People look for communal experiences with others who love what they love. Creative marketing and strong storytelling offer ways to do it.

By Onella de Zilva

The Gaming Video Content Conference wrapped last week, and featured many fantastic panels, including a State of the Gaming Industry discussion between Catherine Winder of Wind Sun Sky Entertainment Inc and Doug Scott of Subnation Media. They discussed games as a form of expanded storytelling, elaborating on the ways that films and television are using multi-platform content to engage fans and draw in new audiences. Marvel, of course is the name everyone thinks of when it comes to multi-platform storytelling, and in a lot of ways, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has mainstreamed expanded story worlds across different mediums.

So what does that mean for the rest of us? Successful multi-platform storytelling taps into fans’ natural desire to “play” in the universe of the story. Fan works like fanart, cosplay, fanfiction, and theory crafting all draw on the audience's love for a story, but more specifically, the world that story takes place in.

My own love of multi-platform storytelling began with the Bioware roleplaying video game: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This game was my first experience with the Star Wars franchise, and despite my lack of knowledge about the films going in, the game’s strong storytelling and world building drew me in and provided an entry point into the Star Wars fandom that I might not have otherwise discovered. I think this is a perfect example of what Catherine talks about in the panel:

“It comes down to fantastic universes and characters that audiences want to see more of.”

When we think about how to incorporate transmedia storytelling into a property, there is a lot of value to making space to play. Some of the best IP-driven games and experiences understand how to leverage new mediums to expand on a story, rather than trying to recreate traditional storytelling structure over and over. Recognizable characters can pull audiences in and get them invested in the story, and strong world building allows them to create their own experiences and insert themselves into that story across a variety of platforms.

Part of this world building includes iconic aesthetics or costumes that fans can recreate or remix, bringing their own creativity into their favourite story worlds. Think about the popularity of pop-up experiences, including the recent Schitt’s Creek pop-up in Chicago. One of the common misconceptions around these kinds of experiences is that people are paying money just to take a photo of themselves in a recreated setting from their favourite show. And to some degree that’s true. But these recognizable settings or props allow people to recreate the experience of what it would be like to be in the story world, to interact together in a different and playful way.

Social media and fan conventions provide platforms to bring the community together to showcase their creativity and celebrate their shared passion for the fandom, whether it's a TV or movie franchise, comic book series, or video game. That passion can sometimes be a property’s best asset, as was the case when The Mandalorian, a tv show set in the Star Wars Universe needed more Stormtrooper costumes than they had on hand. Luckily, there are groups of cosplayers, called the 501st Legion, who create accurate Stormtrooper costumes. They were asked to join the scene, solving the production’s costume shortage and providing an amazing opportunity for dedicated fans to actually get to “join” their favourite story on screen. Canadian actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, star of Kim’s Convenience and a member of the 501st Legion himself, was also hired for a role on The Mandalorian Season 2, where his extensive knowledge of Star Wars costumes was put to use.

As Catherine explains in the panel, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to multi-platform or transmedia storytelling. Even a reality show can inspire a type of participation. At Innovate By Day, we created the Prediction Game Engine, a fantasy-pool-style game where viewers of a reality show (e.g., Big Brother Canada) could win prizes for correctly predicting what would happen week after week. The Big Brother Canada Predictions Game saw tremendous engagement that drove repeat play and conversation. It was a mutually beneficial experience for the fans, the series, and the sponsor.

Creating these kinds of experiences around a property relies on finding compelling ways for audiences to participate and insert themselves into a story, whether it’s by playing a role-playing video game set in the Star Wars Universe, taking photos at the Rosebud Motel, or theorizing about who will win on Big Brother Canada. People look for communal experiences with others who love what they love. Creative marketing and strong storytelling offer ways to do it.

Are you in need of a creative marketing solution to engage meaningfully with your audience? Reach out, we’d love to brainstorm it with you. Check us out at innovatebyday.ca