To promote their new series, “The River,” ABC launched “Exploretheriver.com,” an interactive experience when pointing-and-clicking on various objects revealed videos, photos, “scares” and tweets related to “The River.” It also connects with your Facebook, and will give you a mission to look for your friends around the boat, as well as pull in a few of your photos. 

While it looks really awesome, and includes lots of interesting videos, the only problem I have with it, is that the “Find your friends” element just seems really shoe-horned in there, and in finding out more about the show, the “FB Connect” element seemed unnecessary. But despite that, it does a great job at introducing sets from the series, as well as some of the bigger mysteries about “the source,” as well as being true to the show’s aesthetic.

(Source: exploretheriver.com)

It’s “Mad Men” mania out there right now with the premiere of the show’s fifth season… and while online the show has had a pile of really cool online marketing pushes for previous seasons (“Mad Men Yourself” was inescapable), there hasn’t been much in the way of narrative “Transmedia” extensions with the series.

However, I was poking around the “Mad Men” site today to see what they have going for season five, and I noticed that they’ve done something really awesome going on; They’ve released a 7 inch single for “Zou Bisou, Bisou” by Jessica Pare, who sang it on-screen as Megan Draper in a scene from the premiere.

While Megan isn’t an aspiring pop star with a record contract on the series, I give kudos for AMC for pushing the limits of how their hit show can be represented. It’s not really narrative — though at the time, vanity pressings of recordings were not uncommon, so it doesn’t exist outside the realm of possibility in the “Mad Men” world. It also reminds me of one of my favourite non-internet tv-related “transmedia” extensions; the best-selling “Nikki Heat” novels by Richard Castle. 

(Source: blogs.amctv.com)