Virtual Reality Hits Madison Avenue
VR seems like an obvious advertising tool, yet we have not seen many businesses jumping aboard…
When it comes to virtual reality (VR) experiences, the main applications we’ve seen thus far have been for entertainment purposes only. There are VR filmmakers, VR video games, documentary series released in VR and many other examples of virtual reality being used to heighten our sense of another distant reality.
However, it’s somewhat surprising that VR hasn’t been used to sell us stuff yet. After all, advertisers and big brands are always looking for a leg up when it comes to helping their potential customers experience why they are worth investing spending dollars into. If VR can help provide a vivid experience before a transaction has even been made, why haven’t we seen more companies keen to try it out?
Trend Setters
Travel company, Expedia, is one of the first companies to get in on the VR sales game. Mashable reports that the travel listings giant has been developing ways to offer VR experiences of his hotel listings. This means they will offer travelers the most realistic preview possible of where they are going to stay when travelling. As Mashable wrote:
“VR could change the way people make their booking decisions, allowing users to virtually step into a hotel room and view its features. In the demo we saw, users were able to interact with the room too, by sliding open doors and stepping out into the balcony.”
Stopping Point
An explanation as to why brands and advertisers have been so slow to integrate VR as a sales tool is relatively low access to VR players in consumer homes. Recent stats show that 42% of adult consumers in the US do not know what VR headsets are, and 46% who do know don’t see a use for VR in their lives. These aren’t great numbers for advertisers that want a big bang for their advertising spend buck.
However, the overall market still appears to be growing: “According to Deutsche Bank, there were about 22.5 million mobile VR users worldwide in 2016, up from nearly 6.5 million the previous year. By 2020, the investment bank projects more than 154 million people will use mobile VR at least once per year, but only 3.2% of them will be daily active users.”
Coming Soon
Expedia notes that it has been developing its VR previews in response not to a growth in access to VR gear, but a specific interest in VR travel. According to recent surveys, high tech spenders are very keen to purchase VR gear for travel and tourism related purposes, second only to the more common application of gaming: “Greenlight VR surveyed more than 1,200 people about their personal interest in VR categories. Gaming ranked sixth among the categories, with 61% of respondents saying they were interested or very interested in virtual reality gaming. The top six use case categories identified by consumers were travel, tourism, or adventure (73.5%); movies and recorded videos (67.3%); live events (67.0%); home design (65.9%); and education (63.9%).”
Future Viewers
It’s clear that using VR to sell travel experiencing appears extremely promising. The question is: what will it take for other sectors to get on board?
It’s likely that a mainstream entertainment event—such as a mass-release VR movie—will be needed to really boost consumer interest in VR. Once done, advertisers might feel less skittish about investing money in VR experiences.
There is certainly potential, though, especially in areas like online shopping, where consumers could try on clothes without leaving their desk, and the music industry, where artists could offer live music experiences to a wider array of fans in exchange for buying a record. While Expedia is certainly a trailblazer in this area, it remains to be seen if these other industries will follow suit. What are you doing to utilize VR to its maximum potential?