Transmedia storytelling: brands, narratives and storyworlds

In Janaury 2003, when Henry Jenkins published an article in Technology Review entitled Transmedia storytelling: Moving characters from books to films to video games can make them stronger and more compelling nobody could have imagined tha the concept of 'transmedia storytelling' would become one of the favourite keywords of media professionals and researchers in the first decade of the new century. What started as a very personal reflection inspired by Jenkin's passion for fan culutures ended up as one of the key business strategies in the contemporary culture industry and an entrenched research field. This Chapter provides an overview of transmedia storytelling against the background of essential works for understanding its cultural dynamics, with an added focus on one particular aspect: the relationship between transmedia narrativee and brands from the perspectives of semiotics and narratology. In recent years there has been much discussion about the links between brands and storytelling (e.g., Salmon 2007). In this Chapter we will delve into the area where branding overlaps with narrative, while keeping an eye on transmedia storytelling and fictional words. Global cultural artefacts like Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Matrix, Batman, The Lord of the Rings, Lost, 24 and Walt Disney's characters will accompany us throughtout the following pages