Out of all my examples, I found this one the most interesting. Jay-Z, a huge hip-hop star joined with Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, to create an huge transmedia campaign around his biography, Decoded, which was to be released as a book after the campaign. The campaign was a huge success for both Jay-Z and Bing, which entered the Top 10 most visited sites list for the first time as a result.

32 pages of Jay-Z’s book were placed in different locations relating to that particular page in the book. Each day for 1 month, a different page was revealed in a different place around the world. There were pages printed on billboards, on the bottom of swimming pools and inside Gucci jackets as well as many other unusual places. The campaign used the platforms of Facebook, Twitter and radio to reveal clues as to the whereabouts of the pages of Jay-Z’s book around the world. The user could then use the online game, and the maps function on Bing to find these clues and piece them together. The user could virtually walk through Jay-Z’s life.

I think one the the most clever things about this campaign is how it stretched the boundaries of regular uses of transmedia and showed the audience a brand new way of interacting with an artist. The use of Bing maps gave you the opportunity to virtually go out into the world and see this campaign in reality, but through a computer screen.

I think this campaign exceeded anyone’s expectations of a regular book campaign. Book transmedia campaigns often feature films or short YouTube clips, video games are also not uncommon, but this was at a whole new level of interaction with the artist. You were able to live Jay-Z’s life story through various media platforms, the primary one being Bing. This would have primarily appealed to Jay-Z’s large fan-base, but due to the unusual nature of the campaign it is likely that many other people would have gotten involved.

This campaign has now ended as the book has been released. Another step they could take in the transmedia campaign would be to make a film of Jay-Z’s life based on the book, which I’m sure will happen one day in the future.

This project accurately fits the idea of transmedia because it is taking a story, in this case the story Jay-Z tells of his life in his book, and allowing the audience to interact with it through various platforms. I think this is a very unique case of transmedia and also a very successful case. The campaign also won many awards and was hugely publicized at the time. The amount of money that must have gone into it paid off due to the increase in users on Bing, and the extra followers Jay-Z gained on Facebook/Twitter, as well as the success of his book.

Mattel’s Barbie is probably one of the best examples of transmedia in advertising and the success it can have. The Barbie product began as a simple plastic doll, but competition in the market meant it was essential to expand Barbie beyond the limits of a plastic toy. The Barbie empire is now phenomenal and covers almost all grounds of transmedia. The Barbie franchise has movies, a tv series, merchandise, an online virtual world, video games, books, an active Twitter and Facebook, iPhone apps, music, podcasts, a blog – the list is endless. Mattel recently ran a transmedia campaign around the break-up of Barbie and her longtime boyfriend Ken, which ended in mass advertising on Times Square.

Barbie dolls are traditionally bought for young girls. Yet, unlike 10 years ago, young girls now also have access to the internet, to facebook, twitter, to video game consoles and the rest of it. When a child walks into a toy store to buy a doll, Mattel wants that child to choose a Barbie and thats why this ‘world’ of Barbie is essential. A child can visit Barbie’s website and dress her up online, they can follow her on Facebook and see what ‘Barbie’ has been up to today.

Mattel recently ran a campaign about the relationship between Barbie and Ken. Twitter, facebook and YouTube were used to document the break up of the couple, and you could then vote on the BarbieandKen.com website as to whether Barbie and Ken should get back together. Finally, it was publicly announced in Times Square that they would get back together, and later on Barbie’s twitter (see below).

Barbie now appears as ‘In a Relationship’ on Facebook, to the view of over 2 and a half million people who have ‘Liked’ Barbie on Facebook. It’s bazaar to see the extent of transmedia used as an advertising tool in this example for these completely virtual characters.

This is an excellent example of transmedia, turning a virtual world into a storyworld and using several different platforms to advertise the story, and therefore the product, and thus hopefully for Mattel generating a profit.

The way Mattel have targeted this campaign towards audiences is very clever. They have tried to target girls of all ages by using different platforms, and, by using such a wide range of platforms, bringing young girls further into the virtual world of Barbie. This therefore encourages girls to sign up to Twitter so they can follow Barbie, thus extending the ways Barbie communicates to the same fans. Advertising on a large scale, such as in Times Square, also attracts media attention, therefore boosting the all round Barbie profile. Barbie also created a TV series called ‘Genuine Ken: The Search for the Great American Boyfriend’ which attracts an older audience (primarily 16-24 year old women). Therefore alerting people further to the Barbie franchise.

However, the Barbie and Ken campaign also showed how mass advertising can backfire, as Greenpeace satirised the campaign by hanging a huge banner on the Mattel headquarters with a picture of Ken saying ‘Barbie, it’s Over: I don’t date girls that are into deforestation’.

Barbie already use so many platforms it would be difficult to determine where to go next. Bringing Barbie into the real world more, away from online media could be a step. ‘Barbie World’ similar to Disney World could happen, as could ‘Barbie, Live’ giving girls a concert experience of Barbie. They could also ‘go mobile’, and send texts to people’s phones from ‘Barbie’, telling you to check out the latest product or game online.

‘Gorillaz is the most successful virtual band ever, fronted by four wildly talented but totally disparate characters: pretty-but-vacant singer 2D, satanic bassist Murdoc Niccals, Japanese guitar prodigy Noodle and amiable man-mountain drummer Russel Hobbs.’ (Taken from the Gorillaz Facebook page.)

In 1998, Blur-frontman Damon Albarn and comic book designer Jamie Lewett got together for a very unique project. The world’s first virtual group was born, made up of entirely virtual characters, soon becoming a virtual universe. Throughout the period of their life as a band, Gorilliaz have interacted with the audience most prominently through audio and music videos. They have also made short films showing clips of the virtual band’s lifestyle. A good example of this is the MTV Cribs episode, which took viewers on a trip around Gorillaz’s virtual home. They also have an interactive game on the website called ‘Visit the Island: The Online Plastic Beach game’, created after their 3rd album ‘Escape to Plastic Beach’. The various virtual Gorillaz members also have twitter pages, where they can interact with their fans. They even appear live, often virtually but sometimes as real people, and have created clothing lines etc as other ways of interacting with fans.

Gorillaz challenged the audience by creating an entirely new concept with which the audience was able to interact. People interacted with the characters despite knowing they were virtual; Murdoc, for example, has over 57,000 followers on Twitter. Furthermore, the introduction of the online game means that fans can not only follow the lives of these virtual characters, but also become a part of the Plastic Beach through this game - Gorillaz has become a virtual universe.

An iPhone app was also created for the ‘Escape to Plastic Beach’ concept. A free app was released along with the ‘Escape to Plastic Beach’ game which costs 69p. This is a great example of how transmedia can lead to profit. A fan might download the free app and then become sucked into the ‘Plastic Beach’ concept and decide to then spend 69p on the paid app game.

The audience Gorillaz are attracting is likely to be music fans, who are then drawn into this virtual world. When looking at music fans and what kinds of platforms they might use regularly, Twitter and YouTube are definitely a common two. This is why a lot of the Gorillaz storyworld was focused on these platforms. I think, in this instance, gaming is less appropriate as these are music fans, not gamers (although obviously the two cross over). Bringing the storyworld to a gig is also important as music lovers will spend money on this (and making money is the aim of the game). Many of the first Gorillaz concerts were virtual, (see performances at the Brits, VMA’s etc) but this soon proved too expensive and too complicated to take on the road, and so in latter Gorillaz performances, Damon Albarn appears with an array of special guests.

The design of the Gorillaz takes the classic transmedia model a step further. Not only are they interacting with the audience through various platforms and through creating a story, but everything they have done is based on a virtual reality. Gorillaz is a storyworld; they are connecting with the audience through images and all the other aspects of the virtual world they have created.

The Gorillaz project seems to have ended now, but there are many more places that Albarn and Lewett could have taken it. A feature film, TV series of the characters, and developing more into gaming could have all worked to develop the Gorillaz profile further.

The point of transmedia, at the end of the day, is to get the fans engaged, make them more interested in the concept, and therefore spend more money buying albums and merchandise, as well as going to gigs. Gorillaz are a perfect example of creating a virtual universe which makes people intrigued as to the whole story. Everytime you look further into the Gorillaz, there is more to know, and this keeps people interested.