Coca-Cola turned Coke packs into Google Cardboard-like VR viewers

Elyse Betters | 23 February 2016

Most of you probably already have a Google Cardboard-certified viewer in your fridge or could easily get one the next time you buy groceries.

Coca-cola has just published a video to YouTube that shows how to make a virtual-reality headset from recycled cardboard once used as packaging for its soda. It seems to be an experiment at the company, according to both 9toMac and TNW, indicating Coca-Cola might actually soon make the whole thing a reality. The idea is that you can convert packaging for 12-packs of Cokes into VR viewers for iPhones and other phones.

The video below shows that all you need is a Coke box, a phone, and some other pieces that need to be cut out of the packaging using guides supplied by Coca-Cola. It looks like the only piece missing is a plastic lens, but we can imagine Coke somehow including it with new versions of its soda packaging marketed specifically as Coke boxes that can be made into VR viewers (maybe even Cardboard-certified viewers).

Google gives badges out to Cardboard-certified viewers to let consumers know those specific VR viewers work nicely with VR apps and games developed for its Google Cardboard headset. Cardboard released more than a year ago and is nothing more than a do-it-yourself cardboard kit that requires a phone to power and display a VR experience. Since it debuted, many third parties have begun selling similar pre-cut kits.

Coke, for instance, appears to be the latest company jumping on the VR bandwagon, but it's probably doing so as an after-thought that'll help the giant sell more Coke boxes (aka more soda). After all, Google announced last month that over 5 million units of Cardboard viewers have been shipped, while Cardboard apps passed the 1,000 mark on the Google Play Store.

Whatever the reason may be, Coca-Cola could make it easy to equip everyone with budget viewers. And with everyone suddenly experiencing virtual reality on the cheap, we can expect a growth in interest and maybe even a larger innovation boom.