when community produced content becomes part of the brand story itself

Every brand or company is effectively a living, breathing #transmedia social narrative, whether they like it or not.

And better for them if they like it.

This means you BMW Motorcycles.

So while the innovation department at BMW claim to '..turn spectators into astonished fans' by finding new fangled complex ways to burn their logo onto the eyeballs of unsuspecting strangers in the name of 'engagement' some of the greatest brand-building content development and storytelling is going on right under their nose, created by fans.

A key tenet of any transmedia narrative being community produced content that becomes part of the brand story itself.

This video was compiled by the son of a BMW motorcycle owner, telling his story of how he decided to restore an old 1958 BMW R-50 in tribute to his father.

Here's his description:

This is a photo story of my father's 1958 BMW R50:
Boy meets girl, gets married, buys motorcycle. Rides it for 60,000 miles and has accident when wife is pregnant with 3rd child. (me) Wife orders motorcycle to be taken off road until all her children are grown and on their own. One day when bike is moved to a different storage location, son sits on bike and dreams of being a Jedi Master like his father. Couple grows old together and bike is not ridden for 40 years. Husband is now a grandfather of 7 and married for 50 years, when he dies of a stroke at age 71.
Son looks over the old rotting machine and finds note attached to it from his father to him. Son decides to restore the old 1958 BMW R-50 as a tribute to his father. With the help of many friends, especially Peter Nettesheim, world renowned BMW collector, bike is restored to look even better than it did when it was built in Germany.



He even paid $1000 dollars to Pearl Jam's publishing company in order to use the Eddie Vedder track as his soundtrack.

If BMW have any sense they will be all over this, supporting and amplifying as soon as possible, and Eddie Vedder will be personally handing back a grand to it's creator, and playing guitar for him in his living room.

Thanks to Tommy for pointing to this brandchannel article.

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Jack the Twitter: Volume One

Sadly absent from the Turner Prize nominations for 2010 is the work of artist Marcus Brown.

In particular, Marcus' most recent creation Jack the T. Witter aka Jack the Twitter (sic) - his most fully formed narrative to date.

For those not familiar with Jack, a brief description.

'He’s been called a demon and a monster. He’s actually a psychotic Twitter stalker who likes Prokofiev and fried liver. If you are on twitter, he might just be following you and if he’s doing that, well, then you just might meet him in a dark, cold back alley of twitter.'

Jack the Twitter is a transmedia-esque narrative that 'tangles itself into the real life stories' of individuals using social networks such as twitter and foursquare to document their places and interactions.

This entanglement is then replayed in Jack's own grisly (to use an apt etymology) narrative which is published using those same real-time update tools, google maps (the darkest alleys of twitter) and Jack's own blog, Jack the Twitter.

Like that other reknowned 'Jack', his principle playgrounds are the east end streets of Ye Olde London Towne, and 'tis the 'prostitutes'of the twitterati whom have fixed his wrath.

'For twitter's whores are naught but bores especially in east London'

Marcus' storytelling uses the internet and it's myriad of tools as his medium, with his subject matter being essentially a critique of society and culture, as played out on the internet, akin to a mash-up of Adorno and Benjamin with a dash of Warholian detachment, the characters, in effect, describe how we are living today.

For the full story, so far, The Jack 'encounters' are now available as a limited edition 'souvenir' edition paperback book and digital download, entitled 'Jack the Twitter: Volume One' from Lulu.com.

I strongly advise you to purchase a copy lest Jack follow you out into the streets of London in order to avenge his terrible past and fulfil his prophecy...

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