MUMBAI: With Facebook and Youtube going full throttle to maximise the reach of VR by encouraging 360 degree content on its platforms, it’s no surprise that several Indian brands are looking to make the most of it.
After Tata Motors, it’s now alco-bev giant Kingfisher’s turn to give a taste of Virtual Reality to its consumers with its latest campaign ‘KF 360 cities’ that allows users to have an immersive tour of major Indian cities. Apart from Samsung Gear and Google cardboard, one can experience the same by simply tilting their mobile phones while enjoying the 360 degree video on Youtube or Facebook.
“The ‘KF 360 cities’ campaign is the perfect opportunity to bring destinations to people instead of the other way around. Forget maps and GPS, and explore India like you’ve never done before. Whether it’s the backwaters of Kerala, the sand dunes of Jaisalmer or the beaches of Goa, Kingfisher will truly show you how to have a Good Time,” shared an excited United Breweries Limited marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat.
With a larger goal of showcasing how a fun time is incomplete without Kingfisher in any city, . Kingfisher has created this virtual reality campaign in association with Spectra VR, leveraging the growing popularity of VR headsets. While currently the VR experience is available for selected cities, Sheikhawat assured that over a period of time the brand will cover 30 to 40 cities through this campaign.
“We have been dabbling in VR at a smaller scale in varied so but now we are gathering steam and momentum when it comes to using VR technology in our marketing strategy,” informed Sheikhawat.
The brand’s previous campaigns in VR include Kingfisher Super Chasers VR Game, during the IPL season where the brand used VR gear to transport users into a virtual cricket stadium, giving them an immersive gaming experience. The game created a lot of fan frenzy during theKingfisher on-ground activations across the country, with even cricketers trying their hand at the game.
When asked if the limited accessibility of VR headgear would limit the reach of the campaign, Sheikhawat clarified saying, “That's true of any new technology that comes in. And we believe that with spectrum and bandwidth increasing in the country, and technology companies like Samsung pushing the VR evolution from their end, it will only get better from here. It's advantageous for the brand to be one of the early adopters of this really cool proposition in marketing. We are betting on it for sure.”
Sheikhawat admitted that there is a marginal difference between a regular and VR campaign when it comes to the initial investment, but that depends completely on the quality of the content, and the experience the brand offers, as same campaign could be enjoyed by using an expensive Samsung headgear or a free Youtube plugin.
While it is too early to say if the marketing predictors and marketing mojos are right about the the impending VR explosions in marketing, but for the time being brands such as Kingfisher are looking at it in a big way.
