transmedia

storytelling
for nonprofits

March 2011

threespot.
Real-Life Superheroes
The term transmedia
We at Threespot have long thought of our nonprofit clients as
storytelling was made
heroic. You assemble teams of the best and brightest, who work
popular by cultural theorist
tirelessly to bring about thoughtful change. You fight, against the
odds, for ideals such as equality, justice, and compassion, often and USC professor Henry
with few resources. You help make the world a better place. Jenkins. Transmedia
storytelling is a narrative
Its our mission at Threespot to help others see you as the
superheroes you really are. We want to tell your stories with that unfolds across multiple
branding, design, and technology working in harmony to help platforms such as video,
engage your audiences and get them to understand what you books, social media,
are working toward. One way to accomplish this is to create a games, and live events.
story, whether fiction or non-fiction, that the people you are trying
The audience, now a hybrid
to reach can follow in multiple ways such as video, social media,
events, online games and, of course, websites. These types of viewer/user/player, jumps

media-jumping narratives are generally referred to as transmedia from one media to the next
storytelling. following unfolding plots and
evolving characters.

What Is Transmedia Storytelling?

Transmedia storytelling is creating a narrative that exists on
many platforms. These multifaceted experiences can cultivate
engagement for your issues, explain complex problems, and
provide multiple entry points to connect with your work.

Transmedia is not simply adapting or remaking a story, such as

the countless derivative versions of Dickens A Christmas Carol.
Rather, transmedia disperses its story worlds. Plots, characters,
settings, and other narrative conventions are scattered about,
encouraging an on-demand or hunter-gatherer approach to
interacting with a story. This mode of consumption makes a lot
of sense, given rising trends1 of people engaging with brands,
programming, and institutions on multiple screens.

1 comScores Great Expectations: How Advertising for Original Scripted TV

Programming Works Online identified that a sample 35- to 49-year-old
audience consumes 28% of their original, scripted programming in a
cross-platform manner. With 18- to 24-year-olds this cross-platform
consumption rises to 42%.

Threespot Media LLC | Transmedia Storytelling for Nonprofits P.2

The Power of Stories
In the aforementioned example of A Christmas Carol, it might be
important to remember that Charles Dickens was trying to address
the plight of the working poora goal many of your organizations 5 Transmedia Gurus
share. The stories he created, including A Christmas Carol, had To Follow on Twitter
quite an impact upon Victorians attitudes and involvement with Henry Jenkins
the issues of poverty, child welfare, and reform.2 @henryjenkins

What might a story addressing these same issues look like in Christy Dena
todays plugged-in, seemingly fractured world? If you were trying @christydena
to reach an audience of potential donors, you might create a data
visualization of a working-poor family budget, or allow younger Geoffrey Long
audience members to play a game in which the crushing weight @geoffreylong
of debt and poverty is expressed in terms of game mechanics.
Jim Babb
Or, perhaps you might use the web to develop episodic videos
@jimbabb
or blog entries created with real families struggling with these
conditions. Jeff Gomez
@Jeff_Gomez

Transmedia Entertainment
Hollywood has been using these cross-platform techniques to
build their movie and television franchises for years. And while
its often difficult in these cases to discern where basic marketing
ends and cross-platform stories begin, one can look to these
examples for inspiration and guidance for creating a successful
transmedia campaign.

Story Weaving
The Matrix
The Matrix story world is perhaps the most well-known and fully
realized example of Hollywood transmedia. The back-story of
the films was created by a series of comic books and animation
shorts. The plot of the films was moved along and concluded
by the online game. What makes The Matrix a great example of
transmedia is the means by which it prompts the viewer/user/
gamefaqs.com

player/reader to want to know more about the story and provides

them with multiple means to interact with that story world.

2 See Dickens 1851 speech on sanitary reform as a great example of how

the author also worked directly in advocacy. Heuss, Michael R. About Matrix Online cover art
Charles Dickens. Great Literature Online. 1997-2011 (4 Mar, 2011).

Threespot Media LLC | Transmedia Storytelling for Nonprofits P.3

Building a Story World
Why So Serious
In anticipation of the release of The Dark Knight, the films creators

whysoserious.com
and marketers wanted to build excitement and reveal some of the
thought that had gone into creating this new, gritty, more sinister
version of Batman3 and his home, Gotham City. The Why So
Serious campaign was a way to use different platformsprint,
digital, automated phone systems, social media, and an online Why So Serious website
gameto demonstrate the films tone and mood.

User-Created Content

theamandaproject.com
The Amanda Project
HarperCollins young adult novel, The Amanda Project, tells
the story of a teenage girl who has gone missing. The website
maintains a large community who can interact with the authors, The Amanda Project website
collaborate on the story, and immerse themselves in role-play.

Non-Fiction Transmedia
Transmedia, as a medium, is not limited to creating fictional
worlds. Outside of the commercial arena, there are many cases

wechoosethemoon.org
of thoughtful institutions, like yours, utilizing transmedia tactics to
further their causes. For example, the John F. Kennedy Librarys
We Choose the Moon campaign used a unique combination of
historical documentation, social media, and game mechanics to
celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The John F. Kennedy Librarys
Non-fiction transmedia can work well in advocacy efforts and in We Choose the Moon
campaign
speaking to potential donors, as with Greenpeaces Love Letters to
the Future.
loveletterstothefuture.com

Here are a few more projects that take a more documentary-style

approach to creating socially focused transmedia stories.

Highrise
The National Film Board of Canada presented a multi-
platform approach to exploring the social impact of living
in low-income high rises. The series incorporates online Greenpeaces Love Letters to
the Future
3 Batman and Gotham City are registered trademarks of DC Comics.

Threespot Media LLC | Transmedia Storytelling for Nonprofits P.4

 documentary video, lectures, mobile apps, interactive, and art
installations.

It Gets Better

highrise.nfb.ca
Columnist/broadcaster Dan Savage created this advocacy
project along with several LGBT rights organizations. It Gets
Better stories, in the form of user-submitted testimonials,
intertwine thematically to create awareness and community Highrise interactive
surrounding the bullying of LGBT teens.

Resist Network
Uses a combination of documentary films, online research
repositories, and community-generated ideas to create

itgetsbetter.org
awareness around social issues.

Breakthrough
Creates awareness for human rights issues through online
videos, games, and social media. It Gets Better website

Awra Amba
Filmmaker Paulina Tervo has extended her documentary film
about this egalitarian, Ethiopian village by creating a virtual

resistnetwork.com
village where users can view and tag additional interview
material and interact with an online community to discuss the
films message.

Resist Network website

Getting Started
In the examples above you saw how stories, told across multiple
platforms, can get people talking and thinking about what you do

breakthrough.tv
and who you are as an organization. But what kind of resources
and funding are required to create a story thats engaging for your
audiences? Projects that involve large-scale film production or
high-end game development will, no doubt, be costly. However,
Breakthrough website
one of the advantages of transmedia storytelling is that you have
more freedom to mix and match media types. For example, to
ensure that the production value is more cost-conscious, combine
a glossy photo sequence with a Twitter feed or use a publish-
on-demand solution that continues the story of a Facebook
awraamba.com

application. In some cases, having lower production values only

adds to the authenticity of the story youre trying to tell.

Awra Amba interactive video

Threespot Media LLC | Transmedia Storytelling for Nonprofits P.5

Rather than focusing on the how, try starting with the story
itself. Here are some story startersways to start thinking about 5 More Amazing
communicating your work in story formats. Transmedia Projects
World Without You Urgent Evoke
What would the world look like if you and your peers werent
Conspiracy for Good
fighting for what you believed in? What does your audience
think it would look like? The Harry Potter Alliance

Victory Conditions We Tell Stories

What would happen if your organization achieved your wildest
goals? For example, can you imagine what it would be like Invisible People
for a hypothetical National Smallpox Foundation now that the
disease has been eradicated?
Threespot
Walk in My Shoes
Transmedia
How can you use multiple platforms to tell the story of people
Micro Case Study
who struggle with the issues you work on? Is it a web-based
interactive documentary? Or a game that reveals the flaws of The Understanding
a corrupt system? Or, as you might have guessed, both? Campaign is a nonprofit
organization Threespot
Concept Contests
helped get off the ground
How can you involve your audience to feel empowered to
by creating a strategic,
work toward a solution? What ideas do they have about
cross-platform story. Using
how to best use funds and communication to work with
online video, Twitter, and
communities and increase donations? Online storytelling,
a user-generated/content-
perhaps like a video-based pitch, is a great framework for
focused website, The
your audience to share their thoughts and ideas.
Understanding Campaign
Space-Time Continuum was able to exceed its
Can you tell the story of your work through maps? Through Kickstarter fundraising goals
timelines? These narrative devices allow your organization and bring its message of
to communicate long-term goals, show impact, and provide compassionate cultural
insight into your working methods. exchange to a larger,
more emotionally invested
audience.

Got Ideas? Questions?

If you are interested in further discussion about how transmedia
storytelling campaigns and experiences can be used for your
nonprofit, please feel free to contact us at Threespot.
The Understanding
Campaign website

Note: All images copyright of their respective owners.

Threespot Media LLC | Transmedia Storytelling for Nonprofits P.6