For our August 2016 Forum we are thrilled to welcome John Morgan, Senior Producer at Melcher Media. John will take us on a deep dive on an innovative Transmedia Marketing/Storytelling project they recently completed.
In 2014, Ubisoft approached Melcher Media to create a book for their new game, Tom Clancys The Division. The result isNew York Collapse, an illustrated guide on how to survive a disaster-struck New York City. But someone owned this book before you: April Kelleher, whose handwritten account fills the books margins. Alongside her, you discover clues and puzzles embedded in the text. Answering them unspools the mystery of what happened and why, and April soon adds her own secrets in the book, many of them spread across seven removable artifacts, ranging from a transit card to a full-city map.
Melcher Media built a world-class team and developed the project from concept through writing, puzzle design, consultation with government disaster experts, illustration, handwriting, and a meticulous layout and design to create a book that looks like its been through a disaster. Ubisoft was so impressed, they wrote April into the game, collaborated on easter eggs that tie the game and book together, and madeNew York Collapsea key element of their overall marketing campaign.
JOHN MORGAN BIO
John Morgan is a senior producer at Melcher Media, a book packager and creative agency in New York City's West Village. He works on print and digital projects for major brands and companies, including Microsoft (microsoft.com/FutureVisions), Accenture, Autodesk, PepsiCo, and more. Currently he's working on book titles for NBCUniversal and Turner Broadcasting, in addition to other unannounced projects. Prior to joining Melcher in 2014, he was the director of digital publishing for Penguin Group (USA), a creative director at DC Comics/Warner Bros., and a book editor for Penguin. Hes served as executive producer on a number of apps, includingPoems By Heart from Penguin Classics, selected by Apple as an App Store Best of 2013; he oversaw creative development on dozens of video games includingBatman: Arkham CityandLego Batman; and his book projects have included bestselling titles likeDC Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Bookand the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harristhe basis for HBOs hit seriesTrue Blood.
