Viral VR: What Brands Need To Know

VR is marketing’s latest medium to get the viral treatment

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Virality is hugely beneficial to your brand: it gets your name and products out to thousands — potentially millions — of people who may then be inspired to buy your goods.

VR is marketing’s latest medium to get the viral treatment and it’s something that brands are using to can a raft of new customers. No seasonal gimmick, VR is here for good.

You may be asking yourself what viral VR actually is, what your brand needs to know about it, and what it all means for your sales figures. Well, read on….

What’s VR?

VR is short for Virtual Reality. It’s an artificial, 3D, computer created interpretation of your surroundings that allows the people using it to immerse themselves in a new world.

The notion of there being a virtual world has been around since the 15th century. However, the technology to allow for a computer designed reality has existed only since the 20th century.

VR as you and I know it came to being in 1992 with the invention of CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment), a virtual reality world in a room – like Star Trek’s  holodeck) which allowed users to immerse themselves in an artificial world through the projection of 3D images onto walls.

Now people are able to immerse themselves in VR through head-mounted displays (HMDs), opening up the scope for VR to be used as part of advertising and content campaigns. Whether it’s in-store, or at-home — VR is a great way for brands to get up close and personal with products and experiences.

Examples of HMDs

There are a number of HMDs on the market to allow you and your audience to view VR technology relatively cheaply. Among the best known are:

• Google Cardboard: yes, it’s made from cardboard. As such, Google’s VR headset is the cheapest model on the market
• HTC Vive: the HMD president: all powerful, but perhaps out of touch – rumors are that this technically adept piece of kit could become the Betamax of HMDs
• Oculus Rift: owned by Facebook (having been bought by the company in 2013) this headset is a quality utility VR device
• Samsung Gear VR: suitable only for those of you with a Samsung Galaxy smartphones. But if you have one of Samsung’s phones then this offers a fine VRF experience.

What’s viral VR?

Your brand may have already been involved in a viral marketing campaign.

It is a technique that seeks a broad and deep increase in brand awareness. It does so by through adverts that aim to gain virality by being spread and shared across social media, bringing them to the attention of a vast audience. Viral campaigns are often ‘seeded’ by a few powerful social accounts or influencers, who blast out the content to their network.

Viral VR is no different in its ambitions — the same rules of virality still apply. Brands still need to seek a hook, and cultivate deep connections with their audience, as well as invest in a robust content distribution network.

What does my brand need to know about viral VR?

VR may be at the early stages of its relationship with brands, but it really is only the beginning.

Your brand has an opportunity to start embracing the technology and the potential that it offers to increase engagement with your customers now – 53% of shoppers are more likely to buy from brands using VR and 58% say VR “amazes” them.

There are tools already available to help your brand prepare for VR:

Ecommerce is one of the first industries where we are seeing widespread VR adoption and commodification. If you are using Shopify, then you can use the LIVEb4buy app to give your customers a 360° shopping experience. Utilize the immersive qualities of VR by allowing your customers to get a real feel for your brand — an experience that will eventually become standard across stores and websites.