By Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska
In 2017, Terri White, former editor-in-chief of Empire magazine, described the idea of multiplatformization when managing a contemporary brand in an interview for InPublishing: “constantly working to ensure […] executing a consistent message and saying the right thing in the right way on the right platform at the right time”. Within the components of the magazine’s ecosystem, she identified its traditional (printed) and digital form (spanned between the e-edition, the website, podcasts and social media profiles). Interestingly, she also included events among the elements that build the Empire brand.
It goes without saying that the idea of employing different platforms in day-to-day marketing emerged earlier, with the first attempts to enter the digital world. However, the rapid growth of the phenomenon – or even its forced inevitability and obviousness – is relatively recent. Today, brands must operate simultaneously on a multitude of channels ranging from traditional ones such as TV or magazines to a website or social media, with the list of potential platforms getting longer and longer.
But why is multiplatformization so popular? It reaches diverse audiences, whose preferences and expectations can be precisely addressed. Multiplatforms provide an effective way to activate and engage audiences and to manage the flow of their attention. They implement the ‘just in time’ principle, offering content adapted to the unique features of the platforms. They enrich media content with new themes while sharing archive material. They highlight a brand’s visual identity. In other words, successful multiplatformization paves the way to create multiple, profitable universes for a brand.
This is where the role of the manager needs to be recognized. A multiplatform brand manager should bear in mind that the ecosystem of a contemporary brand must be convergent, multichannel, integral, and synergistic, but also comprehensible and ‘easy to use’. It is, therefore, necessary to ensure not only that content is placed wisely on the various platforms, but also that it is properly tailored to both the medium and the audience. One should also remember to be consistent in terms of content and visuals while avoiding mechanical duplication of the same messages on each platform which co-creates the brand. The components should also support each other, creating a network of mutual and regular links which first focus the audience’s attention on a particular platform and then redirect it to others. The failure to achieve such synergy may result in unbalanced development of the brand in multiplatform contexts.
A carefully designed and planned management strategy can help managers avoid the pitfalls of multiplatformization, such as ‘overinvestment’, which is an attempt to implement every innovation immediately. An unselective (let alone untested) approach to innovations can overextend the brand ecosystem, and launching too many channels to reach an audience can create chaos and fragment the message, which in turn damages brand integrity (not to mention confusing the audience, who may feel lost and discouraged by the increasing number of components).
Multiplatformization also requires professional knowledge of each platform. Such knowledge can be obtained either by hiring a specialist or by providing training to employees. Both solutions generate costs, which some brand managers try to avoid, for example by assigning untrained staff such as interns to run components (usually social media and podcasts). This, in turn, can lead to an erosion of quality.
It is evident that managing ecosystems of contemporary brands is not easy; in fact, it is impossible without a clear and precise strategy. Therefore, since multiplatformization is here to stay, Terri White’s claim cited above should be regarded as a motto and a guideline for navigating modern brand ecosystems.
Digging Deeper:
- Baumann, Sabine (2021) “Media Management and Business: Old vs. New”, in: Mahoney, Meghan/Tang, Tang (Eds) (2021) The Handbook of Media Management and Business, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, pp. 407-425.
- Siegert, Gabriele; Förster, Kati; Chan-Olmsted, Sylvia; and Ots, Mart (2015) (Eds) Handbook of Media Branding, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.
- Hogarth, Mary (3.2.2017) “Terri White”, InPublishing, https://www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/terri-white-645.
- Jupowicz-Ginalska, Anna (2017) “Empire brand as an example of media multiplatform – case study”. Zeszyty Prasozawcze 60(4), pp. 845–865, https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.17.048.8190
About the author
Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska is Associate Professor and the Deputy Director of the Doctoral School of Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw (Poland). Her research interests include media management and the new technologies. She is also a practitioner with 15 years of experience in brand communication and a member of the Editorial, Scientific and Review Boards of renowned academic journals. Please contact her via LinkedIn or her Email.
