Stone Carving: Australia's Mining Advertising Campaign

Story telling advertising is the relationship among relevant stories told to meticulous brands or campaigns in advertising. Since story telling have been a resemblance feature to humans since the stone ages “Stone Carving “ , it is now used in advertising to deliver a coinciding parallel that would engage and interact the audience with the advertised brand. It uses unique contents that allow a supplement of emotional acceptance and intellectual thinking to the viewers. Australia’s mining story telling advertisement is a mere example of this criteria.

Australia’s mining advertising campaign is a well structured Transmedia which delivered a message through multiple podiums using multiple layers of its principles. It used different cultural
backgrounds and occupational platforms to engage with its audiences. Throughout its message, it explored how important the mining industry is for Australia’s export income and its community. This message was delivered using these seven principles, Spreadability vs. Drillability, Continuity vs. Multiplicity, Immersion vs. Extraction, World Building, Seriality, Subjectivity and Performance.

” Spreadability refers to a process of dispersal - to scanning across the media landscape in search of meaningful bits of data. Drillability refers to the ability to dig deeper into something which interests us. “{Jenkins, 2010} Australia mining used data allocation through community and extracted the story data of Dr. Bruce Chater who was involved in the Queensland flood in 2010. Through this origin, Australia mining excavated deeper to assist the story telling by including the urgent aid provided by the nearby Anglo American coal mining company showing mining is not always about mining.
Continuity is the sequential presence of a particular existence however with a different story line. It was observed when female employee’s were introduced more than once to notify the toil job a female employee can perform in a most commonly masculine environment. Multiplicity is a multiple presence of the same dialog. In other words, when we explore how the same story has been told in different national contexts, it helps us to see the different values and norms of these cultures as we look at the way the story has been reworked for local audiences. {Jenkins, 2010} Demonstrated when Rebecca Pickering and Len Thong two of different Australian background are currently delighted employees in the mining industry.
” In terms of immersion, we might think about the potential educational value of virtual worlds. I don't mean simply having classes in Second Life which look like virtual versions of the classes we would have in First Life except with far less human expressivity. I mean the idea of moving through a virtual environment which replicates key aspects of a historical or geographical environment. “{Jenkins, 2010} This aspect can be observed when John Watson an industrial chemist talks about the recycling process of water and how conservative and helpful it is to the future of Australia, helping in running mining operations and the same time the environment by saving 77 Olympic pools full of water from the Hunter River region.
Extractability is allowing the audience to take parts of the story telling as resources or reference of their everyday life. Heather Parry a Project Manager and a accredited pony club instructor reflects on how managing compiles with horse riding as she said “if your not fair to a horse they’ll respond badly and so in managing “
Worldbuilding is a “Transmedia extensions, often not central to the core narrative, that give a richer depiction of the world in which the narrative plays out.
Franchises can exploit both real-world and digital experiences. These extensions often lead to fan behaviors of capturing and cataloging the many disparate elements. {Caddel, 2009, December 15) Dr Paul Craven reveals how Australia mining is helping shelter and raise this country's most expensive natural resource, our children. Xstrata Coal financially aided John Hunter Children's Hospital in order to achieve a vigorous child care unit. Saving thousands of children and babies in critical life threatening condition then watching them grow is a semi fictional belief or in other words, a miraculous
event.
Seriality has to do with the meaningful chunking and dispersal of story-related information. It is about breaking things down into chapters which are satisfying on their own terms but which motivate us to keep coming back for more. Or by contrast, what has to be present for a story or lesson to have a satisfying and meaningful shape even if it is part of a larger flow? {Jenkins, 2010} Rebecca Pickering an Australian female miner explores how special it is for Australia mining be the only mine in the world that produces red / pink diamonds. Furthermore, allowing the semi usual dialog or series of a female employee in a mining company then adding the specialty of its unique product (Red/Pink Diamonds) could motive audiences to come back for more information.
Subjectivity is “Transmedia extensions often explore the central narrative through new eyes; such as secondary characters or third parties. This diversity of perspective often leads fans to more greatly consider who is speaking and who they are speaking for.” {Caddel, 2009, December 15) Also, Subjectivity can be expressed as a judgment made from an individual’s personal feeling and opinion. Len Thong a Chinese refuge that his parents were fatally shot whilst attempting to cross the Thai border showed that Australia has provided him with the life style and opportunities his parents would of wanted for him. Through hard work and dedication, Len now supervises the wide mining implementation of its new management reporting applications.
Performance is “the ability of Transmedia extensions to lead to fan produced performances that can become part of the Transmedia narrative itself. Some performances are invited by the creator while others are not; fans actively search for sites of potential performance. “{Caddel, 2009, December 15) Although this can be illustrated in more than one Australia mining story, Ken Lamb an Australian living in the outback who lived with his wife and 3 children in a caravan, started his own transportation business (Olympic damp transport) which grew up from one truck to hundreds of transportation facilities thanks to the mining companies nearby. At his free time Ken trains young men in their own country on how to work with a back hoe and a forklift in the local mine. As Ken himself says "The whole benefits of the mining industry has filtered down within the wider communities, indigenous and non indigenous. All Australians should be proud of that."

Australia mining stories are spread over wide variety media platforms, not in a way that it’s redundant but complimentary so each platform contributes what it does best. Reality is already complex enough to allow many different characters allowing many different stories of many different platforms. It usually connects to the most oppressed and most dispossessed. The potential of stories is to grab our imagination and touch our hearts not from entertainment infrastructure but average citizens whose reality was never depicted on the screen before.
Transmedia uses emotions as a key to activate the type of response that is likely to move your audience towards your brand. Some campaigns tell stories that fit with people’s life stories and they become a part of that person’s life. {Lightowler, 2012. February 26} Australia mining used indigenous people, foreigners, Australians, doctors and refugees as their story tellers.
The best way of creating relevance for your advertisement is to ensure your brand or campaign plays part of your target audience’s personal story, knowing your audience and their story and how your brand or campaign fits in to that story is the magic. {Lightowler, 2012. February 26} Furthermore, using contemporary generations to fit the objective of the dialog creates a sense of trust, motivation and influence to the audiences.
Based on my sensorial experience from the Australia mining story telling campaign, the use of drama to generate happiness was effectively implemented.
Happiness is created from Trust, Choice and Freedom. Campaigns are able to create happiness when they help us tell stories of trust, stories of choice and stories of freedom. {Lightowler, 2012. February 26} Recalling the story telling videos, the clarity and precision of the videos conveyed that the mining industry is a fulfilling and enlightening career for the ambitious. It delivered a message that delivers a sense of “mining can fix your life “and that it’s a place for professional to breathe in the outback with an enjoyable
career.

REFERENCE LIST

Australia mining. This is our story. (n.d.). Available from http://www.thisisourstory.com.au/

Caddel, B. (2009, December 15). Core principles of transmedia storytelling. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://whatconsumesme.com/2009/posts-ive-written/core-principles-of-transmedia-storytelling/

Jenkins, H. (2010). Transmedia Education: the 7 Principles Revisited. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2010/06/transmedia_education_the_7_pri.html

Lightowler, M. (2009, February 26) Story telling to create impact brands [Web log post].
Retrieved from http://newbrandstories.com/