When Swiss real estate website Homegate.ch asked kids to draw pictures of their dream houses, it wasn't an empty gesture. It was the first step in a marketing collaboration with the Bandara agency and film production company Frame Engine to give three of those kids virtual tours of the houses they drew.
The three most creative drawings were turned into vivid 3-D environments and then loaded into an Oculus Rift app. The kids were then invited to explore what they'd made. The video was made as branded content for Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten.
It's impossible to not be charmed by these kids having so much fun with the Oculus Rift, and the 3-D drawings are pretty neat. The graphics aren't sophisticated, but they are bright and cartoony and wouldn't look out of place in the original Animal Crossing game.
They're an impressive execution of a really solid concept, and a good example of how 3-D technology can be used to grow a brand by offering a unique, engaging experience to consumers (or in these kids' case, future consumers).
Maybe by the time they hit adulthood, the Oculus Rift won't be lame anymore. This project is a step in that direction.
CREDITS
Client: Tamedia AG
Stefanie Fritze (Head of Marketing homegate.ch)
Peter Wälty (Head of Digital News & Development)
Christian Lüscher (Head of Commercial Publishing)
Virtual Reality Agency: Bandara
Daniel Gremli, Urs Langenegger, Jonas Baer (Co-Founders)
Sonja Böckler, Mik Müller (3D Designers, VR Developers)
Film Production Company: Frame Engine
Felix Tanner (Director/Editor)
Nick Metzger (Director of Photography)
Timo Schaub (Sound Recordist, Lighting Technician)
Thomas Rechberger (Sound Designer)