USA Today Network’s new branded content studio GET Creative launched its first virtual reality experience yesterday, in partnership with Honda.

The online videos allow viewers to experience Honda’s new Dallara car, set to be released during the Indy 500 on May 29.

Kelly Andresen, VP of branded content at Gannett (USA Today Network’s parent company), sat down with Publishers Daily to talk about the branded content piece with Honda, the future of virtual reality and upcoming projects at GET Creative.

Publishers Daily: Why do you think it was a good idea to do the Honda project using virtual reality?

It was really about bringing an experience that most people would never be able to experience to life. Unlike other sports like basketball, where you can pick up a basketball and shoot it and know what it feels like to play basketball.

For motorsports, many fans will never be able to actually experience their favorite sport. We can help bring the innovation and engineering that Honda has specifically done with that unique car - nobody else has a two-seater - to bring that to life.

Publishers Daily: Can you describe what the virtual reality experience is like in the Honda ad?

Honda had done some amazing innovation in their engineering; they created a two-seater Indy car - the ones that sit really low to the ground. What we helped them with: How do you bring that experience to life?

What we eventually did together is put an array of cameras on that person sitting in the backseat to capture the whole experience. Then we put a professional driver in the front seat and we took several trips around a closed circuit track, so it's just this car going at over 150 miles per hour.

And you really feel what it feels like and looks like - being able to look behind you, to the side, looking at the driver in front of you. It’s that close-up experience that you wouldn’t be able to do unless you were a professional driver, and then distributing that across all of USA Today Network.

Publishers Daily: Where are the videos available?

The true virtual reality experience, which requires a viewer like the Google Cardboard viewer, is available on our VR Stories app. For those who don’t have a VR viewer we have distributed it on desktop and mobile web as a 360 video. The VR Stories app powers the real VR experience and it’s where we housed all of our editorial content - everything from 360 video to full virtual reality. This is the first time ever we are distributing VR branded content in that dedicated app.

We just relaunched our USA Today app last month that has a full section of VR in it, so you don’t even have to go to a separate app to view it. We will be launching branded content in our USA Today app next month. We are trying to help spread the viewability of content so people can discover VR since it’s still so new.

Publishers Daily: Where do you see the future of virtual reality with GET Creative?
We see this as the first of many branded content VR pieces we will be releasing. We have another campaign launching next week. There’s a lot of advertisers interested in virtual reality.

We’ve also been working from an editorial perspective on launching a weekly VR “show” -- for lack of a better word -- with the whole idea of building this cadence of quality content in the virtual reality space. USA Today Network has taken on that initiative and GET Creative is partnering with them to help build out branded content opportunities. As the newsroom is creating regular weekly content, we are actively working with them to build branded content into that weekly scheduled format too.

Publishers Daily: Why do you think VR is so popular?

It’s the perfect time for many different forces that have all come together. There have been major investments in the technology -- multibillion dollar investments like Facebook buying Oculus Rift. The hardware is coming soon between Oculus Rift and HTC Vive -- the very high-end, life-changing, high-quality hardware is coming.

We have the opportunity to fill in on the content side to help build that audience. It’s one thing to buy the hardware but if you don’t have anything to consume, it’s kind of a wasted opportunity. We want to help drive awareness and adoption of this cool new medium.

Publishers Daily: Where do you see the opportunities for GET Creative’s branded content projects going this year?

There’s a great opportunity for brands to help co-tell a story with a major media brand like USA Today Network. By integrating branded content in GET Creative studio, we have this opportunity to work with newsrooms to understand what our coverage is going to be and working with brands to fill in and make the story even better because a brand was involved.