Transmedia Concepting In Bikkuriman Chocolates

Between the years 1987 and 1988, the chocolate candies named Bikkuriman Chocolates were popular among Japanese children. The Bikkuriman stickers each package contained caused the popularity. Each sticker had a picture of a character on the front and information about the character on the back. With only one sticker, a child had no more than a picture of a character with particular information, but once the child had collected a bigger amount of stickers and connected the given characters and information, the child started to discover a small narrative between the characters. The instantaneous appearing of a narrative triggered the children to collect more stickers. The more stickers were collected, the bigger the narrative became. The candy makers were not selling the chocolates, neither the stickers, but parts of the narrative itself. The Japanese writer Eiji Otsuka (2010, pp. 99-107) labelled this phenomenon as narrative consumption. Sixteen years later, Henry Jenkins (2003) introduced a similar narrative design philosophy, transmedia storytelling.
Later on, Jenkins (2011) gave an addition to his definition of transmedia storytelling on his website. He added that transmedia storytelling is a process in which story elements are circulated systematically across several media platforms to create a consolidated and coordinated entertainment experience. In the best case, each platform delivers its own unique addition to the unfolding of the story. Both Long (2007, p. 15) and Davidson (2010, p. 31) state that even though each platform can be experienced solely, all the platforms relate to each other, and combined, they provide a better understanding of the created transmedia