Open Studio Day is set to give marketers, agencies and brands the opportunity to get hands on with the latest immersive technology and explore new ways of creating engaging consumer experiences.
“Virtual reality is no longer ‘VR fluff’,” says Brighton-based immersive technology specialists VR Craftworks. And to prove it, the agency is just one of the creative studios opening its doors on Thursday 20 September as part of the BIMA Open Studio Day.
The day will see brands and agencies across the UK invited into eleven of the country’s top immersive technology studios in Leeds, Liverpool, St Albans, Brighton and London to explore how the latest immersive tech – such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality – can benefit business by transforming customer experiences.
The day is the result of a collaboration between BIMA’s Immersive Technology Think Tank and immersive pioneer Virtual Umbrella.
“There is still a large part of the creative and marketing industry for whom VR, AR and the like remain a novelty,” explains Immersive Technology Think Tank chair Lawrence Webber. “But the studios opening their doors this September will show that the technology, the capability and the business benefits are no longer theoretical. They are here and now and many of the world’s biggest brands – brands like Unilever, the BBC, AstraZeneca, AT&T and Warner Bros – are working with the studios involved in Open Day to create richer, more engaging customer experiences.”
In addition to VR Craftworks, London’s vismedia.agency will demonstrate how it fuses traditional video and animation with immersive. Brick Lane studio, Surround Vision, will show how it creates intimacy in immersive. Liverpool’s Draw & Code will let attendees get hands-on with the tech; Cooperative Innovations in Leeds will demonstrate its latest projects and London’s Mixed Immersion will showcase the importance of sound to the immersive experience.
Most importantly, and in addition to exploring the creative process and getting hands on with the tech, the participating studios – which also include George P Johnson, Jaunt, Preloaded and Igloo Vision in London and St Albans studio Rewind – will also demonstrate the potential of immersive technology to drive leads, sales, loyalty and consumer engagement.
“We are hugely excited by Open Studio Day,” said BIMA co-president Natalie Gross. “Our purpose is to help our members remain one step ahead of tomorrow, and I don’t think there’s a better way of delivering on that than by showing them the capability of the latest technology – and helping them harness it. We are enormously grateful to all the studios taking part.”
Spaces at each studio are limited and available on a first come, first served basis. The event is free for BIMA members, who can register here.
Further information
For more details, please contact rachel@bima.co.uk