360° Immersive Video
This time it’s personal.
Few trends have impacted social media like virtual reality has. Digital prophets predicted the explosion of VR in social media use for 2016, and it didn’t take long for brands to delve in.
A brand experience now has more effect than communication alone. With VR technology, passive content experiences become active ones. It offers a unique, visceral platform for consumers to interact with a brand’s story.
The most accessible form of VR is the 360° immersive video. By transporting the audience into a new world, 360° videos further an emotional connection, the consumer now drives their own journey.
Although still evolving, brands have already embraced the new tech. Nescafé demonstrated the advantage of audience control with the launch of its 360° video campaign ‘Good morning World‘, which allowed viewers to enjoy breakfast with people across the globe. The video cleverly adds to the brand’s feel of a unified, global product, showcasing the different countries in which the coffee is sold. By creating a customised immersive experience, Nescafe ensured it would be front of the consumer mind.
Similar examples can be seen with Red Bull’s expedition into the heart of a volcano, GoPro’s surfing of the wild waves in Tahiti, and FC Barcelona’s tribute to the legendary soccer coach Johan Cruyff.
And it’s not just consumer brands that are leveraging VR technologies. In 2015, the United Nations commissioned a series of films to highlight the struggle of Syrian refugees and Ebola victims. One of these films was Clouds Over Sidra, in which a 12-year-old girl guides the viewers through the Zaatari Refugee Camp. The 360° video gave viewers a true insight and understanding into a refugee’s life, and donations skyrocketed as a result. By making the audience feel, the video was twice as effective at making them act.
A brave new world?
Technology has enabled us, or perhaps forced us, to find new ways of communicating with people. In an ever-evolving battle for audience attention, companies must embrace the creative challenge to set their brand apart.
However, this must go beyond merely a check off the social strategy list. With VR technology, people are consciously choosing to inhabit and participate in a brand. For that reason, brands should aim to create experiences that have a true purpose: a space in which consumers want to interact and willingly let themselves evolve.
Here lies an opportunity for brands to create effective content and take a lead in the brave new world of advertising.
Written by Ellis van der Wulp
Content & Community Manager at REBORN