This was influenced by our newsroom's use of AR. Our newsroom is constantly coming up with the most cutting-edge ways to give our audiences new information, and our client was the ideal partner to use this specific technology to tell their story. To bring this technology to the widest audience possible, we had to create three different technical versions of it: an app version, a desktop version, and a mobile browser version. Technical limitations in certain browsers meant we had to build workarounds for those users.

Our client, a luxury resort in the Washington, D.C., area, wanted to position itself as the ultimate destination in D.C. for Cherry Blossom season, and wanted to increase foot traffic to their resort. We created a 360 program using augmented reality to help their marketing stand out from the crowd. Within the digital article, an AR experience taught readers about the phases of a Cherry Blossom tree blooming. For the first time ever, this appeared in a web browser. It also appeared in print, where a scannable QR code brought readers to the experience--truly bridging the gap between print and digital. The QR code also appeared in various locations throughout the resort, giving visitors a new way to access our content.

All partners considered this campaign a success, and it has prompted the advertiser to enter into a longer-term partnership with our branded content studio. This campaign is still currently running on our properties, and we're pacing to exceed benchmarks (given investment level, our benchmark is 34K-38K page views). Elements of the campaign appeared six times in our print edition, which is circulated to 1.8 million readers in the DC area. So far, 27 percent of visitors to the article have engaged with the AR component--240% higher than our standard engagement benchmark. We also saw an uptick in engagement during the client's thematically aligned Cherry Blast event; Musician CeeLo Green retweeted a link to the experience to his millions of followers the day of the event, and visitors to the resort were scanning the QR code to experience the AR--meeting our KPI of driving readers to the resort for the festival.

From the branded content page on our media property, the reader lands on a splash screen inviting them to tap to engage with the AR experience. When the AR experience opens, the reader will find themselves standing underneath a cherry blossom tree with its branches surrounding them. The branches will animate through several stages of the blooming process while a voiceover explains happening to the bud during this process. After the last stage, the reader may enter a "Blossom Vision" effect where cherry blossom petals fall past the reader’s screen, providing a unique photo opportunity which they can share on social media. The page containing this experience is available cross-platform on desktop, tablet and mobile devices, with the augmented reality component built specifically for the our media property's mobile app and optimized for the mobile web on supported devices. For those based in the Washington DC metro area, the full experience is accessible via QR codes in advertisements printed throughout the newspaper's print editions. On location at the resort, signage will encourage guests to check out the AR experience throughout the Cherry Blossom season.