We’ve talked about the implications of virtual reality before, and up until now, we’ve always talked about virtual reality as something to prepare for in future.
But the impact of virtual reality is already here, and we’re seeing its influence on the world grow more and more every day.
The Intel example
A great example to bring this to light is Intel’s plan to bring the live sporting experience to the masses through virtual reality. Intel have identified that of all the millions of sport fans in the world, only around 1% will ever get to see their favourite athletes in person.
Having identified this gap in experience, they’ve begun experimenting with ways to allow people to “be there live” through virtual experience. People will be able to stand on the field while their favourite team plays, watch from front row seats and more.
Intel is hardly the only company experimenting with virtual reality, but this particular example is quite the eye-opener. It makes it easy to picture a world where virtual reality is part of our everyday experience.
The genius of Intel’s plan lies in the fact that they’ve started with a consumer need, identified an applicable solution through virtual reality, and are now in development to bring that solution to the world.
Your business strategy in a virtual world
Picturing the power of virtual reality opens up a wealth of potential for your business and media / marketing strategies. People will be able to interact with you in unprecedented ways, and the most creative strategists will create experiences for their consumers that no other brand ever has in history.
For the creative mind (or anyone with a thirst for experimentation), there’s no greater time to be alive. What consumer need do you think virtual reality can meet? What could your audience get out of the experience?
Accepting virtual reality
It’s time to accept that virtual reality is a medium we need to understand. We already realise the significance of stringent analytics and creating adaptable consumer journeys – now, we need to understand how virtual reality fits into the picture.
That’s both a terrifying and exciting prospect. We don’t know if people will transact through virtual reality, or if virtual reality will be more useful as a way to introduce a brand. We don’t yet understand how it fits into a consumer journey, because there hasn’t been enough testing or history.
The bottom line is that there’s so much we don’t know, and we can’t anticipate what the impact will be. But regardless of that, it’s time to start looking at the world and your consumers with virtual reality in mind.
