Cross Media Storytelling

Look at this beautifull url Cross Media Storytelling

Looking at co-creation as a business model

This dutch article investigates the business that has developed around large players in the digital domain, like eBay, Apple and Google. Services are developed to help you sell on eBay, or accesories are developed for using the Apple iPod as a radio. Add-ons to the business by third parties, called 'feeder business'. It is another example of users getting interactive and co-creative, producing material around a basic service or product and getting paid for that. Apple is asking a share of the profit and is choosing to embrace this development, offering the products for sale with their main offerings, instead of fighting over IPR. I think it is the new business model in a crossmedia environment.
Emerce - Media/Marketing: Feeder business: slim of slinks?

Let the games begin..

Dutch mediatycoon de Mol has won his first round in the Dutch broadcastbatle for next season (august 2005) when he will start up his channel. He gained the rights for airing the most wanted socker material, the sunday primetime round-ups. There has been a lot of speculation in the Dutch media around the bidding, delivering de Mol plenty of precious free publicity for his new endeavour. He holds a share of 41% in Versatel the company that gained the rights to airing the live matches of the big sockerteams, previously the rights were held by Canal +, that is the big looser yesterday. They have lost there unique selling position and not leaving much interesting for abonnees to pay the premium. That the round-ups only delivers some 6 net-hours of television a week and there is still about 39 hours to fill is what de Mol mentioned in an interview yesterday. It looks like a lot of opportunity and a lot of new offerings (digital channels as well) De Mol could have just stayed at home and enjoyed his wealth, but he just loves to play. It will be an exciting new year, so let the games begin...

Interesting Idea

this looks interesting but still vague. A lot of channels will be involved.. okay but how. We'll see in the next year.
Urbanology Group 100% communication

Like a puppet on a string

Do you ever feel like a puppet on a string? I do.
Even in this fast changing media landscape there are players that have large influence on crossmedia developments. Like the large media conglomerates. Jenkins (MIT) has shown his concern about this and he has a point. On the other hand I think that big conglomerates will find they need to work together co-creating new content with co-creating users and new entrants. It is all in the spin

Good work from Christy, our aussie crossmedia source

take a look at this elaborate work by Christy, which is very practical when searching for the exact sources of terms. Cross Media Storytelling

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Broadcast | 2004 TV shows fail to generate mass audiences

Here we go.. the UK model where digital and interactive television is reality for some years now, shows the divergence of the broadcasting landscape taking place. I will come back to that in my article for the European Commission that is based on the networking session at the IST event. Off course it will be posted here also.
MediaGuardian.co.uk Broadcast 2004 TV shows fail to generate mass audiences

Podcasting to Transform Media Consumption?

With the use of RSS feeds and MP3 technology AND podcasting it is possible to deliver radio on your phone WITHOUT technological difficulty. AND interesting is you can also deliver video via MP3. What a way to start your own mobisodes..(article before) I will have to look into this further. Looks very interesting and in line with "open content" movement of crossmedia communication mentioned earlier. But, how to make money as a content producer? Heineken has embraced the technology and with a elaborate album of music events is looking into the possibilities. Kim Dingler, communication manager at Heineken really understands how to make crossmedia communication. Here is a very bright lady at work. She started up Sixpack, a niche program on the Dutch broadcast channel SBS 6 aired in the cheap late hours (probably for free as a courtesy to a good advertiser); Six Pack is young skewed and attracting a lot of spin with their activities, like "stalking" George Clooney and being the first to have a short interview with him and Brad Pitt on the set of Ocean Twelve in Amsterdam (though I dear to ask if Heineken is going to be an influential advertiser in and around the film ;-). Six Pack is ready to go further as a niche channel or anywhere in the digital environment. Long ago Heineken has already stept into music events and is now getting to pick up the sweeter fruits of that decision. Heineken can, as an advertiser, explore new ways of making contact with their audiences, that will be cost-effective in the long run and has relevant return on investments for Heineken as a global company with some very large brands in portfolio. That is the role of Heineken as an advertiser, with a brand 'story' to be played out in several channels. But here is another role; that of Heineken as a publisher of a library of live music events. They can give away the music content as a service to their audience, gaining much sympathy. Or they may investigate selling the content directly? It is an interesting question when you look at the value chain of crossmedia communication. An advertiser becoming a publisher? It has been mentioned before but it did not work this way before. But if publishing is for everybody (open content) why not for the advertiser? To own interesting content and give it away to loyal customers would be a relevant model? Adrants: Podcasting to Transform Media Consumption

Mobisodes: mobile '24' by Vodafone

Interesting new format by Vodafone mentioned in the weblog of Christy Dena; 24 one minute movie episodes for your 3 G mobile phone. Not really crossmedia, although I am thinking right away to adopt this in a crossmedia format. The mobisodes are inspired by the '24' series. And I must say '24' has inspired me too, that is their format of split screens for simultaneous events at the same time. I find it very usefull in the crossmedia whodunits that I am developing at intervals at the moment. '24' is revolutionairy as it is the first TV series of 24 actual hours. In my opinion it also shows some of the evolving syntax of crossmedia communication. To make a series of 24 chronological hours and still keep a consistent and intens story with good tension building in every hour is a challenge indeed. But you wouldn't want your normal everyday to look like a 24 Bauers' day now would you? http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=ViewNewsArticle&ID=227432

ITV: Profitable channels without advertising?

ITV is looking into shopping, gaming and auction channels as a way to make money beyond the advertiser-funded model. ITV is expecting to be able to make profits with this approach. With ever more channels arising, and I expect this growth to be exponential in 2005, offerings will become more diversified. ITV is seeking to directly cash through the content that is aired in a way of keeping airtime profitable. I am very interested at the success rate of this. C21Media:

ECP meeting on Digital Rights Management

Today I visited the yearly ECP.NL meeting in the Hague. ECP.NL wants to enforce the Dutch international position using electronic means. Todays' meeting was on the Digital Rights Management(DRM). First, what is DRM? "Some kind of electronic system that allow producers to establish copyright and enable the use of the material" according to a representative of the Dutch Department of Justice. "A contractual arrangement other then copyright, because rules may differ per contract AND the ability of a technical system to control the kind of use the consumer is making of the material" according to sollicitor Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm. So, not a clear agreed upon definition yet. In such cases I like to name some common seen characteristics of DRM:
- A set of business rules
- on several kinds of uses people can make of content
- of which a contractual arrangement is concluded
- translated into a technical script enabling the producer to control that only the agreed on use of material is executed and no other than that.

The motives for developing DRM are very much coming from the content industry (mainly music and more and more film) trying to find cures for the fast eroding profits on copyrights because of illegal copying of digital material. With DRM the industry is hoping to solve this problem.. and get people back into paying for music and film. As a content producer I also want material to be protected and in some way paid for, but.. The development of DRM is based on restoring a situation that can never be restored again, that of a mighty music and film industry dictating 'mechanical revenues'; revenues from CD and DVD sales. The situation is changing towards an industry much more dependant on 'synchronisation revenues'; revenues from the use of music in other channels, games, mobile phones. Crossmedia revenues other then selling purely the music. Another important issue not considered is that of the consumer getting more interactive and thereby changing from consumer to producer. What is the juridical situation here? Is this content coming from interactivity still the proprietary domain of the producer starting a story or is the input the property of the consumer/producer? What is the measure for eventual shifting ownership of content?

NRC Handelsblad - Binnenland: Hirsi Ali is working on the sequel of Submission

Hirshi Ali, the Dutch Parlimentariar that lives in hiding ever since Theo van Gogh was murdered for producing Submission Part I, her manifest against suppression of women in the islamic community. She is currently working on the sequel to Submission, part II then. She is also busy writing a book, titled: Shortcut enlightment. At the moment she is not attending the parliament and she seems to be unable to do her work because of the threats to her live. Instead Hirshi Ali is taking the crossmedia approach to influence the discussion! Because her film and book will definitely be referenced, as the fact that she is working on that is enough to stir up debate today.
This link refers to an article in Dutch. International newspapers will surely follow in the next coming hours or days. Since the murder has had a high profile in foreign newspapers
NRC Handelsblad - Binnenland: Hirsi Ali werkt aan vervolg op Submission

Abstracts ||Digital Arts and Culture::2003

Find out some very good stuff on several crossmedia issues here.
Abstracts ||Digital Arts and Culture::2003

Associated Press' Curley: 'The franchise is the content'

AP has committed to letting the content (the story) be at the center of everything; 'the franchise is the content itself"
By setting up a new office Curly (CEO of AP) has transgressed this notion onto his operational organisation. Central starting point is the story, no separate isles with photo, foreign countries, graphic designs etcetera again. Instead specialists can gather any moment to decide how to organise the playout of the story through several available channels.

As I have mentioned many times in the past, telling a crossmedia story requires a different organisation form than traditional one-medium companies. Ever so often forgetting about this crucial element lies at the heart of failure in crossmedia formats. Today media are most of the time, still organised as separate isles floating in ever more rumorous and insecure waves of the fast changing media landscape. As Curey mentioned so excellent of the views of the wise media philosopher Marshal McLuhan: He was halfway right when he said: the medium is the message. It is the other way around.. the message is the medium.

Curley" "Competition for "eyeballs" is fierce, and the industry has yet to understand all its implications -- "...like how to free our content from those expensive containers we've created -- the newspaper, the broadcast and the Web site -- and tagging our news for delivery in discrete places, on demand. And keeping control of our intellectual property."
ONA HOLLYWOOD: Curley: 'The franchise is the content'

Finding a blueprint for crossmedia communication

After having experienced a very inspiring networking session at the IST Event(thank you all attendants!) I am working on the paper as a result of the session. Just a few notes on the session.. The audience was definitely split in two. With one half having expected something completely different and leaving early, and the other half not knowing yet, but curious enough to stay and finally very enthusiastic about the session and the brainstorm element at the end! Ben Schouten held an inspiring presentation asking more filosofical questions on the emergence of biosensing in our everyday lives. Sonja Kangas gave a real eye opener by approaching the way in which content will be produced as maybe analog with what is happening in the field of open source for software. Can we expect an open content movement? I think that this may very well become true and even faster than we may expect. While traditional media companies are thinking and worying about how to protect their IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) in a digital environments, newcomers do not have any wory about that. They only follow the need to express themselves or to publish their ideas and thoughts. Much like the immense popularity of this means, the blog. It is a fact today that traditional media use blogs as a news source other then the means they normally had. The same will probably be true for other forms of content, produced by "amateurs" they may very well be what people are looking for!

A bit posh but good informed blog on Dutch situation

This is a blog I visit now and then, because it has nice articles, sometimes fresh news and comments on the Dutch mediamarket. Therefore the blog is in Dutch (sorry international readers). The editor tries to analyse a lot of the movements in the Dutch market. He is very much into all the stuff he thinks John de Mol is up to. It is a blog many Dutch media people read and today he was even quoted by an official advertising magazine as a source (to get jealous of.. right!) The guy who edites the blog definitely expects to address de Mol personally and that is a bit the annoying thing about it.. you can read the ..... kissing. At the same time that is also the very fun thing of it too.
He claims the term crossmedia for his work (as do more people nowadays). He has an elaborate explanation for that. Not a very clear picture yet, but a good one.
Venturo: strategy & business development

BT is changing the economics of broadcasting

BT is working on its Rich media solutions for years now and Stephen Gale of BT says they will change the economics of broadcasting. By offering cheap satellite links to stream material directly from location to a website as well as offering broadband TV.

He is right about that. Making it cheap to uplink AND the shift towards public MAKING content will drastically change the model!
The shift has already set in significantly with all population under 25 years. Crossmedia communication is the modus operandus here! It is not such a big step for some of these users to go and actually produce. I hope to show and proof to you soon that this is true.


C21Media:

Next big thing may be a virtual thing!

They do nice things.. indeed. BBC is getting into crossmedia storytelling. Early 2005 an interactive narrative is planned.. about a virtual boy band. Taking Popstars The Rivals into the next dimension? Who can tell..the next big thing may even be a virtual thing!
preloaded . : . we do nice things . : . we could do them for you too . . . . . .

BBC - Spooks - Games: Spy Academy

Did not mention this project on the blog yet, but have been following it from the start, take a look and you will know whyBBC - Spooks - Games: Spy Academy

Institute Laboratory for Mixed Realities

In preparation of my networking session on crossmedia next week I saw these people exhibiting an iTV project that looks highly interesting.
Institute Laboratory for Mixed Realities

Too vulnerable advocates of change

It is not my usance to make any political comment on this weblog if it is not about crossmedia. Today one of the most provocative advocates of free speech in the Netherlands (probably at this time the only real provocative) Theo van Gogh, has been shot in Amsterdam, after he first brought his son to school. Theo van Gogh was a cineast, writer and television program maker, with a strong opinion about various issues. Besides that he is one of the first cineasts who made creative use of the internet to give his opinion. Because he was not wary of insulting people personally, many media where afraid of working with him, due to large juridical claims. So he used the internet, his own weblog (www.degezonderoker.nl) too give his opinion on various issues. Because he also had difficulty getting his films distributed (he was first of all a cineast) he is one of the first cineasts that uses the internet to distribute his films. He just finished a first cut of ' 0605' a film about the murder on Pim Fortuyn (a murder that caused a political earthquake in this little country). Film distributors refused to publish his previous film "Cool" so he published it on the internet. This film '0605' tells about a complot against the rise of Pim Fortuyn, where the AIVD (the Dutch Intelligence Service) was informed about the assult on the life of Pim Fortuyn by Volkert van der Graaf. He had very strong opinions about the radical Islam. He recently made a political short movie called "Submisson" where veiled women with naked bodies covered by transparant material had Koran texts writen on their bodies. The women made statements about abuse and the vulnerable position of battered women in the Islamic community. The film is a pamflet of Ayan Hirshi Ali a Dutch liberal politician. She made the film together with Theo van Gogh. It was seen as very provocative by the Islamic Community in the Netherlands.

Theo van Gogh was a very intelligent man, using his provocations to let people see the borders of their own opinions. In order to let people see other possible views it is important we first understand the borders of our own opinions. We are living in a changing world, today; 2 november is a very important day for the whole world with the final episode in the race for the White House in America. Change is always marked by great resistance of people having to leave their 'safe' positions. We have not been carefull enough of people like Theo van Gogh, they are too vulnerable advocates of change.

Three views on crossmedia communication

Maybe this is a little vain, but I am proud that my definition of crossmedia communication is mentioned in this MGAIN report, which is interesting stuff to read for all you crossmedia thinkers out there.

IST Event 2004 Crossmedia Discussion

My proposal for a networking session on crossmedia on the upcoming IST Event has been approved. I am looking forward to an inspiring discussion, please attend!

IST Event 2004

Today's comments on republished articles

I find regularly people are looking for these articles and cannot find them, now they are online again.

Republishing articles 3: How to make money with crossmedia storytelling

Published in 2003 on Europemedia by Monique de Haas

How to make money with crossmedia storytelling

Now, here is what you must have been waiting for. After that I have analysed the structure of interactive storytelling and discussed the how to’ s, it’s time to show you the money!

Interactive storytelling is done by use of cross media communication. When we look at commercial communication, intelligent cross media communication will;
1. Bring you financial advantage
2. Enlarge and deepen the brand experience for consumers

There are many ways of using interactive storytelling in Business to Business communications, which will be profoundly beneficial in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, but I will start with Business to Consumer communication. Generally seen as the most difficult area to make money using interactive media. Commercial communication in this field is predominated by the work of advertising agencies. To start with: I think that however brilliant Ad agencies may be at producing 30 seconds commercials, they will loose territory to cross media communication. Because…

Instead of just sending a one dimensional advertising message to your target group, with cross media communication, you will be able to enter into a multi dimensional dialogue with your target group(s).

A good commercial, however creative it may be, will only be able to communicate 1 up to 3 unique points about your brand and product. While at the same time and for the same amount of money, you are able to communicate on several information levels at the same time with cross media. Serving several information needs, that different consumers have, at the same time! In other words, you can;
• expose a brand in multiple media channels,
• supply the consumer with diverse information that will influence the attitude towards your brand or product and..
• you may even influence the intention to buy your product.
You can do all that and not pay more than you would for your advertising campaign! It is probable that your advertising agency will not support this view. Making an interactive story is very different from producing a 30 seconds spot. A field where advertising agencies can not service you. You need cross media specialists.

The first advantage of crossmedia communication is that you obtain more and diverse effects with your target group. The second advantage is that you will gain financial advantage. Because you as a narrator are in control over which media channels are being offered to the consumer to engage in the interactive story, you can choose efficient channels like the internet or even, if you wish, make money on the reply consumers give by using premium rate telephony or SMS. So you save on expensive media channels to build reach and contacts and still get the reach and contacts!

In 2003 more advertisers may feel the pressure on their budgets because of the recession. Smart ones start looking into interactive storytelling as a means of getting more of their goals reached for the same amount of money (or maybe even less!),

Republishing articles: 2 The experience of crossmedia communication

Published on Europemedia in 2002 by Monique de Haas

In the midst of the internethype Pine and Gilmore’s “The experience economy” was first published (1999). It gathered large groups of fans in a short period of time. But then the
bubble snapped and distrust against any vision from that period grew. ‘The experience economy is dead’, advertising agencies told their clients (feeling awkward to get out of sync with what was going on). So they proclaimed of the experience economy “It was just a fading vogue…” But that’s why your classical advertising agency is really a dinosaur in disguise. They just don’t get it!

A lot of ‘beautiful’ ideas that didn’t deserve any second thought gathered millions from investors that didn’t get it, but wanted to be in the game.. Advertising agencies told investors that a lot of money needs to be invested in creating the online brand, … of whatever…(which actually is a brand I discovered recently).. Just put a lot of communication budget into it and let our creative interactive department make you a wonderful website, then off course we need to make a great campaign to build the brand…” Sure, you need to invest a lot at first, but then in let’s say two years tops, everybody will be on the internet just looking to get to your website, because dear client you have invested all that money in building your online brand, and that’s why you need to do so..” Well… we all know how that story ended..

Now lets get back to basics. It all starts with a relevant product or service, so that’s something a lot of investors didn’t get (yet). But as they lick their wounds and evaluate their actions, by now they must be older and wiser. Good, because you need to know the rules of the game, in order to get playing. So it actually starts with what you have to tell, your story needs to be relevant for the people if they are willing to give you any of their valuable little time. The story that is, if you are an advertiser, what is your product or service and why is it relevant to people?

Now that we have gathered our strengths for the hard times to come, we need to shift the good ideas from the bad ones and Pine and Gilmore’s “experience economy” belongs to the good ones. I would like to look at it from a crossmedia perspective. As you might probably know I am a propagandist of using stories to give information to people and more precisely I am a strong propagandist of using the structure of stories to guide cross media usage for the public.
Pine and Gilmore proclaim we are transforming from a service economy to an experience economy. We need to look upon business as performing in a theatre and I do agree. Pine and Gilmore are a typical product of their American culture and a lot of the cases they make couldn’t work that way in other environments. That’s because stories are context- limited. To me it is eminently clear, not that we are transforming to an experience economy, but that we have at all times been an experience economy, from the time of Aristotle and probably long before. We are people and we need stories to understand our worlds.

Stories are the food for meaning.

The structure of stories is embedded in our DNA’s, transcended from generation to generation. Crossmedia communication is just a new way of telling stories. Old wine in new bags for that matter. But because of the possibility of large scale interactivity with the story, it is a profound new way of telling stories. While we still tell stories, the way we do is changing in a matter that will affect the structure of stories. Then we get great new bags and maybe really refreshed wine.

With crossmedia communication and interactive scenario’s we try to establish an experience for the people using that scenario. As crossmedia communicators we are directors of experiences, where people make use of different media channels to undergo that experience and to influence the desired outcome of it. Let me make this conclusion, take away ‘The experience economy” out of the dust it is gathered in your bookshelf and read it again, because this book isn’t closed yet..

Republishing articles 1: Rules of interactive storytelling in cross media communication

Published in 2002 on Europemedia by Monique de Haas.

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In an interactive scenario the receiver is part of the story. He can give direction to the storyline he wants to consume, or so he will perceive. This perception is crucial, for if you actually give him an totally open role, you may not be able to give direction to your story anymore. In a crossmedia setup, with an open ended role in the story line for your users, it can go anywhere and will lose structure, cohesion and finally meaning, unless you are willing to go into dialogue with every single user. In which case you have created a forum, not an interactive scenario.

A good interactive scenario is able to process the interactive responses of a multitude of users at the same time. This is possible if you give your users a multitude of fixed possibilities to influence the storyline. You will have a story that has several different but fixed storylines from which the user can choose. It will still give the user the perception of choice and the feeling he may actually influence his own storyline, which is true. Because the user has a choice in the interactive story where he has none in a linear story.

Rule # 1: Give the user a multitude of fixed possibilities to alter the storyline.

The narrator decides where the next part of the story will be. As a narrator this is the means by which you can send users from one medium to the next (and back). Going from a passive channel such as television to an interactive medium such as SMS or internet. The narrator can make this restrictive, the user can only go to one medium in order to find the next part of the story, or the narrator can give the user more than one medium where he can find the next storyline. Much may depend on the business model for the interactive scenario.

Rule # 2: The narrator directs the use of mediachannels

Because people differ in their willingness to interact, the interactive story must be layered. With the base layer, for instance a television programm, where viewers can consume a story that is attractive in itself. The interactive story makes an integral part of the television story, you can find deeper meaning and more elaborate information in the interactive channels. You can also do more with the characters in the story or find out more about the events that are happening. If you really want your public to interact you may try to “force” them into interactivity to let the story they are consuming continue. This I would not advise, at this moment, since people still need to get used to interactivity and they certainly do not want to be forced to do things they are unfamiliar with.

Rule # 3 The interactive story is a multi layered story

If you are involved in an interactive scenario it will ideally give you the feeling you have more freedom to participate in the story and to influence the outcome of a plot. This is what you want to achieve as a narrator. In order to get it working however, you need to work very structured and script your interactive story thoroughly. Nothing makes an experience feel less free than if you don’t get a response anymore because the system cannot process your input.

Rule # 4. Freedom in the interactive experience is achieved by a firm direction and structure of the interactive story by the narrator.

These “rules” are for the creator (narrator) of interactive stories and they are not strict rules that you have ot act upon each time in every project. For there will probably be many more exceptions to the rules as we evolve this interactive art of storytelling. Rather these rules are there to let you evaluate your project, if the rules are followed. And when they are not, why you may have a very good reason not to do so.

:: gamelab ::

Eric zimmerman wrote "rules of play" together with Katie Salen. This book is really one of the building blocks for the education of game developers and actually also elementary for thinking about crossmedia. What they did is take all the technical stuff out of the game descriptions and just described games, paperboard, cardgames and interactive games for what they are and what is the process of building a game. Excellent book! This site is a platform for " exploring narrative content and visual and audio styles that aren't normally found in games."

:: gamelab ::

Pre- MIPCOM movements in Dutch Market

Eyeworks takes over Swedisch TV Producer
Nova TV is the production company of NovaMedia, part of Bingo Lotto the biggest charity lottery company in Sweden. Nova media is also responsible for the National Postcode Lotterij, Sponsor Loterij and Bank Giro Loterij in the Netherlands. Nova Media is producing succesfull shows as One against Hundred and Deal or No Deal. At Endemol, producer of these formats, the take-over will not be regarded as much fun! But Telefonica has not made means available when they first started the sale of the company and asked Endemol to buy first. For now Eyeworks is only to produce the swedisch television programms, but inevitably the ties between Novamedia and Eyeworks are getting closer. Eyeworks is working hard on the international growthstrategy of the company. Being close to Novamedia is not so bad for business then.

More and more it seems like Endemol is losing the race in its own territory, the Dutch market. A lot of it is caused by arrogance at being the biggest, the best in the last five to ten years (and boy where they annoying!). Endemol had the attitude it could do everything they wanted. But in this market it is not how big your name is, it is not how much money you have been bougth for that makes you a market leader in the long run. It is passion that drives this industry. Passion and talent. These very volatile 'assets' are upmost important and as the Endemol case shows very hard to secure. With the market speeding up, creating even more possibilities through crossmedia business models, you are definitely only as big as the passion and talent that your are able to enclose in your company for every moment. It is all.. and I mean all about PEOPLE.
My experience is that there are a lots of people who want to work in this industry. The glitter and glamour still seems to appeal to lots of them. But there are only few that are talented enough to see beyond the boundaries of the present ideas and possibilities, to create new beautifull things.

Eyeworks is putting most of its creative talent in the deal making right now or so it seems. I have not seen many new interesting formats lately. Let's just wait and see what they will come up with next.

Dutch Mediatycoon De Mol is breeding up new strategy

John de Mol released himself of his ties at Endemol at the beginning of this year. Famous for a combined talent for business as well as creating television formats, it is the uphand of his business obligations at Telefonica owned Endemol, that made him very tired. That and the suffocating success of Big Brother, which became his own golden cage. But we do not need to be sorry for John de Mol for he has cashed in on his success twice in the last four years making him a biljonair mediatycoon. So ' everybody' has been waiting for what he is going to do next with his private capital that by Forbes is estimated at 1,6 billion Euro.
A truck load full of people are allready offering him his services and proclaiming they definitely want to work for him.
It seems he has endless choice and possibilities? Last week he has sought up publicity with his deal to fill the eveningslots of Nickelodeon in the Netherlands ( The reach of Nickelodeon in the Netherlands territory is 97%. He has bought up the rights of all away games of the National League (for an estimated all high of ninehundred thousand Euro per play). In 1996 John de Mol had to swollow his loss at trying to start up Sport 7. A national commercial sports channel. It did not work out. I think: The reasons not being that people did not want to have a sports channel, as is much presumed. But.. It had to happen to fast. For a succesfull sportschannel you need most of the leading leagues. It takes time to secure these rights. So Sport 7 did not have those rights to start with and to much airtime had to be filled with sportevents of the lower leagues. And you may even do that, take up an unknown event or sport, market it very cleverly and make it very big, as was done with darts by SBS 6 in the Netherlands (and boy did they pay nothing when they first started airing this). Anyway Sport7 missed a clearly worked out sender profile, good formats and keen marketing to help bring interest in several sports and the schedule up. Remaining is the basic idea of a sports channel in a sportloving country as the Netherlands.. which is still very strong. It seems now John de Mol can take time to build up his channel. He aims at two broad family networks. Maybe one male skewed with sports and the other more female/ family skewed. In the Netherlands everything John de Mol does attracts a lot of attention, opinion and publicity.

But, what most got most of my interest last week, where his remarks on convergence in "Adformatie" (39, 23 september 2004): "I am convinced that - and I seem to be alone in this - the TV market will change dramatically the next coming years. Digitalising, cable, broadband internet, new platforms. The good news being that another business model is emerging. A part of the business will always be GRP based, but I see advertisers massively on the look out for new ways of communicating other then the 20 seconds spots."

His remarks on how this will work now where even more interesting: "On the forefront there will be a great free-to-air TV station, generating mass. It will work as a net where all fish will swim into. The first magnet will be a grand populair television programm reaching one million viewers, and that will be narrowed further more, where there will be a better focused and more profound interest in the communication. At the end of the narrowing net there will be one-to-one communication, by means of gsm, internet or whatever. In Holland I want to create an ideal convergence model. Radio, tv and content will play a role in that. You do not need to own these channels, because there is no scarcity. You do need to be in control of the scarce elements, such as creativity".

I don't think he is the only on who thinks this way, I do agree anyway and my experiences are similar that there is not much awareness of the fast changing medialandscape in the Netherlands! Especially his last remarks tend toward a better view on crossmedia communication. I do agree with de Mol on his analysis of a changing landscape. There are many turtles in this market, they will not be able to speed up to new developments and will be left behind. I like turtles by the way, I like the slow way they move. They will be great in their own trend, the slow motion.

I like his remarks on convergence, the narrowing net does present a lot of my ideas on crossmedia communication. But it is a broad view and the proof will be in the production of a truly inspiring crossmedia format. Currently I am working on at least three formats.
I am looking for a channel that is willing to negotiate on this...

digital storytelling

Yesterday I was at the IBC in Amsterdam.
Seen some new stuff and off course some familiar people.
I bought a book called Digital Storytelling by Carolyn Handler Miller.
Yet another expression for the new form of storytelling.
I was very pleased to find out that she does have the same basic
ideas about crossmedia productions. Check it out.

Polder crossmedia

Mediamatic

I didn't mention this organisation yet. They are very much in the same state of mind as I am, regarding the development of crossmedia communication. I followed a course on interactive storytelling there, more than a year ago, that' s how I get to knew them. I wanted to know about their crossmedia models, but we worked with one system called the korsakov, you can find information on their website. It was nice to do, but you were restrained to this one system which was a bit of a pity because a workshop on interactive storytelling should be much broader than that. Good was that they approach the subject with a hands on mentality. For crossmedia communication their work is certainly relevant. Have a look!

How about someting new on television, please..

I used to work exclusively on television programmes and it is still a great love of mine. So I cannot help but keep on watching what is happening in the broadcast industry. Traditionally the last two seasons of the year, autumn and winter are the moneymaking seasons because advertising rates are at their highest, due to the most public available. It is also the place where new programmes are launched, and producers hope for their programmes to be the "next big thing". A big thing is Pop Idol or Big Brother. Sadly the next initiatives are copycats of the original big thing with a little twist in it. In Holland where Big Brother started its enormous worldwide success, the program is not scheduled due to two last seasons where the people lost interest in it very fast. And lets be honest after one episode you know the concept and it is done. You don't want to waste any more time on wannabees eating theire noses. I think we had the best BB ever, because the first time those people really didn't know what was happening outside. After that the format changed forever because people knew what they where doing. Isn't it just plain terrible looking at all those fucked up wannabee icons playing their lives. But back to the current schedule. We are still in the aftermath of reality programming with shows like detoxing former stars, and common people wanting famous fases and bodies. So they build themselves as spitting images of Pamela Anderson, who else. In holland we see a lot of Pop Idol spinoffs, like finding the next big band. Or to keep with the twins, finding the most spitting examples.

What I am missing very much is a grand "old fashioned" show with whole new interactive twists. And I cannot get it, because the time is so now, so right now to do that. What are you all doing at Endemol, Granada and Eyeworks?? People want that safe comfortable kind of television. Not in looking back at it in sentiment, but in the here and now. And better then before because you may vote along. Let's bet.. anyone!!!
If you all wake up, give me a call, right because I have already figured out some of the processes, really!

The fourth dimension of retail communication

My work is currently much related to retail communication.
Retail communication is changing rapidly. This is because retail is now able to use IP based services to its own advantage. A couple of years ago the bricks were told they would get extinct because of the bytes. Meaning that the brick and mortar shop would get extinct in favour of us buying everything on the internet. It didn't happen... for now. Let there be no mistake about it. Some products and services will be mostly internet based and the brick and mortars will get rare to extinct. The Brick and mortar music store will become such a rare species, the traditional photstore is another one.
But at the same time a pure ICT company such as Apple is investing in high profile Applestores in every important town centre. What does this mean? It means that when you need to explain features of your product it is good to get in touch with your customers. But mostly if you want to play a role in peoples lives you have to be there, in their places of worship. The function of a store for a customer is not about buying products! It is about setting projections of a better life, more comfortable, more successfull, more in style, just like the store is.. and in the store now you may actually hold products of worship in your hands...wow!!Apple I Pod is a style statement, a community building vehicle and.. oh yes, it can also store your music on a hard drive. So you have a rational argument to give into your need to be stylish and belong to the creative Apple community, which is why you actually buy the Pod. Every retailer is dreaming of getting his store or products into places of worship. He/she wants to influence his image to the customer. But how to do that best? ICT applications are getting more intelligent in the store. The publicity of RFID developments is a sign of this, although I fear another overhyped development here, it is basicly an interesting one. Currently I am working on a pilot to develop a service for retailers to actually 'see' what people do in their stores. The routes they take, the time they spent, the places they attract to and the 'dark places' that are not working for the store. This information helps the retailer to better design his store, but also to plan and design his instore communication to be most effective.
Now you have the possibility to merge interactive possibilities that the internet can give in a real environment. Mixing the real with the virtual, to enhance the story you are telling.
To me it is a very exciting instrument to test crossmedia storytelling, because in a store you can offer divers mediachannels all at once (the store itself being a mediachannel as well) and invite the customer to observe, inform or interact with the information that is offered in the store(s). How will it influence the projections of a better life, more comfortable, more successfull, more in style? Will it influence buying behaviour?

Strange Attractors - An Animation Showcase

I got this one also from Christy Dena, and I think it is very inspiring stuff! Learn how the animators animate

Strange Attractors - An Animation Showcase

Why do we all watch football when half of us not really like it?

We have just had the EK Football with its surprising winner Greece. Surely a good Greek Sportsummer this year as it has only just started.
But the fenomenon I wanted to write about is the amazing habit of a whole nation watching football, wearing orange clothes, driving cars that have lions tales hanging out on the back on to the street.. at least that is common in Holland.. when only half of the people really like football. Even people disliking football will be watching..
Why do we do that? I think that media consumption is getting more and more fragmented and we liked that. To have our own communities of interest, our own very special sites. But at the same time there is an emerging need for something to bind us to our neighbours, the parents we meet at school, the colleagues from that far away other department. We want something to talk about, some common ground. Football is such common ground, the orange clothes tell us we all belong together as we support "our" team. I see this need getting stronger. The rapid changes in the recent world order. The treaths of terrorism, the growth of religion fundamentalists (and I mean christian as well as islamic) made the world a less safe place. We want to be safe, it is a very basic need (remember Maslow, the second level of needs). We want to feel bound to a save group. We look for togetherness in something that transcends the difficult religious or political discussion. And football as many other sports is able to just do that. A crossmedia approach would be to underpin this feeling, to establish more common ground. To accentuate the feeling you belong to that group, where you will be safe.
Crossmedia should not be focussed on accentuating individual differences, but group coherence and alikeness.

Henry Jenkins

Christy got me on track with someone who off course is of great importance to studying crossmedia communication. You cannot miss out on this one. I would like to meet him one day..
Henry Jenkins

Star of Dena

I just "met" Christy on the internet and I think she is doing some very interesting work. I feel there is parallel thinking going on here. Please take a look at her blog!
Star of Dena

meet sonja another crossmedia missionary

I met Sonja on the Mgain conference in March in Manchester this year
where she invited me to speak on crossmedia at the conference.

This link will tell you more of VTT in Finland and their crossmedia research

IST-2001-38846 mGain

The website of Mgain where you can find information on the
conference and speakers from the telecommunications industry,
gaming industry and the moguls as Microsoft and BT. I was
there to discuss about crossmedia and I met some interesting
people.
IST-2001-38846 mGain

Will you find me?

As I just started this crossmedia blog, one of the first things that came to my mind was, can people interested in this subject find me. So I am stepping into the subject of rss and feed burning. I will let you know how I see this influencing our ability to cross communicate with each other. So I can better make you find me if you want to know everything there is to know about crossmedia communication, which I plan to offer to you.

crossmedia communication

For starters I would like to give you all my definition of crossmedia communication:

Crossmedia communication is communication where the storyline will direct the receiver from one medium to the next. This makes it possible to transform from one-dimensional communication (sender -> receiver) to multi-dimensional communication (senders <-> receivers. Furthermore I believe that good crossmedia communication will enhance the value of communication in two ways:

1. Financial profits through equal or decreasing costs for the same communication effects with single medium communication. It is possible to shift costs for communicating from the sender to the receiver, if the story is attractive enough for the receiver to want to interact with it (at extra cost)

2. The level and depth of involvement will be more personal and therefore more relevant and powerful.