WaPo | When cookie giant Oreo wanted to promote its latest flavors, its marketing heads decided to spice up its traditional TV ads with something not just new, but otherworldly: a virtual-reality-style fly-through of a whimsical, violet-skied fantasyland, where cream filling flows like a river and cookie pieces rocket past the viewer's head.
The 360-degree “Wonder Vault” animation allowed viewers to look around this world by turning their smartphone, moving their mouse on a screen or gazing through a virtual-reality headset. And many did: In the minute-long sugary utopia’s two weeks of existence, it has enticed nearly 3 million YouTube viewers — about as big as the 12-to-34-year-old audience for “The Big Bang Theory,” the most-watched sitcom on TV.
“Look at the Cinnamon Bun world: There are cinnamon buns, but there are also ice skaters. It evokes that sort of emotional connection,” said Elise Burditt, brand manager for Oreo North America. “It’s all about taking people inside this world we’ve created ... and back to that feeling of being a kid again.”
As VR technology has rapidly grown more vivid, affordable and widespread, its artists and fans have championed the dramatic ways it could change movies, news, video games, on-the-job training and the creative arts. But many newcomers will take their first virtual steps via a more quintessentially American medium — advertising. And companies now are investing heavily in a race to shape those worlds to their design.
