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Marketing to the power of Interactive Reality 360 videos

Marketing to the power of Interactive Reality 360 videos

How Interactive Virtual Reality provides customers with unique experiences, making them more prepared and willing to purchase both in-store and online

The world has gone digital.

We can’t imagine our lives without our smartphone, laptop, headphones, iPad. The list is endless.

Everything has fundamentally changed in the last 15 years. The way we work, we interact, we train, we learn, we shop, we move, even the way we meet people has been disrupted by the large adoption of digital technology and, of course, the internet.

Retail is just one of the many industries disrupted by digitalisation.

Marketing to the power of Interactive Reality 360 videos

 

Statistics show us that almost 71% of customers go online during the buying process, meaning that only a small 29% of shoppers now walk into a store and buy something without online preparation. A major shift in customer behaviour in the last few years.

Moreover, the online experience drives the customers’ behaviour in both directions. Webrooming, when customers research online and then purchase in a physical store, or maybe the opposite, showrooming, when people browse an item in-store and then buy it online.

But what should we expect in the future?

  • A higher number of online buyers: Online shopping is now mainstream not only in the developed world but it is spreading to the emerging markets like Africa.
  • A higher number of online purchases via mobile: Forecasts predict that more and more people will buy online via mobile and that customers will expect payment to be fast and smooth, which means more payment options and stripping away any barriers to pay.
  • Streamlined websites for speed: We’re all busy, and typically a user leaves a webpage if it takes more than two seconds to download. So, not only customers do expect the same level of ease in all transactions, there’s a proportionate demand for fast websites requiring retailers to streamline their content for speed.
  • More options for paying and more channels where to buy: In 2019, shoppers will want to access products online, via mobile, through marketplaces, and in person, if possible. Sephora, the beauty multimillionaire business is a great example of how multichannel – online, in-store and mobile – offers an array of choice for consumers on how, where and when they want to buy their products.
  • More Tech savvy and prepared customers: Digital natives will increase in numbers, sporting some serious technology in their phone, and looking for new and shiny things to try and buy.

These are only some of the reasons why Retailers and other businesses are looking for new ways to market their goods, in order to provide experiences which are unique and able to engage customers.

How can Interactive Virtual Reality help?

In the past few years, Virtual Reality is being increasingly used both for content marketing or to enhance the customers’ experience.

We refer to ‘’Interactive Virtual Reality’’ when you are viewing a virtual reality experience that contains hotspots, digital elements you can interact with to see additional content, including videos, photographs or text elements.

Real Estate Marketing

We first saw this with VR tours of properties in real estate, but it was complex and expensive, and on top of that, difficult to view. A problem partially fixed by the introduction of more affordable 360degree cameras.

Today you can just film in 360, upload to 360degrees and gamify. Your audience will have the opportunity to experience the builder’s new display home – as if they were there.

Imagine walking into the kitchen and as you look at the stove – the specs from Miele appear as if by magic. When you check out the bench, a video window appears overlayed over the benchtop explaining why Caesar stone is such a great material and included in the price of the house. The use of hotspots, in this case, encourage the user to explore another room or space.

Marketing for Events & Venue

Another example of how to use Interactive Virtual Reality videos are Events and live experiences.

Want to buy online a ticket for a football match? Before you purchase your ticket from the website, you can actually select your seat and see the best spot as you were seated there already. Then a hotspot shows up and you can select an option for food and drinks by clicking the overlayed window at the corner of the screen.

Wedding planner agencies are experimenting new ways to engage customers making available detailed tours of the venue in 360dgrees, with some hotspots you can click on to call up additional information, such as menus, short videos or even footage of previous weddings held in that same space.

Automotive Marketing

As mentioned before, customers tend to spend more time researching online before purchasing and this is particularly true when it is a sophisticated product, such as a smartphone, a laptop or a car. The use of 360 degrees video can literally boost the car industry market allowing the customer to experience a virtual driving tour and to evaluate vehicle options and features before physically visiting the showroom for the final phase of the purchase cycle.

Tourism Marketing

Some travel companies have started using VR technology to give a virtual tour of the flight, or hotel room in advance, in order to increase ticket or complimentary services sales, using the support of hotspots to make the experience interactive. Like Hawaii? Do a tour with a 360 headset and click on hotspots to explore accommodation, availability or suggested activities.

Thanks to the increased adoption of 360 videos and the introduction affordable 360 headsets, we are confident Interactive Virtual Reality will continue to offer a more attractive experience to engage customers, providing them with detailed visual information to create a unique experience.

About 360Dgrees

360Dgrees.com is an Interactive Reality platform for uploading, managing, customising, and publishing 360 Immersive experiences. 360Dgrees.com empowers anyone to do great things with Interactive 360 Videos with a range of customisable features such as playlists, picture-in-picture video, and hotspots.

Want to create new experiences and engage your customers using 360 videos? Discover more 360dgrees.com or contact info@360dgrees.com for more information.

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The 360dgrees.com Platform Now Supports Flat Video Gamification

Gamification
by Max Harris, Media Producer at 360dgrees.com
  • 360dgrees.com’s Interactive Reality platform empowers anyone to create immersive, interactive experiences
  • The platform now supports flat videos, allowing users to augment non-360 video with POS and interactive links between videos that the viewer can control.
  • The process is simply, easy, intuitive and powerful.

As Mixed Reality has rapidly expanded into the mainstream in 2017, devices and software platforms have become increasingly accessible and affordable. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive dropped in price significantly (triggering major market share booms), consumer-grade headsets like the Oculus Go were announced, and development platforms like Apple’s ARKit and Nvidia’s Holodeck were opened.

360dgrees.com is committed to bringing Interactive Reality further into the mainstream with a video platform that empowers anyone to create dynamic immersive experiences. Simply upload 360 degree video content and augment it with interactivity through a simple and intuitive interface.

Now 360dgrees.com is excited to announce the introduction of flat video functionality, meaning that anyone, with any camera, can easily and quickly create and gamify dynamic, interactive, flowing experiences.

This is achieved by placing interactive hotspots into your videos – points of sales that can open forms, link to websites, or transition to other videos – empowering the creation of flowing narrative paths that the user can choose between. These hotspots can be moving or static; invisible or represented as virtual objects. The implication is that you can gamify your content, and create decision-based interactive videos that can be used for entertainment, education, or training. You can insert custom or preset icons, badges, timers, text, picture-in-picture interfaces – and the possibilities are limitless. The platform also provides analytics and insights into how users respond to the interactivity and the choices that they made.
Check out this interactive video created for Sydney Aquarium on the 360dgrees.com platform which employs both flat and 360 degree video. Click the interactive hotspots in the video represented by the shark and the “buy” graphics to trigger different sections of the video.

To sign up or learn more about the platform, visit 360dgrees.com. Our experts are waiting to empower you to create your own interactive experiences.

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How Mixed Reality Gave Me Purpose & Made My Daughter Proud

How mixed reality gave me purpose and made my daughter proud
Written by Toby Ellis, CEO at 360dgrees.com 

I’ve worked in the Innovation and Technology sector for a few years now, but it was a simple yet really confronting question my 8-year-old daughter asked me at breakfast one morning that forced me to think about technology, what I do, why I do it and helped to pivot the focus of our entire organisation. I’ll get to her question in a minute… 

I want you to think about training. Imagine safety training for a warehouse.  There are 10 people in a room and none of them want to be there. They would all prefer to be back doing their jobs. They’re working from a folder and in that folder, is a question. That question is “should you be looking at your personal device while walking across the warehouse floor where there are forklifts and PT’s operating?” Now, no-one gets that question wrong, but it doesn’t change behaviour because the second they leave that training room they’re all on their mobile phones.  

Now I want you to reimagine that training using our 360dgree.com platform. First, the participant puts on the Mixed Reality headset and is immediately immersed in the environment. They are in the warehouse. They take the point of view of the person walking across the warehouse when they hear an SMS and a phone appears at the bottom of their view. They look down to read the text and in that split second, they are hit by a forklift.  Sounds a bit rough right, but not nearly as rough as not getting home to your kids. 

Did you know, that in Australia at the end of August 115 people had died as a result of workplace accidents and that that number is higher than the corresponding period last year?   Workplace accidents cripple people financially. A global number of cost is touted at $6bil but the impact on individual families is devastating. You see the problem is, traditional safety training produces poor real participation rates, low knowledge retention and is done in abstraction of consequence. 

Our Mixed Reality Training Platform creates immersive, interactive, gamified training experiences that makes it impossible to not be present and engaged during the training. We turn training into a game where you make decisions and learn by doing not by reading and data tells us that when you learn by doing you can lift knowledge retention from 5% to 75%. When you experience consequence, you get to feel the outcomes of your decisions and that’s what drives behavioural change.  

You become the forklift driver, the nurse, the student, the teacher. You’re not doing the training, you’re in the training. Actively participating, making decisions and experiencing the outcomes of those decisions. 
If safety and training are important to your organisation and you aren’t taking advantage of Mixed reality technology then please reach out to us today as we have a platform that can help you tomorrow. 
Now, back to that question my little girl asked. Matilda said “Daddy, how do you make your money?” At the time, my answer was “Ï help people see things differently using technology.” It was a cool answer but it lacked purpose. I wanted more purpose. My parents are teachers, my wife’s a teacher, my brothers served in the navy, I have cousins in the police force and friends who are nurses. I wanted more purpose in my work. I didn’t like my answer so I sought to change it. Now, our platform is making a real difference to businesses and communities. The next time my kids ask me how I make my money I am able to say, “Daddy helps people go back to their families the same way they went to work: Safe.”

To learn more about 360dgrees.com and how we drive real outcomes through virtual training, get in contact with us or visit 360dgrees.com.

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The future of content marketing

The future of content marketing

If content marketing wants to remain king, it must evolve

Did you know that the Michelin Restaurant Guide is one of the earliest examples of content marketing? This was developed by the car tyre company back when people were first buying vehicles for personal use. The marketing team at Michelin wanted people to do more driving and wear out their tyres so they created a book rating the very best restaurants. The idea was that people would book tables and then jump in their cars to visit the top dining spots in the world.

Not long after this, Jell-o published a recipe book, a form of content marketing that paid off in the form of not just more jelly mix sales, but profits from the book itself.
Even the term ‘soap opera’ relates to 1930s radio drama series that were sponsored by soap companies.
What a lot has happened since then! Nowadays entire companies and global conferences are dedicated to the subject of content marketing.

Content marketing – looking forward

As the saying goes, content is king. Companies like Coca-Cola, Nike and Mercedes follow this mantra wholeheartedly by producing blogs, promoting Tumblr memes and even publishing magazines.

In 2017, due to the rapid evolution of technology, while content is still king, video content is the ace. 

Marketers are saying that their field has changed more in the past two years than in the last 50. This is all thanks to smartphones, higher data allowances and better wireless internet access. People are consuming content at an incredible rate, including articles, infographics and videos.
You can see this for yourself just by looking around while you are on the bus or train.How many people aren’t looking at a screen nowadays?

Quality over quantity

The problem with an influx of content is that as well as wanting more of it, people are becoming more savvy.
The stats about video are quite staggering. The medium is predicted to make up 74% of all online content consumed this year and an increasing number of buyers say they would be more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it.
There’s no doubt video is a winning content marketing strategy, but if your video is uninteresting or too obviously advertising it is not going to get a look in.

This is why many companies are investing in more top level strategies that are designed to not just entertain and inform, but to truly engage. An example is KitKat’s Virtual break campaign, which combined 360 degree video with Google Cardboard to provide a completely immersive view of what it’s like to parachute off a cliff.

Video’s big role

Video is contributing to the fast evolution of content marketing in a major way. Consider that the GoPro was launched only a few years ago. So much incredible, high action content has been produced by then, in unbelievably clear quality. Products like Red Bull often use GoPro footage from athletes and adventurers to promote their brand. The next step is for 360 video to hit the mainstream. Since the launch of Nikon’s ‘Keymission 360’, the first action camera with HD 4K video resolution, this technology has been catching on fast. From where we see it, the format’s popularity on platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo will see action-capturing camera will incorporate 360 degree capability within the next two to three years.

May the best brand win

As mentioned recently by the New York Times, those who dare win in the new world of content marketing. A virtual reality campaign that is clever and truly engaging has the potential for millions of views and an incredible jump in customer engagement. Video has the power to open up a whole new world for the marketing industry – so long as it is done right, is creative and inventive and always has the customer in mind.

Is video part of your future content marketing strategy?
Contact the team at 360dgrees.com to find out how to use it to better connect with your audience.

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Innovation: A word that goes hand in hand with promotion and entertainment.

360dgrees.com is an Interactive Video Content Platform. You can upload, manage, customize and publish standard and 360 Video content.

What is the connection between innovation, promotion, and entertainment?

Andrea Guanci, MSC marketing director, announced MSC Cruises has just launched aVR immersive brochure as a new promotion technique and revealed how to boost the company using innovative technology and virtual reality entertainment.

The word “innovation” comes from latin “innovatio” which means to change, renovate, or make something new and improved.

In his article on Linkedin, Andrea Guanci writes how few innovative products are found in the market today. Although new ideas are introduced regularly, they often lack concrete results in reality. It is tough to make an innovative idea stick, but Guanci has an answer: take a project that already exists and mix it in an innovative way, redevelop it into an original idea, and create a new experience.

How can technology affect my life?

Andrea Guanci offers a concrete example of how a huge company like MSC Cruisesuses innovation to change the way it promotes itself and entertains its customers.

The travel industry has completely changed in the last ten years: right now everyone can book a flight from a computer, make a reservation for a hotel, hire a car, and book tickets for their itinerary upon arrival.

The era when customers went into a travel agency and left with a binder full of thick brochures is over.

Today clients want to be entertained and impressed.

They are excited for their holiday, their travel plans, or their honeymoon and they cannot wait to arrive. Shouldn’t planning the trip reflect that excitement? How could MSC build anticipation while making the planning process more enjoyable?

It is not a coincidence that the word “entertainment” was the incipit of a press conference last March in Milan launching the first MSC Cruises virtual brochure in the travel industry. When Leonardo Massa, MSC Cruises’ country manager for Italy, announced this new brochure for 2017-18, he pointed how this is offers a tailor-made approach to understanding the needs of all potential customers.

The key elements of MSC Cruises will be an expanded fleet, new itineraries and, above all, experiences presented in both print and virtual brochures, as he reported.

Thanks to social media
and the official hashtag #MSC360VR on Twitter, this event has become a massive success in a short period of time.

How to change a promotional system and why?

Advertising and branded content already try to make their activities more enjoyable and attractive. Emotional advertising informs the viewers not just about the products, but about the feelings associated with that brand.

Travel agencies need to utilise these emotional techniques. Customers should feel the sensations they seek from travelling through the advertising. Whether they seek relaxation, adventure, or education; the travel agency should strive to capture that feeling of wanderlust in each advertisement.

MSC Cruises offers the perfect example of innovation, promotion and entertainment combining to put their customers in the front row with 360degree videos.

For the first time, viewers  can experience a taste of their holiday before they book.

The goal for the enterprise is to double the number of customers

But where the idea of an immersive catalogue start?

In the words of Andrea Guanci: “This is a world premiere in term of promotion and information for clients; we want to launch the new immersive catalogue with this sentence: Entertainment is the new step for promotion”.

MSC has made its catalogue, its primary promotional content, come alive as a true entertainment platform with integrated virtual reality technology.

MSC exports this of technology throughout their travel agencies and in their online catalogues making it something interesting, attractive, and enjoyable.

How can everyone experience virtual reality?

Imagine an MSC catalogue in your hands, shuffling it while seated in your favourite armchair.

Got the image? Hold it in your mind.

Imagine the brochure all around you, brought alive through virtual reality. You hear the Pacific Ocean breeze, see the snowcapped summits in the Alps, all while seated in your favourite armchair. Through the use of a simple cardboard device, anyone with a smartphone can access this virtual world.

Every MSC customer receives a free copy of the MSC immersive catalogue and a cardboard cutout to launch them into their sometimes first virtual reality experience. They then can download the company’s app, MSC 360VR (available on the App Store or Google Play Store), or read the QR code printed on every page and enjoy the experience of walking aboard one of the most beautiful cruise ships they have ever seen before. They look around to see the swimming pools, the spa, the restaurants, the theatres and soak up the indescribable experience of stepping aboard an ocean liner.

Thanks to this “immersive” catalogue, customers will become true participants in MSC Cruises’ virtual world with 360 degrees videos.

Leonardo Massa is firmly convinced the program will revolutionise the travel industry. He said, “The catalogue lets everyone experience the atmosphere and the sights and sounds of the cruise in advance”.

MSC Cruises chose to invest in virtual reality and completely transformed the traditional customer travel planning experience.

Conclusion

The goal for the enterprise is to double the number of customers in eight years to from 1.7 to 3.4 million. It is a zealous goal, but it is based on the previous results MSC has obtained over the course of the last year. With their innovative culture and desire to make the customer experience the best it can be, it will be no surprise when this goal is accomplished.

Communication is one of the reasons why MSC is so competitive and successful. It communicates with a new and amusing approach while using powerfully innovative technology to set themselves apart from the coloured catalogues and glossy brochures of the past and forge a future in virtual reality.

This is just one example of how much virtual reality creates experiences in advance and building anticipation before the real thing.

360dgree.com does more and gives the users the opportunities to interact with a video and participate in a proactive way while watching. Virtual and augmented reality are engaging instruments to place your customers in midst of the action, not behind it.

Do you really want to boost your business?

Let’s immerse in innovation.

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What everyone considered as a “futuristic experience”, is now real.

What everyone considered a "Futuristic experience is now real"

360dgrees.com is a full service production and development company based in Sydney, Australia. It uses the latest technology to create panoramic video, giving users a front row seat from the comfort of their home.

Like a frameless film, viewers are not in front of a screen, but smack bang inside it. Born as a venture of Lakeba, 360dgrees.com is specialised in 360-degree video production, immersive virtual reality video content, and the development of web and mobile solutions.

What everyone considered as a “futuristic experience”, is now real. 360dgrees.com can be created for events, tours, branded product experiences, and much more.

Put your customers in the action with 360 degrees videos and our team.

How was this company conceived, and when?

This project started one year ago. As Lakeba, we were asked to be an “innovation partner” of Kitkat to develop an innovative virtual marketing campaign.So we created an opportunity for them to download a 360 video app with their mobile phones and view it with  cardboard VR goggles, or through a computer.

How exactly does it work?

Imagine you are sitting on a very comfortable swivel chair, and can turn around in all directions, and see every single angle. Nothing is hidden.
Basically, this is what you can watch with a 360-degree video: thanks to six cameras, called GoPro, located on a stable support, it is possible to record every angle of a specific space. The video can be dynamic or static, but they are always 100% original and unique.Then our team is ready to “stitch” each, single video, and make it a new one. A 360-degree video.

Probably the hardest part of this process is just trying to explain in basic terms what you can watch with your eyes and experience with your body, your head, and your heart.

Virtual reality and Augmented reality are more than just videos. We are talking about emotions, we are talking about feelings, we are talking about producing something that is the result of innovation, creativity and technology, of course.

Which people do you think are interested in 360-degree video?

Our potential customers are media agencies, well known brands, small and medium enterprises, government and education organisations.

In general, I can affirm that every business that really wants to improve itself and capture attention among every social media platform could be our customer, or should be, in my opinion.

So what makes 360dgrees.com “special”? What is the difference between this company and all the others’?

Ok, so we are not the only ones (unfortunately), but we have something special, that makes us different from everyone else. We give your customers the chance to interact while they are watching the video, or immediately after it.

So while they are watching a 360-degree video, they can book a table, they can buy tickets for a show or visit a museum, play a game, answer trivia questions and much more. Interaction with connection are the right keywords that make us “different”, because 360dgrees.com really takes care of our customers users, and we desire the best experience for them.

When we  say “Put your customers in the action”, we visualise exactly that. You, in the action, surrounded by real animals, real people, real environments, in the real world.

Tell me a real situation in which you recorded a 360-degree video in an original and innovative way?

Just few days ago we recorded a press release with a 360-degree video to promote the partnership between the Cronulla Sharks and Lakeba as their innovation partner.

The New York Times has recently opened an internal division dedicated to 360-degree videos; I believe It is a new way to share information, a way to make the spectator more interested, involved and engaged. That is the concrete proof that 360-degree videos are flexible and open source, reactive to what the users really want and able to immediately change based upon their feedback.

Like every start-up we follow the lean-model; even though we are able to do some forecasting and prepare some reports to improve our work, we are always ready to change following market trends.

I firmly believe technology is an instrument, the answer to a question.

What are your plans for the future? What will be “the next level”? what is challenging for 360dgrees.com?

We are planning to establish a relevant presence among our competitors.

We would like to build new partnerships and promote our vision with more efforts than before. Our short-term goals are to get meaningful results and build a solid identity.

What is the idea of technology for you?

When we think about “technology”, we often visualise mobile phones, computers, robots, 3D printers and other sophisticated technologies, but there is more than that. I firmly believe technology is an instrument, it is a point of view for users, it is an opportunity for people to make life easier. In conclusion, it’s the attempt to fill a void. It is the solution to a problem, the answer to a question.