Binge watching TV series is a relatively new phenomenon. One Christmas I watched a season of Homeland in a weekend. Bam! Lately I’ve been binging on mystery writers. Finding an author, say Henning Mankell, and reading all his Kurt Wallander books in a year is a form of binging.
But what happens to the art as a result of binging? Does it loose some of its power? Or allure? Where the real time water cooler discussion? Serial story telling goes way back. Weekly radio programs, stories by Charles Dickens in old England monthlies, the list goes on.
Today’s on-demand digital culture removes a little bit of anticipation, I’m afraid. It removes some emersion. It can also upset the feng shui.
Marketers and brand managers in particular must be mindful of this behavior. As we storytell our brands to life – meting out our best, most convincing and fresh narratives, – we have to recognize they won’t always be experienced as the serial stories we hope. I can be partially controlled, but not fully.
Stay Tuned.
