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   Part of a Special Series on Advanced Marketing and Measurement Techniques

Update: Listen to a interview series with noted social marketing expert Nedra Weinreich focusing on the ins and outs of transmedia storytelling in public health and beyond.

According to Henry Jenkins, author of the book Convergence Culture, transmedia storytelling is a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.  Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.”

Marketers from a diverse array of industries, including entertainment and automobiles, have launched successful and influential transmedia marketing campaigns.  One of the earliest and most prominent examples occured when the producers of the Matrix launched a transmedia storytelling campaign to support the release of the second film in the franchise, The Matrix Reloaded.

In 2003, fans of the movie trilogy consumed various Matrix-related products, including comic books, animated cartoons and a video game.  All of these media properties helped to expand and explain the storyline of the trilogy.  For example, those who played the video game would understand how a key character miraculously appears in the middle of a major Reloaded scene set on a busy highway.

Transmedia Storytelling & Health Marketing

The health industry has not yet embraced transmedia storytelling techniques widely. Despite this, some organizations have begun to experiment in this area.  For example, in 2009, the American Heart Association launched its CryptoZoo alternate reality game.  Cryptozoo encourages people to combine play with exercise by hunting down and cataloging fictional animals called “cryptids.”  According to ARGNet:

“Each cryptid has a particular method of running, and will be scared away unless the chasers match its movements. For example, cryptozoologists searching for a Slamina run backwards, making sure they don’t step on any cracks.  More competitive cryptozoologists can challenge teams to a race mimicking one of the thirteen different species of cryptids. Players keep track of their steps with pedometers, and after completing 5,000 steps are inducted as official Cryptozoologists.”

People playing Cryptozoo also interact on a game related social network.  They use the site to schedule races and post videos focusing on new cryptid species they discovered "living in the wild."

For more about how transmedia storytelling is influencing advertising, please see:

• A presentation produced by Ivan Askwith of the marketing firm Big Spaceship below 
• A lecture (video) by Henry Jenkins on the principles of Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia & Advertising

Experience Transmedia Storytelling

Information regarding the Path of the Blue Eye Project (the global initiative which this site, Living the Path, is a part) is communicated using transmedia storytelling elements.  Interested readers can experience it by:

• Reading the Project's comic
• Reviewing the game log for a Project-related alternate reality game (many of the clues are still extant online)