360-degree video: Creating complete audience immersion

Participants

• Dirk Eschenbacher, founding partner, Zanadu 
• Ivy Wong, founder and CEO, VS Media

360-degree video is all the rage right now. Will it last and why?

• Eschenbacher: If hardware, software and content creators push hard, I’m sure there will be a promising future.
• Wong: The investment is there. Facebook rolled out to support 360-degree videos in September. Tencent started VR platform in November and is now looking for 360-video partners.

Should brands be exploring 360-degree video as a marketing tool?

• Eschenbacher: In many cases it paid off for brands to be an early adopter. VR could be a mass medium as early as 2017. If headsets are shipped with mobile phones or game consoles, branded content could potentially reach a substantial audience.
• Wong: 360-degree video can help audiences engage more with content. Big brands like Nescafé, Mercedes-Benz, AT&T and Samsung are already doing it.

How is 360-degree any better than normal video from a marketing standpoint?

• Eschenbacher: 360-degree, like regular video, is only as good as the story it tells. If you have a good story that uses the possibility of 360 degrees, it makes the viewer discover things by physically moving around.
• Wong: Data shows that audiences generally spend more time and engage more deeply in 360-degree video content.

What are the biggest opportunities?

• Eschenbacher: There is a good opportunity to create interesting 360 content that gets talked about and shared among VR adopters.
• Wong: We are producing a 360-degree travelogue video and looking to embed calls-to-action in the video. Users will be able to click on clothing items and go straight to purchasing it. These kinds of touch points offer a lot of opportunities for brands.

What are the biggest challenges?

• Eschenbacher: There is definitely a challenge regarding technology and production at the moment. How to involve brand or place products in a 360 video, rather than spend too much money and time to learn how to produce a 360 video.
• Wong: How to involve brand or place products in a 360 video, rather than spend too much money and time to learn how to produce a 360 video.

What’s the best example you’ve seen of 360-degree video in marketing?

• Eschenbacher: Our short film, The Dream. It’s a story of a young man who has a recurring dream, in which he looks for someone.
• Wong: Nescafé launched a good video designed for Facebook, featuring real people at breakfast around the world starting their day with Nescafé. The idea was simple and fit the 360 format.