Dive Brief:
- Virtual reality production and creative studio Framestore is holding workshops for its agency partners with classes on VR production, hardware and even tips on storytelling in an immersive environment.
- Brands are already embracing VR-lite in the form of 360-degree video as both Facebook and YouTube support the video format. In fact, a diverse group has been creating 360-degree videos for including college football teams, Rockefeller Center and GoPro Extreme.
- On the publishing side of VR, media companies such as Discovery are already creating VR content for their apps, but so far aren’t expending resources for VR advertising.
Dive Insight:
Consumers can now pre-buy Facebook-owned Oculus Rift VR headsets slated for spring delivery at $599 a pop. And after 20-plus years of promise it looks like virtual reality tech will truly reach the masses. From a marketing standpoint the ability to completely control an audience’s environment, at least through sight and sound, provides a fresh canvas for crafting and delivering messages.
Helping some agencies prep for a VR advertising channel is Framestore, a VR production and creative studio. Framestore Creative Director Resh Sidhu told Digiday, "We were getting agencies coming to us so late in the process. They didn’t know the realities of what they were producing both from creative and a financial point of view. So we need to do this."
Along with technical and creative tips, Framestore is also educating agencies on VR campaign metrics and even how to dissuade a client who wants, but won’t be helped by, a VR campaign.
Even though it’s cutting edge technology and very much in its infancy, a Gartner report estimated that by 2018 around 25 million virtual and augmented reality headsets will be sold to consumers. And according to Digi-Capital, between augmented reality and virtual reality, the technologies could capture $150 billion in revenue by 2020.
