Marketing and virtual reality - where's the value?

Working with our virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experts (Jeremy Dalton and Louise Liu) over the last few months has been a truly energising experience. The potential offered to people and organisations by these technologies is so exciting and valuable, as I mentioned in my previous blog. And I suspect this is why at least 75% of Forbes World’s Most Valuable Brands have already created some sort of VR or AR experience.

In this article, I’m focusing on the marketing ‘superpower’ of VR/AR. Why should marketers/marketeers care about VR/AR? And what are the potential gains?

One of my go-to marketing gurus - Philip Kotler - noted that ‘marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value.’ This ‘philosophy’ is particularly relevant when we look at VR/AR through the marketing lens. Why? Because these technologies are much more than shiny new marketing channels or a trendy way to communicate with your customers. They are powerful value creating machines for a growing number of industries and organisations. Let me show you why.

The ultimate empathy machine

You’ll hear a lot of people describe immersive technologies like VR/AR as empathy machines. When people are in a VR experience they feel like something is actually happening to them and they are forced to engage and react at a deeper level. You get to walk in other people’s shoes and this is incredibly emotive and powerful.

We see this time and time again when we bring people through our VR experience at PwC. “That was so realistic”. “I felt like I was really there”. “I got a different perspective”. VR/AR has the power to deliver greater levels of empathy and this, in turn, increases propensity to act.

A recent research study backs this up. Participants who tried out a VR experience about losing their job and becoming homeless showed stronger and more enduring empathy towards homeless people than those who simply read an article about homelessness. And a significantly higher proportion of the VR experience participants signed a petition supporting affordable housing for the homeless.

Experiencing is the new believing

The old adage ‘seeing is believing’ is not good enough any more. Marketers today are constantly battling for our customer’s attention, which is an increasingly scarce resource amongst all the noise. VR/AR can help us tell stories in a more compelling way, create deeper connections and ultimately deliver memorable experiences for our customers.

For example, a shoe manufacturer created a virtual experience which tells the story of a customer who travels to South America to meet the child who benefited from their purchase. It gives their customers real and meaningful insight into how their purchases make a difference to people's lives.

And a sports brand partnered with a London-based VR agency to create a virtual experience that puts viewers in the shoes of professional mountain climbers as they scaled a mountain in Corsica. Viewers were able to climb alongside the athletes, see where they placed their hands and feet and experience the scale and complexity of the activity.

Meaningful consumer insights

When combined with eye tracking, a virtual experience allows you to capture a huge amount of data on how participants act, react and interact with the space, stimuli and people around them. You can simulate any type of environment and instantly assess where the participant's visual attention is at each moment of the experience and what visual elements trigger certain responses and behaviours.

Brands can test the physical and emotional reaction to their messages, in a safe and cost-effective virtual environment. Retailers and consumer goods manufacturers can test reactions to product placement, store layouts and packaging and quickly and easily make adjustments within the virtual simulation, before testing again.

Why wait?

I hope I’ve shown you the superpower potential of VR/AR and given you some compelling reasons to consider it in your 2019 marketing activities. VR/AR are uniquely placed to help us engage and connect with our customers in a more experiential and empathetic way. For me, this is genuine added value.

I’ll leave you with a quote from another of my go-to marketing gurus Seth Godin, taken from his new book - This is Marketing. ‘Instead of selfish mass, effective marketing now relies on empathy and service.’ I've showed you how VR/AR can help you generate greater customer empathy and I can suggest that we could help you harness it to improve your services.

Thanks for reading my content and I hope you've found it useful. If you’d like to learn more about harnessing the power of virtual reality across your organisation, please visit www.pwc.co.uk/virtualreality or message me direct.