Working as a strategist and artist at the intersection of creativity and commerce, I had the honor of speaking with Ron Martino and Josh Wattles at a fan-focused Transmedia LA event.

Hal Hefner, Noah Nelson, Jay Bushman and Michael Annetta organize the thousand-plus-strong Los Angeles group, setting up events the first Monday of each month, often at Busby’s East.  The venue is perfect– panelists get to speak from couches under a large screen to a crowd of people perched on balconies, seated in rows, and sprawled across couches.

I set up the evening with an explanation of why branding is so important for transmedia creations: the world is growing increasingly complex.  In an overwhelming landscape, consistency and familiarity breed trust, gain attention, and create fans.

The incredibly intelligent Ron Martino from deviantART (aka techgnotic) spoke about his success in managing fans, discussing deviantART’s excellent “artist-generated-content” illustrated story, Odyssey.  You must read this story to understand the quality of storytelling and attention to narrative detail a large group of disparate artists and writers can generate within a well-defined structure.

Josh Wattles provided a legal perspective, discussing how deviantART is managing the rights of artists within a group-created project.  Short answer- there is no short answer.   This is why transmedia is the future.  It’s a complex, wide-open minefield of opportunity.  That’s entropy for you.  As I said in my deck and many times before: the fastest to adapt are the first to succeed.

Whether you enjoyed the talk in person and want the deck, or missed the event and need to catch up on the insights, the full interactive PDF is below.  I’d love to hear what you found useful or intriguing– hit me up on Twitter!

Live, learn, and optimize,

suzymae

Major thanks to everyone who came out to support, especially Hal for organizing, Ron for the collaborative preparation, and Jon Hrubesch for permission to use his beautiful image, “Stargate Control,” in the deck.  Altered iPhone images (hey, it was dark in there!) via A Beautiful Mess.