Tags containing: "visual storytelling"

A look under the hood at USA TODAY NETWORK’s approach to augmented reality

December 18, 2018 Peggy Anne Salz, Founder and Lead Analyst – Mobile Groove

Hot on the heels of reports that reveal AR and VR will become mainstream sooner than we expect, media companies are lining up to test the waters and push the boundaries. While they recognize that implementation of immersive technologies can bring audiences deeper into a story than text, 2D images, and video ever could, many have yet to grasp that they have to create stories that move people, not just “wow” them.

One company that is further along on learning curve is USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co, Inc. and the largest local-to-national media organization in the U.S. It’s cleverly harnessed talent from a variety of disciplines, including video games development, to bring new life and excitement to environments (life on the USS Eisenhower), events (launching a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center), and formats (an investigative podcast revealing the hidden power structures behind our cities really work).

Ray Soto, Director of Emerging Technology for USA TODAY NETWORK

Peggy Anne Salz—mobile analyst and Content Marketing Strategist at MobileGroove—catches up with Ray Soto, Director of Emerging Technology for USA TODAY NETWORK, to discuss recent AR projects and delve into how media companies can leverage growing interest in AR and VR to elevate storytelling and engage audiences.

PAS: Please bring us up to date on the storytelling experiences you have created and what you have learned.

RS: We recognize that both virtual and augmented reality are fairly new within our industry. But that’s what really motivates and inspires us to take that extra step to experiment and try something new. An example is the 321 LAUNCH app, our first AR app. It gives users a close-up live view of real launches and landings, allowing them to build and launch their own Falcon 9 rocket within the app—an experience enhanced with access to live video and real-time updates.

The aim was to combine immersive storytelling with a live launch AR broadcast, paving the way for users to engage with content in new ways. Metrics show strong retention rates and long session times, even on non-launch days. Overall, we have seen engagement times of around 3.5 minutes, and we observed that user engagement for our live launch broadcast spiked up to around 8 minutes. Right now, we hovering at around 3.5 minutes on non-launch days and about 5 minutes on launch days.

We learned a lot from the app about how to reach and engage audiences. We also learned a lot about the development cycle and the UX. The experience of creating the app—and seeing how users wanted to be in control of their experience—helped us to focus on building the foundation that would support all our augmented reality experiences moving forward. We saw that there was deep engagement with AR through interactivity, and what we didn’t want to do was leverage existing APIs that would limit us in the types of stories we could tell.

***PAS:* *So, it sounds like you have “augmented” augmented reality platforms to suit your requirements and ensure you can support how audiences have shown they want to interact with your app…***

RS: You’re right. So, we ended up leveraging the GUI game engine, and that is essentially the foundation of our AR platform. Unity provided us that foundation, where we can leverage AR kit and AR core. But we also built on top of that to incorporate the functionality we envisioned we would need for our storytelling experiences. So what we have created is a series of editorial templates, that include design templates and animations, allowing us to quickly support interactive storytelling through AR.

A good example is the augmented reality Hurricane Florence tracker. At first, it was a challenge that I presented to my team, which is made up of former video game developers with experience working with companies including Electronic Arts and NC Soft, to turn this AR experience around quickly. And we did this. By drawing from our game design experience and working closely with our product development, mobile dev team, and the editorial team, we leveraged our template to create the tracker—which we were able to ramp up, turn around and publish within 24 hours.

PAS: In the case of the hurricane tracker, you harnessed AR to bring breaking news to life. But to go mainstream AR will need to enhance content and experiences that are a little more downtempo. Do you have an example where AR adds a layer of storytelling, not just effect?

RS: A great example is our AR experience for The City, an investigative storytelling podcast where we developed the augmented reality trailer. The podcast is already a powerful story paired with an immersive audio experience—but it was missing an equally powerful visual. We recognized that, through our AR platform, we could create an experience that would allow you to explore the community that is the focus of the podcast and “tease” users to engage with the powerful story that was being told within the podcast.

In this scenario, AR gives the audience a sense of place. Clearly, it was a different type of story to tell and a different goal from launching a Falcon 9 rocket. However, we found we could just leverage what we’d learned from earlier projects and that was a plus. It was exciting to think no one had ever done this before—and we did. And through this, we recognized there is a real opportunity to fill in some of the gaps in content, such as audio, with AR and adapt what we create based on the story we’re trying to tell.

PAS: It’s exciting to push the envelope, but you also need to know where to draw the line. How do you decide if AR is a match with the storytelling in the first place?

It can be a tough one to call. So, we start by drawing from our experience and our understanding of the unique opportunities that emerging tech can provide and support when it comes to creating a very strong interactive story. The story comes first. Before we commit resources or time to develop an augmented reality experience, we work very closely with the editorial team to define what the story should be and how augmented reality can drive value to the story we’re trying to tell. It’s very much a collaborative process. There have been times when we’ve gone down a path of exploration and determined that the particular story might actually be best suited to being told with the support of an interactive graphic on the web or a video experience.

We’re at the point now where we’re able to produce an offline prototype quickly to really understand how we can tell the story in a new way that the audience can engage with again and again. The goal for an AR project can never be to create a one-time gimmick that folks will see and walk away from saying, “oh hey, that was neat.” The goal—and this is our goal—has to be to give audiences the feeling they have gained something from the experience or learned something. You don’t want the technology to overshadow the story because it comes down to the story first. We understand this because our team has had years of experience, not just with game design but in VR and more recently AR.

PAS: Your team is made up of talent from video games companies, which you’ve pointed out is a plus. What talent mix should publishers assemble and orchestrate if they are serious about creating AR experiences?

RS: We’re fortunate to have a team that is made up of former game developers, but I don’t think it’s a team that has to made up of game developers exclusively. Yes, it definitely makes it much easier to create AR experiences and ramp up a team to support AR and VR. But it’s not the only way. Publishers also need to bring together people who have a passion for the work and a desire to explore what’s possible. It’s through passion that companies can build a team able to go outside of their comfort zone. Passion guides you and helps you find ways to tell a story that hasn’t been done before. So, game development is helpful, but it’s not required for interactive storytelling.

PAS: So, what is required? What is the checklist publishers should have top of mind?

RS: Start by thinking through how you can create a narrative arc. As I said before, it’s not about gimmick. It’s about trying to do things differently and avoid getting too comfortable with how you have told stories in the past. Even if you have a template to build a story, you don’t want it to be the same every time. The aim is to encourage people to engage and come back. We want audiences to recognize that USA Today is telling interactive stories in a new way with AR, and that means pushing the boundaries through seeing the opportunities and exploring approaches.

It’s also important to identify the gaps within the story. This is where AR platforms can enhance that story. Again, a great example is the City podcast where we could improve an immersive audio experience with AR. It still just boggles my mind that we even considered it in the first place and I’m proud of the results. We recognized that it was a strong story that we could do differently. That’s the mindset you have to have for every project: try to do something that’s different but do it by creating a narrative arc that engages your audience and helps them coming back.

Everyone has a unique opportunity to define their path, but don’t only focus on the visual experience. You have to think about scalability and accessibility. You don’t want to exclude users who are impaired in any way –and this is why we have incorporated subtitles within our USA Today app. We want everyone to be engaged with the experience and able to make it what they want.

PAS: Brands are also focused on engaging users with brand storytelling and experiential content. Is there a place for brands in your future plans?

RS: We’re looking for opportunities to work on branded content. That conversation started because we observed such high engagement and retention rates. These metrics tell us there’s an opportunity—through AR—to create a personal connection. We’re poised to tell our stories in new ways, and we see ways brands can build on the growing excitement around augmented reality to engage with their existing audiences and acquire new ones.

Innovation | Perspectives

Forbes’ New BrandVoice Pulse Pages Paint a Pretty Picture for Content Marketing

April 27, 2015 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

The web is becoming an increasingly visual place. From Pinterest to selfies and animated Gifs to infographics, consumers are gobbling up digital imagery at an insatiable rate. This holds true whether the digital content is delivered via social media platforms or by a brand, business or media website. And given that visual and interactive content experiences aren’t just pretty pictures but have been shown to increase engagement, it appears to be worth the investment, something that Forbes is counting on with the launch of its new Pulse product.

When Forbes Media launched BrandVoice more than four years ago, “We had the core philosophy that all content is equal—that journalists had interesting things to say and that marketers have interesting things to say,” says chief product officer Lewis Dvorkin. And since then, Dvorkin’s provided the publications’ editorial staff, outside contributors, and brand partners alike with robust tools to tell their stories.

“As the web becomes more visual, marketers seek to create much more immersive experiences in brand safe environments.” He’s seen that while consumers still enjoy text-based pages, they find immersive and interactive experiences highly engaging. The BrandVoice team built Pulse to be highly flexible in order to enable marketers to create unique experiences in a credible environment.

Over the past nine months or so, Dvorkin says Forbes has been rolling out upgrades to its article, individual, and sponsored editorial pages using a “methodical, consistent approach.” This latest iteration, which debuts with BrandVoice client Toyota, will soon be made available to the editorial side of the house as well.

Toyota’s Pulse incorporates video, trivia questions and data visualization in a highly-visual endless scroll page. Dvorkin emphasized the speed and relative ease with which this campaign came to fruition: It took about six to eight weeks, only a fraction of which was production time and involved a relatively small team, given the complexity of the end result, says Dvorkin. “There were definitely designers and others involved, but this is not something where we had to hire dozens of staff to get it done.” And given that this was the debut project for Pulse, Dvorkin is confident that the process will quickly become even more streamlined.

From a content perspective, the Toyota campaign centers around a range of ideas that skeptics said would never come to pass–such computers in every home and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles–but that have evolved into successful innovation. Forbes Media has encountered a good deal of skepticism itself as it innovated on the business of media over the years, first with its contributor model and then with BrandVoice. In answer to the skeptics, Dvorkin points responds simply by pointing to the company’s continued growth. He also notes that the marketplace has become increasingly accepting of quality branded content.

Looking back at the growth of digital publishing over the past 10 years, Dvorkin says “it was very clear to me that, just as a journalist or expert could reach a digital audience without a brand, so could a marketer publish content digitally without a publisher.” Yet there remains a steady desire on the part of marketers to place their brands in a credible environment, particularly as consumers struggle to navigate the “vast sea of content.” Dvorkin notes he’s seen the maturing of a “new generation out there that’s wise to the ways of the web.” Give them good information and a positive experience, and he’s confident that they’ll be back for more.

Innovation

Picture Perfect: Inspiration in Storytelling from Bill Marr’s OPA Summit Keynote

January 23, 2014 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

There is perhaps no more vivid depiction of the OPA slogan “Content People Love” than National Geographic’s iconic photography. So National Geographic creative director Bill Marr’s keynote set the tone at the 12th annual OPA Summit not only by showcasing the publication’s widely-lauded imagery, but also through a demonstration of the brands’ commitment to leveraging digital to embark on a new adventure in storytelling.

The iPad, according to Marr, offered the publication new life and provided a catalyst that is driving National Geographic’s entire team to reconceive of its content creation process and to rethink the ways in which its already visual stories could be told. To do so, Marr says, they had to recognize that “short form video is not television.” For them, “it is an extension of print; it is an extension of storytelling.” While National Geographic has always embraced and supported the work of photographers, now the publication is working with them to evolve their craft using video and a wide range of technologies. The brand is also physically reorganizing its content creation team—down to the office space in which they work—to create a more “open, collaborative environment.”

Marr illustrated the result of these ongoing efforts with a range of stunning examples that had a room full of seasoned media executives mesmerized. One example in particular, the National Geographic’s most popular story of 2013 “The Serengeti Lion,” features the brand’s iconic photography enhanced with audio and video and reveals the technology it used to capture these intimate images, which included infrared photography, micro-drones and a robot.
Now that National Geographic has begun to offer these deep wells of content that go far beyond what it had previously been able to deliver in the pages of its magazine, Marr says they are approaching many other aspects of their content delivery with a new perspective, such as its “The Power of Photography” exhibit on display at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Instead of limiting the exhibit to what could fit on the gallery walls, they created a digital exhibit that uses video walls to showcase 500 photographs and accompanying information from the brand’s 125 year history.

National Geographic, says Marr, has moved away from the notion that a story is “one thing.” Instead, they are working to “envision how any story can come to life in myriad ways.” This approach is generating more powerful storytelling than ever before. It has also created an opportunity to better monetize via digital subscription offerings including iPad and Kindle editions. However National Geographic’s exploration of the frontiers of digital storytelling also demonstrates how delivering these deeper offerings creates a level of engagement—web visitors spent an average of 12 minutes with “The Serengeti Lion”—that the brand believes it can leverage to generate revenue via its site as well. Marr says they are currently beta testing a new iPad-inspired site experience that will offer a premium experience for subscribers and in turn, drive its visual storytelling even further in its next 125 years.