Don’t Just Tell Customers The Story, Immerse Them In It

Storytellers are using virtual reality to put audiences in the centre of a piece of content, and the resulting emotional responses will soon be used by brands too.

Virtual reality is not only an exciting platform for brands wanting to wow consumers with death-defying rides on roller-coasters or shoot ’em up games. Storytellers are heralding the new technology as the Golden Grail that is already starting to empower them to put consumers at the centre of a piece of content right alongside its creator.

Meredith Kopit Levien, executive vice-president and chief revenue officer at The New York Times, revealed to delegates at Dmexco in Cologne, Germany, that the publisher sees a massive future for VR. Within the past year, it has produced 29 VR films, which have been viewed more than 10 million times with an average dwell time of six minutes, more than double the attention it would expect to receive from a traditional video.

This has given the newspaper a detailed insight into VR, allowing it to see what works best and what the medium is best suited to.

“VR is a huge leap forwards where you can completely concentrate on the user experience, it’s all about immersing them in the story, rather than just telling them it,” she said.

“However, it’s not that useful for linear storytelling, it’s better suited to showing people what it is like to be there.”

The New York Times, Levien reveals, has been approached by many brands interested in working with the paper to make a branded VR film. However, she cautions marketers that another medium may actually be better for them.

“A lot of the time, we’ve said to brands that VR might not be the best channel for them,” she said. “It needs to be something where you want to put someone in the middle of the story to get an emotional response. It’s great for creating a world and a mood.”

James Montgomery, director of digital development at BBC News, believes that the technology will become a lot more attractive to brands when consumer uptake is higher.

“We believe VR is going to be a game changer,” he said. “We reckon it will be a mainstream storytelling channel within three years once the devices have come down in cost. That’s bound to happen given the huge investments that are going into the channel.”

When it is more mainstream, it is likely to evolve from being a storytelling tool for news organisations to a medium available for brands that want to immerse consumers in a new experience, where they are not just shown something but are involved emotionally.

For more of CMO.com’s coverage from Dmexco, click here.