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Transmedia Storytelling: Meaning Comes from the Ability to Share, Explore, and Discover

December 2, 2011 By 2 Comments
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Transmedia storytelling is not just for telling stories. Thanks to social technologies, the principles that drive transmedia storytelling ensure that it will emerge as the basis for effective communication and engagement. Transmedia — using multiple channels of communication and technologies — is unique in that it allows stories and messages to be constructed in the same the way we make sense of the world around us. Transmedia storytelling works like the brain thinks -- constructing holistic meanings from bits and pieces of information and experience. We show ‘who we are’ through words, actions, and physical clues like clothes or hairstyles, not a sign around our necks that tells our ‘story’ like the synopsis of a TV show. Our brains create stories out of the patterns we uncover around us; it is the natural way for us to process information. Meaning comes from our ability to explore, share and discover. As technologies advance, why should our use of media be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brands & Identity, Emerging Technologies, Transmedia Tagged With: , , , , ,

Transmedia Storytelling Webinar Receives 2011 IMA Award

October 4, 2011 By 1 Comment

The webinar I created with colleague Dr. Bonnie Buckner for UCI Extension, “The Power of Transmedia Storytelling: Persuasive Communications Across Emerging Technologies,” won the best webinar content award from the Internet Marketing Association. We created it for the course we developed and teach on Transmedia Storytelling and Marketing for UCI Extension’s Internet Marketing Certificate Program. I am excited to have our work acknowledged by this award because, for me, effective transmedia marketing is a way of viewing the world before it becomes a strategy. It’s a willingness to think multi-dimensionally and acknowledge the psychological shifts in individuals that have totally redefined what it means to be a customer. Transmedia storytelling, as I see it, uses storytelling to bridge narrative, branding, persuasion, and media psychology with emerging and traditional media for coherent, authentic, and engaging communication. See the full press release. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brands & Identity, Emerging Technologies, Transmedia Tagged With: , ,

Behavioral Targeting: Violating Transparency

July 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Behavioral targeting gives a whole new meaning to net neutrality. It violates the foundations of a social media environment: authenticity and transparency. If the majority of online users don’t want to have their online search activities tracked, advertisers and search companies are walking a fine line between profit and a huge public relations disaster when they target consumers. Search engines can help advertisers target us, but in doing so, they "invisibly"skew our search results and make our world narrower and less rich. Whatever happened to freedom of information? Media Post reported on a study by TRUSTe showing that only 11% of the participants were comfortable with online behavioral advertising (Web Users Uneasy With Behavioral Targeting.) In behavioral advertising, our browser behaviors -- where we search, what we search for, and how often we do it -- are tracked in order to provide ads targeted at us based on our perceived likes and buying habits. Forty two percent of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brands & Identity, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

Levis: The Karma Capital That Got Away, Part 2

February 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By Pamela Rutledge and Bonnie Buckner In part 1 "Levi's: Go Forth and Exploit," we wrote about our problems with the Levi’s Go Forth Campaign, such as romanticizing and trivializing the Great Depression and exploiting the efforts of the town of Braddock, PA to fit their Steinbeckian narrative. Here, we will focus on the opportunities for what we call Karma Capital--economic profit combined with positive social impact--that got away. Brands and corporations have significant impact on individuals and culture. The Levi’s campaign shows a considerable deafness to the current social and technological environment and the shifting psychologies and cultural sensibilities of their market. In a globally networked world, every message from a company and organization will ripple through the system. They could have created some serious Karma Capital by aligning social goals with their bottom line. Levi’s missed an opportunities on two levels. Instead of a contrived narrative, they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brands & Identity, Culture & Society, Positive Psychology Tagged With: , , ,
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