GOOGLE, GE, MINI, NEW YORK TIMES | NYT VR | 2016
A Million Cardboard Boxes, Delivering the Future of Journalism / New York Times "NYT VR"
A million pieces of cardboard were delivered along with the newspaper. Inside was Google Cardboard. In 2016, the New York Times used it to turn the newspaper business upside down.
The problem
Print ad revenue kept falling, and the 165-year-old newspaper was losing readers to Snapchat and Facebook. Shifting to digital couldn't wait. Choosing the cheap, cardboard-made Cardboard over the pricier Oculus was a gamble.
The insight
VR isn't something you read or watch, it's something you enter. If you can stand right there in the daily life of a refugee child in a faraway country, the strength of your empathy changes completely. That's exactly why the Times bet on Cardboard.
The idea
In the 11th month of 2015 (November), Cardboard viewers were delivered along with the newspaper to 1.1 million home-delivery subscribers, and the NYT VR app launched at the same time. The launch piece, "The Displaced," was a documentary following children in South Sudan, Ukraine, and Syria. Branded content from GE and MINI was also distributed side by side within the same app.
What happened
At Cannes Lions 2016, it won two Grand Prix awards, in the Mobile and Entertainment categories.
Afterthought
The judges called it a "Wright brothers moment." A night when something truly took flight in mobile advertising. A 165-year-old newspaper delivered the most advanced experience using the humblest material: cardboard. It wasn't born from wanting to "do VR" — it came from pushing all the way to the question of what it takes to tell a story as powerfully as possible, and the answer turned out to be VR. That order of thinking is what makes this one so moving.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2016
