Incredible 360° Marketing Secrets: Google on VR Video [Get 86% Engagement With These Tips]

Want to learn the secrets of the top VR 360 ad distributors? You're in the right place. 

Follow along to learn how your ads could perform like this:

I recently tuned in for a webinar with the leading VR marketing platforms to learn how they are educating marketers and advertisers on the power of 360° ads. 

Here are my top takeaways from this webinar.  I give you: Google & Omnivirt on building and distributing high-performance 360° virtual advertising campaigns.

Google's Best Practices for 360° VR Video Content Creation

What are the best practices for launching new media campaigns?

Google VR/AR team member Laura Murov says that Google Immersive Media's formula is evolving every day. To provide an end-to-end marketing solution for new media campaigns teams will need a process with three key considerations.

1. Ideation / Creation

Ask yourself: what is the idea that I'm trying to convey?

Now take that idea and create compelling 360° content.

2. Media / Distribution

Where is this content going to live?

How am I going to distribute it?

3. Analytics / Measurement

Make sure you are constantly monitoring how your content is performing.

And as always, think about your measurements in terms of results. Take that info and use it to inform current and future campaigns.


1. Create Immersion


Decide on POV. Who is the viewer?

Best practice 1: The viewer is a ghost sitting in silently on a story.

Best practice 2: The viewer experiences a linear narrative as a first person character with someone making eye contact with them, and leading them down this specific narrative.

Subject Matter: Why is this particular idea better in VR?

What is it that immersion is bringing to the table conceptually?

Are you able to capture the X Factor successfully with your creative?

Editing: Smooth wipes and fades.

Remember that people are going to be exploring around your creative. Sharp, static jumps can be jarring to a viewer.

Make it as immersive as possible.


2. Capture Attention

Once you have great creative, think about how you can use it to capture attention.


Video length matters.

Limit the length to something easily digestible. 15sec to 30sec is golden.

There are some success stories with 4 min VR creative… but that’s the exception, and is harder to create.

Note that successful performance depends on situation. Ex: content created specifically for a trade show may not perform very well on YouTube.

You have six seconds to capture their attention.

This is your chance to hook them from the start.

The human attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish!

Determine your Call To Action.

Give your users something to be doing while they watch.

VR Ad Distribution with Breadth and Depth

Distribution is one of the most exciting things about the VR 360 ad format.

With VR content we have depth in terms of storytelling. Now with platforms like Omnivirt we can pair depth with outstanding breadth in terms of scalable reach.

YouTube's platform offers immersive experiences that work across desktop, mobile and headset.

They're partnering with Omnivirt to extend that reach across a premium network of publishers. This means the sky is the limit now in terms of where people can actually see this content distributed.

360° VR Video Measurements and Video Analytics

With VR Video, you get all the standard video metrics you're used to. You'll see how many views, how many impressions, what the spread of video completion rates looks like, and more. 

One additional benefit with VR video is the ability to track engagement.

Heatmaps tell us where in the experience people are most engaged. This allows us to optimize our creative based on real engagements.

VR For Nonprofits

It's an amazing opportunity. VR and 360° content are a tool that can create empathy, and obviously nonprofit goals often align with this power of empathy.

Immersive content like this helps users connect with causes and take action.

Want to learn more about tapping the power of VR marketing & 360° advertising? Let’s talk. Seriously. Contact us for a free 15-minute phone consultation.