The world today is dynamic, and every business needs upgrading. Today more than ever, having a solid brand story is the secret sauce to having a compelling brand that the audience resonates with.
Humans are emotional beings, and no matter how old one gets, humans will always love stories. Stories take people back to their childhood, and fill them up with the love and warmth they received while being told a story.
Now, since the technology has advanced, imagine combining the concept of storytelling with the immersive experience of VR. Storytelling via VR would transcend the audience into a whole new reality, with invested and engaged people. This is where the power of visual learning and storytelling comes alive to a brand business.
The reason why we are talking about VR is because virtual reality is the next big wave of revolution to come in our lives and a MUST HAVE tool in every marketing strategy – a storytelling campaign via VR.
Being in the day and age of globalization, online shopping, and the outsourcing of production have rapidly eroded the ability of brands to use product features as a marketing tool.
Marketing is tough nowadays.
With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the marketing game for every brand has changed. Today, whatever a brand sells, chances are that the customers have multiple options for every product. The market has become competent and it’s become harder than ever to convince the audience to make a purchase.
This is where storytelling via VR can make a huge difference.
Every brand is selling either products or services to their target audience. Storytelling via VR is a way of giving a brand meaning and personality. The aim is to have the brand story reach as many people/ audience as possible.
Take a Rolex watch as an example – the core purpose of the watch is to show the time, as for another more affordable brand. However, people choose to spend a fortune just to have it tied around their wrists. It is not because they like the idea of burning a hole in their pockets, but because the brand story managed to reach the audience who resonated with that story, and took the required action – made the purchase.
Storytelling traces its roots back to the very beginning of the human experience. It’s found its way through multiple forms, from ancient traditions of verbal storytelling, to art, text, images, cinema, and multimedia formats on the web.
Visual storytelling is a language that we have developed over the years to transport the audience to a whole new world by providing them with an immersive experience. Stories are told through tons of different mediums, and the craft has been in a state of evolution as long as we have.
Stories help brands transform.
One of the recent and most innovative visual storytelling mediums is through immersive technologies, like virtual reality and augmented reality, also known as Storytelling via VR.
In the traditional storytelling format, a story or a structure is presented to a listener, reader, or a viewer. Whether it is acting or dancing, some actors are presenting the story. On the other hand virtual reality content creation, people are no longer the passive audience. In fact people are the protagonists of the story that will unfold itself, slowly.
Such stories will help brands to create their world of imagination.
The sense of presence in VR, transforms the storytelling experience. Participants become a part of the environment with an incentive to act and respond to the events they encounter.
What sets VR content creation apart is the feeling of being present. This creates an entirely new set of opportunities and creative constraints. We believe our environments, characters and situations should be better suited for virtual reality then they would be anywhere else. This is now easier than you might imagine.
Storytelling via VR is a much powerful tool for brand building be it in marketing, teaching, or training. It’s by far the best way to connect with the audience because it removes any limits on the interaction. The sky’s the limit.
Imagine a marketing campaign for a travel company offering the following –
– Kayaking tours are able to let you raft along the river while you take your bath.
– Or make you feel alive, on top of mountains while being in your living room or
– Make you a character from the King’s Landing, watching an episode of Game of Thrones, all from within the four walls of your house.
Visual learning combined with Storytelling via VR is powerful medium for brand building because it is so immersive — and your audience can play on their sense of imagination excitingly.
Marketers/brands leverage storytelling via VR and visual learning to promote their product or experiences. The technology creates a fake yet realistic environment. Sometimes storytelling via VR is visual, and sometimes it’s multi-sensory, depending on the device. A full virtual reality headset offers a completely immersive experience, while a VR Instagram filter simply overlays objects or pictures onto the camera view.
Let’s take an example for few brands who have used visual learning and storytelling to build their business and brand.
Brands like Furniture making, makeup companies, and shoemaking companies benefit from visual learning and storytelling technology. Customers can “try out” multiple pieces of furniture at once, including complete room sets. Customers can see how the pieces suit their rooms and how they look altogether. Similarly, you can experience your favourite destination to travel to and try out makeup before buying.
Storytelling via VR gives the creators, filmmakers, manufacturers, and teachers numerous possibilities to customize immersive experiences for their target audiences. With virtual and augmented reality, you can offer your customers a unique perspective. They can try out dozens of products in minutes to find the best possible fit, or they can see the first-hand social impact their purchases have.
With evolving virtual reality content creation, the focus of marketing has shifted from the product to customers. Engage your customers with an immersive experience.
Once brands can engage customers, the next step becomes easy for brand building and business expansion.
But what about the other methods of marketing like print. While marketing through print media and television offers a two-dimensional, linear experience to the customers, immersive storytelling via VR and AR can completely transform the customer’s experience.
Use VR immersive techniques to give your customers a sense of presence. Customers can react to, and become part of the experience, rather than observe it passively. Moreover, by using 360-degree videos, AR, VR and mixed reality (MR), you can offer self-directed experiences to your audience. Example: National Geographic uses 360-degree videos and virtual reality for its brand narrative of adventure. It creates travel experiences by turning its readers into the subject of the story. Because it is 360-degree content, it does not rely on the reporter’s insights. The audience can develop their own first-hand experiences.
Such stories create unforgeable narratives.
Brands can also use gamified narratives in marketing. Games can keep customers engaged with a brand and help build brand loyalty. By adding gamification, you can incorporate fun and get your message across subtly yet impactfully. Your brand can tell stories in ways that are naturally responsive to your audience.
Virtual reality content creation can be a powerful mechanism to create “demos” and “Trainings”, and compelling stories about the products and brand positioning. VR Content Creation is popular in marketing because it helps brands create unforgettable storytelling experiences.
We at XRvio, make sure to target the right software, hardware combined with visuals strategies to build our customer’s brand.
Final Words
As marketing behavioural analytics advanced, we’ve become more aware of the power of emotions on human decision-making and its effect on brand building. We like to think of ourselves as rational beings, however in reality, we never have been. Our feelings and desires have always driven us. Storytelling via VR, in effect, are mechanisms to stir emotions for brands.
As the world around us changes and as markets, technologies, and consumers transform in all unimaginable ways, brand stories would be crucial more than ever for building a credible brand image in this influential coming future.
