Why 2016 will be the year of Virtual Reality

With news outlets now using virtual reality technologies to create more immersive stories, it is only a matter of time until the PR industry follows suit.

Last November The Times created a virtual reality report for victims of the Paris attacks, and Sky News released its first virtual reality report, which focuses on the refugee crisis.

Various commentators within media circles are already predicting that 2016 will be the year of virtual reality and perhaps they might be right.
Last month Dynamo PR announced that they had launched a dedicated virtual reality PR division with visual computing company NVIDIA. Their first creative campaign together involved taking journalists into a realistic simulation, in sub-zero temperatures to experience Mount Everest in VR. The event also showed how NVIDIA’s GTX 970 and GTX 980 series graphics cards can handle VR.

Offering consumers the option to try a product before they purchase it is VR’s main strength. Travel agent Thomas Cook now offers pop-up virtual reality experiences of holiday destinations, a trend that will most likely become common practice.

With big brands like Apple, Sony, and Samsung embracing VR it is only a matter of time until the vast majority of the comms industry begin to use it. As PRs are intermediaries of the relationship between brands and the audience, agencies will need to be prepared to capitalise on these technological advances.

In Hotwire‘s Communications Trends Report 2016, Head of Engagement John Brown predicts that the marriage of data and brand experience provided by VR will enable brands to build stronger relationships with their audiences.
”We crave experiences” said Brown, ”we want to be able to get a sense of a brand or a product through a non-committal experience before we part with our cash.”

Although VR is still a relatively new phenomenon, it will undoubtedly transform the way in which PRs construct their campaigns and interact with their audiences, the question is when?