THE MET REPLICA

Background: It’s no secret that the arts have been consistently cut from our nation’s schools. In fact, the New York Department of Education has decreased spending on the arts over 47% over the past 7 years. If art is no longer in the classroom, then the Metropolitan Museum of Art wanted to give the youth of New York an unique opportunity to bridge the gap in art education. Verizon and The Met have an existing partnership and a shared goal to inspire learning. For years, Verizon has been at the forefront of the effort to provide tech education to schools across America, ensuring that kids expand their worldview using our technology. Together they looked to create an art experience that could inspire a generation of new art lovers through technology. Creative Idea: Visit the Met. Enter the metaverse. The Met Replica. The first-ever real-world Roblox art collection at the Met. An interactive metaverse learning experience using mobile gaming as an incentive for art education. Find the original artwork in IRL. And Replicate it in AR. As the art transformed from real to Roblox, kids created their own, personal Avatars that became walking pieces of art history. Mixing and matching with other virtual items to create something artfully one of a kind. Replicas moved beyond the physical walls of the Met and into Roblox, living on and inspiring art education throughout the infinite space of the metaverse. Insights & Strategy: Every year art education faces more budget cuts in our nation’s schools. The New York Department of Education alone has decreased spending on the arts over 47% over the past 7 years. The core of our strategy was to bridge the gap for students in New York City schools, giving them access to art education right here in their own backyard, at the largest art institution in North America, The Met. Verizon and The Met have an existing partnership and a shared goal to inspire learning. The Met’s primary goal is to foster a love and deep appreciation for the arts, with many programs focused on kids. Verizon has been at the forefront of the effort to provide tech education to schools across America, ensuring that kids expand their worldview using our technology. In order to draw kids into the museum to learn, Verizon knew the status quo of analog educational platforms would not be enough. With Verizon’s help they could lean into tech savvy Gen Z’s love of gaming. Roblox is one of the most popular online games for kids 8-14 and like Verizon and the Met, also shares brand goals that support education for today's youth. Today, with over 400 million users in the metaverse, 80% of them younger than 16, it presented us with a good place to start. Execution: This project was two years in the making. To make the experience not only fun but educational, we worked with multiple curators and their galleries within The Met to painstakingly replicate 40 artifacts into Roblox items. Launched to bridge the end of summer and back to school time frame to give both families and visitors time to partake. Leading up to the launch of the exhibit, we began advertising using creative assets on The Met social handles, website comms, in museum stanchions, marketing cards and digital displays sharing a CTA with a QR code to download the app to begin The Met Replica exhibit. The app sent kids on an interactive, educational scavenger hunt that turned 2 million square feet of the largest museum in North America into an infinite metaverse playground. With over 152 educational clues scattered around the museum, kids could find the original in IRL and replicate it in AR. Like magic, 5000 years of art transformed from real to Roblox virtual items. Kids used these Replicas and created their own, personal Avatars that became walking pieces of art history. Taking each Replica beyond the physical walls of the Met and into Roblox–living on– and inspiring art education in perpetuity throughout the Roblox gaming metaverse. Results: Families across the New York tri-state area came to The Met to experience Replica and learn about art in a whole new way. And while hundreds of thousands flocked to The Met, our reach surpassed national borders and kids around the world visited The Met Museum game on Roblox to learn. Through Replica, Verizon as a brand became associated with gaming and art amongst a whole new demographic while helping educate a younger generation. And, with zero paid media: Drove a 35% increase in foot traffic Over 200,000 new Met visitors 1.4 billion impressions