Confused.com : VR commute

The Fun Stuff

Comparison site Confused.com approached us to engage their audience with something innovative and deeply immersive that celebrated the joy of driving. They specifically wanted to explore the use of 360 video and VR technology to do something which would generate headlines and delight their audience. We came up with the idea of creating an immersive video of “The Worlds Ultimate Commute”, combining the relatability of daily travel with the epic grandeur of the Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway – widely touted as one of the most beautiful drives in the world.

Working with the world leading Jaunt 1 camera, we took all 24 of its HD lenses to the wilds of Scandinavia’s West Coast to capture imagery of this beautiful journey, and backed this with interviews of local residents who commute the road daily or were involved in its construction.

The film itself is a 5 minute 360 video taking you on a stunning drive at different times of the day, resulting in VR viewers commenting that when the five-minute film ends, they want to go back to the beginning.

The Serious Bit

Completion rates for headset viewers is over 80%, but viewers can also watch on Facebook 360 or YouTube 360 video resulting in over 360k views of the finished film in social channels.

It was distributed with a range of supporting assets including photo portraits, interviews with the locals, landscape photography, and statistics and facts about the route, and research around commuting which lead to feature articles and coverage in mainstream press.

Tiffany Maddox, Senior Creative Lead at Rubber Republic, said, ‘it’s interesting to see how viewing habits are changing when it comes to branded content. We’re seeing a sharp increase in ultra-short-form, more snackable, less narrative-driven, Facebook video taking priority in digital campaigns. Whilst that has a place, right now we’re more interested in exploring longer form, more immersive, story lead film that we believe leads to deeper engagements and more meaningful interactions with brands. This project was not only a lot of fun but the perfect example of that ethos. It shows that Confused.com completely understand the importance of the audience-first approach to content.

‘We’re really pleased with the campaign’s performance – especially the fact that over 80% of all viewers using a VR headset watched the film to completion. To put that into context, Facebook reports that “65% of people who watch the first three seconds of a video will watch for at least ten seconds and 45% continue watching for thirty seconds” – and that’s at the top end of the scale.

Rubber Republic specialises in creating true engagement through content that people actually want to watch (rather than bought attention). In the ever-changing landscape, this is one way to give our clients the best possible chance at cutting through the noise.