So today, we’re going to focus on a case study for Virtual Reality (VR). We’ll take you through the problem, process and solution to summarise the journey we’ve taken over the last 6 months to give insight into the business case.

WHAT IS VR ?

VR enables the audience to put themselves into another environment, primarily using sight and sound. Put on a VR headset and you are transported into a fight scene in Game of Thrones, into a roller-coaster or onto the summit of Everest. It is as close as actually experiencing it ‘in the moment’.

VR has become more pervasive over the last 12 months for 3 reasons:

1. Quality of the tech has improved dramatically: you can now play from your mobile,

2. Price of the headsets has dropped considerably: the latest Samsung headset costs £50,

3. Facebook and YouTube have embraced the tech: making it available to everyone.

WHAT WE WANTED TO SOLVE (JN)

Egencia is a B2B brand specialised in Business Travel. They rank as the 4th Travel Management Company (TMC) in the world, by revenue. We have customers demanding even more sophisticated solutions to travel problems.

These customers can be mom and pop brands spending 100k on their travel, right through to Fortune 500, FTSE listed brands spending tens of millions per year on their staff travel programmes.

Egencia’s area of strength is their best-in-class technology, anytime we do a demo, it never fails to wow the prospect. However, travel has an emotional connotation. Customers want a tangible view of the customer service and support offered to their travellers. So, how do you demo that? A visit? For sure…

The problem is diaries are getting busier, so customers often don’t have the time to site-visit an Egencia customer service centre and let’s face it, PowerPoint slides are not that exciting.

Enter Virtual Reality.

MAKING IT HAPPEN (Paul)

We’ve been working Egencia for since 2010, creating design, marketing and ad campaigns for both their internal comms and external audiences.

We hadn’t worked with VR or shot in 360 before. Examples of VR in a B2B setting are rarer than hen’s teeth. So, we were solving problems from the start.

We settled on a story that demonstrated the ‘global-ness’ and ‘local-ness’ of the customer service experience to the front. Shot in 3 cities, in 4 weeks, with Egencia employee’s as the talent.

We deliberated over camera, lighting and sound choices. Experimenting with a number of different options, we finally settled on the Z CAM S1 as our primary camera and the iZugar Z4X as back-up. The S1 is lightweight, flexible, has good motion control for stabilising and uses the Sony EXMOR sensor which is strong in low light or indoor conditions. It shoots 4k at 60fps which gave us good flexibility in the post production.

One of the biggest challenges with 360 is taking a live feed onto a monitor to use while directing. Clearly if I stood behind the camera (like regular video) then I’d be in shot. The S1 works with a Teradek to push a live (rough stitched) feed onto an iPad Pro. Incredibly useful.

A very small crew of just 4, thinking on our feet, finding solutions. We loved it!

REALITY HITS

We created one of the most viewed assets Egencia has ever launched. In July this year, I was organising the Egencia booth at the GBTA show in Boston. GBTA is a huge annual industry event, with customers, prospects, vendors, partners and industry commentators all coming together for 4 days.

In short it was a massive opportunity to make a big impact. The VR video launched on our booth to a fantastic reception from customers and prospects alike.

The experience took people into the heart of the Egencia customer service centres, they got to meet travel consultants in their environment. Understanding the dedication and knowledge they put into their roles all over the world.

It’s been watched thousands of times (21K views at time of article) and it put Egencia in front of all the right people we want to impress. A hugely successful launch and will no doubt be an important asset for the sales team over the coming months.

CONCLUSION

Emerging technologies can be so much more than gadgets, or things that you shrug off as “works in B2C” only. So think about it. How can technology solve your real-life problem? If you have examples to showcase, comment below! We would love to read about them.

Thanks! Jean Noel & Paul .

Grab a VR headset, go to your YouTube app on your phone and check out the video.

You can watch the Behind the Scenes video by clicking here.

co-authored by Jean Noel Lau Keng Lun & Paul Mellor