What are some examples of VR storytelling in marketing and advertising?

VR storytelling has significantly influenced my career. I've lead groundbreaking campaigns for the Burj Khalifa and The Shard, both focusing on immersive experiences. The Shard's Vertigo game, users navigated the under-construction building, feeling like daredevils. "Mission 828" at Burj Khalifa provided an equally thrilling experience, thwarting a cyber attack and a base jump from the top of the Burj, 828 meters. Both experiences aimed to educate and enhance visitor experiences. They underscore the immense potential of VR in marketing and advertising, engaging audiences with both entertainment and valuable information. It's been a rewarding journey, and I'm excited to see VR storytelling's continued impact on various industries.

In a time when we have the shortest attention span ever, VR is a powerful way of getting people’s undivided attention. But it is a trade off. People give you this power as long as you don’t squander it with slow pacing and “moody” environments that look cool but don’t say anything to the viewer. Having done more than a dozen VR experiences I think that the “cool factor” is the biggest enemy of good storytelling. A good story is universal no matter if it’s told in VR or with stick figures. Having said that, once you can provide a worthy justification for people to put a VR headset on their heads, the possibilities of engagement are ridiculously big.

Another amazing VR project I had the pleasure to creatively direct was 'Consequences', a multi-award-winning VR film that raised awareness around the dangers of drink driving. Consequences was created for the Irish Road Safety Authority specifically to educate young adults on the consequences of drinking alcohol and deciding to drive a vehicle. Using live action 360 video, the film shows users a randomised variation of scenes that all begin in a bar. The scenes show a court room, a jail cell, a car crash, an ambulance, and a wheelchair showing how dangerous and life altering drink driving can be. This impactful project received recognition from industry peers and prestigious awards including Webby, Telly, and Lovie awards. Life changing.

I think that the biggest misconception regarding interactivity in VR is that it brings more engagement. Not necessarily. So, if you are going straight to a game/interactive format because it will make your idea more engaging, stop right there. It should all serve your idea and the narrative. People cry in movie theatres and there’s no interaction in there. Some say that 360 video is passé. We once did a 360 video of a crowded jail cell in Brazil and it got 25 million views on social networks. Interactivity, on the other hand, adds engagement when it doesn’t break the suspension of disbelief and it serves the story. I guess the fundamental question is: can this story be told in similar way without interaction? Then stop and rethink the story

Yes, it all starts with an idea but technology very often influences and changes the narrative and the initial idea. So, I guess the first point in creating a campaign in VR is the feeling you want to convey. How the audience is supposed to feel at the end of the piece. This should be your first and most important concern throughout the step by step process described above. It is all so work intensive and time consuming that very often people in the team lose sight of the ball. Your task as a director of the piece is to be the guardian of that. Because without that, it doesn’t matter how 1-2-3 your method for creating a campaign is. It is going to be bad.

Crafting a VR storytelling campaign requires a combination of technical, creative, and strategic skills and a whole lot of luck. There will be unknowns as it is a new technology, but user experience is key. People talk about immersion, the vibe you get when you are in headset. You can have the greatest idea, the best looking content, but your UX is broken, which means the immersive feeling you are creating wont work. Beyond the creative and technical challenges, UX is your best ally. Get it right, win big.

I like what was done for the launch of Amazon’s Jack Ryan where they created a real obstacle course for people to do WHILE using VR. It had, of course all the explosions and people shooting at you that one would expect from a Jack Ryan VR experience, but integrated with real physical feelings. We did something like that called VR Vaccine where kids that had a huge fear of needles would use a VR headset to offset their fears through a magical 3D experience where they would have to get special energy boosts to help a character fight a huge invader monster. The vaccine shot was perfectly synchronized with the energy boost in the story and not one of the children we tested it on cried. It speaks volumes about the power of VR.

Contrary to some people might think, VR is still a new medium. It has been used a lot in the wrong way. It also can be very powerful if we don’t deny its shortcomings. The headsets are still big and cumbersome, sometimes the field of view is not wide enough, but for example if we also incorporate the shortcomings in the story itself they become storytelling instead of difficulties. Ethics is also a big concern. Its power to “hack a brain” is incredible but very worrisome if used for the wrong things. As of right now, we have no independent ethics board/institution to inspect VR. It is all up to the big tech mostly. And experience shows that big tech does not necessarily deals well with ethical issues.