How do I find VR Marketing strategies that actually work?
Well, today we’re going to make it easy for you.
All you need to do is carve out a few minutes of your day and look over the 10 Best Uses Of Virtual Reality In Marketing.
Here’s why VR Marketing campaigns are so successful:
VR solves a huge problems marketers have around engagement and awareness for the following reasons:
* Immersive – users wearing a headset are completely immersed in the content meaning fewer distractions and more attention on the message.
* Impactful – the intensity of a VR experience is greater than traditional media generating strong emotions in its users which are linked to real behaviour change.
* Memorable – our brains are built to remember events linked to locations, this means that VR experiences have a longer trace in the audience’s memory.
* Novel – with high media and public interest in VR early adopters can benefit from favourable media exposure.
You’ll learn today the how the best marketing campaigns use VR to create successful campaigns. Here’s our video that shows you exclusive footage from each campaign and it showcases what you can learn from each campaign. Keep scrolling to see our write up of each one.
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Last Christmas, Coca Cola created a virtual reality sleigh ride. Using Oculus Rift, thousand of people all over Poland were immersed in this virtual world and were Santa Claus for a day! It is like a roller coaster ride but you are Santa Claus flying over the country and into different villages.
Why we picked it:
Coca-Cola is a major brand and they’ve been experimenting with Virtual Reality for quite a while now. Coca-Cola is always striving to be new and fresh and this was a perfect opportunity for them. This sleigh ride was a great way to show their modern brand through the use of VR. It introduced people in Poland to virtual reality and help them better experience the joy of Christmas.
9. McDonald’s Happy Meal VR Headset and Ski App
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The Whitehouse invited The Verge to do a video on Michelle Obama’s success with social media. She talks about her efforts to popularise healthy eating and exercise. The 10-minute video is a 360 video that has After Effects like animation on it to help illustrate Michelle’s point. The video is the best VR infographic explainer video I’ve ever seen. For marketers reading this right now, if you need to explain a company’s mission or a new service, you’ll definitely want to look into this video and use it as an example.
Why we picked it:
It solves the big problem marketers have with VR. Mainly, how to properly make use of the 360 space and it creates a narrative flow that anyone can follow along with. This is a huge a challenge because it is difficult to capture someone’s attention when they can look anywhere. The Verge creates these infographic pop-ups that guide your attention. And even when you’re not looking at the speaker, they’ll reproduce Michelle’s face on the other side so you can continue to follow the story while exploring the space. This video masterfully engages you on Michelle Obama’s social media story.
7. New York Times – Displaced
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War has driven 30 million children from their homes. The New York Times detailed their tragic stories in an immersive documentary that was available to download for mobile app and Google Cardboard. This wasn’t a marketing campaign but the publicity of generated by distributing a million free Google Cardboards to their readers grabbed headlines. The VR studio vrse.works developed Displaced for the NYTVR app.
* Distributed to over 1 million New York Time subscribers
* The Highlight piece of New York Times VR app
Why we picked it:
The film did an excellent job at showing the devastating effects of war and put you in the heart of the story. A worthy story and a great marketing move by the NY Times.
6. Boursin – Sensorium
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A bit older this one, but still worthy. TopShop offered members of the public a unique front-row view of their exclusive fashion runway show during London Fashion Week using a 360 panoramic video stream. Lucky competition winners got to experience this in a special pop-up space in TopShop’s flagship London store, providing great visibility. As a bonus, the user could find additional behind the scene footage from within the experience. This experience was created by the London VR studio Inition.
* The experience won ‘Project of the Year‘ at the BT Retail Week Technology Awards 2014
* Best Hybrid Event / Best Virtual Event at the 2014 Event Tech Awards
* 100s of attendees at the event.
* 10 Press articles including Wired and the Times.
Why we picked it
This is a great use of the technology, well executed and one of the very first of these types of experiences for the Oculus. Congrats to the guys at Inition.
4. Volvo – XC90 Test Drive
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A Tequila company might not be an obvious beneficiary of a VR marketing strategy, but Patron used the power of VR to tell a compelling story around the companies product. Using a mix of live action and computer graphics they created a 360 journey following the product lifecycle from agave field to being served at a glamorous party. The entire production took six months and was developed by creative agency Firstborn, post-production agency Legend and sound design agency Antfood. When Patron does events, they’ll bring a virtual reality set up to show audiences their process.
* 20k Accumulated YouTube Views
* Used Binaural (3D) Audio
* Used a custom built Drone with a 7 GoPro
Why we picked it
This was good because it gives the user an inside look at the process of creating Patron’s Tequila. It’s both entertaining and educational.
2. Merrell – Trailscape
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Imagine being able to transport yourself to a beach paradise whenever you wanted?
Framestore VR Studio and Relevant partnered with Marriott to create a unique teleportation experience for the public. Framestore VR Studio writes that it’s, “A Revolutionary 4D Tourism experience for Marriott Hotels, that teleports you first to a Marriott Hotel and then to the beach in Hawaii.” Inside a telephone booth-like structure, they used Oculus Rifts, heaters, and wind jets to take users on a trip to Hawaii and London. Whilst it’s not quite the same as actually being there, it might help you decide on your future trips. It also helped Marriott position themselves as a forward looking and relevant brand in the market. For more information, you can view the case study here.
* Toured in 8 cities in the USA
* 100-second sessions
Why we picked it
We liked this because it combines visuals with the other senses, going beyond what it possible by just showing a 360 video. Whilst, not a cheap campaign to produce it was successful enough for Marriott to commission a second experience. Showing VR is more than a one-off gimmick but something that can be core to a marketing strategy when used properly.
That’s our list! However, not every campaign made it and below we highlight other campaigns that you can learn from.
Honourable Mentions:
Immersive VR – Apollo 11 Mission
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Source: Mbryonic