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In the ever-evolving media marketing industry, creatives and strategists are constantly facing the issue of how to truly engage an audience, and then keep them engaged – not just with Facebook likes or retweets, but true loyal fandom, with viewers who want to keep up with a particular brand.
To discuss and further delve into this idea, PromaxBDA hosted State of Our Digital Art on Thursday night in Los Angeles, with a curated presentation of digital campaigns from the world of media, including TV, film, music, video games and books.
Loren Judah, creative director at We Are Royale, started the evening with this marketing query: “We have seen a massive shift in not only the way that we view our content but the way we create our content. We’re constantly bombarded by these questions of how do we keep engagement and let our audience interact with the content. It presents that question of ‘What will we do next?’”
Cordy Rierson, director at Microsoft Studios, started her digital story with the origin story of TV. What began as a television in the living room, surrounded by family members discussing a program with one another, is today that same image, but with each member using their own mobile device to do the same thing on a global level. “The main screen isn’t keeping their attention – the average user will look at their device 27 times in one hour,” said Rierson. “This is where we’re heading. This is what they consumers want:”
“This image illustrates what’s happening,” said Judah. “The content we’re seeing is not only content we’re creating but also user-created content. Viewers are constantly in need of a connection to this content, and ... we’re constantly needing to aid that connection, anytime, anywhere, on anything.”
What is the root of this problem of constant connection? According to Judah, it comes down to three questions. First, how do you cater to a user that is constantly in need of and seeking this connection? How do you let them help you tell the story? Not only the story you want to tell, but also the story they want to tell. And how do you maintain that engagement for all of your audience?
The curators presented examples across the world of music, film, TV, gaming, social media and book publishing of just how digital campaigns can provide answers to this marketing issue. Below are just a few examples of successful transmedia stories, told through fervent fan bases with real results.
First Love addressed the issue of how to promote a 12-year-old franchise on a 7-year-old console. What started off as a traditional documentary went one step further, with a multimedia experience for the launch of a video game. Leading up to the launch of Gran Turismo 6, First Love introduced Mario Andretti’s story, his car and the newest iteration of that car within the game itself.
The project invited fans to participate in the world’s first social rebuild of a race car, re-creating Andretti’s ’48 Hudson in real life, but also allowed the gamers to race that car. Fans could talk to mechanics in real time and watch the car being built. The campaign earned more than 130 million earned media impressions, with gamers clocking in almost 6 million miles in Andretti’s car within the races.
Judah: “This is an example of a simple idea, starting at the basics and then elaborating on it throughout these simple steps. It brings up the question – how can you create a similar experience with a traditional medium?”
Pharrell Williams created a music video with a twist for his song, “Happy,” providing a 24-hour interactive experience for fans, getting the song stuck in heads across the world for more than just a full day.
More than 300 people took part in the video, dancing throughout the city, for an audience of more than 9 million people watching throughout the 24 hours. Sales of the track went through the roof, from 50,000 copies to 7 million just weeks later.
The viewers guide that HBO created for season four of Game of Thrones is also the winner of the 2014 Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media: User Experience And Visual Design.
It introduced characters, offered behind-the-scenes interviews with the novels’ author, George R.R. Martin, and took viewers on a tour through Westeros, “going a lot further than just character bios, because the show is so dense and complex, you need that information,” said Judah.
The site allowed fans to choose the episode they were on (if still catching up), turn spoilers on or off and learn more about the world of Westeros as they made their way through the series. The presenters agreed that the viewers guide was a perfect answer to making the most out of content marketers were already creating.
“You already paid for all these assets sitting around,” said Rierson. “You have all this content, so how can you add value to the content you’ve already bought and spin it in a slightly different way to extend your brand?”
In that same vein, TNT took a chance on its miniseries event Mob City when it tweeted out the entire script for the show’s pilot episode. The first TV show adapted to the Twitter platform in this way, TNT tweeted out every single word of the script, 140 characters at a time. Cast and crew also played along, tweeting out photos from the set along with the dialogue and stage direction.
“The big takeaway for this project,” said Judah, “is that this was all done before it even premiered. They basically decided we’re going to use Twitter, and have Twitter do the work for us.”
“This was a big risk, big reward,” said Rierson. “They knew they had an audience there and tapped into it with success.”
For more information about State of Our Digital Art and upcoming PromaxBDA member events, visit promaxbda.org.
[Photo courtesy of Andrew Ros]
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