40 DAYS of IMMERSIVE BRANDS

 If you’re in marketing or advertising, you’re always looking for better ways to connect with your target consumer. In our cluttered world where the average consumer is exposed to upwards of thousands of ads per day, that effort can get incredibly challenging. Frankly, there’s just so much competing for our attention!

When new tools and technology arrive on the market to make these efforts a little easier, you can often find the innovation minded to be the first in line before they become commonplace and eventually usurped by other, better, faster, technology. Imagine how delighted marketers were when radio hit the scene and rather than just put text in a newspaper ad they could “speak” their message to consumers. Television was another big changemaker as was, naturally, the internet, smartphones and apps.

Immersive media like 360 imagery and video (aka 360vr), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 3D models, mixed reality (MR) and XR are technologies just like radio, TV and the internet that will change the face of marketing and advertising. No doubt we’ll eventually be at the point where marketing guru and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk says “Marketers ruin everything!”, where there won’t be a marketing plan at any brand or agency without immersive media of some form, ie immersive display ads (as we call them “deep display“), AR, VR, etc. consuming big chunks of the budget. And while we still have a bit to go before immersive media hits that point, as history has taught us, it’s the early adopters who can benefit the most from leveraging new technology. They fail forward and ascertain knowledge you only gleen by doing, thus giving them the competitve edge. They also benefit from the added publicity that comes with being a trailblazer.

So as we’re mid-way through the second year of the decade that is projected to usher in the metaverse, an immersed world where the likes of 360 content, VR, AR, MR, XR, and holograms will finally reach critical mass, we thought we’d take the time to salute the forward thinking brands, agencies, and creative minds that started dipping their toes in the immersive waters long before their colleagues or competing brands.

But the journey has only just begun, we haven’t even started to push the limits of what immersive media can do for marketing and advertising. Whether it’s elaborate experiential installations featuring immersive tech where you literally feel like a bird in flight or immersive display ads that we see peppered along the digital ad landscape as we’re consuming content, more and more brands are entering the metaverse. In the world of advertising, where Advrtas likes to play, we’re seeing that immersive ads are exponentially more engaging than any other kind of ad format, including video. We’re also seeing that immersive display ads measure a treasure trove of behavioral data that can be used to benefit consumer and brand while also being respectful of consumer privacy. We argue that immersive media paves the way for 1 to 1 marketing and clearly the people repsonsbile for these experiences see that vision too. And this is all just by leveraging the mobile devices we all carry with us everywhere.

So without further ado, we salute the bold marketing & creative teams who are the technology innovators and immersing consumers in the brands they love.

DAYS 1-5

**Stay tuned to our social channels as we’ll be posting first movers daily (M-F).

Day 1 – SPACE JAM

While the reviews may be less than stellar, you need to give props to the marketing team behind the augmented reality execution for the latest SpaceJam film starring Lebron James. Fans can bring the Looney Toons characters into their world and even take selfies with them. Fans can access the experience via various social media channels.

Day 2 – VITAL FARMS EGGS

Wanna know where your eggs come from??? Yes, even eggs can get an immersive makeover! Actually, what Vital Farms is doing to leverage 360 video is quite clever. Next time your in the grocery store take a look a the label and you’ll be able to scan a code that will take you to the farm where the eggs in that specific carton were laid. You can see the chickens grazing in the pasture as you explore a 360 degree video of the farm. I’m still hoping they call ADVRTAS to do an immersive deep display ad, talk about getting a consumer engaged with your brand.  😉 But for now, I have to settle with the satisfaction of knowing the eggs I eat come from happy birds!

Day 3 – BURBERRY AR

Burburry is no stranger to innovation and have been one of the early adopters in the immersive space. Their latest foray into the metaverse is being used to promote their new line of Olympia handbags. With installations planned globally, they are definintely trying to get shoppers back into the stores and immersed in the brand.

Day 4 – SKODA

The automotive industry was one of the first to start playing with immersive media and odds are good that you’ll find plenty of enterprise uses as well as marketing executions. This one comes from one of the leading European automaker Skoda as they launched the new Kamiq crossover. A custom execution, the brand launched an immersve deep display campaign where consumers elected to engage with the brand by being seated in the drivers seat, exploring the surroundings and then guessing the location of the car on a map. Talk about immersing a consumer in your brand! Not many other traditional ads will do that! Check it out here.

Day 5 – MERRILL TRAILSCAPE

And this one is a throwback to the “early” days…2015! For what it’s worth, here it is 6 years later and I, as a consumer, still remember this brand and with a daughter off to a mountainous school, I’m no joke looking into a pair of Merrill hiking shoes for her! It was that effective and memorable…a marketers’s dream. It was pulled together by Framestore VR, another first mover and was spectacular. Check out the video.