That’s a wrap!

We wrapped the first episode of “Stuff You Should Know” with Josh & Chuck in the early pre-dawn hours on Saturday. Big thanks to all involved!

SoH Presents: ‘SYSK Meets Ideas for Good’

We’ve had a lot happening this summer and are excited to share! Stuff You Should Know podcasters-turned-TV personalities Josh & Chuck recently headed to Carnegie Mellon for their latest knowledge binge, and we were there to capture it all. In this new branded web series, the duo meets with the winners of Toyota’s Ideas for Good initiative and learns how their ideas for repurposing Toyota technologies will help to make a better world. Watch the first episode below. And be sure to check out the complete six-episode series here.

SoH Presents: Light Strike Arena

Check out our awesome new animated and interactive web series, Light Strike Arena, which we created around the newly-launched Light Strike Assault Strikers by WowWee. This is a multifaceted web adventure. Since the video is interactive, viewers are able to choose the direction of the story at the end of each segment. Plus, we’ve also created an entire transmedia experience around the story, which will be launching over the next couple of weeks. So keep following the story as it unfolds on Facebook.

SoH Presents: Ben Sollee’s ‘Close to You’

School of Humans is proud to present the release of our latest production, cellist and vocalist Ben Sollee’s music video ‘Close to You.’ Directed by our own L.C. Crowley, the video was shot in one take, and could not have been pulled off without the help of the nearly 80 people who shared their time and talents, on and off set.

Check out the video below, and Ben’s latest album, ‘Inclusions,’ which launched today and is awesome.

THE FINE ART OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT

No one can deny that too many instances of product placement are obtrusive, blatant, and insulting to our intelligence. We, as the audience, find ourselves thinking, ‘Really??? They think we’re not going to notice that?’ Take the over-the-top series of Days of Our Lives product placements that hit the Web last fall.

Painful, yes. But I’m guessing Chex Mix got a lot more eyeballs than they paid for when that clip went viral.

Still, obnoxious and interruptive ads are not the way of the future. While these clips were somewhat entertaining when they popped up on your news feed, imagine if all television shows had their characters reaching for (and unashamedly selling) their favorite picnic snack?

And yet advertisers are left with fewer and fewer options these days, thanks to new technology and the widespread implementation of the DVR. The empowered audience that we’ve become is determined and willing to avoid ads at all costs. So what choice do advertisers and writers have? Because in the end, in order for us to get the chance to enjoy the content we consume, someone needs to pay for it.

The latest effort in highlighting the absurdity and reality of the product placement world is the documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, sets out to, in his own words, “…make a film about product placement, marketing and advertising where the entire film is funded by product placement, marketing and advertisement.” In fact, he even sold the title of the film, whose formal name is actually POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Check out the recently released trailer below.

But luckily for audiences and writers everywhere, there is an alternative to this type of crass and intruding product placement that Days of Our Lives brazenly uses and Spurlock satirizes. The key is to make it so flawlessly integral to the story, that its presence is not questioned. And while this approach is obviously not as easy as grabbing the nearest box of Cheerios to shove in your actor’s hands, the results are paramount to any other option. Audiences are satisfied with the fact that they aren’t being rudely interrupted with commercials or obtuse product integration, content creators are happy that they can continue to make awesome work, and advertisers are thrilled that their brand is being featured at the center of the story. As technology continues to progress, making brands part of the story, and not part of any viral mocking campaign, is crucial. Hey, no one felt offended when Cast Away pushed the Wilson-volleyball-turned-companion in our faces, did they? He was simply another character in the story.

More “now” than ever before

From 4,000,000 BC and the dawn of man, up to 1991 and the invention of www, we had one form of two-way dialog and reality: face-to-face communication (okay, it was augmented by the telephone and telegraph since the late 19th century).

That all changed when Tim Berners-Lee created the world wide web protocol. Now besides physical reality, at any given moment, consumers can access multiple layers of digital reality that include geographically relevant information, games, gifting, narratives and who-knows-what-else moving forward.

What that means is that a lot of one-way monologue media — television, radio and print included — are being asked to think about behaving in a two-way, oftentimes unscripted dialogue with a person on multiple formats. It’s a blended reality world.

What this transmedia now means for content creators and those that underwrite it are:

1. It’s here to stay. People media platform-shift and expect content to follow and react/behave appropriately

2. Platforms matter. Certain platforms have more validity for certain demographics than others

3. Stories must travel. Storytelling should be designed to live on all formats from its original conceit – not as an afterthought

Brand Playhouse

Brands associating themselves with content is not new. Step into the way back machine and look at the tight association and quality of content and you find the first so-called “golden age” drama program to appear was the Kraft Television Theater. The Ford Theater, Goodyear Television Playhouse, Texaco Star Theatre. This was high-cotton stuff, serious plays underwritten by national advertisers.

So now what? The value of traditional advertising model is less reliable in a diffused, fragmented media landscape that is more about participation than interruption. No less than Forrester suggests that building more direct relationships with content allows brands to become part of the value chain – and to become more involved in a participatory dialogue with a community around that content. Brands still need to reach audiences, and entertainment is still the best way to provide value for their attention.

While traditional TV and music sponsorship helps a brand’s positioning, it is still a one-way model that may not take into consideration new time-shifting behaviors. Partnerships that go beyond inventory and product placement can reach audiences that other media can’t (social media for example). And then there’s ownership. Dare we dream that a brand can bring back serious theater and performance. Given the right metrics and targeting, the web might the right place to see “August: Osage County” if you can’t get to Broadway.

The wild, wild “Wilderness Downtown”

I’m a massive fan of Arcade Fire, and in fact I’m seeing them live in October. “The Wilderness Downtown” is an AWESOME new video and a very cool interactive experience. Humans LOVE to feel like they’re contributing towards making cool things and “The Wilderness Downtown” does the trick totally with very little effort on the user’s end.

In fact, my dad, who is totally useless when it comes to technology (“oh yes, the mouse, I can see it move on the screen!”) was so blown away by the experience that he’s convinced it’s black magic — in fact, so much so he’s refusing to use the ‘damn tinternet’ ever again.

So, well done, boys at Google Chrome and of course, Arcade Fire. It’s really an amazing example of the magic that happens when you take a killer entertainment property and partner with an awesome brand.

The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet.

Good Wired article about how it’s more about content and “getting” than searching and HTML pages. Video content goes to the head of the class.

4 thoughts on the potential of passive transmedia

I recently had the pleasure of joining the talented Jim Babb and Simeon Poulin on the “Keeping It Casual” panel of ARGFest 2010. We all took different tacks to explore what alternate reality games can learn from casual game dynamics. I focused on the potential of passive transmedia storytelling — i.e., stories that still come to the audience in multiple media but simplify the dynamics required of the player, making it easier for people to explore the narrative as it unfolds. I think it’s a crucial step to reaching larger audiences in the transmedia space.

ARGFest was an amazing event that brought together an insanely talented group of practitioners and players in the transmedia space. I forged some great working relationships with new folks over the weekend.