Posted by Butter-knife, scissors, and sticky tape are all you need to join the conversation around virtual reality (VR) – is Kellogg’s take. Puzzled? Curious? Need more cues on the buzz around VR? ‘Wear and watch’ the VR view. Check out the diverse use it offers. From music to media to FMCG to retail to engineering to automotive to hospitality or sports, the scope of using this technology for effective outcomes is expanding like never before! Research has gained momentum leading technology operators to think innovatively and to make VR solutions cost-effective.
With the world now digital, social, visual, and viral, heavy-duty, power-guzzling, and aesthetically unappealing technology products are a thing of the past. Technology adoption is happening today with a more focused approach. Experience is the new medium of connecting and learning!
Google glass, cardboard, Oculus Rift DK2 headset, Samsung Gear, Zig Zag and many more gadgets are shaking up the VR space with ground-breaking solutions that have rekindled the interest in this technology world-over. Given below are some of the fascinating and experiential implications of the VR technology at work!
Table of Contents
FMCG
With Kellogg’s, breakfast cereal is made an interesting experience! If you are wondering how, then it’s time to get a box of Nutri-Grain. This comes with a DIY (do-it-yourself) kit from Kellogg’s helping you build a VR headset. So, the next time you need cereals, don’t forget to check out the new Nutri-Grain box of Kellogg’s and watch the VR magic unfold once you build the VR headset using the DIY template! Using an official app for iOS and Android, the brand promises its consumers a range of 360-degree experiences that include mountain bike ride, a wingsuit flight, and a downhill longboard ride.
MUSIC
Classical music doesn’t have to be intimidating anymore! Music is soulful. Is it not meant to be an absorbing and transcendental experience? Well, that’s certainly what the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra is trying to promote. It has joined the VR bandwagon by using the VR technology to capture the soul-stirring effect that the ever-popular Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony can evoke.
Soon, it will be driving around the Los Angeles area to parks, festivals, and museums, in a van outfitted with real carpeting and seats from the Walt Disney Concert Hall — and six Samsung Gear VR headsets, pre-loaded with a special video performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony . The end objective is to encourage people to explore the art form in an experiential way. Exposure to concerts has two outcomes: people are encouraged to listen and the learning quotient is aroused! The attempt here is to leverage the VR technology enough to inspire kids to perhaps consider the musical path! One doesn’t have to make big investments of time or money as the VR view promises a holistic experience in just 3 minutes! So, time for concert halls to go to the “customer”!
MEDIA
Story-telling has never been so immersive! For, who would have thought that VR could work in media too! ”Hunger”, a creation of Nonny de la Pena, debuted at the Sundance festival (2012) with her conviction-filled journalism experience. In an age when old-guard scribes feel threatened by digital technologies, her use of the additional technological edge to add experience to news stories is indeed a reflection of her innovativeness and foresight. Well deserving of the title ‘the Godmother of VR’ Nonny de la Pena has exploited the VR platform as the new narrative. “This is such a visceral empathy generator. It can make people feel in a way that nothing, no other platform I’ve ever worked in can,” is her comment about the VR experience. No wonder that people lined up to don the duct-taped goggles for the VR view of a story, their participation only confirming de la Pena’s investment in the growing power of VR in the area of news stories as well!
SPORTS
The thought of football brings to mind a picture of hard-fought tackles and swift moves that add to the competitive frenzy of the game. From the Vanderbilt school in the US to NFL teams, the effective ways of VR is making it a strategic option. The “unbelievable” teaching tool enables a complete review of a game from all angles. Be it a quarterback, a specialist or a player in any other role, the VR engagement helps in thorough planning and preparation by effectively using the visualization technique. Users swear by the experience, describing it to be “pretty cool and kind of freaky. I put those goggles on, and I can see myself standing right there and then I can look around and see the whole field, too. You can hear the play call, turn around and look at your coaches, and even see everything going on around you.” And, for quarterbacks like the Arizona Cardinals’ Carson Palmer, the cool training tool shows up fine details that “separate you in a game” “because it’s just inches that help you have success out there,” notes Cardinals’ wide-receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
HOSPITALITY
Hotel chain Marriott has exploited the VR platform to bring the “holistic and experiential” feel of the brand to its customers. “A lot of people have never thought of virtual reality outside of gaming, so to put it inside a trip, what does it feel like to take a virtual trip?” avers Michael Dail, Marriott’s VP of global brand marketing, who believes in the 360-degree experience effect of VR. “That starts a conversation. Are you really traveling if you just have the virtual sensation? And a lot of people who tried it said, ‘Yes, this reminds me of what travel is, it makes me feel like I’m there.’”
AUTOMOTIVE
Does knowing the pulse of the customer make predicting the future of technology a tad easy? Well, that is the experience of Elizabeth Baron who spotted the potential of VR for the auto industry more than a decade ago. Baron heads Ford’s Immersive Vehicle Environment (FiVE) lab, which uses VR technology to enable designers, engineers, and others involved in product development to experience a pre-built vehicle. “It’s a holistic view that brings together people looking at vehicles from different mindsets. I wanted what you would expect in the real world, in real time, and with the highest level of visual quality, and then I just worked at it using all the ways I could find to create that,” she said.
The proliferation of VR is on the rise when it comes to data visualization, networking, military technology, education and training. VR in healthcare is reported to be 30% while in the field of education and training it is 35%. How to operate cranes, handling hazardous wastes, how to weld, teaching surgical procedures, and rehabilitation are the diverse range of VR courses available in the market.
Origin Learning Solutions has taken the next leap. By working to provide the VR edge to a Fortune 100 client, Origin is on the verge of setting a new benchmark in the VR zone. Are you interested in exploring the VR dimension in learning? Ask for a demo!
Source:
https://www.wareable.com/vr/vr-headset-coming-soon-to-a-cereal-box-near-you-1653
http://recode.net/2015/09/08/behind-the-scenes-of-a-virtual-reality-beethoven-concert/
http://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/vanderbilt/2015/08/30/vanderbilt-football-virtual-reality-strivr/71390932/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKRTiOG4J5E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IBlANLUps
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/09/us/nfl-virtual-reality-training/
http://fortune.com/2015/09/09/marriott-virtual-reality/
http://fortune.com/2015/09/15/women-virtual-reality/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/24/the-godmother-of-virtual-reality-nonny-de-la-pena/