Article
All about the content: All screens all the time...Transmedia
Digital signage and digital out-of-home are entry points to the convergent transmedia spectrum, industry analyst Keith Kelsen says in the second installment of the new monthly series "It's All About the Content!"
April 22, 2010 by Digital Signage Today
The ongoing digitization of media comes at time when the gaps between technology, marketing and, ultimately, sales are closing. This gap, from inspiration to purchase, is closing at such a rapid rate, with so many different methods of engagement and so many points of purchase, that only one media form no longer can tell the whole story...
So there needs to be a new media form, one that must be nimble and quick. It is not just cinema, TV, Internet, mobile and digital out-of-home (DOOH); it is however all screens all the time…or "Transmedia."
The word "Transmedia" was first introduced byMarsha Kinderin her 1993 book Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Kinder calls them "commercial transmedia superstructures," and further says that "transmediaintertextuality" works to position consumers as powerful players while disavowing commercial manipulation.
In the bookConvergence Culture, Henry Jenkins explains transmedia storytelling as storytelling across multiple forms of media, with each element making distinctive contributions to a viewer's/user's/player's point of view.
By using different media formats, transmedia attempts to create "entrypoints" through which consumers can become immersed in a story world. Whether a full-fledged cinema experience or an ad, it all boils down to the engagement point and the products and services sold around the experience.
We have evolved in the word with a new level of tools not in existence 5 years ago — it's digital. And now with digitization of media, a new landscape exists in which DOOH becomes part of the larger legacy of media. Yes, this is a unique medium in its own right, but it must be part of the larger continuity of the brand story that is told across all screens.
Transmedia becomes the encapsulating term that adds to the breaking down of silos in agencies and corporations. No longer can a brand make a decision based on TV or print messaging, it must consider brand continuity across all mediums and must address transmedia strategically:
1. Take a step back and look at the big picture of the messaging and at which platforms will, or potentially will, be used to deliver the message and engage the consumer.
2. Consider pre-design elements or icons that are consistent across all messages and campaigns.
3. Creating smaller granular components of the message is key this strategy:
a. Separate messages and break down each element
b. Create content objects that can be accessed and tagged
c. Create granular and modular pieces of content that can be combined for use in the overall message and campaign.
d. Create a matrix that includes all messages and elements across the platforms that will be the breakout plan for production of the media
e. Employ a corporate-wide digital asset management system that will help producers and authors of messaging access the granular and modular pieces of content.
Organizational boundaries must be broken down to address the very issue of continuity. Having one or two decision makers within the organization with input from all stakeholders is important. Aligning the right reasons for changing the organizational structure is actually quite simply put; it costs less to produce the media with a consistent message than creating one-offs for each media platform.
Transmedia adds to the compelling argument that DOOH is part of the overall media buy and media strategy consideration. As the transmedia experience is connected to each and every screen, DOOH becomes an activation point of entry for the story and engagement. It is a contact point in the digital landscape that is relevant and can drive the experience further down the transmedia highway.
