The branding and marketability of transmedia

Week 6, Lecture 2 We’ve already had a look at methods of planning and creating based on various traits in transmedia storytelling. These processes have not only had a great impact on creativity, creators, and consumers but they have also brought about enormous changes in the industrial system. For that reason, transmedia marketing has become a very important phenomenon, and many argue that this will drive the future of the content industry. In fact, most theaters in the United States focus on the value-added content rather than the theater content themselves, with the former drawing in more than 50 percent of the business’ profits.

When a film is made, other moneymaking enterprises such as character merchandising or TV replay services create more value than the actual movie being released in the theater, adding further commercial value to the film. This naturally encourages new formats, new platforms, and different consumption patterns. Individuals now have access to a wider variety of digital entertainment an area that was once limited to TVs and tickets to movie theaters a tendency that encourages people make specific decision about how to consume content. Brand marketing that uses transmedia is now being utilized more actively. As such, reliance on storytelling is often seen when a brand is attempting to break away from the traditional image and create something new.

This process is akin to planning an event. Couples might try to arrange something to do together, parents and children might participate in an activity together they come together to build upon their relationship and create stories. Evoking the idea of Valentine’s Day, for example, has an enormous effect on chocolate sales. This is why countless stories are born. But to hide that the fact that the stories have been created solely for marketing purposes, marketers develop the stories in such a way that makes them appear to be completely different content.

This is a small example of how the advertising-related businesses, especially that which is connected to the entertainment industry, generally prefers linking consumption and platforms that resemble a chain of events, controlling everything from planning to consuming. But because industries have diversified, a possessing a sense of control over such media became impossible. For this reason, marketers now choose to focus on managing the story so that the attention is concentrated on the brand itself. There are a number of successful cases of this strategy. Storytelling is an incredibly influential part of in successful advertising, regardless of how good an ad’s storytelling or content is.

This is why the ad industry is showing more interest in social media rather than the traditional TV or print channels.

But let’s not forget one very important thing: We have been continually touching upon the concepts of worldview, plot, and characters. But who is a celebrity whose name comes up most often? Who is the main character who appears most often on social media? It would be great if the character told the story of the brand. Surprisingly, that “character” is me. That’s the current reality, which was not the case in the past. You are the main character of your social media, meaning that the stories you produce while using social media revolve around your own life the most.

One point to consider, however, is that consumers are aware of this concept, and they agree to consume content where they and the rest of their network are the main characters. Some content is more attractive to a certain type of community, but there are exceptions. For instance, a high school student in Colorado who posts a video blog on YouTube can become world famous while a South Korean music video can be shared virally across the globe. Behind all of these is the premise in which the creator can be the main character, a concept that has never existed before.

In the past, people would go to a museum to see the painting of Mona Lisa; they would not put a photo of the painting up on Facebook for everyone around the world to see. This culture created by social media now has an even more perfect plot. Poorly written personal stories based on real experiences are a far more important type of content than an extremely well-written story. In terms of marketing, the branding becomes much more influential when it fits into a user’s individual story. As a result, rather than coming up with new stories, marketers tend to follow up on their audience’s pre-existing story and worldview.

When a brand establishes itself as part of a certain world that is in line with the trends of the time, users tend to be able to identify with it. Put simply, by being in agreeance, the effect of marketing is maximized. The biggest problem, however, rises from copyright infringement. Because creators are not trained to think about content ownership, their perception of copyright is still weak. The significance of copyright on images, plots shared online, or in transmedia content is becoming ambiguous. An important point to consider is who created this story.

Imagine that a story told in the third century is expanded upon by someone in the sixteenth century, and in the twenty-first century someone in England takes that and makes it into something else. Such a situation makes it hard to trace the credit back to the original or to find the source of the copyright. The same goes with using images. There are new standards being set for modern times, but they must be taken more seriously. Copyright begins with simple questions such as, when something is copied in a new form, is it a new creation or do royalties need to be paid to the copyright holder?

From there, this discussion eventually goes into specifics like, when a world is created, can it be copied? To what degree must the characters be protected? All of these are valuable to the discussion of copyright in transmedia storytelling.