I’ve developed about half a dozen 3D projection mapping projects, but this one was by far the most demanding.

We were faced with challenges galore: 14 surfaces of assorted shapes and sizes, a 1,500 lumen projector (rather weak), a budget of $0, two people and a 48-hour deadline. Alas, we beat our deadline by two whopping hours, all while running on fumes and black gold.

We transformed a small dark room into a sprawling cityscape. A Coldplay-inspired music bed and a poignant voiceover track helped transport the audience into the story, pixel by pixel, building by building. It was fresh, captivating and emotive. Flat video on screens just doesn’t compare with the potential for immersion offered by a multi-sensory AR installation.

Video soon to come.

A little peek at the 4-canvas projection-mapping installation we developed last week… It was the fruit of 3 sleepless nights and a whole lot of energy drink.

Our brief was to take corporate storytelling to the next level. I think we gave PowerPoint a run for its money.

Whether I am working in the entertainment, advertising, or tech spaces, there remains one tie that binds it all: immersive storytelling. I fuse brands, technologies, performers, screenwriters, venture capitalists, and the like, with audiences — with the intention of persuading someone to take an intended action. It could be to buy a product, feel an emotion, stand up for a cause, flip the channel or share something with friends. You see, there is infinite power in storytelling. 

In my most recent blog post, I expanded upon the catalyst of this philosophy — Aristotle’s famed treatise on the art of persuasion, On Rhetoric. As I mentioned, the most effective stories judiciously incorporate ethos (an appeal to the authority or transparency of the speaker), pathos (an appeal to the audience’s emotions) and logos (an appeal built upon logic). It takes a meticulously-refined blend of these three rhetorical devices to encourage a person to take action — and some actions, be it the purchase of a house or the verdict of a trial, are harder to compel than others.

Frankly, nothing is more fulfilling to me than being approached with a challenging problem and developing & implementing a storytelling program that brings an effective solution to fruition. As such, I was particularly entranced by an NPR News story from early January that drew attention to a rather creative approach to one of the year’s most significant political missions.

In less than 10 years, America has reportedly spent over $6 Billion in an effort to assemble a police force in post-war Afghanistan — including the purchase of weapons, construction of police academies and hiring of defense contractors to lead the training of new recruits. Despite the exorbitant price-tag, Obama’s plans haven’t performed quite as well as expected, namely because the country’s citizens collectively have little trust in the Afghan National Police.

Says a recent Newsweek article:

“…in a United Nations poll last fall, more than half the Afghan respondents said the police are corrupt. Police commanders have been implicated in drug trafficking, and when U.S. Marines moved into the town of Aynak last summer, villagers accused the local police force of extortion, assault, and rape.”

Tough problem, eh? And you’re telling me that storytelling can solve this?

Take a listen to the Morning Edition story:

That’s right. A Hollywood-caliber television series, Eagle Four, was developed by a production company in association with the Afghan government with the key intention of turning around the citizens’ negative perception of the country’s security forces. The crime-thriller, in the vein of 24, was actually co-conceived and almost entirely funded by the US government as a piece of new-age propaganda. As the Wall Street Journal describes it, the show follows four elite police officers as they “battle insurgents across Kabul while receiving intelligence tips from computer-jockeying female colleagues back at headquarters.” You read that correctly; two of the show’s four police leads are women, further combatting the rampant sexism within the country’s law enforcement sector. The NPR story mentioned that Eagle Four has indeed played a significant role in changing the perception of the Afghan police force — and even adds that some now see the police as heroes.

“The show is trying to overcome people’s distrust of the police by portraying the police as ‘protectors’.. The United States Embassy provides funding for the program to encourage a dialogue among Afghans about the role of the police in society and their growing capabilities.”

One of the producers goes on to note that during the shooting of the first season he heard a real Afghan policeman profess to his comrades that “we have to be like Eagle Four.” And as nearly half of the country reportedly watches television regularly, it is reasonable that this comparatively small investment illustrates a likely weapon of change within similar regions undergoing rapid transformation.

Not to be crass (as bringing order to a war-stricken country is no small feat), but this scenario simply represents the current global marketing landscape. Immersive storytelling is what drives action. B2C, B2B, C2C, G2C matters not. People make personal and business decisions based on emotional, logical and idealistic appeals.

Sometimes it takes putting something in a wholly different perspective for it to make sense. While I am not out fighting wars today, the principles of rhetoric remain the same. The pen is mightier than the sword, eh?

(Check out this amazing New York Times behind-the-scenes photo essay of Eagle Four)

Graphic via Filmz.rus

I’ve been approached three times this weekend with questions on the topic of “transmedia”. The buzzword has found its way into my lexicon, and as if I’m speaking in foreign tongue, my friends, family and colleagues frequently solicit further definition. Typically my response is as such:

Transmedia is platform agnostic storytelling. It is a strategy-driven process. At its core, transmedia strategy is constructed by pinpointing the appropriate medium(s) for the development, distribution and monetization of a story, most often accomplished by examining the target audience’s behaviors, the available technologies, the breadth of immersion and intended top-level objectives.

Academic definition aside, the transmedia approach has driven the entertainment business for some time – and is now finding a rightful home in the marketing and advertising realms. Take Batman. What started as a minor character in Issue #27 of 1939’s Detective Comics has emerged as a global franchise. Batman eventually received his own comic book, followed by live-action and animated television series, a succession of box office-breaking films, and video games & merchandise galore. There are immersive theme park attractions, books, radio dramas and even an [ultimately cancelled] staged musical version. 70+ years of cohesive cross-platform storytelling has made a simple piece of IP an incredibly valuable cultural and commercial asset. Good stories just can’t linger in a single channel. Smart businesses won’t let them.

Video: A pretty comical fan-generated trailer for “Batman: The Musical” featuring demo recordings of the original concept production.

Was it the story or the profit potential that drove the Batman brand expansion? Likely both. As such, I find it important to be driven by both. As they say, the story is paramount – without it, there would be nothing to profit off of. As a transmedia producer, it is my responsibility to ensure the fidelity of the story (and to make certain that it is deployed on different mediums for reasons beyond ‘economies of scale’, but rather to tell a fully captivating story.) Likewise, I focus an equal amount of attention to the business of storytelling. Financing, production, distribution, marketing, monetization and data analysis are perhaps collectively more vital to the welfare of an entertainment property than a well-written manuscript.

As mentioned earlier, businesses are increasingly finding content to be more effective a sales tool than traditional ‘brochure-ware’ tactics. Psychology plays a big role here; purchasing decisions are often made via a combination of emotional and logical appeal. How better to usher a prospect through the funnel than through the mediums in which they are already engrossed? Mobile, web, television and film brand integration, live events and video games all serve as viable channels to captivate the audience in a brand or product story. Multiply this appeal by the power of 360° immersion – surrounding the audience with a connected story across multiple platforms – and it’s easy to recognize the value of the transmedia approach.

Some do it better than others. I plan to strengthen the transmedia revolution as new platforms emerge and we collectively develop ways for stories to become even more pervasive. I have a feeling (well, an aspiration) that eventually the transmedia concept won’t need explanation.

2011 is the year… I can feel it.