Transmedia guru Jeff Gomez has leveraged Mattel's "Hot Wheels" brand on multiple platforms
When I was a kid, my Hot Wheels cars raced across the kitchen floor on these floppy plastic tracks. Perhaps the most daring stunts I attempted with them was to prop up one of the tracks on blocks and have the cars jump over canned fruit.
Today, playtime is more complicated and has much higher stakes. These cars are now engaged in defending Planet Earth against hostile aliens. Here’s the premise behind the Cartoon Network’s hit show, “Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5.”
“Evil forces are trying to invade Earth, and it’s up to a team of teenage driving aces to stop them. The Gateways to Earth are interdimensional battlezones, each offering a dangerous and unique challenge. The team must win the battle to control the roads between worlds.”
Media guru Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, is the brainchild behind the intergalactic cartoon franchise — which extends across comic books, video games and compelling Web content, creating multiple ongoing revenue streams. By doing so, he has infused new energy into a classic brand, making it far more relevant and appealing to today’s demanding generation of media consumers.
Here’s how Gomez explained the transmedia advertising approach in a Q & A with Forbes Magazine:
“In today’s interconnected world, young adults, teens and even kids have become so comfortable with media technology that they flow from one platform to the next. The problem is that their content is not flowing with them. As a discipline, transmedia provides us with a foundation for the development, production and rollout of entertainment properties or consumer brands across multiple media platforms. Transmedia creates the flow. Instead of repeating the plots over and over again for each medium, creators can continue and expanded their storylines, generating dazzling mythologies and complex narratives.”
Consider Mattel a die-hard disciple of this philosophy. The company is now reportedly developing a new series of toy characters based on an undersea alien world, with a Hollywood movie script built in to the product line.
No matter what you are selling, the transmedia approach makes sense. TV, Web banners and print ads are all a waste of time if they don’t engage the viewer with a compelling storyline or motivation to participate. The approach works with ANY product. When was the last time you saw your friends get excited over their napkins or paper towels?
Well, relying on a little creativity and humor, Bounty got more than a half million people to click on their new commercial in just over a month. Remember, people are supposed to want to fast forward through commercials, not forward links to their friends. The TV ad features laboratory scientists testing the strength and resiliency of Bounty by holding up billiard balls. Take a look!
Pongr’s recent campaign with luxury brand advertisers is another great example of transmedia in action. The campaign lured fashion hounds with a $1,000 shopping spree contest, instant discount coupons delivered directly to their cell phones and the desire to wear the same designs as Jennifer Aniston.
The interactive Pongr model of using cell phone cameras and text-emailing picture messages to instantly respond to visual stimuli (print magazines, street kiosks and billboards) is the future. Digital media is not replacing traditional media. Engaging consumers across multiple media platforms only requires a compelling narrative. The mobile handsets, wireless infrastructure and social networks already exist.
Once you know your story, your reason why consumers will WANT to interact with you, please contact us to brainstorm how to execute your vision. Maybe we can’t help you save the world like Battle Force 5, but we have lots to share about selling more products!
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Tags: Hot Wheels, Jeff Gomez, Mattel, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Transmedia
