Everything's coming up VR: Thoughts on the It-Tech of SXSW 2016

(Image reprinted with permission by Jeannie Walters from this post: https://360connext.com/what-do-trends-from-sxsw-2016-mean-for-customer-experience/)

OK I'll confess, I was already excited about VR even before I went to SXSW this year. I can't say that about SX debutantes of yore--Twitter, FourSquare, MeerKat. I knew it was cool, but I didn't expect to be so bought in on the possibilities. Adam Keats published a great write up of VR's growing presence at SX and beyond.

The New York Times took a huge step forward with its VR Lounge and Demo area, where you could look through omnipresent cardboard goggles at VR films uploaded via the Times' app. It was the first time that I saw content depicting real life--not fantastical scenarios best left to those who still pine for Second Life. And I listened to a panel with VR film producers who had applied VR to music rehearsals and documentary coverage.

Of course, being someone who defaults to the question, Who's going to pay for this?, I couldn't help but start thinking of where to apply VR, and how to charge for it. One of the panelists I listened to offered an apt insight: New mediums lose oxygen when you monetize them too early. You need to see where the energy gravitates and experiment with use cases before you start asking people to pay for the privilege to use, or sponsor, the tech. Especially while the mechanisms for using the tech are still not mainstream. Fair enough. But I will at least venture some guesses of how we will try to use VR.

1. The best early use cases: Live sports and Entertainment

This is a no-brainer, and one that the digital team at the Times and other VR producers have thought about, but we haven't yet taken that next step and integrated a real-time, pay-per-view approach. There's a whole tier of people who can't afford a seat on SpaceX's next manned rocket to the moon, but who will plunk down college-tuition-type money to be sitting in the dugout with their favorite team during the World Series, or backstage at a Bruce Springsteen concert. And the great part of this is you wouldn't have to strike up any awkward conversations with anyone while you're there.

2. The worst mistake we'll make with VR: Seeing everything through VR-colored glasses.

Even while I giggled with delight over being able to stand in a Latin American barrio--the location of a documentary about the unjust shooting of a child--the storytelling was a bit strained in the approach. I could see the town, I could sit in the living room with the grieving family, but I could have experienced the same immersion if the film were a "flattie" (the term used by the NYT digital team to describe plain vanilla, non-immersive video. I suspect many would disagree with me. But therein lies the question: What situations will beg for the use of this currently ridiculously expensive technology, and which ones can forego it?

A VR film producer explained the challenges of filming in VR, and even suggested that in some situations he missed shooting regular video. For one thing, "flatties" enable directors to manipulate a shot, or actors, or lighting as needed for effect, while VR requires more a "set up and pray" approach as any manipulation of a shoot would be visible to a viewer. No more "cuts" to the heroine's face when she finds out her beloved dog has died. The viewer chooses what part of a shot he or she will see, and the direction will be largely in how to capture attention in real time, not the editing room. I have yet to see a scripted VR film.

And from a marketer's perspective, restraint is key. Just like with any shiny new platform or technology, brands want to be front and center and show they get it. But first adopter audiences are not always indicative of the audiences that will use a technology once it reaches mass adoption. In this beta phase, marketers are not sure where to place a new tech in their content marketing strategy, so they default to everywhere.

But with all newfangled media, first come the "Ooohs and Ahhs" and then come the rules of engagement. Think of when brands first started engaging bloggers and thought it was a good idea to ask them to post their press releases verbatim. Or when marketers, wanting to embrace Pinterest, uploaded catalog images of every sku up on their brand board. They didn't realize yet how audiences engaged with these platforms and how to not interrupt the experience. Smart marketers, such as GE and MiniCooper--early sponsors of The New York Times' VR series--are integrating content that shows off VR and makes sense.

The gorgeous, high-end, Go-Pro-like experiences we're seeing now may differ once, say, kids get a hold of VR. Eventually, these more experimental approaches meant to show off changes in sound location or depth perception will seem almost quaint, like a Charlie Chaplin film. When the first person barfs from a VR roller coaster ride, we've hit our next milestone.

3. There will be victims, and mashups

I can't help but think that industries that rely on live experiences--travel, conferences, strip clubs--will be affected. But if they play their cards right, industries can create tiers of experience and not replace paying live customers. Rather, they grab new ones who can't pay the full freight or simply can't access live experiences. Not to get all Avatar, but consider how AR an enhance experience for the disabled or the elderly. My Nana won't have to take a monthly trip to Target to get out of the house, she can tune in, and see the town where she grew up, or see my house in the Bay Area.

And just as live-streaming has enabled us to see real-world events while they are unfolding, the combination of live-streaming with VR will enable us to BE there, as closely as has ever been possible, unless teleportation really does become a thing--there's always next SX. Given the rigging of venue required to achieve VR, portability is going to be a bear, and the next conundrum to work out.

Then, throw in location-based tech, so that we can tune in to, say, everyone live streaming the Republican National Convention--oh to be a fly on that wall...

4. We're bound to abuse VR

There will be bad "activations" against this technology. Someone will wrap a cactus in the Mojave desert in the hope of being "subtly integrating their brand into an experience", much the way actors attempt to insert discernible plot into really bad porn films. The viewers are there for a reason--you really mustn't presume the experience is in any way about you.

Here I defer to my roots in content and influencer marketing and think that the best integration will be in providing aligned, unique experiences on a brand's dime. Food brand X can enable me to stand next to my favorite chef as he makes an entire meal. I can score a front-row seat to a private engagement with Alicia Keys, brought to me by luxury brand Y.  And I, top influencer, can share a 30-second bit from the concert to my besties on SnapChat. Boom!

Mark my words: Someone will eff it up by shooting VR at a live event without the implied permission of the people who actually paid for a live ticket, and we all will get the pleasure of hearing about Tiffany's hookup while she was in Cabo. Or worse, look over our shoulder and see her actually hooking up.

In the early days of my company, BlogHer, we had to remind everyone who attended our conferences that everyone is press. There was an implied understanding that you, as an attendee of a blogging conference, might end up in a picture, or in the background of someone's video tour. Just like with live streaming, the people in the streams need to know they are being filmed, and that's harder when those people are in front, behind, and perhaps above and below you. (But that's why you pay your in-house counsel the big bucks.)

VR will change consumer behavior, just as video conferencing got me to actually get dressed and comb my hair  when working from home. We'll expect to be virtually present, and perhaps virtually accountable.