40 Days of Immersive Brands: Days 31-35

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned during this series of 40 Brands Using Immersive Media, it’s that brands of all shapes, sizes and verticals are looking for ways to innovate and turning to immersive media, aka the metaverse, to help them drive brand engagement, awareness and brand affinity. 

Whether they’re using 360 images or video, augmented reality (AR), 3D models, virtual reality (VR) or a combination of them all, marketing teams and ad agencies are experimenting with elements of the metaverse. Some are running immersive digital ads (aka “deep display”), while others are creating virtual try-on applications with AR while others are building larger scale marketing installations or using social to promote web-friendly, on-site immersive experiences. 

Slowly but surely, we’re beginning to see marketing campaigns where immersive media elements are being integrated more into the mix and used across multiple marketing channels for the same campaign instead of just one-offs. We’re excited to report on all this continued innovation in the future and salute those forward leading brand teams that have already figured out that the metaverse will play a major role in the marketing plans of the future.

So without further ado…here’s the next installment of our series where we’ve been highlight 40 innovative brands that have already taken the immersive media plunge. 

Day 31 – JORDAN PEELE’S CANDYMAN

If you can’t get enough of the horror produced by the already legendary Jordan Peele, then you’ll love the web-based AR experience that’s been created to support the promotion of the remake of the horror classic Candyman. 

A unique immersive brand execution, this augmented reality promotion is triggered by audio! For those not in the know or who like me can’t stomach horror films anymore, when you say “Candyman” five times into a mirror, the villain suddenly appears and launches an attack. In this 21st Century adaptation, fans of the film can access a special trailer by speaking the villain’s name 5 times into a virtual mirror. Warning, it’s not for the faint at heart! 

Day 32 – BOURSIN CHEESE

This one is a throw back to the early days of brands experimenting with VR. In this case, the Boursin Cheese brand had a problem. They wanted to raise awareness of their brand, its distinct taste and product selection in the United Kingdom.

To achieve such an objective the brand team wisely turned to innovation! They leveraged the engaging nature of virtual reality media to help drive home the message. The result was the “Bousin Sensorium” – a tantilizing, immersive VR experience that was so noteworthy and effective that it earned a Masters of Marketing award. 

A truly experiential execution, the consumers could engage with the VR experience via the Oculus Rift VR headset as The Sensorium travelled from the Westfield Shopping Center in London to regional foodie shows. The results speak for themselves and are great examples of the kind of impact that immersive media can have on brand strategy. 

98% recall, 2 months later!

74% more likely to consider Boursin brand in the future

62% learned more about the Boursin brand

In the world of marketing these are some incredible stats. Imagine how much more impactful an execution like this could be if it was integrated even more into the entire marketing mix from social (which they did) to on-site and immersive digital ads (aka “deep display”)? I can just imagine the increased return on ad and marketing spend!!

Day 33 – HUGO BOSS

Fashion brands of all kinds have jumped into the world of immersive doing everything from having virtual try-ons to broadcasting fashion shows live in VR. Hugo Boss took it to another level when they used immersive deep display ads to accompany a mens’ spring fashion show. 

Within 24 hours of the live show, immersive digital ads would drop highlighting some of the top fashions. The brand wasn’t going to shoot any of the show using 360 cameras so there would only be regular, 2D images available. Another catch, because the brand didn’t want a single design or glimpse of show creative to leak, the design team at Advrtas would have less than 24 hours to turn around flat images from the show into a dimensional immersive 360 ad with 1-touch VR mode. 

Ahead of the fashion show, the team re-created a faux-fashion show set in 360 degrees and when they were finally available, the team could quickly import the designs funneled to them from the Paris show in real-time. They added paparazzi flashing lightbulb effects that reacted to the user and created the engaging 360 degree deep display digital ad you see below. While simple in design, it went long on results with the average consumer purposely engaging with the digital ad for more than 30 seconds! 

80% of people who engaged did so for 31 seconds or more

25 seconds average time viewed

23% engagement rate

Day 34 – AVON

Classic beauty brand AVON is officially entering the metaverse! Their recent announcement that AVON Mexico has partnered with Perfect Corp., a leading beauty AR/AI tech firm, is a sure sign that they’re embracing immersive technology as an effective means to drive the bottom line. 

Avon reps in Mexico will be able to use the virtual try-on technology as an enhanced sales tool and invite customers to “engage with the Avon brand in a whole new, hyper-engaged way.” And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Getting the consumer to choose to engage with your brand. When that happens, magic happens! 

Day 35 – MIRANDA LAMBERT & MUTTNATION

We couldn’t let this one slip by because it provides marketers with yet another innovative way that you can use immersive tech in your brand strategy. This example comes from country music singer Miranda Lambert and it shows how tech can be used to foster positive associations with a brand, who in this case is a musician/personality. 

As her marketing team sought for innovative ways to promote her new single, they decided to pair her song with her love for dogs by creating an Instagram-based AR experience. Her more than 4 million followers could virtually adopt an adorable four-legged friend. It’s an effort to tie the artist to a cause that’s dear to her as she heads up an organization called MuttNation. In the marketing world it’s called “fan stretch”, where you can attract fans from other bases/groups, create a positive association between your brand and another brand/cause (in this case shelter dogs). It’s a clever way to further develop the affinity for the Miranda Lambert brand, a tactic that brands of all shapes and sizes can take a lesson from! 

That’s it for this edition of the “40 Days of Immersive Brands.” We have one more edition to go and if there’s one HUGE take away we have already, it’s that there’s no shortage of brands and agencies using immersive media to better connect with consumers!

Want to know how to get the metaverse into your brand strategy? We make it easy! Drop us a line, email Rob Bruza at rbruza@advrtas.com.

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