Yesterday Seismonaut held the first of two free morning seminars, in cooperation with the Municipality of Aarhus’ Department of Business and City Development and the Alexandra Institute. The focus of this, the first of two seminars, was cross media communication.

The premise of the seminars is to kick-start meet-ups and initiatives concerning digital, social and interactive media in the Aarhus area. The guest list was full and the first speaker was Kjetil Sandvik, from the Cross Media Course at the University of Copenhagen.

Kjetil spoke of how cross media platforming allows a far greater level of user participation, as well as encouraging a higher level of engagement in the product concerned. While the buzzword in the 90s was media convergence Kjetil believes media diversity is becoming more prevalent today. In fact cross media platforming is a combination of the two. We combine our media in certain ways, and we also let media exist in conjunction with each other.

The more channels you are present in, the higher the level of exposure you will achieve – and also higher impact. Media habits today are changing rapidly and people are using an ever expanding number of actual media platforms in their everyday life. This in return means you might need to be present in several areas, to reach your intended audience. But being present in several forms also enables this audience to communicate with you, and this communication is key, according to Kjetil. Not only will it allow you to gauge what the mood is currently, it also allows for a more engaging experience overall.

The second speaker was Dan Hon of Six To Start, London. Dan works with ARGs, alternate reality games, which are in their very infancy. Because of this they are hot property and are a prime example of cross media platforming. Ever watch the movie “The Game”? That’s pretty much what an ARG is. An ARG is essentially a game, in which the lines between reality and fiction are blurred, and which is created through effective use of several media types. Articles in newspapers, viral internet videos, real life events, radio spots and probably most importantly: The Web.

Dan started his talk by introducing The Beast, the first “real” ARG. We encourage you to read up on The Beast, since it really is a prime example of how several media platforms can be used great new types of user experiences! In short the Kubrick / Spielberg movie AI incorporated a clever marketing campaign before its release, in which fake websites, people and companies came together to create a universe for the film.

Dan sees cross media as a way of reaching an increasingly fragmented audience, while creating a high degree of interest and involvement. Because the games often wake place partly on the Web, it’s easy to discover what the users think of it – and maybe change it accordingly. The challenge is to have each media type play to its strengths and not just “put a book online”, and at the same time keep things simple – because complex is easy, simple is hard.

He has worked with companies such as Disney,, Puffin Books (the Shadow War), Freemantle, Penguin Books (We Tell Stories), the BBC (Spooks: Code 9) and has an upcoming project with Channel4. Check out some of his work by clicking the links.

The second seminar will be held on the 26th of February and will be about mobile media and mobile marketing.