VR Applications and Brand Experiences

Major brands such as Adidas, The North Face, and Coca-Cola are all utilizing creative initiatives where you can enjoy an exciting experience through a virtual reality headset. This is largely what virtual reality revolves around; instead of statically watching something, you can actually experience it with a VR headset.

This VR campaign by Adidas was created from their target audience selection. For the launch of a new outdoor clothing and accessories line, Adidas wanted their customers - primarily sporty outdoor types, to have an unforgettable experience. However, it's an impossible task to physically have everyone climb a mountain, so the campaign was designed in virtual reality. Using 360-degree camera footage from climbers Ben Rueck and Delaney Miller and a completely new interactive 3D VR environment, people could now climb the mountain themselves just by wearing a VR headset. During this virtual climb, you encounter various points on the mountain where you can access information. From handy climber tips, to real-life experiences of Ben Rueck and Delaney Miller, to new product information about the newly released Adidas clothing.

This VR experience was featured in over 50 Adidas stores in 10 different cities in China for several weeks and was available at various Adidas events (including in Germany).

Somewhere Else x Adidas: Delicatessen VR (2017)

This video by Boursin is a bit older (2015), but was one of the first 360 VR videos that uniquely marketed a product. In the video, you take a virtual journey through the refrigerator where you encounter various products. These products are all incorporated into the ingredients of Boursin and you occasionally come across a lost packet of Boursin herb cheese. The video is a fun experience that everyone can enjoy for free. The video can simply be viewed on a relatively simple mobile VR headset. You just need to start the video on the YouTube app and then place your phone in a Google Cardboard or similar.

This video was played at various food festivals in the UK. In a fun (and very accessible) way, visitors could experience this and Boursin managed to create a cool experience with their own brand in the spotlight.

Boursin® Sensorium 360 Virtual Reality Experience (2015)

King's Day is, of course, one of the biggest and most famous holidays in the Netherlands. However, due to the corona crisis, it sadly couldn't physically proceed this year, 2020. Due to the 1.5 meter measures, a large part of the year's events were not organized, which is obviously very unfortunate for many people. Both visitors and organizers, as well as artists, are hugely disappointed. But VRROOM managed to develop something incredibly cool for this.

In 2020, the first virtual King's Day was a fact. The VR experience was developed in collaboration with some well-known brands (such as Heineken, Unox, and DSQUARED). People who wanted to go to the festival could buy a ticket which allowed them to log into a virtual space. This space was a fully replicated square in Amsterdam, with Madame Tussauds and an orange windmill in the background. There were even tickets available for VIP rooms, where you could get even closer to artists (in VR)! All proceeds from this ticket sale also went to a good cause.

This VR experience worked best for users with a VR headset like HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, but it could also be experienced without a VR headset. During the virtual King's Day, there were various live streams of DJs that could be seen on a computer or on your phone.

The virtual King's Day was ultimately visited by more than 10,000 users and gained international attention. Thereby a good example of how you can integrate virtual reality into "real" life and even gain a lot of (media) attention with it!

Kingsday VR Festival Aftermovie (2020)

You might not immediately think of it, but KLM is one of the most progressive companies in the field of virtual reality. KLM's VR department is rapidly developing all sorts of cool virtual reality applications. One of the applications of VR at KLM is employee training.

One of these trainings is, for example, operating the passenger bridge. KLM's development team has created a complete VR simulation where the user is at Schiphol and has to operate the bridge. All the actions you would have to take in real life are included in this simulation. At the end of the simulation training, you get an overview of which actions you did correctly and incorrectly, and what you can do better next time.

This way of training is fun for employees because they work with new techniques, but also very cost-saving. The advantage of virtual training is that you only have to simulate the virtual space once. For large projects - like operating the passenger bridge, it is therefore much more efficient to do this in VR than in real life.

KLM Passenger Bridge Training in VR (2019)

One of the biggest advantages of virtual reality is that the experience is much more immersive. As a user, you are much more immersed in what you're looking at. Instead of just watching a screen, like you do with movies - you experience the action through the eyes of the character with VR. In other words: you are in the movie! Movies cleverly capitalize on this by including VR experiences in their campaigns when they release a new film.

An example of a film genre that lends itself well to VR is horror. IT (by Stephen King) capitalizes on this remarkably well with each release of a new Chapter. There's something very scary about the fact that you can get so close to IT's clown, without turning your head away. Sure, you can close your eyes to not see the screen; but the fact that you have the headphones close to your ears still feels very realistic (especially if the VR experience capitalizes on this by, for example, making footsteps come from different directions).

Another particularly fun (and relatively simple) VR experiences that is more child-focused is "Elliot's Flyover" 360 Video Experience from the famous Walt Disney movie "Pete's Dragon". In this experience, you watch a 360-degree video where you sit on the back of a dragon. This experience is ideal for movie campaigns, as this is obviously a dream come true for many children!

IT - FLOAT: A Cinematic VR Experience Trailer.