Snowfall is the shiznit. In my business, I’m fascinated by it and everybody is talking about it. Let me tell you what they’re saying. I don’t claim to have every inside scoop, but here’s what I’ve learned so far. (If you haven’t seen it, go look here: http://bit.ly/nyt-snowfall. Preferably on a desktop or tablet.)
Background: I’ve been building web sites for a long time and the promise has always been fantastic, integrated multi-media storytelling. Even before web sites, people were trying to do integrated media storytelling with CD-ROMs. But, it’s always been klunky and…just not right.
People have been getting better and better at it, and the general consensus is that Snowfall is the first example of getting it right. Snowfall illustrates that the technology (i.e. HTML5) has finally reached the point where the promise can be realized.
I like to think of Snowfall as a world record holder. There’s always a world’s fastest man…a person who runs the 100-meter dash faster than anybody else. Snowfall currently is the world record holder. Someone will come along and go faster, for sure, but there’s an important distinction: Snowfall was the first person to break 10 seconds.
In other words, Snowfall is the four-minute mile of online storytelling.
I’ve been talking to a lot of people about Snowfall, and here’s a summary of what I’ve heard:
Newsrooms everywhere are going a bananas about it.
Not only are people in the news business going bananas about it, one journalist told me that “Snowfall” has become a verb. That is, people in newsrooms are saying to their digital departments, “I want you to Snowfall this for me”.
Of course, what most people don’t realize is that it took a team of 10 people six months to realize Snowfall. And, not just any people, but some of the best in the trade. The New York Times was willing to make that investment, but most newsrooms don’t have those resources.
All the work was custom. Although, it was built on the shoulders of previous multimedia work by the NYT.
Agencies everywhere are talking about it. A friend who is the executive creative director at a very, very large, worldwide agency told me that they’re pitching Snowfall-style content to every client. (He wouldn’t tell me if he had any takers yet.)
Another friend who heads up social media and digital communications a major corporation (i.e. company listed on the Dow) told me that his boss, the head of corporate communications, keeps on saying, “We need our Snowfall moment”.
Unsubstantiated, I was told that Snowfall got more traffic than anything the NYTimes.com has ever done before. (Not sure how I’d validate this…any ideas?? Leave a comment.)
It’s very interesting. Everybody wants the outcomes from Snowfall—a great story with meaningful impact, tons of traffic and the buzz about being an industry leader. But, I wonder if these folks will be willing to make the investment. This wasn’t a one time effort…it was the outcome of years of investment by The NYTimes.com in creative multimedia. It will be hard for newsrooms and brands to turn on the Snowfall spigot overnight.
Or will it? Now that the barrier has been broken will it be easier for others? I wonder how this is all going to play out. Stay tuned.