Virtual Reality (VR) and other forms of immersive multimedia are currently having widespread impact on the digital stratosphere. It is estimated that the number of active VR users will reach 171 million by 2018 (Statista, 2016). “Increasingly, the web is the world – everything and everyone in the casts an information shadow, an aura of data which, when captured and processed intelligently, offers extraordinary opportunity and mind-bending implications.” (O’Reilly & Battelle, 2009).

Now is the time for marketers to invest, test and produce new forms of immersive multimedia, current market leaders Oculus, Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard are paving the way for some truly unique advertising platforms. Post smart-phones, users are now bracing themselves for the next big global technological advancement.

Following the birth of the internet of things (IoT), web 2.0/3.0 users are willing to adapt their lifestyles according to how new technologies are developed and then implemented. “IoT is opening tremendous opportunities for a large number of novel applications that promise to improve the quality of our lives” (Xia et al, 2012). It is increasingly important for digital content to be groundbreaking, anyone who is seen to be pushing the limits of technology will arguably be regarded by web users as innovators.

The Guardian newspaper alongside the immersive digital agency The Mill recently produced a novel project ‘6×9 – a virtual reality experience of solitary confinement‘ arguably the first politically motivated, journalistic VR experience to be presented online. The Guardian’s first VR experience places users in an US solitary confinement prison cell, telling the story of the psychological damage that can develop due to the complete isolation of prisoners (The Guardian, 2016). It is projects like this, pushing the boundaries of immersive experiences, that enable other market leaders to further explore the outstanding opportunities presented by VR.

The military have recently adopted various VR technologies, all three services (army, navy and air force) are utilising VR to peform a number of training initiatives, such as flight simulation, battlefield simulation and virtual boot camp (VRS, 2016). As well as utilising VR during training, the British Army alongside digital agency Visualise, recently created the world’s first VR recruitment experience, they were challenged to exhibit the thrill and exhilaration of serving in the armed forces from a first person POV perspective, the aim was to increase Army applications (Visualise, 2015). The results certainly prove this innovative recruitment method was somewhat fruitful, Army Reserve application were up by 65% in February 2016 and 41% in March 2016, in comparison to the same months last year.

Companies who already utilise the internet to distribute their content are busy behind the scenes, creating fresh content to populate new VR platforms (Creative Review, 2016). As the global use of VR technologies increases, the cost will automatically be driven down, users and brands alike will be able to utilise these new technologies to further enhance their digital experiences. The future of VR looks extremely bright and now it has been identified as the next big thing, who knows what may become of it, but what comes next?

References;

Creative Review. (2016). What VR means for modern brands – Creative Review. [online] Available at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2016/may/what-vr-means-for-modern-brands/ [Accessed 9 May 2016].

O’Reilly, T. and Battelle, J., 2009. Web squared: Web 2.0 five years on. ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”.

Statista. (2016). Topic: Virtual Reality (VR). [online] www.statista.com. Available at: http://www.statista.com/topics/2532/virtual-reality-vr/ [Accessed 9 May 2016].

The Guardian. (2016). Welcome to your virtual cell: could you survive solitary confinement?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/27/6×9-could-you-survive-solitary-confinement-vr [Accessed 9 May 2016].

Visualise. (2015). British Army VR Recruitment Experience – Visualise. [online] Available at: http://visualise.com/case-study/british-army-vr-recruitment-experience [Accessed 9 May 2016].

VRS. (2015). Virtual Reality in the Military – Virtual Reality. [online] Available at: http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-military/ [Accessed 9 May 2016].

Xia, F., Yang, L.T., Wang, L. and Vinel, A., 2012. Internet of things.International Journal of Communication Systems, 25(9), p.1101.