You’ve read the book, now watch the movie, play the play-station game and eat the branded yoghurt.

There is an underlying phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular within industry channels for a specific product; it’s called transmedia narrative.  It involves the dispersal of an individual work of fiction into different channels; books to movies, video games and even food products. The idea is create a wider channel of consumers in order to generate a greater popularity and revenue for the work itself. Henry Jenkins defines this concept in his article: “The process of integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.”

Take the Harry Potter saga, for example; it started with a book series, then was produced into films, video games, action figures, the list goes on! This allows for the Harry Potter “brand” to become a widespread phenomenon, broadening the audience over several mediums and creating several different entry points for different audiences globally.

The Harry Potter Saga

Another concept that this outlines, is that by creating different mediums of the one narrative, a certain demographic of consumer of a certain medium is drawn to another medium that they aren’t used to or comfortable with and gradually grooms them into becoming completely in love with. For example, an avid reader of the Harry Potter chronicles may never have actually played a play-station game let alone owned a play-station, yet because of its growing popularity and the offer of a completely visual and individual-controlled experience,  this consumer may feel compelled to play the play-station game to broaden their Harry Potter experience. 

I just couldn’t resist …

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