In-store iPads boost connectivity

In April, Ad Age ran a story about iPad and its big future with retailers. I saw an example of this at the New York outpost of trendy British clothier All Saints, where iPads are mounted along walls packed with  vintage-style goods. 

It's hard to resist the iPads allure. One touch takes you to the 
company’s website, which is loaded with searchable product content, plus shopping tools and links to its social sites.  You can email item ideas to friends or save them to your own wish list. The AllSaints app automatically syncs its merchandise updates across iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. 

The website and social sites are smart, but wouldn't they be more compelling with some multimedia editorial -- perhaps produced by a lifestyle magazine, TV or film partner? 

T'weens Ready for Rich Transmedia Content

Worth watching: this short video clip with transmedia creator Jill Golick discussing her vision for Ruby Skye P.I., Canada’s first series of transmedia detective mysteries for tweens set for release in October 2010. The digital generation will embrace transmedia stories because they are entertaining, but richer stories can pack a bonus by being educational, too. Kids may not read books and newspapers the way we did, and why should they?  Their time can be better spent consuming rich interactive content on the web.  

Teaching Transmedia's New Storytellers

Interesting press release on the founding of StoryLabs, an international program for educating commercial storytellers in the use of multiple media channels and devices. A global team of mentors, including well-known digital producers, games creators, TV and Film writer/producers, social media and community experts, and transmedia content creators, will lead presentations, seminars, workshops and incubators.  StoryLabs are being set up in London, New York and Sydney. 

Hip Fashion Brands Showcase New Collections & Emerging Music Talent

A recent story in the Financial Times looks at how fashion labels are connecting with young audiences through music. Example: Burberry, the venerable British brand now targeted at 20-something hipsters, launched Burberry Acoustic, described as part record label, part talent scout – devoted to showcasing emerging artists. Visit live.burberry.com to see the brand’s smart (and efficient) use of music across its digital/social platforms. Burberry will do well should it extend into narrative transmedia. It’s got creative vision, a vibrant brand story and an engaged multimedia audience to boot.

The FT article cites other brand-music collaborators, most notably Gucci, Hilfiger and the British lifestyle brand Jack Willis.  

NBC Universal Chief on Monetizing Transmedia

Interview clip: Recently on MSNBC Morning Joe, Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's chief,  said the proliferation of new media will drive the use of transmedia to market shows as integrated brands. Monetizing the multimedia mix remains a challenge, he said. 

"Simple," According to Genius Storyteller Cole Porter

Cole Porter was a master storyteller. This YouTube clip features his 1934 song "Miss Otis Regrets," performed by Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase. Sure, the clip is old, but what better example of timeless storytelling?  Today, the art and craft of simple, great storytelling is timely as ever. "Simple" is hard to do, of course, and it helps to seek out and studying classics like this one.

Will Transmedia Drive TV's New Golden Age?

New York Times/David Carr’s interview with Time Warner’s chief Jeffrey Bewkes considers television’s future, and whether big budget programs will remain TV's competitive edge. Viewing habits are changing with the proliferation of new screen formats and on-demand entertainment, but TV should thrive in the age of transmedia. Programming will be richer no doubt, and so will profits as long as the new media mix can be monetized.