http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2010/life-at-the-bleeding-edge-of-collaboration/

This part focuses on Brain Candy, LLC‘s first collaborative commercial entertainment property, Runes of Gallidon. Thanks to Emily and the DBW team for highlighting new models of entertainment creation!

You can read part one of the interview here.

We talk about new models of commercial entertainment, participatory entertainment, and (of course!) transmedia storytelling, and Haley Moore and Dee Cook give a rundown of the latest ARG experience from NoMimes Media, Webishades.

Very grateful to Martin for giving me the opportunity to discuss Brain Candy, LLC on his show.

While Prahalad discusses many ideas in this book, one of his key concepts is that companies need to stop focusing on commodity-based transactions with customers and start offering experiences. For Prahalad, value creation comes from personalized experiences, not products or product-based transactions.

This sets the stage for his two core points: (1) the individual is at the heart of the experience, and (2) companies can no longer control/own all of the resources necessary to provide personalized experiences.

So, if creating personalized experiences is the new direction, and individual companies cannot provide the resources required for creating personalized experiences, what’s the answer?

For Prahalad, a significant part of the answer is consumers themselves. Here are some excerpts from his book:

• “Customers play an active role in co-creating value.”
• “Customers are increasingly a source of competence.”
• “…a whole generation of consumers [will be] expecting to be treated as unique individuals, and they now have the skills and the propensity to engage in a marketplace defined by [personalized experiences].”

What does this have to do with entertainment? Well, Prahalad gives various examples of how existing companies can overhaul themselves to fall in line with his two core concepts, he never really ventures into the entertainment industry. That’s a shame, since I think the entertainment industry has a wonderful opportunity to explore new ways to brings its audiences deeper into the content creation process. I believe this opportunity has so much potential that I co-founded Brain Candy, LLC based on this philosophy.

Brain Candy builds customized models of content creation where fans can participate canonically and monetarily in commercial entertainment properties without forcing property owners to sacrifice quality or commercial control [to be clear, Brain Candy's work focuses on commercial entertainment properties that incorporate user-generated content as official works; it's not crowd-sourcing or an open-source approach to content creation].

But back to Prahalad. His book eloquently lays out – from a business perspective – the rationale for why content creators should consider a collaborative approach in some circumstances. If consumers are capable of co-creating value with property owners and are a source of competence, why not find new models of entertainment that include consumers, audiences, and fans as part of the process? Why can’t personalized experiences and individual creativity be integrated into collaborative commercial entertainment?

The list of reasons against letting fans into the creative process is long and legion: It’s a legal nightmare. It will dilute the quality of the property. It can’t be sustained monetarily. It can’t scale. It won’t support world continuity.

I’m not suggesting that collaborative entertainment is easy, but I am adamant that it’s possible. Indeed, I’m adamant that it’s viable.

I’m not suggesting that collaborative entertainment is the silver bullet for Hollywood. In fact, it’s not ideal for every genre, much less every property. At this time, it’s especially suited for two genres that are already awash with avid fans and a mountain of user-generated content: fantasy and science fiction.

And I’m not suggesting that collaborative entertainment is going to replace entertainment as we know it. It’s an additive alternative, not a wholesale substitute.

What I am suggesting is that Hollywood might find a new way to view how content can be created and entertainment properties can be generated in ways that reward audiences and benefit property owners. And Prahalad’s The New Age of Innovation is a great starting point for understanding why this is important.

It was just one part of an amazing whirlwind trip to NYC where I was able to:

- have dinner with Ivan Askwith, Cheryl Furjanic, and Mica Scalin (we continued the Futures of Entertainment 4 conversations regarding transmedia, fan engagement, collaboration, etc.)

- meet and be interviewed by Heather Leonard at The Business Insider

Brain Candy

http://www.businessinsider.com/business-news/dec-14-brain-candy-1-2009-12

Runes of Gallidon

http://www.businessinsider.com/business-news/dec-14-brain-candy-3-2009-12

- have coffee with Aina Abiodun and share some awesome ideas about new ways to create content

- stop by the Starlight Runner office and meet with Caitlin Burns and Erek Tinker (yet more thought-provoking discussions of transmedia storytelling and participatory engagement)

- and wrap it all up with a long-overdue dinner with Jen Simmons (a smart, talented woman with her own views on narrativity and technology)

all in less than 30 hours.

A non-stop trip of intellectual challenges and new insights. Mentally awesome, physically exhausting.

Happy to be home and ready to stay grounded through the holidays, though I’m already wondering when I can get back to the Big Apple…