Virtual Reality Crashes Into The North East

Added: 5th August 2015

Independent Events are once again at the forefront of blending immersive technologies with experiential marketing, this time developing the UK’s first Oculus Rift safe driving simulator for Road Respect, a road safety campaign in the North East of England.

The Oculus Rift driving experience focuses on driver behaviour and the dangers of drink-driving and has been designed to incorporate iconic North East landmarks such as the Angel of The North, Newcastle Quayside and Stadium of Light, here users can test their driving ability and compare their scores with friends and family via social media integration on Facebook and Twitter with scores being posted directly to users profiles. They will be confronted with various distractions on the road such as a mobile phone ringing or rogue pedestrians running from behind vehicles and they will be judged on a score at the end of the experience.  Prizes are available to the highest scores of each day which is displayed on the campaign's Facebook profile as a league table. The experience has two modes; sober or drunk, so the users can compare their reactions while under the influence.

The virtual reality driving experience is housed within a new specially customised exhibition van called "Roadi" which has flat screens fitted both on the inside and out to allow the OR experience to be broadcasted to onlookers and create extended engagement, this will be the prominent feature of the 42 day summer long #SpotRoadi campaign.  The campaign is set to hit key events and areas across the North East this summer, with brand ambassadors all provided by Independent Events to ensure the message is spread as efficiently as possible.  Users are also being encouraged to share their scores, photos of Roadi and their selfies at the events with the hashtag #SpotRoadi, prizes are to be distributed throughout the summer for the best submissions.

This isn't the first time IE have incorporated immersive technologies into their experiential marketing campaigns, previously opening up a series of Road Respect popup shops around the North East's largest shopping centres, highlighting the dangers of drink driving with augmented reality store front which featured a car smash through the main window when the experience was triggered by a specifically designed Road Respect augmented reality app.

IE Director Danae Abadom said “We really wanted to move forward road safety driving simulation which we felt has remain the same for a number of years, we felt that Oculus Rift was the perfect platform, blending that with iconic landmarks really help to engage with the campaigns target demographic of 17-24 year olds and with the addition of social media integration it added massive reach to the campaign, we had amazing feedback and it has become the most successful road show Road Respect has undertaken”.

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