Transmedia Entertainment Marketing Marketing Branding Week 5 Rhythma

Transmedia Entertainment & Marketing: Marketing & Branding Week 5 Rhythma Kapoor

Contents • • • Main features of TM universes Case study: The Art of the Heist Business goals Project development Business models TM platforms Platform release strategies TM financing Crowdsourcing Case studies Group work 4

Main Features of Transmedia Universes o o o o o Points of Entry Trigger Points Teasers Rabbit Hole Pivot Point Distributed Narrative CTAs The stop and go effect The Domino Effect The Spin-off Effect

Points of Entry How a user can enter your story/property/project. These may be platform, medium, content based. Multiple POE’s for Transmedia projects. The audience must reach a project’s points of entry by consciously moving towards them.

Teasers & Trigger Points Teasers have traditionally given information about an upcoming event but with no CTA. Trigger Point o A Trigger Point motivates the audience to follow up on the teaser information. o A Trigger Point usually refers the audience to the Rabbit Hole.

Rabbit Hole • Sets the foundation of the world and the Experience • Use linear media • Tells the story • Hook • Stickiness • Creeps into our lives • Has CTA

Call To Action (CTA’s) presenter based, visual, unintended! Ability to move between components Audience has three stages: ü motivation to act (primer), ü sense of the action (referral) and ü personal reward for the action done by the audience (reward).

Pivot Point o Certain aspects of Interactive narratives o Provides strong narrative backbone o Penetration to mass audiences

The stop and go effect During the course of the story, one of the middle segments of a project is suspended, while other parts continue on, and then the stalled segment resumes its course as if nothing happened For example, in a transmedia promotion of a movie, online trailers all around the world simultaneously disappear from the web as soon as tv and radio commercials are aired , and then return online a few days after the movie comes out.

The Domino effect A particularly emotional narrative in one of the multiple media platforms or a particular asset of a transmedia project becomes temporarily more important than the others. This dominant asset changes the flow and direction of all other assets and acts as the dominant ‘driver’ until the conclusion of the project.

The spin-off effect One of the platforms in a transmedia project can temporarily attach itself to another medium in order to strengthen or revive its role or its content and continue towards a secondary goal in respect to the project as a whole.

The Art of the H 3 eist The Art of the Heist” embraced the target audience’s need of control over their environment and invited them into an immersive 24 -hour-a-day alternate reality. “ This story blurred fact and fiction by concocting a mysterious storyline that involved consumers in the recovery of an A 3 stolen from Audis Park Avenue headquarters in New York City. At the heart of the narrative were six new A 3 s containing coded plans for the largest art heist in history; however, one car contained the key to decrypting the information hidden in all the others, and the mystery surrounding the “heist” unfolded in real time over three months across the country. The Heists final chapter was played out in front of a live audience at the Viceroy Hotel in Los Angeles, where we finally discovered who the real villain was.

Art of the H 3 ist Mc. Kinney-Silver Report

Art of the H 3 ist Dissection: Launch Storyworld Gameplay Meta ARGN announce Forums, Trail, Guide, Wikis, Blogs, RSS Feeds Blogs: Kuro 5 hin, Meta. Filter, Gear. Live, Museum of Hoaxes Porta. Game hughhewitt. com, dailykos, lockergnome, The New Yorker Times. . . Auto Show Ingame Ads Story sites Print Ads in: Wired, Esquire, Robb Report, USA Today, The New Yorker… Day One D 2 D 3 D 4 16 March Stolen A 3 Blog D 5 D 6 D 7 D 8 D 9 Break-in video Day Ten D 11 D 12 D 13 Day 14 D 15 D 16 25 March Day 17 D 18 D 19 Day 20 April 4 29 April 1 st Official Launch Day 22 April 6

Art of the H 3 ist Dissection > POEs Audi. USA. com microsite Hardcore ARG players 51% Blogs: Kuro 5 hin, Meta. Filter, Gear. Live, Museum of Hoaxes Porta. Game hughhewitt. com, lockergnome, The dailykos, New Yorker Times. . . Nisha Roberts movie Atom Films, i. Film Rabbit Hole Trigger Point Print Ads in: Wired, Esquire, Robb Report, USA Today, The New Yorker… Stolen A 3 Blog Pivot Point NYC International Auto. Show

Results: The Art of the H 3 eist • More than 200, 000 people became involved with the search for the stolen A 3 in a single day. • Online buzz for the A 3 grwe by more than four times as a growing number of consumers participated in the thriller. • Within the first few days of the campaign launch, seven fan sites were created, one of which includes a "Top 10 Reasons to Play Art of the Heist. "

Lessons from The Art of the H 3 eist ü Continually create components that refer new audiences to your Rabbit Hole; ü Your Rabbit Hole needs to persist in this role; ü Have a pivot point & guide to the unfolding experience; ü Use hardcore players as characters; ü Target & address hardcore & casual players; ü Mix up using everyday devices, immersive play and linear narrative; ü Use a real-world performance ending.

TM MARKETING & BRANDING

Business Goals Awareness – Maintain or boost brand awareness – Reach beyond the usual or core consumer – Assist in profiling and recruiting influential consumers – Generate press (old & new media) Advocacy – Increase consumer advocacy – Reward or empower advocates – Add buzz to brands and products – Generate fans and followers Revitalization – Add glitz to boring or undifferentiated products – Generate word‐of‐mouth around low involvement products – Build brand image – Build product awareness – Re‐position against competitors Sales – Generate indirect sales through all the above – Increase in direct sales by getting the consumer closer to the point of purchase, combined with sales promotion

TM Marketing & Project Development The Marketing development loop has six key components: Story Experience Audience Business Model Platforms Execution

Transmedia Project Workflow

TM Project Planning

The Transmedia Franchise

Transmedia Business Model • Platform • Define • Develop • Design • Deliver • Release platform/s • Finance & Funding • Branding

The Business Model Raise Finance Make low cost Media Exhibit Raise awareness/ Build audience Involve/Collabo rate with Audience Sponsorshi p/Brand Integration Pre-sell to Audience big enough? Make more media No? Repeat Yes

Transmedia Platforms Theatrical Events Nontheatrical (incl. fests) Games Educational Broadcast DVD VOD/EST Online + Viral Content Piracy/Peer to Peer Territories Mobile/Portable Devices Windows ARG Interactive Experiences Apps Marketing PR Print Merchandise Other. .

Transmedia Platforms Theatrical Events Nontheatrical (incl. fests) Games Educational ARG Broadcast DVD VOD/EST Online + Viral Content Piracy/Peer to Peer Territories Mobile/Portable Devices Windows Interactive A U D I E N C E Experiences Apps Marketing PR Print Merchandise Other. .

Platform Release Strategies Strategy 1 Step Objective Platforms 1 Have paid content available to capitalize on interest from day 1 DVD, Kindle, Pay‐to‐view/ download 2 Release free content to build audience Web series, comic book 3 Attract the hardcore audience ARG with “secret” comic books and webisodes as level rewards 4 Work with hardcore fans to spread word Collaborative/co‐created to casual audience sequel

Platform Release Strategies Strategy 2 Step 1 Attract large casual audience Objective Platforms (sponsored & televised) flash mobs 2 Work to convert casuals to hardcore Social network with unfolding/evolving Twitter story 3 Work with hardcore to spread word to develop experience 4 Sell paid content UGC& poster competitions DVD, merch, performance workshops/training

Multi-Layered TM Release Strategy

Marketing Strategy: No-Mimes Mini -ARG

Positive aspects of the Time-Line • shows the media and links or calls‐to‐action between the media • there’s an implied sequence of experience (from top to bottom). • indicates which part of the story is told by which media • indicates the timing of each element • indicates how the audience traverses the media

Transmedia Financing 3 ways to finance TM Projects Sponsored (e. g. free to Audience) ‐ project is paid for by the author (self‐funded) or by a 3 rd party such as a brand (advertising, product placement, branded entertainment) or by benefactors (crowdfunded, arts endowment) Audience‐paid ‐ purchase of content through paid downloads, physical product, subscriptions or Membership Freemium ‐ mix of Sponsored and Audience‐paid content that may change over time.

Good Audience-Paid Competitions (Poster etc. ) Webisodes Comic Book Website/ Apps Poor DVD, Kindle, etc. Poor ARG Good Sponsored Financing

Crowdfunding: a form of Sponsored financing because you're asking people to give you money to fund your project… which you may then choose to give away for free. E. g. UGC, Poster design competition etc.

Example: THE ADVERTISING‐FUNDED FEATURE FILM

TM Branding 1. Product placement- having the product or brand logo frequently appear in shot or appear in a contrived way 2. Sponsorship: having brands sponsor financially etc. 3. Branded entertainment- having your content: the characters, the storyline and the production values – embody the brand values. E. g. Branded Web-series 4. Advertising funded films etc. 5. Crowdfunding. e. g. s: Heroes (Sprint), Rock Band 2 (Cisco), It’s a Mall World (American Eagle Outfitters), Gossip Girl: Real NYC Stories Revealed (Dove), The Temp Life (Staples), Easy to Assemble (IKEA).

PROMOTING AND DISTRIBUTING A BRANDED WEB SERIES Examples: Easy to Assemble- top ten IKEA fan blogs. Thread Banger is a web show aimed at people who like sewing, knitting and making their own clothes. The show, with around 500, 000 views per month is perfect for the Japanese sewing machine manufacture Janome. So successful was show sponsorship that Janome now has a sewing machine with Thread Banger branding!

Examples • Reebok creates “Secret Life” with F 1 Racer Lewis Hamilton • Nike transforms London into a game board • Bing partners with Jay-Z to produce Decoded • Mattel: Ken and Barbie

TM campaign grounded in music: • Song produced by Mark Ronson that integrates the sound of athletes mid-sport around the globe titled “Anywhere in the World. ” • Currently being used on television. • A documentary following Ronson on his journey of writing the song. • Coke has built a Beatbox Pavillion in the Olympic Village where park visitors can come and “play” the building like a musical instrument. • Facebook & mobile apps • 100 pieces of content across multiple platforms

• • • Facebook game similar to “Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon. ” This interactive game helps fans answer the question “How Olympic Are You? ” by determining how connected they are to U. S. Olympic team athletes. Also U. K version. Olympic Torch Relay Route. At each event, there is a 20 -minute performance on stage followed by pyrotechnics during which the crowd is encouraged to give a “Big Cheer. ” Samsung is capturing photos of the crowd during the cheer and providing the photo online so fans can go on and tag themselves. Samsung’s campaign is predominately composed of social media and mobile elements.

CASE: SONY BRAVIA ‘BALLS’

CASE: SONY BRAVIA ‘BALLS’ Key success factors • Every medium tells a part of the story, so the campaign’s impact is amplified by word-of-mouth • A show, a piece of entertainment… adapted into different forms, even with ‘behind the scenes’ footage

CASE: SONY BRAVIA ‘BALLS’ Key results: • Business: – High impact on sales – Share has risen of more than +40% • Word-of-mouth: – Several million views online – + 650, 000 mentions on blogs etc. • Cannes: Gold Lion

Rather than SAY something, DO something for the consumer

Make your brand a content provider… ENTERTAIN the consumer

Be part of the conversation, give the consumer a reason to SPEAK ABOUT or USE your brand

CASE: NIKE PLUS

CASE: NIKE PLUS Key success factors • Perfect example of branded utility • Excellent channel approach, cfr. ‘Run London’ « Nike+ has reinvented running as a fun, social, digital-enhanced sport »

CASE: NIKE PLUS Key results: • + 450, 000 kits sold during the 1 st three months • + 15 millions KM during the 1 st year • Cannes: Titanium Lion and Cyber Grand Prix

CASE: DOVE EVOLUTION

CASE: DOVE EVOLUTION

CASE: DOVE EVOLUTION Key results: • + 10 million views on You. Tube, also with a famous parody • Cannes: Grand Prix Film and Cyber Grand Prix (!)

Group work 4: TM Business Model Part 1 • Find an interesting startup and breakdown what you think they're biz model is. Try to find startups working in the TM or interactive storytelling space. Part 2 • Critically evaluate the BM from part 1. Part 3 • Use your analysis to prepare your TM project’s BM. • Prepare: – List of platforms you are going to use – Platform release strategy/ies – Prepare a time line for platform release – List of finance & funding strategies

Group work 4: TM Business Model DEADLINES Part 1 • • • due next Friday, blog post+ comments Part 2 due next Friday, blog post+ comments Part 3 Ongoing, post as you finish each part Make sure to comment on 2 groups BM