Transmedia Advertising

Multimedia and transmedia are often mistaken to be the same thing. However, the difference between multimedia and transmedia is that multimedia is content displayed by different medias such as text, audio, still images, video, etc. While transmedia also utilizes the various types of media the difference is that transmedia’s point of have a story live onto another medium.

While it’s usually a show or movie that utilizes transmedia, so can products. For example, Coca Cola uses different media to market their product. They sponsor movies and television shows to subtly advertise their products by product placement, background placement, a watermark and various other ways we normally don’t realize.

“Transmedia storytelling is fully participatory. The audience becomes actively involved, elevated to social and creative collaborators. They become stakeholders in the transmedia experience alongside the brand or cause. The unfolding story design creates the motivation to engage with other participants, seek out other parts of the story, and contribute to the narrative by adding content.”

But lately Coca-Cola has found a way to personalize it’s product for us all with the the “Share A Coke” campaign. Instead of just making ads on media, they’re actually encouraging the consumer to go out and try to find their names on a coke can. And what’s smart about this marketing scheme is that usually when people find their names, they’ll post a photo on a social media platform for everyone to see with some hashtags. The internet loves hashtags, and hashtags start internet trends. With the #ShareACoke hashtag, this allows everyone to not only share the Coke in real life but online and eventually everyone jumps on the bandwagon and it turns into a movement.

The movement was originally created in Australia as a way to hone in on the more younger markets. While Coca-Cola may be popular already, it felt that it wasn’t reaching a young audience and the campaign mainly focused on the youth because the youth are more likely to use social media, which turns into free publicity for the company.

What was also interesting about the campaign is the way they turned something as simple as a soft drink into a social movement. People would go out of their way to try to find their names. Certain places gave consumers the power to customize the cans and bottles and have them shipped to their house. Everyone wanted to be part of this campaign. 

This frenzy over finding one's name starts and before you know it people are looking forward to going to the coke section to see if they could find their name. However, the "Share a Coke" campaign is not the only one where they successfully use transmedia. When the 007 movies were coming out, Coke created a coke machine that challenged the buyer to complete a challenge in order to win free tickets. Not only are they using real life application but through another form of media content to promote their product.

These people are immersed in the secret agent's story and have a sense of what the main character in the movie would feel like. And that's the whole point of transmedia storytelling. 

 It was highly successful engagement wise because of the way that it included the consumer. Likewise to transmedia storytelling being more engaging and helpful in learning about the content, by including the consumer into the marketing scheme of a company, the consumer is more likely to purchase that product.

People like to feel special and not always have to look t celebrity endorsements. Getting personal with a consumer is more likely to end in a purchase. Especially in this mass generated consumer society that we live in, people don’t want to have to have the same thing as someone else. They want to stand out and they want to feel unique and different. But despite being unique and different, the consumer wants to be part of something and feel comforted.

I think besides Coca-Cola being a household name, the reason why they're so successful as a soft drink company is the way they create these ad campaigns that don't really feel like ad campaigns and they give back to the customer. Which essentially is pretty smart, because who doesn't love free stuff. For example, for one campaign, they went to the Philippines and wanted to "share happiness." They not only handed out Cokes but almost every guest got a surprise gift. They're showing the public they're a philanthropic and family friendly company by trying to garner the consumer's trust.

Bibliography

Moye, Jay. "Share a Coke: How the Groundbreaking Campaign Got Its Start 'Down Under'" The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company, 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/share-a-coke-how-the-groundbreaking-campaign-got-its-start-down-under>.

Rutledge, Pamela. "What Is Transmedia Storytelling?" Transmedia Storytelling Workshops for Organizations Branding. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014. <http://athinklab.com/transmedia-storytelling/what-is-transmedia-storytelling/>.