In 2003, the widely anticipated second installment of The Matrix franchise, The Matrix Reloaded, was released to an eager worldwide audience. While the movie could be appreciated on its own, many fans snapped up various Matrix-related products, including comic books, animated cartoons and a video game. All of these media properties helped to expand and explain the storyline of the trilogy. For example, those who played the video game would understand how a key character miraculously appears in the middle of a major Reloaded scene set on a busy highway.
Henry Jenkins, author of the book Convergence Culture, has cited The Matrix and its associated media properties as one of the most successful early examples of transmedia storytelling. Jenkins characterizes it as “a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.”
Transmedia storytelling is very different from cross-channel or media neutral marketing. In an iMedia Connection article published in 2007, Adam Cahill of Carat Fusion said that media neutral marketing relies on the “repetition model.” That is, marketers use “multiple media channels, but the messages being communicated across these channels are still essentially the same.” He goes on to note that “transmedia storytelling would involve the use of multiple media channels to communicate related but distinct parts of a specific story.”
The Challenges Of Transmedia Storytelling
It is important to recognize that while marketers are intrigued by the concept of transmedia storytelling, it is very difficult to evaluate. This can be partly attributed to the challenges associated with cross-channel marketing measurement. For example, in June 2009 eMarketer reported on a study produced by Eyeblaster and TNS indicating that while 67% of marketers “are currently running cross-channel campaigns,” 34% said they lack the “measurement technology” to assess their activities adequately.
In addition, while a range of marketers in the movie (Terminator: Salvation), television (Lost) and car (BMW, The Hire) industries have dabbled in transmedia storytelling, it is not for everyone or every brand. In a blog post, Ivan Askwith of Big Spaceship noted that brands – unlike movies, television shows and video games – generally do not have their own fictional narratives to use as foundations.” In addition, in a presentation he made at the 2009 Transmedia: A Story to Sell conference, he noted that “some marketers aren’t interested in storytelling.” They are more focused on telling a linear story (and ensuring it is repeated widely) rather than developing interrelated narratives through numerous media channels.
Transmedia Storytelling & Health Marketing
While transmedia storytelling may not be the right strategy for many health marketing campaigns, it holds great promise for those working in the Games for Health arena. Many health games are designed to change behavior while immersing players in fictional worlds. Given this, there may be an opportunity to develop health games with a number of transmedia elements, including comic books, videos, blogs and podcasts. Each of these communications channels would be used to tell a related but different part of the game’s story.
The American Heart Association’s CryptoZoo alternate reality game, provides one example of what a successful health-related transmedia campaign could look like. Cryptozoo encourages people to combine play with exercise by hunting down and cataloging fictional animals called “cryptids.” According to ARGNet:
“Each cryptid has a particular method of running, and will be scared away unless the chasers match its movements. For example, cryptozoologists searching for a Slamina run backwards, making sure they don’t step on any cracks. More competitive cryptozoologists can challenge teams to a race mimicking one of the thirteen different species of cryptids. Players keep track of their steps with pedometers, and after completing 5,000 steps are inducted as official Cryptozoologists.”
People playing Cryptozoo interact on a game related social network. They use the site to schedule races and post videos focusing on new cryptid species they discovered "living in the wild."
Overall, transmedia storytelling has the potential – when used appropriately – to greatly expand the reach and impact of marketing communications campaigns. Only time will tell whether and how marketers overcome the challenges associated with integrating transmedia storytelling into their work.
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