Hello everybody. Probably the first and one of
the best register examples of branded entertainment in history,
was our beloved cartoon character Popeye.
Popeye the Sailor.
You may not know that everything started in 1929,
when the cartoonists, Elsie Chrysler,
received a call from a very unexpected client,
the board of spinach producers of the United States.
At that time, the organization was trying to find a way to encourage
the consumption of this healthy vegetable among kids and younger generations.
They understood very wisely,
that nothing would be more effective,
than producing a comic strip which kids would love.
Popeye was born that same year.
In a few years time, the sailor would jump to radio, film, and television,
a medium in which he would become a worldwide character along with his girlfriend Olivia.
Who doesn't identify spinach with Popeye, right?
In our previous module,
we discussed the amazing properties of good stories,
which I guess are even more powerful spinach.
The Popeye initiative, commercially speaking,
was extremely successful too.
The producers saw there's sailors skyrocket,
thanks to the animated sailor,
and they set an example for the future.
Today the whole of communication depends very much on search engines.
Once we've established that inbound marketing,
the production of relevant content which makes
users bite without apparently looking for them,
is an excellent mid long-term strategy to navigate all content flood.
Let's think for a minute about Google and other search engines.
How often do you find tweet or short videos among general topics top searches?
Depending on the topics,
don't they rather privilege films,
well rated articles, and prestigious publishing platforms?
When we repeat that our brand content strategy
must embrace multiple channels and formats,
we allude to another hot word of this era, Transmedia.
The adaptation of a narratives to any kind of platform,
any media, and any device.
Although it must be said with a very marked focus on mobile,
which in 2008, accounts approximately for 80 percent of the whole online traffic.
As the media landscape evolves,
content producers are tapping into opportunities that address 21st century users.
Adopting trans-media storytelling this is,
creating stories that blend the multiple forms of media,
each and one of them distinctly supplying a unique or specific experience to our story.
The ultimate purpose as always is engaging users in multiple formats and channels.
The rewards being sustained entertainment and
absolute understanding of the narrative after following the whole story line.
But if you remember,
equals or brand narrative composed of
many different elements which portray a coherent vision of our mission.
As we will see during this module,
transmedia storytelling is a process that usually
implies some interaction on part of the user.
First of all, he or she decides what path to follow,
and how far to go.
But then we must take into account the nature of social networks,
like Facebook or Twitter.
Very often uses an element within
the narrative which promotes the interaction of users with a story,
and sometimes it allows even for the co-creation of
content transforming the story according to their personalities.
Brands won't find many passive receivers or simple spectators in these developments.
We could even argue that there isn't a single level of content comprehension.
It is the result of a complex strategy that goes far beyond advertising,
and which seeks to generate memorable experiences for the user,
requiring actions and participation,
asking for their complicity in exchange for
the freedom to intervene within our narrative.
This collaboration between brand and user is a basic pillar of engagement in
the 21st century as we'll comment now with our distinguished interviewees.
Transmedia embraces all kinds of valuable content favored by technological change,
and the role of social networks as platforms for gamification,
social TV or the rising presence of the famous second screen.
That modern phenomenon by which people for example,
watch television while they chat on Twitter or
roam to a Tinder or read newspapers online.
You can tell stories easily with only images and Instagram is teaching
millions of users currently or just with data in the US,
I would mention the New York Times of FiveThrityEight as leading examples.
Or only in writing,
or only with tweets,
but the most ambitious content projects managed to use many of
these pieces at the same time covering different angles of
the story with different tools in search of
a meaningful and immersive experience where we can feel among other things.
The new power of being part of the conversation and
the illusion or reality that our opinion matters in this globalized world.
This brand user collaboration closes
a trans-media narrative circle and turns
the viewer into an active agent as we'll discuss later on.
It involves a huge cultural change which has happened in
just a decade and has completely transformed the communication and market industry.
