VR, short for virtual reality, is an interactive software that immerses users in a three-dimensional environment – usually using headphones with special lenses – to simulate the real experience. Ideally, VR allows people to simulate the experience at 360 degrees.
In many industries, VR now has to transport people to places they would otherwise have to travel to or just imagine. While film companies, for example, allow audiences to experience the film as if they were a character in the scene, traditional companies are now using VR to showcase and market their products to potential customers.
Before diving into companies that have found success in injecting marketing with a dose of VR, it’s worth adding that there are some notable differences in virtual reality to another term you may have heard before: augmented reality. Find out these differences in the video below.
Wendy’s and VMLY & R: Keep Fortnite Fresh
While some brands created virtual VR experiences from scratch, Wendy has identified how they could connect with players in the virtual world of Fortnite. While this example is not technically a VR experience that requires headphones, the brand still took advantage of the virtual world to promote the product and a higher story.
In Wendy’s first Twitch stream, which beat Gold Clio, an avatar dressed as Wendy appeared in an online game.
At one point in Fortnity’s online history, players were asked to hunt cattle and transport beef to the freezer of nearby restaurants. When they did this, the players deserved coins.
When Wendy’s team learned that Fortnate players were encouraged to put beef in the freezer, the chain commissioned its marketing agency, VMLY & R, to create an Avatar that looked like Wendy. Wendy’s and its marketing company then launched a Twitch stream, where the avatar began breaking into restaurants and destroying the freezers:
Key technology: Sorting VERYX foods
Key Technology, a manufacturer and designer of food processing systems, created a virtual reality theme that would allow participants of the Pack Expo food packaging fair to experience a detailed and practical review of how the company’s VERYX digital food sorting platform works. It was part of an extensive B2B campaign aimed at increasing brand awareness among food manufacturers, and VR gave participants a very unique assessment of what the process looks like inside the machine.
While this 360-degree video doesn’t entirely repeat the experience, a seding way brands in both B2B industries as well as manufacturing can leverage VR to showcase their advanced technologies and abilities.
