In plane sight: VR aids audience research
Airports are not normally associated with immersive experiences, but JCDecaux has turned Heathrow’s Terminal 5 into one, as part of new research into audience engagement.
Thursday, 30 May 2019 11:43 GMT
Using VR technology is aiding audience research for out-of-home advertisers
The full 360-degree virtual reality (VR) airport environment was created in partnership with Spinview and Tobii Pro to conduct research into gaze behaviour and engagement at a level of immersion previously untested in a fabricated environment.
From the study, 73% of respondents recalled seeing advertising screens as one of the first three elements they could remember from the VR airport terminal, and 71% recalled seeing the specific brands advertised.
The study also showed that dynamic copy promotes higher engagement rates, with a 17% uplift in engagement of respondents looking at dynamic adverts as opposed to standard ones.
The firm recruited respondents to reflect typical airport audience demographics who were unaware of the research’s purposes.
The learnings will enable us to service and advise our clients better, giving them key direction on how best to achieve a high impact”
“We are really proud to have taken an existing research project to the next level using modern VR technology,” says Steve Cox, marketing director at JCDecaux Airport UK. “The full 3D model was built in-house by our expert design team to ensure all aspects of the airport were visualised as realistically as possible.
“The learnings will enable us to service and advise our clients better, giving them key direction on how best to achieve a high impact and engaging creative campaign.”
Ali Farokhian, head of marketing research and UX at Tobii Pro adds: “The integration of Tobii eye tracking to HTC Vive’s VR headset has opened up whole new dimension for marketing research.
“Attention is a key indicator of what engages people and we are extremely pleased to have been part of gathering actionable insight for JCDecaux on the future of Heathrow Airport’s OOH advertising and their media placement strategy”.
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