In the year 2000 I was 5. I believed in true love, in happy endings, in Cinderella and Snow White. Relevantly, I also believed in the Easter Bunny. There was this great feeling of wonder waking up Easter day. It was so exhilarating; I remember having butterflies, literally just from the thought of a magic bunny laying chocolate eggs in my garden. A bunny laying eggs…really?
Despite the impossibilities of this, I let my imagination create a whole new universe which I loved and celebrated.
This year, 2016, I am 21. I believe in hard work, dedication and coffee. Easter for me, is just an exchange of chocolate from me to my family and vice versa. That’s it. No stomach butterflies, no imaginary world, no wonder.
Listening to Jeff Gomez, the founder of Starlight Runner Entertainment, in his 2010 TED talk reminded me of all those feelings. He talks about Kikaider, a Japanese storybook hero who battles evil to save the innocent. He is so passionate in talking about the characters and the story in this imaginary world and it really reminded me of how a story- however true or made up- creates this emotional, physical and almost spiritual connection with an individual and a story.
This indescribable bond is so eloquently replicated in transmedia storytelling and I believe this to be the root of its success. Gomez addresses this idea that we as humans, are easily lost in the mundanity of everyday life and that as storytellers we should be inspired to challenge this. To create amazement through characters, through plot, through suspense and love and good-versus-evil. Campaigns such as those directed by Chris Milk, (who Sarah Linnegar mentioned in an earlier blog), create this hair raising, spine tingling, butterfly-making sense of wonder.
There is a connection; emotionally, physically and spiritually with a brand and their audience.
This feeling of wonder took over the world in AAMI’s love-triangle story of Rhonda, Katut and Trent Toogood. It inspired the imagination of The Hunger Game fans as they assumed the roles of Capitol Citizens. It set butterflies off in the bellies of 15 000 000 viewers as they watched a scarecrow grow a whole new way of life called Chipotle.
Storytelling is the key to wonder is the key to engagement.
Enjoy your eggs this weekend fellow transmedia storytellers; and feel free to share with me all the times your imagination set your stomach in a flutter. #storytellingwonder