South African Tourism

The World’s First Virtual Tourism Experience to showcase the variety of South Africa to a younger audience.

#VR #content #innovation #tourism #production

5 Minute Holiday

In the spring of 2013 we were demonstrated what Oculus Rift could do by our partner Visualise. Without any doubt - or brief - we wrote a proposal for South Africa Tourism who were challenged to increase consideration amongst a younger, wanderlust audience.

South Africa is the kind of destination that appeals to wanderlusters looking for adventures off the beaten track and learning about the local culture. To let them discover South Africa from cold London we developed 5 Minute Holiday, a VR experience with binaural sound, back then a first in the travel industry.

Virtual Reality / Binaural Film

Together with Visualise and Somethin’Else we produced a 360 POV film with binaural sound for experiential and social media, showcasing 6 scenes in South Africa, including abseiling down Table Mountain in Cape Town; kite-surfing; feeding the elephants in a sanctuary; strolling through Neighbourgoods Market in Johannesburg; and shark-cage diving.

The tech to combine 360 filming and binaural was non-existing back then. Through a year of intense testing we developed the gear and software and were even able to shoot underwater for the first time.

Results

Following experiential activations in London and Manchester, the 5-minute holiday experience has been rolled out globally and has been at prominent travel events including World Travel Market in London and New York Times Travel Show. The events were reported in national press and specialist titles.

Between 12th – 15th February 2016 the 5 Minute Holiday was published as 5 shorted 360 videos for South African Tourism’s Facebook page. These videos have since received over 5 million views with an engagement rate of 15%.

Consideration went up with 56%

Recommendation increased with 54%

Bookings through Secret Escapes were up 451% YOY

Awarded with

Platinum AVA Digital Award for Virtual Reality Experience of the Year (2015)