By Susan Tomai, Founder
On a recent Sunday morning, The New York Times arrived at our house in Northern Virginia - yes we still get an actual newspaper - and this old-fashioned form of communication came with a pair of Chevron-branded virtual reality goggles. What fun.
My son and I assembled the goggles, downloaded the accompanying VR video from YouTube and took a virtual trip to Chevron’s Jack/St. Malo drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico about 280 miles south of New Orleans. At the start of the video, I felt as if I was really on the helicopter as it landed on the rig. Then I “walked” all over the facility, getting an intimate and realistic feel for the mini-city in the middle of the Gulf that houses 180 workers and pumps thousands of barrels of oil every day.
What great marketing for both the Times and Chevron. At a time when print is tying to stay relevant, the paper is making an effort to align itself with virtual technology. Same goes for Chevron – it offered an enjoyable entertainment experience that showed the company is keeping up with the times.