What is Transmedia Storytelling?
Do you remember Indomie's indomitable? Superhero characters that embodied the benefits of eating noodles (allegedly). They were the talk of a generation of young Nigerian kids, with a comic book series, cartoon series, collectables and even a fan club to engage school. The same can be said for Supa Strikas, a fictional football franchise with comics and cartoon series that provided avenues for brands like Mr Biggs and Total Oil to appeal to a younger demographic.
All these examples demonstrate transmedia storytelling in action. In today's fast-paced digital world, brands need a storytelling strategy that extends beyond traditional methods, and transmedia storytelling is the key. It involves telling a story across various media platforms, such as books, movies, games, and other multimedia formats.
This article will delve into everything you need to know to enable your brand to harness the power of transmedia storytelling.
The Power of Transmedia Storytelling
CD Projekt RED, a renowned game company, faced a challenge. Their highly anticipated game, 'Cyberpunk 2077,' ended up having loads of issues that made playing it a real almost impossible. Players were disappointed, and this led to a sharp decline in popularity. However, after fixing most of the problems, the company had to figure out how to get people excited about it again.
Their solution? They made a cartoon series called "Edgerunners" on Netflix set in the same world as the game. This ‘interesting’ move led to over 1 million new and returning players daily on Steam, propelling from the worst game launch in recent history into Valve's top 10 most popular games.
Connecting Deeply with Audiences
One of the most significant benefits of transmedia storytelling is its ability to allow brands to connect with their audiences where they naturally exist. By using multiple channels, brands can connect with audiences on their preferred platforms and engage them in a way that feels natural and organic.
Creating Immersive Experiences
Moreover, transmedia storytelling creates immersive experiences for audiences by employing diverse media formats. It constructs intricate and captivating worlds that hold users' attention.
Diversifying Your Audience
Lastly, it enables brands to diversify their audience by reaching those who prefer different content formats and platforms, turning a single story into a multiverse of engagement.
Before you start…
Define Your Brand Story
Similar to the magical world of Harry Potter, your brand universe should be multi-dimensional. However, you must first define your story. Start by clarifying your brand's core message, key themes, and characters. Once your story is well-defined, you can plan how to share it across different channels.
Identify Your Audience and Platforms
In transmedia storytelling, it's crucial to leverage each platform effectively by tailoring it to your audience. For instance, older demographics may not engage with your brand through video games, but movies and short cartoons in newspapers and magazines could be more suitable.
Maintain Consistency
Consistency is key in transmedia storytelling. Changing characters and details can confuse your audience and hinder engagement. Ensure your characters, themes, and overall narrative remain consistent across all platforms.
Engage Your Audience
In transmedia storytelling, the aim is to involve your audience actively in your brand's narrative. To achieve this, provide opportunities for hands-on interaction. This can include running polls and contests, encouraging user-generated content contributions, or offering mobile games that let them join or create adventures.
What to watch out for...
When you start with transmedia storytelling, there is one important thing to note - be consistent. Make sure your story makes sense across different channels. This can be tricky because telling multiple stories on various media platforms is a complex endeavour and needs careful planning. Take Marvel movies, for instance—they do a lot of planning to make sure all their stories fit together without contradicting each other.
How To Utilise Transmedia Storytelling
While transmedia storytelling is rooted in traditional storytelling techniques, it doesn't merely add more stories in different forms. Instead, it creatively enhances various aspects of the main story, such as its themes, characters, history, and lore. Each component of the story can stand alone, but when combined, they enrich and enliven the main narrative.
Henry Jenkins, a pioneer in the field, has a model for transmedia storytelling that can be summarised as follows:
- Multiple Channels: Transmedia storytelling must be delivered across multiple channels to create a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Moreover, each medium should contribute uniquely to the unfolding of the story. A great example of this is the Aki and Pawpaw game, when released, it quickly became one of Nigeria's top-grossing games, breathing new life into the brand.
- Media Synergy: Transmedia storytelling relies on interconnected stories. Each story works together to boost the overall brand. Companies use different platforms to grow their brands. For example, DC Comics, owned by Warner Brothers, releases comics before movies like Batman Begins and Superman Returns. These comics give extra background details for the movies and also act as promotions for them.
- World-Building: Transmedia stories go beyond individual characters or plots. Instead, they focus on creating intricate fictional worlds capable of supporting many interconnected characters and their narratives. This approach sparks a desire in both readers and writers to explore and know more.
Although it might seem like transmedia storytelling is just for media companies, that's not the case. Every brand, regardless of its industry, requires a strong content strategy to engage both current and new audiences. Even if you're not the one creating these stories, you can collaborate with media brands that tell transmedia stories. For instance, Mr. Biggs partnered with the Supa Strikas series, showing how brands can join forces with media companies to tell engaging stories.
Final Note
Transmedia storytelling serves as a powerful tool for engaging current audiences and attracting new followers while fostering brand loyalty through multiple unique touchpoints. Looking ahead, the future of transmedia storytelling is promising, with emerging technologies like Mixed Reality poised to immerse audiences more deeply than ever before.
