After its two-week run, the 2017 Sydney Royal Easter Show has come to an end. This year, over 920,000 visitors attended the iconic show at the Sydney Showground, the highest attendance in over 10 years.
We were lucky enough to work on an environmentally focused stand for Sydney Water. The stand was located within the Woolworths Fresh Food Farm, so it benefited from the huge footfall and was packed from start to finish.
Managed by Sydney Water employees, the stand was made up of two halves. The first half of the stand featured the existing water bar where free samples of fruit-infused tap water were given to the public (a welcome offering with the heat we experienced during the show). The second half of the stand, an educational exhibit about the benefits of Sydney tap water, was given a complete refresh for 2017 and it was our challenge to bring this area alive for show goers.
The challenge
Sydney has some of the best drinking water in the world, and while a large majority of people drink tap water, there are those who still choose bottled water. Primarily targeting children and teens, we wanted to showcase the ‘source to tap’ journey of Sydney’s drinking water. Our aim was to highlight the benefits of choosing tap water as well as some lesser known facts about bottled water. 
The solution
When targeting a younger age group, technology is king and immersive technologies are a great way to engage an audience and tell a brand story. As an agency, we have a lot of experience developing CGI content for VR campaigns (like our work with Gillette, Boursin, WWF and more), but for this story, we wanted to show a real world perspective. So instead of CGI, we produced a 360-degree video to tell the ‘source to tap’ journey.
Take a look at the video below:
Starting in a kitchen with a glass of water, we introduce the viewer to the 360 experience and invite them to come with us on a journey from source to tap.
From here, the journey leads us to the beautiful Blue Mountains, the source of Sydney’s drinking water. Next, we dive underwater to consider the environmental impact of bottled water before finally learning the financial cost of choosing bottled water over tap.
The results
Over the course of the show, more than 10,000 people tried out the VR experience. Participants were polled on the way in and out of the stand to establish whether they would choose bottled water or tap. We saw a positive shift pre- and post-VR engagement, with 2 out of 3 bottled water drinkers pledging to drink tap water on the way out.
360-degree video is a great option for brands looking to engage more deeply with their consumers. It can be achieved at a much lower cost than CGI, but it still allows us to tell a highly immersive story in a relevant way to our target audience.
To learn more about how brands can use immersive technologies, download our live technology cheat sheet below.{{cta(‘7a45994a-87ed-47ce-91ff-bbede047feb6’)}}