For the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, we created a 360º, fully immersive three-hour YouTube livestream, engaging people at every touchpoint, so those watching the parade from home didn’t miss a single moment. We worked with creative technologists and NBC to build a seamless, interactive environment within the livestream for the duration of the parade. To create social engagement, we built five AR balloon renders with customizable elements tailored to polls on Twitter, and then integrated them into the livestream in real time. Through immersive 5G technology, we established a new Thanksgiving experience out of one of America’s most beloved

The 2019 holiday season was marked by a technological first: the arrival of 5G to the Big Apple, New York City. 5G is a new technology that consumers don’t quite understand yet. Creating effective ways to showcase the power of 5G technology is an inherent challenge as Verizon continues the transition from phone company to technology company. However, with a condensed season and increased competition in the battle to win 5G, we needed to find an ownable moment to make an impact.

Kick off the holiday season by demonstrating the superiority of Verizon’s 5G network and the transformative power it has. And give this once-in-a-generation technology disruption relevance and meaning.

Our goal was to create a culturally relevant idea that leveraged the national platform of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and in doing so, to win mindshare within the 5G conversation nationally, as well as in New York.

In 2019, 5G was all telecom companies could talk about. But few people understood what it was. So rather than just talking about the superiority of Verizon 5G, we set out to own this once-in-a-generation technological breakthrough by showcasing it in a relevant and meaningful way. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of America’s longest-standing and most beloved traditions. We enhanced this nostalgic tradition and gave meaning to 5G, creating a highly immersive, personalized, real-time activation that put people in the center of the action and allowed them to parade like they’d never paraded before. With a YouTube livestream and real-time content on Twitter, we gave audiences 360º views, celebrity holograms, a 5G portal, and augmented reality balloons, making watching this year’s parade at home even better than being there.

5G is a new technology that consumers don’t quite understand yet. Creating effective ways to showcase the power of 5G technology is an inherent challenge as Verizon continues the transition from phone company to technology company. When it comes to technology, seeing is believing. Every year, the Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks off the holiday season. People wake up early and watch together, excited for new floats, new characters, and new Broadway performances. It was the perfect moment to show families what 5G could do, and to unlock the parade of their imagination. Because when you build a network powerful enough to change everything, imagine what it can do for you.

-We worked with creative technologists and NBC production to implement a three-hour YouTube livestream during the morning of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Throughout the livestream, we demonstrated the power of 5G by enhancing the parade experience with live 360° camera views and real-time augmented reality surprises. We integrated social by encouraging viewers to participate in building real-time AR balloons. They could engage through polls on Twitter: we asked them to design the colors, accessories, and flares of exclusive parade balloons. After voting, they were able to see their balloon appear in the livestream in AR. A real-time social war-room crowdsourced interactions and communicated with production, camera crews, and creative technologists to place large data, directly into the livestream in real time.

- Morning of Thanksgiving 2019, 3-hour YouTube livestream.

-YouTube livestream, real-time content

-The world’s most beloved parade on one of the largest streaming platforms.

•Reach - 10 MM viewers tuned into the livestream.

•Engagement - No. 1 Share of Voice, increasing social mentions by 35% YOY.

•Impact - 85% positive sentiment; improved brand perception as leader in 5G tech (based on 76% of customers surveyed). Gained great momentum through this activation for a successful holiday sales season.