Consider a transmedia campaign as a powerful knowledge sharing tool that grows engaged stakeholders, virally spreads your organisation’s values, and delivers useful analytics as an excellent (trendy) investment of time and energy.
Uhm, what is it? Transmedia storytelling has become something of a trendy drop line in marketing campaigns at the moment. And certainly theres a certain sort of genius I enjoy attached to a campaign where the product becomes a video, the print becomes a live theatre, the brand becomes a spoken message, and etcetera.
Built up literally as a myriad of user journeys that overlap, inform and influence one another, a transmedia story will have multiple points from which the story is revealed in a multiplicity of media formats, including movie, internet, social media, live action games, theatre, print, interactive technologies that blend virtual and physical such as computer vision, QR codes, smartphones, sms, the list goes on.
Clik here to view.
Transmedia Storytelling for Non Profits
The really exciting part is that subtle blend between storytelling and platform -the more complex,more nuanced and inter-hinted the story is fed by the subplots and media varieties -the more depth and blurred with/into reality you can go.
Currently there is a nudge towards transmedia in development and aid organisations where social engagement is strongly shaped by the support of it’s network of Gen. Millennials rather than by the decisions of high level board members, but we are seeing the most interesting transmedia approaches emerging from independent/corporate socially conscious organisations who are pushing to establish different kinds of relations with their support network. For example, Conspiracy For Good and Kony 2012.
In the more traditionally structured development and aid organisations, getting buy-in to use a transmedia campaign is often met with more than just a degree of cautiousness. An oft cited concern from the organisations we work with is that using an “open” formula like this leaves too much power in the hands of the stakeholders, and the organisations worry that they will have less control over their values than they once had, which just isn’t true.
Let me tell you why: Transmedia storytelling offers your stakeholders a chance to genuinely engage with your story and at (given) times have a chance to modify the story. The gem is that you will be building real, strong, ongoing relationships by giving your stakeholders agency, and as they engage with your story they will be modifying the information in it to suit their needs and expectations, giving you genuine feedback on which information matters most to which sector of stakeholder.
How do you start? We suggest a series of mini transmedia campaigns that can iterate and feed into one another over a series of time. At the same time an ongoing analysis of each mini campaign will inform and build an overview of who your sectors of stakeholders are and how you can best engage with them, feeding into your future dated follow up campaigns.
The larger the network of contacts you have and grow, the more options you will have for including a diverse set of viewpoints and transmedia experiences. And the more perspectives you consider, the more robust and inclusive are your resulting evaluations.
This post is a submission to be part of Team Florens where themes around the economy of cultural and environmental heritage, including, “developing and promoting cultural identity” will be debated at Florens 2012 Cultural and Environmental Heritage Week. A nine-day biennial event that explores how culture can generate economy. Join us!