Imagine cracking a Corona on a hot day. Just before you allow the liquid courage to intoxicate your presence, your 6th sense ignites and you’re instantly transported to an exotic island splashing around with your favorite golden suds — sponsored by Corona.  


Imagine cracking a Corona on a hot day. Just before you allow the liquid courage to intoxicate your presence, your 6th sense ignites and you’re instantly transported to an
exotic island splashing around with your favorite golden suds — sponsored by Corona.  

In a nutshell, that’s essentially what VR has to offer: one-on-one immersive and personalized brand experiences.
 

If executed correctly, VR holds the overriding potential to be the holy grail of connection-based marketing.

Meaning, brands can capitalize on their current potential and take it one step further in hopes of becoming synonymous with positive and personalized experiences.  

Bringing ex-president Kennedy’s famous words to mind, “think not what your consumers can do for you, but what you can do for your consumers”—or something like that.
 
But before you get too excited and start planning your drunken stay-cations, let’s reassess what we know about VR:
 
According to Digiday’s WTF segment, Virtual Reality is defined as a way to create an immersive experience that provides the opportunity for consumers to be digitally transported to a different place, time, or environment.

Sounds amazing right? However, synchronization, high production costs, and VR integration with current marketing technology has posed issues for brands and agencies alike, among other things.
 
This in line with price and state of current platforms, leaves mass consumer adoption of high-end VR headsets a little ways away—5 years to be exact.
 
So we know what you’re thinking, and we’re here to cheer you up. Even though full VR adoption isn’t on the table yet, 360-video and augmented reality provide immediate options to satisfy your VR cravings in the meantime.
 

Even though 360 video may seem like a drop in the bucket to what one can get with a full VR experience, Forrester reports that this tactic is expected to explode on “low-to-mid-end VR devices” in the next few years.

Although 360 video isn’t the full VR experience we all want, it provides an insightful framework on how to plan for a successful augmented-reality execution. For certain branding plays, we’ve seen this tactic perform extremely well in terms of time spent with the unit.
 
When VR does hit the mainstream market, it holds the overriding potential to become the mecca of modern branding. And it’s super cool. Did we mention that?
 
Good things come to those who wait, right?