Prospects have been raised for some time regarding the potential benefits of immersive media in marketing, but now the timing is particularly propitious for immersive marketing.
Immersive marketing offers special capabilities for marketers, and adds new dimensions to the marketing cycle. It offers deeper immersion in products and brands, and allows potential customers to try out and “play with” products. The capabilities of immersive marketing have expanded considerably in recent years with upgrades and refinements in the capabilities of VR, AR, holography, and 3D projection mapping. In addition to technology upgrades, there have been major upgrades in immersive design. The end result is that customers exposed to immersive marketing experiences tend typically to recall better the brand and product messages incorporated in those experiences. It provides more well rounded perspectives on products and brands.
Gamified immersive marketing has been shown to have particularly strong impact when properly applied, as it offers a distinct fun element and incentivizes greater participation in immersive marketing experiences.
Metaverse marketing has emerged as one of the latest immersive marketing forms, and has started to have an impact, though it’s still at an early stage. It has been particularly effective for promoting lifestyle brands, such as fashion, hotel, entertainment, and beauty products and services. Metaverse marketing has also had a greater impact on technologically-sophisticated younger people.
Immersive marketing also serves as an excellent way of eliciting potential customer feedback on product design and appeal.
Hybrid campaigns combining different forms of immersive marketing together and those combining immersive marketing forms with more traditional marketing forms have become more common, and have demonstrated some appeal.
Caution again must be registered in terms of developing immersive marketing campaigns and experiences that fit clear product and brand strategy goals, and that aren’t just tantamount to eye candy.
