Why VR Storytelling will Make You More Empathetic

VR, once thought to be a fad or a pipedream, is expected to be massive, with analysts predicting that the virtual and augmented reality market will be worth a mind-boggling $162 million by 2020. Tech trailblazers like Facebook, Google and Sony are all investing in VR. Meanwhile, it’s been hard to ignore Pokémon GO – which is AR, but not dissimilar to VR in its concept – as further proof of the potential for new immersive storytelling tech to captivate and engage the masses. But what impact will it have on the advertising industry?

Unsurprisingly, VR has trickled into brand campaigns. However, VR is still a frontier technology and nobody’s really cracked it yet, especially not in advertising. So far there are few campaigns that really exploit its potential to convey presence or create empathy. Many would have been just as good, if not better in standard 2D. The likes of Jaguar, Thomas Cook and Havana Club have experimented with mild success – Jaguar’s ‘unique’ VR experience of Andy Murray on centre court (below) is somewhat questionable, while Thomas Cook’s fantasy flight ticked some boxes for being simple – genuinely exploiting the ability of viewers to look around the cabin.

Charity brands have enjoyed more success, largely down to the point-of-view nature of VR, of putting a person into someone else’s shoes, which is inherently bound to the ability to empathise. We worked on The National Autistic Society’s VR film (below), which was based on an autistic boy’s experience of a shopping centre. Using VR meant that users could experience a full sensory overload; overstimulation regularly experienced by autistic people in a seemingly normal situation. 

For some, the hype of VR will be an attraction, but VR’s core strength is its ability to create a sense of presence. Done well, it can make you forget that you’re even wearing a headset at all. So if you think about empathy as a mountain that every storyteller of filmmaker must scale, VR offers an opportunity to start halfway up it.

While this isn’t available via any other platform, point-of-view storytelling is nothing new. Peep Show did it perfectly; fans will recognise Mark’s wide-eyed kissing shots. More recently we saw the release of Hardcore Henry – a science fiction action film entirely shot in the first-person perspective. 

The point being, that the most important thing is still the quality of the story being told. While VR can offer stronger empathy, that’s meaningless without a relatable and powerful storyline.

It’s also important to step out of adland and ask whether VR really has a mainstream appeal before putting too much faith into it as a bonafide marketing tool. While experts predict that PlayStation’s release of a more affordable VR headset in October will see VR truly go mainstream; we also once thought that 3D TV was going to disrupt the way we watched television and herald a new era of 3D entertainment. That prediction never really came to pass and the number of 3D TV viewers has been declining since 2013.

For now, the true strength of VR, and where its potential will be most realised and felt, will be within gaming. Still, it's a powerful tool for advertisers as it can put people at the heart of a story, and used in the right way, will improve empathy and engagement in creativity.