Why Marketers Shouldn't Get Overexcited About Virtual Reality as a Branding Tool

Virtual reality is an extraordinarily hot topic right now in media and technology circles. We've seen some amazing developments in recent years, but for the purposes of marketers, technology has not caught up with needs. Beyond functioning, we need it to scale and affect consumer behavior. This will likely happen in time, but many years from now. To understand why there is so much buzz in adland about VR and why expectations need to be contained, it's worth taking a look back. Andy Maskin Illustration: Alex Fine In the 1990s, there was a spike of interest on the subject. Books like Snow Crash and movies like The Lawnmower Man ignited the imagination, and virtual reality games started popping up in arcades. And then, unlike most major innovations of that era, it seemed to fizzle out. Fast forward to 2012, and the advent of Oculus Rift reawakened the sleeping giant. Since its legendary Kickstarter campaign, other players have rushed into the market including Samsung. The acquisition of Oculus Rift by Facebook caught many off guard and has many wondering whether this time VR is for real. The original wave of VR excitement was really built on metaphor. The idea that computers could connect to each other was relatively new to most outside academia and the military. Just as the physical world concept of folders holding documents was borrowed to explain how computer files were organized, people shopped in online stores and met in chat rooms. Once it clicked for people... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #financial services #programmatic buying #adweek magazine

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Why Marketers Shouldn't Get Overexcited About Virtual Reality as a Branding Tool'


Free-to-Play Online Casino Brand Bets on Mobile

DoubleDown Interactive, the company behind the popular gambling app DoubleDown Casino, placed its early marketing and media bets on Facebook. It's worked. But as its bettors shift to mobile gambling from desktops, in sync with consumers' migration to mobile devices for all sorts of daily... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #vp-global marketing #digital landscape #changing rapidly


How to Establish Robust Trade in Emerging Ebook Markets

For an ebook distributor to succeed in a developing market they need to adapt to methodologies, in particular payment mechanisms, already prevalent in that market. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook distributor


Spain's domestic market sees 12% drop in 2013

Spain's domestic publishing market saw a year-on-year drop in turnover of approaching 12% in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #year-on-year drop


'No flattening' in Dutch-language ebook market

Second-quarter 2014 data collected by leading Dutch distributor CB Logistics indicates a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


B&N unveils Samsung/Nook co-branded tablet

Barnes & Noble’s Nook Media has unveiled the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, the first co-branded... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #barnes noble #nook media


Mens Health stays strong at top of paid-for mens magazine market

Hearst-Rodale titles print sales fall back below 200,000, but remains well ahead of closest rival, Condé Nasts GQ Continue reading... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #closest rival


Virtual Book Festivals Run By Major Publishers Take Off in UK

HarperCollins UK's June virtual Romance Festival was a success; this week SF publisher Gollancz is hosting a festival combining online Q&As with real life events. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harpercollins uk #major publishers


AOL Says 92% of Marketers Use Programmatic Despite Persisting Challenges

AOL announced last week that ad revenues were up 20 percent for the quarter, due in large part to the growth of its programmatic business. To get a better handle on where advertisers, publishers and agencies stood on programmatic ad buying, it surveyed a selection of them—with most representing... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #patrick dolan #paid dividends #survey found


Purdue Opens Amazon-Branded E-Store

As the start of the fall semester nears, the college bookstore market is heating up with the launch of a second Amazon co-branded online school store at Indiana's Purdue University. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #purdue university


Author Lindsey Kelk on Participating in a Virtual Book Festival

Lindsey Kelk a the bestselling British Chick-Lit author and participated in HarperCollins' virtual Romance Festival. Here she reflects on the experience. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lindsey kelk


Marlboro Boy And Fat Ronald: The Brand-Jamming Art Of Ron English

Ron English, famous for his colorful statements on consumer culture, talks about reverse shoplifting, and making marketing even more egregious.Portland artist Ron English has spent his career lampooning some of America's top brands, and he's got the cease-and-desist letters to prove it.... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #top brands #greatest hits #mickey mouse


Harper Has New Indie Marketing Fund

HarperCollins has started what it is calling the HarperCollins Promotional Fund (HCPF), a program which will provide additional funds to help independent retailers market HC books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


For $100,000, GQ Magazine's Most 'Elite' Readers Will Promote Your Brand

Here's the pitch Conde Nast's GQ magazine is giving marketers: Spend at least $100,000 with us and get access to 57 "elite" GQ readers who will help promote your brand across print and digital. The program, called GQ57, is the magazine's latest effort to tap digital-ad budgets by enlisting... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #conde nast #september issue #creative director


Catholic Marketing Network: A Trade Show that’s Thriving

There was no missing the life-size photo of Pope Francis near one of the entrances to the 18th annual Catholic Marketing Network trade show July 29-Aug. 1. He was there in spirit, perhaps, and certainly adorned many a book cover at a show publishers said brought robust sales and many... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #trade show #pope francis #book cover


Bowker: title numbers hold steady in US print market

A 1.6% decline in the number of traditionally published print titles in the US last year shows... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #print market #6% decline


Chinese Book Market Snapshot: Bestsellers, E-publishing, Translation

Xiaoying Chu at Charlesworth (Beijing) Information Services details the booming Chinese digital publishing market and the strides being make by online booksellers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #online booksellers


The Catholic Book Trade: Brand Loyalty for Niche Publishing

One area of publishing where brand loyalty reigns is in religious books, and Roman Catholic books in particular, largely resulting from market fragmentation. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #niche publishing #religious books


Introducing BackTypo, A Self-Publishing Tool with Italian Flair

Giacomo D'Angelo, product manager at Narcissus.me describes how BackTypo promises to help authors build beautiful books simply and easily. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #product manager


InDesign CC 2014 review: Better ebook tools, easier workflows

In reviews of previous versions of InDesign, the looming question was always, “Is this version worth the cost of the upgrade or can I skip it?” But with Adobe’s switch to the Creative Cloud subscription model, this question is meaningless. Every subscriber receives the latest version as soon as... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ll receive


Brands' Big Challenge: Making the Mind Shift to Mobile

Josh Bernoff, coauthor of the pivotal book on social media, Groundswell, describes himself on Twitter as a "Forrester analyst, idea developer and troublemaker." His latest book on The Mobile Mind Shift certainly lives up to those descriptions.In it, Bernoff discusses the difficulties companies... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #big challenge #forrester analyst