Virtual Reality

            
           Augment and virtual reality (VR) has recently become one of the biggest trends that have emerged in the marketing sphere.  VR, especially, has become an important part of the technological landscape (Pradeep et al., 2013). VR earns the initial impression of being exclusively used for gaming, but that trend has changed with the passage of time, and now VR has made its presence felt in just about every arena of the public sphere. A small VR game Pokémon Go can be an example of how virtual reality can provide a lot of opportunities for small businesses to leverage their advantage regarding the marketing. This, however, is just the beginning of the way the virtual and augmented reality has become one of the most integral parts of people’s daily life (Merchant et al., 2014). As a matter of fact, shrewd marketing professionals have already started to explore the opportunities for VR to play its part in strategic marketing campaigns.

VR also seems to get the impression of an out-of-the-box technology without putting  much of emphasise on a particular brand. Nevertheless, the acceptance has increased in the mainstream brands and the well-known brands like Oculus Rift and smartphone powered headsets have recently been making use of this technology (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). While the consumer can go through the complete experience and enjoy the thrill through a virtual world, the chances are left for the marketers to make sure that they drive customer experience and gain enough from these VR campaign (Pradeep et al., 2013).  As a matter of fact, about 30 % of the Forbes Global consumer-facing companies is going to be using augmented reality this year (Merchant et al., 2014) (Figure 1). This also include some of the well-known B2B brands, which are going to make use of the technological interface that it offers (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016).

The biggest advantage that VR has to offer is that it allows the people to explore and to experience the product before purchasing the product (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). If someone is familiar with the technicalities of VR, they would know that its execution can be carried out in just about every sphere  (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). Be it video games, some home improvement purposes, or even for shopping (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). One good example is how VR can be used to market a virtually live experience as Kevin Durant, one of the Golden State Warriors basketball players (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016).  By creating a customised experiences such as scenes in the locker room, the atmosphere during the practice and the actual game, and illustrating it to Durant, VR allows the users to explore and experience the feeling of being on the Warriors team and associate themselves with the character as well as with the virtual ambience (Pradeep et al., 2013; Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016 ).  This is just one of the few examples of how VR can be used across different industries and sectors  (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016).

            
Considering how virtual technology works, it is apparent that the technology itself is not the main factor of its success (Merchant et al., 2014). VR is bound to be successful in marketing because our brains are wired up in the same manner (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). VR seems to appeal three parts of our brains that are responsible for the development of our perceptions and reactions. These are the neocortex, the limbic systems and the reptilian brain systems  (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). No matter how high the content is, these three parts of the brain will not work at the same time. In case of VR, however, the audience is provided with virtual experience, which enable the audience  to nudge the core functions in the way that the desired action can be taken accordingly. So what is happening here is that rather than hearing things, the customers would be able to feel them. In the next section, some of the examples of how VR can aid the marketing and branding process will be looked into (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016).

Automobile test drive is another example of VR application. In the case of test driving, it is crucial that the brand has an idea about what their overall target audience is (Pradeep et al., 2013). Volvo has introduced a VR test drive with the name of XC90 SUV. It allows the user to have the experience of a breath-taking drive to the country back road, along with the feel of leather preened driver seat, which is rated quite highly among all of the sports utility vehicles (Pradeep et al., 2013).  The only concern will be how the marketers ensure the same experience as far as the virtual reality experience is concerned (Merchant et al., 2014). In the future, it is more likely that Ford Fiesta and other luxury automobile brands will also utilise VR to enhance consumer experience and satisfaction. However, if the use of VR is solely associated with high-end automobile brands, situation is going to be entirely different (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). 

The VR world is making its presence felt in many other industries (Tussyadiah & Jia, 2016). This includes the marketing efforts for many food companies, such as McDonald's, which has become one of the first brands that have incorporated VR in their overall marketing effort. McDonald's recently has introduced a Happy Meal Box in Sweden that repurposed in the Google VR Headset. This feature lets children play a skiing game called Slope Stars after finishing their cheeseburger and fries (Pradeep et al., 2013). 

The superiority of VR-based marketing has also been recognised in the fashion world. The London Fashion Week had offered users a front-row view of the runway along with the 360-degree video stream which was panoramic (Pradeep et al., 2013). Some marketers claimed that it was a groundbreaking effort regarding in fashion marketing as VR has made its way into something, which was not possible before (Merchant et al., 2014). It has been touted as one of the most brilliant use of the Oculus Rift Headset that showed that how industry spectators are bound to use a good application. It was also a good instance when the technology provided a good account of itself and the utility that it provides in the context of marketing (Merchant et al., 2014). Due to all of these factors, VR comes across as a next big thing in marketing.

Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2014). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students' learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 70, 29-40. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131513002108

Pradeep, A., Gurumoorthy, R., Knight, R. T., & Ratnakar, D. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,548,852. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/patents/US8396744

Tussyadiah, I., Wang, D., & Jia, C. H. (2016). Exploring the Persuasive Power of Virtual Reality Imagery for Destination Marketing. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.umass.edu/ttra/2016/Academic_Papers_Oral/25/