A Powerful Retelling:
HOW VERIZON'S BRAVERY HELPED RECONNECT NEW YORK IN A REAL–TIME MMS EXPERIENCE
Year: 2021
Client: Verizon
Role: Freelance Creative
Art: Tofer Moran
Copy: Melissa Avery, Jessy Cole
Design: Martin Martinez Virginillo, Matt Brant
Research: History Factory
Production & Design: Unit9
Project Duration: 7 Months
Note: This was an internal project created exclusively for all Verizon employees.
Recognition:
2022 ADC: Bronze x1
2022 Andys: Gold x1
2022 Cannes Lion: Gold x1
2022 Clios: Gold x1, Silver x1, Bronze x1
2022 D&AD: Yellow Pencil x1, Wood Pencil x3
2022 FWA: Site of the Day
2022 Shortys: Winner x4, Bronze x1, Audience Honour x1
2022 One Show: Gold x1, Bronze x3
2022 Webbys: Winner x2, People’s Voice x1
Verizon is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate.
What happened on 9/11 is forever etched into our memories. Unknown to many, however, is what happened the next day—on 9/12. Just one block from Ground Zero, thousands of Verizon employees risked their lives and ran toward a crisis to help reconnect New York.
So on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we honored those brave men and women from 2001, in a one-day, real-time virtual event, exclusively for Verizon employees. A story that’s never been told. In a way that’s never been done.
To deliver the virtual experience, we chose the most innovative form of communication from 2001—texting. We created a multimedia platform out of existing phone applications, leveraging every native tool within a text conversation. An invitation went out for users to join the event on 9/12 and throughout the day, participants were sent new texts every hour, at the times of day the events actually happened twenty years ago, putting them in the shoes of the employees who were there. ↓
300K+
Total Sent Messages
12+
Hours of MMS Content
99.86%
Engagement Rate
81%
Completion Rate
How It Works
We used Twilio SMS to deliver narratives at the right time and in the right order to remain historically accurate. Registered users received messages from a fictional Operator throughout the day, starting at 8:00 AM and continuing until the evening, revealing personal stories and media from Verizon employees. ↓
We made 6 podcasts, 170 photos, dramatized phone calls, a documentary, AR replicas, and a detailed 3D map of Lower Manhattan. Users accessed them through 152 real-time SMS messages, mirroring events of September 12th, 2001.
Watch the mini-documentaries – each first-hand account was delivered as a text bubble. ↓
Honoring the employees of the past. Impacting the employees of today. With +300k text messages sent on the day of the event, Verizon employees from all across the country joined and shared in this uniquely personal and collective experience, honoring their colleagues who were there in 2001. ↓
Art Direction
The straightforward language and minimalist design created a museum-quality feel. Inspired by memory recollection, blurry and dusty elements were incorporated to emulate the gradual clarity of memories.
Collaboration & Communication
Crafting a cohesive narrative for a mobile experience posed a unique challenge. We used a collaborative Miro board to organize color-coded archived materials and interviews, serving as both an idea generator and a checklist for legal approval of licenses. My triple Earth signs stay grounded in getting 👏 shit 👏 done 👏 . ↓
