Samsung’s New Gear VR Advert Shows How to Sell VR

By
Paul James
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5

Samsung’s Gear VR launched officially in it’s first consumer ready form last week, and as the first commercial VR headset launching in decades, how do you sell a technology famously difficult to demonstrate other than in person? Samsung’s new advert has a very effective stab at this problem.

We’ve written on multiple occasions that virtual reality is a technology that you must experience first to fully understand what all the fuss is about, but this presents a significant challenge to company’s faced with the task of selling into an uninitiated market place.

See Also: Samsung Launches Gear VR Headset in the US, Coming ‘Soon’ to Europe

Samsung’s new advert, which appeared over the weekend to accompany the launch of the company’s first consumer targeted VR headset, the Oculus and Galaxy smartphone powered Gear VR, does a great job of selling the promise of VR. The new ad is just 30 seconds long but uses some effective visuals, diving in and out of the Gear VR lenses to convey how the device is used and what kind of experience it can offer.

samsung-gear-vr-amazon-prime

See Also: The First 6 Gear VR Apps & Games New Owners Should Try

It also demonstrates how the headset works mechanically very clearly, something that even people who had heard of the headset prior to this, may not have understood how their Galaxy phone interfaced with the unit.

All in all, a pretty successful bit of video which takes an obscure concept to most and presents the promise of VR in a clear, vibrant manner which is not misleading. Nice work Samsung, we salute you!

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Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • kalqlate
  • Mbryonic

    I like how simple it is. You see that you’re able to explore new worlds. What it’s missing in my opinion is exclusivity. Show me what I can do on the Samsung Gear VR that I can’t do just on the phone.

    • kalqlate

      Read your comment again. You answered your own question.

      • VR Mastermind

        I think he meant “just on the phone with Cardboard”, but even then I’d say the answer is the same, since Cardboard and GearVR are not even close to comparable.

        • kalqlate

          Possibly. But “Cardboard” was not mentioned in the article nor in his comment. I think more so that by “just on the phone” he means “just on the phone where the phone’s display becomes a window into the virtual 360 environment as the phone is moved about”. In that sense he is right, but it is fairly clear from what he wrote that he hasn’t experienced VR through a headset. He’s equating viewing a tiny window onto a virtual world as being very similar to if not the same as experiencing the virtual world from the inside, which is what VR headsets allow.