Virtual reality technology was seen as gimmicky, a novelty, something used exclusively in the fantasy and gaming worlds. It certainly wasn’t seen as a format for the news. In order to challenge those beliefs, we wanted to show our readers how virtual reality allows you to experience something beyond the words on the paper or the screen in front of you. In the case of NYT VR, we allow you to immersively experience another person’s reality.

We were able to bring the immersiveness of virtual reality to life and entice people to engage with the experience using a multichannel, integrated campaign that leveraged print, including the largest photo ever printed in The New York Times, digital and social utilizing different design crafts including illustration and photography.

Since launch, there have been over 500K downloads of the NYT VR app — the quickest adoption of an app in New York Times history — with over 1.5M video streams. Seventy-five percent of the total views since launch have been viewed in Google Cardboard mode. Within five days of launch, over 3,700 people sent tweets using the #NYTVR hashtag and we generated press from over 65 news outlets at launch.