{"id":793,"date":"2011-04-25T06:22:43","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T10:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:01:07","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:01:07","slug":"transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"Transmedia Storytelling in Higher Ed"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_797\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-797\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/wp-content\/images\/transmedia-250x250.jpg\" alt=\"Don Draper from &quot;Mad Men&quot;\" title=\"transmedia-250x250\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" class=\"size-full wp-image-797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/wp-content\/images\/transmedia-250x250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/wp-content\/images\/transmedia-250x250-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-797\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What does Don Draper have to do with your school's brand?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of my favorite TV shows is &#8220;Mad Men.&#8221; (What can I say, I\u2019m a sucker for men with fedoras.) However, some of my favorite parts of the series never happen on television. Case in point? The \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amctv.com\/madmenyourself\/\" title=\"Mad Men Yourself\">Mad Men Yourself<\/a>\u201d avatar creator, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/bettydraper\/rolodex\/members\" title=\"Mad Men Twitter accounts\">the characters\u2019 Twitter accounts<\/a>, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amctv.com\/shows\/mad-men\/job-interview\" title=\"SCDP job interview game\">Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce job interview game<\/a>, the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.amctv.com\/mad-men\/fashion-file\/\" title=\"Fashion File\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fashion File<\/a>\u201d blog posts that reveal new details about the show by analyzing the fashions featured in each episode. The list goes on.<\/p>\n<p>Part of &#8220;Mad Men&#8221;\u2019s success can be attributed to how this content has helped the show make a cultural impact beyond its time slot. It\u2019s not a fluke; it\u2019s a phenomenon known as transmedia storytelling.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Jenkins, the USC professor credited with coining the phrase, defines it as: <\/p>\n<div class=\"bqwrap\">\n<blockquote><p>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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Basically, it\u2019s storytelling across multiple platforms. &#8220;Each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story,\u201d says Jenkins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTransmedia\u201d could be this year\u2019s \u201ccuration.\u201d JWT Intelligence identified transmedia storytelling as one of its 100 big trends for 2011, and Edelman Digital also pegged it as one of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.steverubel.com\/eleven-digital-trends-to-watch-in-2011\" title=\"Edelman's 11 Digital Trends to watch in 2011\">top 11 trends for 2011<\/a>. In 2010, the Producers Guild of America even recognized \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.producersguild.org\/?page=coc_nm#transmedia\" title=\"Producers Guild on Transmedia\" rel=\"nofollow\">transmedia producer<\/a>\u201d as a job title. But what does it mean? And how is it different than&mdash;and uniquely effective when compared to&mdash;our typical idea of a brand strategy?<\/p>\n<h2>Components of Transmedia Storytelling<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some key components of transmedia storytelling:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> It\u2019s about creating a world around your brand that is so enchanting, people get immersed in it.\n<li> It\u2019s non-linear and multidimensional.\n<li> It allows the user to become a co-creator of the narrative, not just a consumer of it.\n<li> It loosens the components of our brand story and allows them to exist independent of one another across different platforms, yet still in alignment&#8211;like stars in a constellation.\n<li> It relies on simultaneity and the aforementioned alignment for success.\n<li> It\u2019s an optional enrichment of the brand message; the core should be able to stand alone and convey all essential details.<\/ul>\n<p>What are some examples of transmedia storytelling in popular culture?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> The \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Star_Wars\" title=\"Star Wars\">Star Wars<\/a>\u201d franchise, comprising films, comic books, cartoon spin-offs, novels, videogames and toys.\n<li> The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/oldspice\" title=\"Old Spice\">Old Spice<\/a> \u201cThe Man Your Man Could Smell Like\u201d real-time videos, inspired by tweets and comments from viewers.\n<li> Knorr\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/mzkagan.posterous.com\/dear-salty-i-love-you\" title=\"Marta Kagan on Knorr&#039;s Salty\" rel=\"nofollow\">Salty<\/a>, the unwanted salt shaker, which Ad Week called \u201cthe Charlie Brown of advertising mascots.\u201d The campaign included videos, Twitter and Facebook profiles and real salt shakers which have sold in the thousands.<\/ul>\n<p>Jenka Gurfinkel offers a <a href=\"http:\/\/social-creature.com\/your-life-is-a-transmedia-experience-now-with-pictures\" title=\"Your Life is a Transmedia Experience\">great visual explanation of transmedia<\/a> with these and other examples.<\/p>\n<h2>Transmedia is Branding<\/h2>\n<p>Transmedia storytelling is often used, as with \u201cMad Men,\u201d to extend a fictional narrative into the real world (and I do enjoy following <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/peggyolson\" title=\"Peggy Olson on Twitter\">Peggy Olson on Twitter<\/a>). But much as it is used for fictional brands, it can be used for our real-world brands, as well.<\/p>\n<p>Will Renny talks about transmedia as taking branding beyond the achievement of mere relevancy and toward \u201cinciting desire.\u201d He explains:<\/p>\n<div class=\"bqwrap\">\n<blockquote><p>In transmedia terms this means building brand \u2018worlds\u2019 or mythologies that tie every communication and experience back to a brand\u2019s underpinning values, offering up a different part of the world or story in the different places it populates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>This is achieved in part by emphasizing the story over the product. As Beth Tucker at Antler put it, \u201cPeople will buy the product that makes them feel good about engaging with it. \u2026 By branding from the inside out, businesses can create a much richer experience for their consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"pull-quote-box\">\n<div class=\"pull-quote\">By branding from the inside out, businesses can create a much richer experience for their consumers. <em  class=\"pq-cite\">&#8211; Beth Tucker, Antler Agency<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>So, what&#8217;s our product? Our respective institutions, of course. And some of them are already putting these ideas to work.<\/p>\n<p>A really great instance of this is Butler Blue II, the mascot at Butler University. Sure, he\u2019s got more than 6,200 followers on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/butlerblue2\" title=\"Butler Blue on Twitter\">Twitter<\/a>, where he is a big-time engager, as well as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ustream.tv\/channel\/the-life-and-times-of-butler-blue-ii\" title=\"Butler Blue on UStream\">UStream page<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/9A9VQH\" title=\"Butler Blue on Flickr\">Flickr account<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/butlerblue2\" title=\"Butler Blue on Facebook\">Facebook profile<\/a>, And when Butler reached the Final Four, <a href=\"http:\/\/blogswithballs.com\/2011\/03\/butler-u-mascot-butler-blue-2-is-top-social-media-dog\/\" title=\"Butler Blue II is social media top dog\">you could download a Butler Blue II mask<\/a> to print out and wear. Sounds an awful lot like Burger King\u2019s \u201cThe King,\u201d the symbol of another transmedia campaign, whose creepy yet awesome mask was also available (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/socialcreature\/your-life-is-a-transmedia-experience-6609259\" title=\"Your Life is a Transmedia Experience\">see slide 11<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Another good example is the scavenger hunt organized by Texas A&#038;M earlier this spring, incorporating YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. \u201cWe wanted to pull together our existing channels into a cohesive social media package that builds a brand. This is difficult to do, and we pulled it off,\u201d TAMU director of social media Diane C. McDonald <a href=\"http:\/\/collegewebeditor.com\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/2011\/02\/09\/lessons-learned-from-texas-am-university-social-media-scavenger-hunt\/\" title=\"Lessons Learned from TAMU social media scavenger hunt\">told College Web Editor<\/a>. McDonald\u2019s goals included business development, social media channel integration and student engagement, and as the interview details, they found great success on all fronts.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve started playing with this a little bit, creating a location for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/foursquare.com\/venue\/18580904\" title=\"Jumbo's Tail on Foursquare\">Jumbo\u2019s Tail<\/a>\u201d on Foursquare &#8212; as Tufts campus lore goes, students would pull the tail of the stuffed Jumbo (our mascot) for good luck before exams. Thanks to Foursquare, we can bring him back as a place students can symbolically check into for good luck.<\/p>\n<h2>Breaking it Down<\/h2>\n<p>When we in higher ed talk about user-generated content, brand storytelling, curation and social media, we\u2019re dancing around the edges of transmedia storytelling. One missing component is the alignment and simultaneity of the narrative across all channels and finding a way to make that narrative not only relevant, but desirable to our audiences.<\/p>\n<p>As web soothsayer and transmedia advocate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.steverubel.com\/the-rise-of-the-corporate-transmedia-storytel\" title=\"The Rise of the Corporate Transmedia Storyteller\">Steve Rubel of Edelman Digital says<\/a>, \u201cOrganizations need to do more than just unleash their subject matter experts en masse. They need to activate them in multiple channels at once and equip them in how to create a compelling narrative.\u201d To that end, Edelman offers three recommendations (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.steverubel.com\/eleven-digital-trends-to-watch-in-2011\" title=\"Edelman's 11 digital trends to watch in 2011\">slide 10<\/a>) for aspiring transmedia publishers: <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\tRecognize that the narrative is no longer a whole\n<li>   Equip employees to tell their own stories\n<li>\tHand-craft your content for each venue\n<\/ol>\n<p>Think of the possibilities. What if instead of a vision statement, you had a Twitter account of your institution\u2019s founder who actually established that vision, and let him continue to articulate it and point it out among the everyday happenings on campus. What if you captured the mythology around a transformative moment in your university\u2019s history and created media around it &#8212; a comic book, a web video series, even an &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Angry_Birds\" title=\"Angry Birds\">Angry Birds<\/a>&#8221; style game app? <\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, transmedia storytelling can expand your brand\u2019s surface area, creating more opportunities for people to connect with the core narrative. &#8220;Each bit of the larger whole contributes to the viewer&#8217;s discovery of the story universe, and each piece is an entry point by which the consumer can &#8230; discover the story world and in turn be immersed within that story world,&#8221; Blacklight Transmedia\u2019s R. Eric Lieb told The Wrap.<\/p>\n<p>I think this idea of &#8220;entry points&#8221; is particularly key. Couldn&#8217;t you argue that the presence of George Mason as a Cinderella entrant into the 2006 NCAA Final Four is part of that university\u2019s transmedia narrative, with the accomplishments of the basketball team serving as a new entry point? George Mason&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/eagle.gmu.edu\/newsroom\/591\/\" title=\"George Mason University on impact of NCAA Final Four appearance\" rel=\"nofollow\">20 percent increase in freshman applications, 52 percent increase in registered alumni and 18 percent increase in gifts<\/a> certainly indicates as much.<\/p>\n<h2>Transmedia Storytelling vs. Brand Strategy<\/h2>\n<div class=\"pull-quote-box\">\n<div class=\"pull-quote\">Whereas a brand strategy hopes to leave an impression and provoke action, transmedia storytelling recruits the audience as co-authors of the brand narrative, without knowing for certain where it will lead.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a step back. Isn\u2019t transmedia just a Hollywood way of thinking about content governance, branding consistency and message alignment across multiple content delivery channels? You could make that argument. But where I think this approach takes things deeper is in the level of not only engagement, but emotion and involvement that transmedia storytelling has demonstrated itself capable of eliciting. Whereas a brand strategy hopes to leave an impression and provoke action, transmedia storytelling recruits the audience as co-authors of the brand narrative, without knowing for certain where it will lead.<\/p>\n<p>Whether we\u2019re courting applicants or dollars or simply a more informed student body, these techniques show promise in achieving those goals. And as some of the transmedia experiments in higher ed have shown, the yield can be high. <\/p>\n<p>So, what do you think? Does transmedia storytelling bite off more than we can chew, or does it have a place in higher ed marketing and branding efforts? What other examples of this have you seen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my favorite TV shows is &#8220;Mad Men.&#8221; (What can I say, I\u2019m a sucker for men with fedoras.) However, some of my favorite parts of the series never happen on television. Case in point? The \u201cMad Men Yourself\u201d avatar creator, the characters\u2019 Twitter accounts, the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce job interview game, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[31,49],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Transmedia Storytelling in Higher Ed | Meet Content<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Transmedia storytelling, which carries a narrative across multiple platforms, has the potential to be a powerful tool for marketing and branding in higher ed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Georgy Cohen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed\/\",\"name\":\"Transmedia Storytelling in Higher Ed | Meet Content\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-25T10:22:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-20T04:01:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c46e3050ea513291a46336298ee82c91\"},\"description\":\"Transmedia storytelling, which carries a narrative across multiple platforms, has the potential to be a powerful tool for marketing and branding in higher ed.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/transmedia-storytelling-in-higher-ed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/\",\"name\":\"Meet Content\",\"description\":\"Empowering higher education to create and sustain web content that works\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c46e3050ea513291a46336298ee82c91\",\"name\":\"Georgy Cohen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed49bc8dd530713ec3ccdf6523f474b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed49bc8dd530713ec3ccdf6523f474b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Georgy Cohen\"},\"description\":\"Georgy Cohen is associate creative director, content strategy, at OHO Interactive in Cambridge, Mass.. 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