Ads are beating games at Oculus VR (Quick roundup of 7 amazing brand experiences that use the Oculus Rift)
Roger Sho Gehrmann
VP Multi-Sensory Brand Solutions | Audio Creative & Sonic Strategy | Webbys & Anthem Awards Judge | Co-Founder of Studio Resonate
What was once a forgotten technological amusement from the 90s, VR (Virtual Reality) technology smashing its way back into media consciousness. Spearheading this tech is the Oculus Rift, you may have heard of it from being one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in history and a recent $2 billion acquisition by Facebook.
It’s hard to explain the Occulus Rift experience to someone who’s never tried it – it’s a weird and wonderful at the same time, immersing the user in a unique experience which truly makes you ‘feel’ that you’ve transported your consciousness into another dimension.
Strapping a big hunk of plastic to your face for an out-of-this-world experience, one would expect this would be the purely the domain of the gaming community. Reading up on the news from the first Oculus Connect (their inaugural Apple-esque conference) which just took place in September in LA, it was surprising that some of the best examples of the Oculus Rift technology is coming from the advertising industry rather than gaming. And it’s not just us noticing that. This possibly says more about speed and urgency of pushing ‘new tech’ in these respective industries, but that is a topic for another blog post.
Right now, it’s mostly the new-ness of the tech all that is attracting brands and agencies to the platform. But as there are mountains of psychological studies that point to greater memory recall with spatial and multi-sensory experiences, expect those factors to be driving branded VR experiences in the future.
What we’re certain about – is that it’s here to stay. It’s certainly not the curiosity that it was back in the 90s, it’s not just that it’s more advanced – it’s become affordable. The Oculus dev kit only costs about US$350 and with similar Sony and Samsung hardware imminently launching, it’s becoming serious business.
Expect lots more brands to creating games, simulations and all kinds of experiences designed around their products. But it’s also important to realise that Oculus is a technology platform, not a marketing solution. It’s a multi-sensory vehicle that offers a unique way to tell a story through immersion. That story still needs to be original, compelling and entertaining – otherwise it will be a banner ad strapped to your face.
Here are seven examples of brands using Oculus Rift from the past year:
NRMA Crashed Car Showroom – Be a Crash Test Dummy – The first branded Oculus Rift VR experience in Australia was from NRMA, demonstrating car safety technology improvements over the years. The simulation took place within an actual car, creating a stronger illusion of immersion.
Interstellar Oculus Experience – A space scifi movie and VR experience go hand-in-hand, but this one probably needed the harness like the 5Gum Experience to truly give the users the zero gravity effect. If Gravity were to have premiered this year, this is how they would have been promoting it.
Wrigleys 5gum Experience – If the abstract graphics seem strange for a gum brand, you probably haven’t seen the rather bonkers TVCs. We like the mystery factor in this execution as users have no idea what they are about to experience beforehand – the harness the lifts them up during the simulation takes it over the edge, to the out-of-this-world experience they are attempting to weave.
Marriott Teleporter – Probably the most straightforward of all of these concepts, but we like the integration of sensory weather effects and the fact that it’s probably the closest in attempt to tying the experience back to the brand.
At TheFARM we recently gotten into the VR scene and have invested in some very interesting VR gear, though it’s not the Oculus Rift. Watch this (virtual) space.
Customer Strategy, Loyalty and Experience
9yNice post Roger. it's exciting to see brands stepping out and embracing new technology and creating new experiences for people. It's a unique sensory experience strapping into VR. 'Tell me and i forget, Show me i remember, Involve me and I understand' VR definitely hits those last 2 :)
VP Multi-Sensory Brand Solutions | Audio Creative & Sonic Strategy | Webbys & Anthem Awards Judge | Co-Founder of Studio Resonate
9yJohn Colette, oh that is super exciting. Did you order one or a whole bunch?
Media Arts Curation and Production.
9yMy Occulus Dk2 arrived last week. :-)