There is a school of thought within advertising that says ‘content is advertising, and advertising is content’. As virtual reality (VR) has developed as a medium, and increasing number of companies and brands have begun to subscribe to this idea, producing immersive VR experiences to advertise their output, such as the Jigsaw Virtual Room, created to promote the latest film in the Saw franchise.
Created using the popular videogame engine Unity, the Jigsaw Virtual Room is created to offer and interactive advertising experience. The experience features props from the Saw movies, along with a typically unnerving voiceover from Jigsaw himself, actor Tobin Bell.
The Jigsaw Virtual Room will be available in a few ways, as part of the Home screen on the Samsung Internet VR app for Samsung Gear VR users, and will also feature as part of VR graphic novel in Spiraloid’s Nanite Fulcrum. Nanite Fulcrum will be available on Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift.
“The Jigsaw Virtual Room is just the beginning. Now that we’ve proven broad-reaching, deeply immersive ads are possible, we expect to see this trend continue with formats including VR, AR, 360 mobile video, and playables,” said Julie Shumaker, VP of Advertiser Solutions at Unity. “Brands will have the opportunity to tell their story in a way that elicits emotional, memorable interactions. As the development platform with the highest reach in AR, VR, and mobile games, we are excited to see what marketers will do next.”
“Advertising in VR combines the storytelling power of immersive content with the guaranteed reach of a media buy,” said David Edwards, SVP of Digital Marketing at Lionsgate. “We’re thrilled to have worked with Unity on this campaign, bringing Jigsaw into an engaging VR ad experience.”
VRFocus will bring you further news on interactive VR ads as it becomes available.