FUTURE MEDIA

We accelerate digital audience growth and meaningful engagement.

Many organisations do not have the research facilities to deeply explore the multitude of challenges facing contemporary media. Cockatoo Colab draws together expertise to research, workshop, design and create responses to these challenges. It prioritises the rapid knowledge building and sharing required to create the next generation of media-making, with a strong focus on the audience. Human centred design translates into audience-building in the media space, where new stories are discovered, new ways to tell them are experimented with and new media experiences created.

We create Future Media Experience Protoypes (FMEP) from insights generated through our engagements with media makers, from the observation of audience trends in online communities and by mapping audience media behaviours and overlaying this with how they feel at different points across their audience journey to identify gaps and bring strings together.

Our FMEP are small scale media experiences that we co-build to test the ideas before scaling to full offerings. In many instances our work has transmedia origins, whereby a niche audience and their behaviours can be identified in one place for example, they might aggregate on a blog and we then gravitate them to another place by expanding the world their drawn to in another form of media.

Our FMEP’s operate at different levels of resolution depending on what is required to achieve the results needed. For example, a MEP can be a conversation, using a few paper props to help participants imagine the story or experience. Or, as it develops, the MEP can be high fidelity, using digital or social media to explore their potential, such as with Rural Room and 600 Bottles of Wine.

As an example, it could be trialling how stories are consumed via WeChat, as a micro-series, on the commute to and from work, and then seamlessly transferred to TV when the user returns home. Alternatively, the MEP could be a Series on Medium, with short videos and text, which can be added to with participatory media from participants in the network.  The platforms used for these will be open, fast to populate and high quality. The reach is global, and the cost is minimal. Can we represent this via visuals to reduce wording?

Audience knowledge

The ultimate aim is to re-cast the audience as active co-creators of the next generation of media. This includes serving their interests as they become apparent as well as opening up ways of representing diversity, which goes beyond the stereotype. 

We also explore audience community cross pollination, where we identify ways to leverage audience partnership opportunities to extend the media through wider channels with aligned audiences.

RURAL ROOM AND THE RURAL ROOM MEDIA STRINGERS

One of the communities we work closely with is the Australian regional, remote and rural audience. Through  Rural Room we release #storiesfromthesticks and increase the circulation of regional voices by sharing original multi-media content created by regional creatives and our Rural Room Media Stringers across our digital platforms and wide-reaching audience over 62,000 across Facebook and Instagram.

Rural Room is a remote, regional creative agency which works with premium organisations to increase access and opportunity for regional creatives.

It aims to do this by:

-Attaching regional creatives to significant work with premium clients who require creative services.

-Launching a series of projects that are developed in partnership with regional communities, stakeholders and participants ·Launching annual large-scale multi-media projects supported by parent company Cockatoo Co.lab (production company)

-The creation and development of the national regional Media Stringers Network which represents regional creative talent with different areas of expertise, such as Photography, Videography, Writing, Journalism, Art, Performance, Fashion Design, Podcasting etc Rural Room has significant influence within the regional media and arts community which allows us to advocate for increased employment of regional media makers through the syndication of regional stories on the platforms we’ve created, and via our partners. Additional to the financial benefits to regional creatives and their local communities, this project also presents significant benefits of connection between city and country which offers great value from a social and cultural point of view to all Australians

VISION:

RR is a cultural launching pad designed to co-create artistic projects, screen stories, impact case studies, major brand and marketing campaigns, films, design and media with Australian regional locals to nurture aspirations and unleash the innovation potential in communities.

MISSION:

We collaboratively work with regional creatives and communities to implement bespoke screen initiatives across a range of mediums including film, media, art and design. Rural Room has over 60,000 highly engaged digital participants and houses the Rural Room Media Stringers Network; a media collective of creatives and media makers from all over regional Australia. The creative talent in the Media Stringers network covers the fields of design, art, photography, writing, journalism, performance, film, music, and events. Rural Room enables increased remote work opportunities for creatives by leveraging the business partnerships of the parent company (Cockatoo Co.lab) and attaching the Media Stringers and regional creatives to major creative campaigns that would ordinarily be awarded to city-based agencies.

RURAL ROOM INTENDED OUTCOMES:

Lowering the barriers of entry for regional creative talent by showing metropolitan businesses the value of commissioning creators within regional Australia.

Increased opportunity for regional creatives and increased remote work opportunities for regional creatives and media makers. We also aim to debunk the idea that you have to move to the city to have access to creative careers and careers in media making. Increased visibility of regional creatives; we endeavour to map and reveal regional creatives to not only provide increased career opportunities but to also show a different side to the representation of regional Australia which is often unfairly portrayed by major city-based media organisations.

Increase diversity of perspective; the increased employment of regional creatives within city campaigns enables different voices and ideas to emerge that intersect within cities communities.

Increased socialisation and connection for creatives and media makes who are isolated in remote and regional areas of Australia.

Our agency model enables city-based media organisations to engage our media makers remotely to ensure the local voice remains vibrant and highly accessible to all community members.

Rural Room is considered a leading cultural development platform which launches select major projects in regional areas annually, fosters creative leadership in communities and employs regional people to coordinate artistic, film, design and media projects and activities.

Photographer credits from left to right - Rosie Henderson (Esperance, WA), Emma Leonard (Hamilton, VIC). Rosie Henderson (Esperance, WA) & Astrid Volzke (Darkan, WA)