While new technology like drones, self-driving cars, and virtual reality keep dominating the headlines, we have yet to see a deeper analysis of Microsoft's approaching HoloLens. Once the latter hits the market, it has strong potential for technology taking a flying leap forward. All analysts who've tried HoloLens reiterate this excited feeling where you can wear a wireless headset and see lifelike holographic images within your reality.
The trouble now is that the technology isn't quite perfected, so a release date still seems elusive from Microsoft. This hasn't stopped many from making plans for using HoloLens in ways we've never dreamed. Those in marketing, especially, have lofty dreams on what this could do to enhance digital storytelling.
An organization in Oregon dealing in digital storytelling technique already has plans to produce content for HoloLens once becoming a mainstream digital tool.
Called The Oregon Story Board, they're being designated as the first U.S. company to offer training in creating stories using HoloLens technology.
Let's look at what this means and what Microsoft's headset could do to change the face of company marketing in the future.
Creating Shared Experiences
The goal behind the OSB above is to remind everyone that shared experiences in marketing are what all consumers want. Marketing has certainly shifted in just the last decade into something more personal than it was for decades. Particularly in the B2B world, we've seen more impersonal and buttoned-down marketing approaches blossom into nurturing real relationships with buyers.
It's no different in B2C where competition has increased so much, differentiation is more of a priority. Also, because consumers are far more scrutinizing of what they buy, they want to know they can trust the companies they rely on.
At the heart of this is storytelling and connecting emotionally with customers. The beauty of HoloLens is multiple people can wear the wireless headsets and hold conversations about what everyone is collectively seeing.
Oregon Story Board says the commercial marketing opportunities are immense in various ways, and their training is getting current digital artists in place to see the possibilities.
Branding
As a way to brand, HoloLens creates ways to enhance this tenfold, especially if you have specific colors, characters, or traits standing alone from your competitors. Since the holographic effects look startlingly real, you could create various scenarios that directly target your customer base.
Since focusing on pain points is always a strong part of storytelling in marketing, the ideas for this could open doors we've never seen. When you can make problems look more real and demonstrate how you solve them, it gives consumers a real-world view of the products you offer.
General Marketing
As an overall marketing tool, HoloLens has infinite possibilities. Once again, storytelling becomes the heart of this, including demonstrations of your products. If you can't attend trade shows and don't think people can get a real-world sense of your products online, a holographic demonstration could change the game on consumer perceptions.
When you create collective dialogue through social media integration, it could become the new way to gauge real-time metrics.
Content Creation
Storytelling on HoloLens doesn't have to stay relegated to demonstrations. Creating more elaborate content will likely happen as well, including short movies that immerse consumers into more elaborate situations. As with the problem-solving demos above, you could create a complete narrative that people relate to as much as they do when watching a feature-length movie.
Even if some might find it alarming to escape reality at this level, it's something most people would use only briefly. As such, it can make more of a memorable impact once they head back into our real reality.
Contact us here at The Friedman Group, LLC to learn more about the how your business can stand out to tell your story!
