User:Jak1715/sandbox

Digital Marketing
Virtual reality’s growing market presents an opportunity and an alternative channel for digital marketing. The International Data Corporation expects spending to increase for augmented and virtual reality; forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 198% in 2015-2020, reaching $143.3 billion in the final year. It is also estimated that global spending on digital advertisements will increase to $335.5 billion by 2020. Prospective buyers can experience a product or service without physically being present. However, Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick insist that utilising technology as a marketing tool should be based on its potential results rather than the number of users.

Consumers can learn in detail about products through VR. It can present high definition three-dimensional images and interactivity with a product, increasing its telepresence. Its marketing benefits are observed by Suh and Lee through their laboratory experiments. With a VR interface, participants’ product knowledge and product attitude had noticeably increased. This includes higher intentions to purchase the product, but these benefits were not compared to the costs of VR. According to Deflorian, VR can engage consumers' emotions and highlights the importance of empathy for conversions, “The point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action.” He considers the potential return on investment (ROI) accounts for the comparatively high production price and expects associated costs to decline eventually.

Suh and Lee also found that a product's type moderates the effects of VR on consumer knowledge. Virtually high experiential (VHE) products have salient attributes that are primarily sensed through hearing and vision while virtually low experiential (VLE) products are not. VR does not benefit VLE products compared to VHE products because their distinctive properties cannot be adequately reflected. In addition, the design of a VR advertisement is an important consideration as it can affect brand equity. Without a feature for consumers to prevent VR advertisements, they may consider them invasive and react negatively. In this method, it is considered interruption marketing. Consumers want information to be presented in a format where they can observe its relevance before investing their time. Organisations are able to make interaction with their VR campaign optional. For example, UNICEF requires the user to download a mobile app before experiencing their VR campaign.

In 2015, a study revealed 75% of Forbes’ World Most Valuable Brands had developed a VR or AR experience. Although VR is not as widespread among consumers compared to other forms of digital media, companies have increased their use of VR in recent years.

This table is a list of organisations that have utilised VR in their marketing endeavours.

VR has allowed organisations to engage their target audience through a variety of methods. Non-profit organisations have used VR to bring potential supporters closer to distant social, political and environmental issues in immersive ways not possible with traditional media. Panoramic 360 views of the conflict in Syria and face-to-face encounters with CGI tigers in Nepal have been used in experiential activation and shared online for educational and fundraising purposes. Retailers have also developed systems which allow their products to be seen in VR. This can provide consumers with a clearer idea of how the product will look and fit in their home without entering a physical store. Consumers looking at digital photos of the products can "turn" each product around virtually to view it from the side or back.

Companies have developed software or services that allow architectural design firms and real estate clients to tour virtual models of proposed buildings. During the design process, architects can use VR to experience their developing designs. Architectural designs in VR can provide the correct sense of scale and proportion. VR models can also replace physical miniatures to demonstrate a design to clients or the public. In addition, developers and owners can create VR models of built spaces, allowing potential buyers or tenants to tour them in VR. This is particularly beneficial when real-life circumstances make a physical tour unfeasible.