcome to the world of transmedia integration. Here each medium gets its own version of the story with little overlap between mediums. This is great a departure from the media neutral thinking that most communication strategists are taught to master. For transmedia integration to work, the central concept of the story is conjured by a grand storyteller who marries the brand idea to an interesting and captivating story. The central story is then handed over to sub level storytellers who are expert storytellers of their mediums. These experts do not have to care about maintaining the integrity of the plots on their own medium of choice. For these experts the story on their medium of expertise has to be extraordinary as a standalone on their individual medium. The layered structure of trandmedia storytelling cannot ensure where the consumer will pick the thread of the story from. That is why each medium needs to have standalone appeal.


Transmedia Integration is relatively new to the world of branding but as a communication science it has existed for a while now. The most formal version of it was first seen on cinema’s in the form of The Matrix trilogy and soon afterwards it was theorized and given a formal name. In the words of Henry Jenkins, the most acclaimed author of the book Convergence Culture, in transmedia storytelling “each part of the story is unique and plays to the strengths of the medium. The result is a new kind of narrative where story flows across each platform forming a rich narrative tapestry that manifests in an array of products and multiple revenue streams. The audience is both validated and celebrated for participating in the story world through the medium of their choice”
This brings me to the end of part 1. Part 2 would talk about a global example of transmedia storytelling in the world of brands.