This is why I asked the question in my comment above. The points you make above are correct – exploring a story through multiple platforms does indeed increase engagement, as does the extended invitation for audiences to participate in that extension, and that it is certainly possible for such a story to be crafted around a brand. You’re definitely firing on all cylinders when it comes to multiplatform engagement and the benefits it offers over ‘traditional’ marketing, but my point is that transmedia storytelling and transmedia branding – or, as Faris Yacob calls it, transmedia planning – aren’t necessarily the same thing.

As Henry points out in his two-post series “How Transmedia Storytelling Begat Transmedia Planning” (http://henryjenkins.org/2006/12/how_transmedia_storytelling_be.html and http://henryjenkins.org/2006/12/how_transmedia_storytelling_be_1.html), it is entirely possible to tell a transmedia story through transmedia planning, as is the case in BMW’s THE HIRE. That said, if you go back and reread the post above, there’s no mention of the story being told in FantaLife, only a description of the advantages being offered by transmedia storytelling and then a description of the transmedia work your group did for Fanta. That’s what led me to think that you were erroneously conflating transmedia storytelling with transmedia planning – without clarifying what transmedia story is being told in FantaLife, this post does indeed blur transmedia storytelling with transmedia planning. I definitely apologize if my assumption that you yourself similarly blur the two was incorrect, but I hope you can see how the post above led me to make that assumption.

I’d still very much love to hear about the transmedia story that you were planning to tell in FantaLife, as I suggested in the second half of the post you quoted from my blog (which was less a post than an extended comment on a del.icio.us link, hence the lack of commenting option there):

“Is the Coke polar bear a character in a transmedia story? Does a transmedia brand have to have a plot to be considered a story, or is a recurring character (or world) sufficient? To my mind, transmedia branding certainly CAN incorporate transmedia storytelling, but not all transmedia branding is inherently transmedia storytelling. I’d love to see Moore drill down into the actual *story* behind SMLXL’s Fanta Beach project.”

Would you consider making a follow-up post that describes how you built a transmedia story around the Fanta brand, or is that information to be found elsewhere? I’m currently researching the use of location-based storytelling and augmented reality systems as components in transmedia storytelling/planning, so your suggested inclusion of “events”, “cool beaches” and “urban beaches” seems loaded to the gills with potential. Alternatively, would you consider another post talking about how storytelling in transmedia branding differs from traditional storytelling? I’ve also been looking at transmedia storytelling in video games like WORLD OF WARCRAFT, which downplays the ‘plot’ in traditional storytelling in favor of extensive world-building – a factor which might have also come up in your FantaLife campaign. Either one would prove extremely compelling!

Best,
Geoffrey

I read your post which makes some interesting assumptions about the FantaLife project.

May I suggest that it might have been better to pose those questions to me before making your assumptions.

You write,

“The trouble is, Moore makes the all-too-common mistake of blurring transmedia storytelling with transmedia branding. A transmedia branding campaign can be considered a type of transmedia storytelling insofar as it attempts to convey the message of the brand across multiple media forms – but I question whether or not this can still be considered “storytelling” in a traditional sense.”

And I am afraid, that I have not made the all to common mistake.

But if you want to chat some more about it, I would be happy to walk you through the project.

The point, I would have thought you should understand better than anyone, is that by exploring a story, through multimedia platforms – that story becomes richer and enriched. And that by enabling people to participate in the co-creation of that storytelling also creates deeper context.

The fact that this is associated to a brand, does not make any difference.

And if I remember correctly, Henry did tend to agree with me when I presented @ MIT.

All good things

Alan