Virtual reality enables you to step into another world – a stimulated environment brought to life by a marketer’s control and imagination. Once there, consumers can suspend belief, interact, move, and be totally surrounded by a brand. That’s what makes it irresistible to advertisers. Yet, it’s a solitary experience that’s costly to create and consume with specific hardware requirements needed by the end user. So, when should you initiate a VR project? What goals does virtual reality help achieve? Could 360 degree video also meet your objectives? Will you gain something from using virtual reality that you couldn’t through other mediums? How will mixed reality affect video in the coming years? We’ll put those questions to our panelists.
During our presentation, we explored the big trends and examples behind why brands are expanding their investments into their own labs, innovation hubs and experience center. We hope that our attendees walked away with strategies, examples, and a sense of the fun and engaging experiences that can be created by tapping into their brand’s internal labs.
I worked with Danielle and the Cramer team while I was at PwC and was thrilled to have the chance to work with them at EMS 17. I'm hoping we'll have a chance to present together again!
Download EMS-2017-innovationlabs-updated-Final
Check out Cramer's review of our presentation here.
If you had a chance to attend our session during SXSW 17, you got to hear us talk about what VR was like back in the 90's, as well as some of the lessons learned from those days that we can be using today. We'll actually have a video of the full presentation available in a few weeks and I'll post it here when it's ready.
You also got see to Jacki Morie give a great overview of some of the artist work that was being done back then. She's put them together in the Powerpoint that you can download below, complete with links and additional information.
We had many great conversations after the session, further exploring how that early work in VR can impact where the industry is going today. We talked about the need to create experiences that engage all of our senses; that there should be fun and playfulness and that we should stop looking at the limitations. And, we all agreed that if your VR experience is giving people motion sickness, it's probably your fault.
All four of us will be continuing this exploration and discussion, so check back here and connect with all of us as we continue to use the lessons learned from the first VR boom to make this one as successful as it can be.
Panelists:
Download VR Learning from the Past
I believe that one of the biggest challenges we face today with VR/AR is that people in the industry like to focus on the limitations, not the opportunities. Now, to be fair, we do that with lots of things, but in the case of VR, we're setting the story that will either help or hinder us in the future. I'm not suggesting that we hype things that can't be done, that's hurt VR in the past too. Just that we need to lead with the positive. Even Cirque du Soleil generally regards limitations as means to find their best creative solution (see link below for their book that discusses that issue.)
Yet, as I talk to people in the VR space today or attend VR events, I hear lots of discussions about the limitations of the technology. How people get motion sickness, how the headmounts aren't good enough or the computers are too slow to do the really creative things we want to do. Lots of talk about how when the tech gets to where it should be, we'll see really cool experiences being developed then.
But imagine where we were 25+ years ago. The computers were the size of small desks and not nearly as powerful as what we have today. Here's the first VR game system that was commercially available. Just look at those graphics from the game.
Yep, we needed this entire set up to play the games.
And yet, after doing tens of thousands of demos using that system, I had very few people complain about the tech. The vast majority came out of the game excited and enthusiastic about the promise of the tech. They could see the vision. Yes, they would sometimes ask about the graphics or technology, but mainly they were excited.
Here are my thoughts:
One big thought that I have is this. While it's great to start with people who have a film background, we need to get outside that industry. For example, people who have come from the theme park industry have extensive experience in engaging the whole guest. The big arcade experience back then were the Virtual World Entertainment centers. While you went into a pod to play the actual game, they created full stories around their experience, before, during and after you played. Just bringing people into a space with lots of VR systems won't cut it in the very near future. Bring in set designers and folks from themed entertainment and see how they would change your experience.
The key is being open to all of the skills out there needed to create great experiences. Again, it's not about the limitations, it's about possibilities. I have absolutely no doubt that VR will be successful and I'm looking forward to seeing how we can start unlocking it's great potential!
Images from the original Virtual World Entertainment center
Some additional exploration
The Wacky World of VR in the 80s and 90s
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL (R) THE SPARK, Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All at Amazon.
