In 2016, virtual reality (VR) technology faces its first test in the commercial mainstream.
Several technology players have stakes in VR, whether launching headsets to consumers this year or developing platforms around hardware.
It remains to be seen if VR will achieve ubiquity as a truly ‘next generation’ interface or develop within a more focused niche.
The widely shared image of Mark Zuckerberg at Samsung’s MWC keynote – strolling past audience members plugged Matrix-like into headsets – is rich with dystopian possibility, though if Facebook have their way (they own Oculus Rift), VR could be a less anti-social experience than first appearances suggest.
For marketers, opportunity to experiment with early prototypes, exploiting the ‘innovation halo’ surrounding VR, is coming to a close.
Brands will soon have to compete with behemoths of entertainment (Sony’s Playstation VR for example) offering high-fidelity VR content.
For categories beyond gaming and media – where VR is part of content strategy contributing to eventual purchase, rather than the product itself – challenges are significant.
Greater immersion and interactivity
For consumers, the clearest benefits of VR lie in being transported into environments with a high degree of realism – ‘like you’re actually there’ – to explore places otherwise inaccessible. Claims of this kind exist elsewhere in consumer technology (4K, retina displays, 3D) though VR is arguably the most immersive, naturalistic experience yet.
First person perspective, alongside intuitive layers of interactivity, presents an obvious parallel to gaming; the category likely to see the most immediate adoption of this technology.
Elsewhere, headsets may be deployed in an event or retail context as an enhanced way to explore products and services. For example, a car not yet in production, or a holiday destination beyond the catalogue.
The opportunity here is for creative experiences that genuinely impress customers while also providing some degree of functional benefit.
Though VR is arguably difficult to scale compared to more traditional mediums like video, lighter options such as Google Cardboard and Samsung’s Gear VR – where content is delivered through smartphones via YouTube, Facebook or other apps – offer a potential solution to wider distribution.
Avoiding magpie tendencies
The best advice for marketers currently would be to ignore VR’s shiny, new-fangled status:
- Consider the creative potential of the medium: the avant-garde and unexpected are needed to compete for attention.
- Establish a clear benefit to VR’s immersive and interactive qualities vs. other channels.
- Consider how a VR is connected to the wider digital ecosystem and its measurable contribution to business objectives.
The end of the year will offer a clearer picture of VR’s initial success and limitations, though adjacent technologies like augmented reality – which Microsoft’s Hololens and Google Glass play into – may ultimately represent a more compelling use case.
In the meantime, VR offers something incredibly immersive – but at what cost? Disconnection from others, as part of the creeping digitisation of everyday life, is something many will resist, though this is also why Facebook’s focus on social for VR is so intriguing. All bets are off.
By Mark Linford is creative strategist at Amaze
