Collaboration is the New Black — And Why You Should Get on Board

Since the rise of digital media platforms in the early 2000s, “sharing” has been the term that connects millions of users worldwide. However, the evolution of media has allowed “sharing” to take on a negative connotation. Sharing has grown to be more about likes and views and less about engaging a community to contribute to a common cause. As we continue to simply share without a filter, we open the door for an endless feed of content that proves to be of no real value for communities with similar interests.

Rather than simply sharing, we must turn our attention to the idea of collaboration and collaborative storytelling. Collaboration requires a level of curation and moderation to generate and retain the idea of community. Taking that idea a step further, collaborative storytelling emphasizes interaction between audiences and the stories that resonate with them and the communities they are apart of. This fosters innovative storytelling and gives rise to platforms and tools that facilitate broader collaboration.

Brands and companies alike have already started to embrace the idea of collaboration. Take the New York Times, for example.

When The Times approached Google, GE and Mini USA with an idea for a collaborative effort, the answer from each of these brands was simple — yes.

The Times wanted to create a virtual reality experience for its viewers, so they teamed up with Google’s Cardboard system and distributed nearly 1 million Cardboard devices to The Times’ home-delivery subscribers, which was the biggest ever project for the Cardboard devices. The collaboration included a virtual reality app in which viewers could use the Cardboard device to watch short VR films produced by Mini, GE, and VRSE.Works.

Though this sounds like a typical brand collaboration, it was much more than that. Each of these brands were able to recognize their varied perspectives and how they can contribute to create something bigger than themselves.

The collaboration provided value in terms of engagement and views for the Times, as it resulted in their virtual reality app being downloaded more times in its first few days than any other Times app. The collaboration also provided a platform for the audience to be involved.

On the day that The Times delivered the Cardboard devices to their subscribers, photos of excited readers utilizing the Cardboard system flooded social media under the hashtag, “#NYTVR.”

In addition to the audience connection through social media, the virtual reality aspect allowed the audience to be a part of the story rather than simply read the story, giving them the unique experience to feel connected to the issue at hand.

One of the VR films made by VRSE.Works, “The Displaced,” features the lives of three refugee children away from their war-torn countries. Viewers are immersed in the experience with these children, shedding light on the issue of war displacing millions of children from their homes.

According to Ad Age, Jake Silverstein, Editor of the New York Times, called the initiative “‘a watershed moment’ for virtual reality story-telling.” Given how this initiative connected the audience to the cause, the same sentiment appears to be true for collaboration and collaborative storytelling.

As a result, The New York Times won the Entertainment Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for “The Displaced.”

So, how does this all relate to collaboration? The Times initiative to collaborate with multiple brands to generate a larger community with varied perspectives serves as a model for consumers and publishers everywhere. Though the times collaborated with other brands, the same outcome is possible when consumers are able to directly contribute to the communities that serve them.

There are a number of new collaborative platforms and technologies available for media and their communities to leverage. Through embracing new methods and empowering collaborative storytelling, we give users the ability to directly impact the way history is documented and shaped.