Key Notes:
- Holidays are around the corner and there are great deals to be had using VR and AR technology
- Shop, Travel, explore or play, Both VR and AR technologies help you enhance the experience
- It’s still early but it might be wise to get a head start
Take a look at your calendar and you will find that Christmas is just around the corner so it might be wise to start doing some early planning for the holidays, even if it just to beat the Christmas rush.
But as a VR and AR enthusiast, you can just go out and have a boring normal holiday season. No, there has to be something more with a little VR and AR flavoring thrown into the mix.
So here are six(6) reasons to enjoy VR Christmas this Winter Holiday Season:
1. VR Christmas aren’t about standing in a line
With millions of consumers leveraging the benefits of AR and VR to test out gifts before purchase this holiday season, the next stage of e-commerce’s growth is already here. Brands looking to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunities being made available through these new technologies should ramp up their AR/VR strategies.
Take, for example, a trip to your local mall during the holiday season. In the real world, holiday shopping translates to overwhelming throngs of shoppers, unkempt store displays and frenzied sales assistants. By contrast, AR and VR brands can create a virtual shopping experience that is calm, orderly and even enjoyable.
Imagine peering into a shop window filled with the latest winter fashion where customers can take their time looking for a sweater that suits their style, easily find the correct size and even see what the clothing looks like on an exact customized avatar. In this virtual world, the holiday shopping experience is suddenly and dramatically transformed.
While particularly relevant during the holiday season, AR and VR advertising should be integrated into a long-term strategy to accelerate e-commerce growth. As more consumers crave the immersive experiences AR and VR provide, other brands will have no choice but to rapidly adapt.
Think of the holidays as a prime time to hone an AR/VR approach that will see your brand throughout all four seasons.
2. VR Christmas apps encourage to Travel The World
Of course, not everyone is physically capable of traveling or has a budget to allow them to travel often or at all. But now, anyone with a smartphone can experience a travel destination in virtual reality.
The beauty of mobile VR, especially, means that anyone can slip on a headset and be immersed, which means that even those who aren’t mobile anymore can experience a paradise setting in the comfort of their own home. Some findings from a study found that 80% of the people who tried VR for traveling felt they were really taken to the destination.
Note: Get the right mood for the season with VR relaxation app, which allows you to reduce stress through the ability to move into a peaceful place, visual and auditory contact with nature, the ability to independently set the proportion of different stimuli.
VR travel has been the focus of health and wellness campaigns for those unable to travel – a recent experiment in a senior’s living center in Brazil allowed residents to use headsets to visit a destination they had never been to, or revisit past favorites. Residents reported feeling excited, and often nostalgic.
VR is the closest you can get to the real deal, and with the help of ambient audio and pristine image and video quality, the consumer can feel as if they’re actually there (without investing the time or money) which makes this the best-selling and experiential medium for consumers looking to travel.
3. VR Christmas apps let you experience the winter charm
For most kids and Kids-at-heart, Winter means snow and ice, at least that’s what the movies have taught us to believe. But what do you do when you are it 30-degrees Celsius outside but you need to get that winter holiday experience?
Snowball fights, building snowmen ad snow angels or feel the trills of high adrenalin winter sports. The obvious answer is Winter VR and AR gaming. You can even turn the cooling down and have fun throwing virtual snowballs at your opponents and have a blast.
So it should come as no surprise if you start seeing Christmas deals on winter-related titles in your stream store and other game stores.
4. Event Planning is easier with VR (Christmas, we’re looking at you)
AR gives us a glimpse at what is possible overlaid against what already is.
Needless to say, this makes it a great planning tool. Either as an add-on to the entertainment at your Christmas party or as the tool used in creating and organizing the party itself. Both VR and AR technologies can make the process easier and much more fun.
Virtual reality and AR event planning are all about creativity, both in terms of the content you share and the ways in which you use the technology. Don’t be afraid to add VR and AR to event elements you haven’t seen them used in before – we are just beginning to see what they can do, and pioneering is extremely encouraged at this stage.
Also, a nice AR invite Card to the event might just be the final icing on the cake.
5. Go Exploring
So what do you do if you are amongst those that get to travel out and have a real vacation this holiday season? Well, the answer is simple. Don’t stay indoor but go out and explore.
Throw in some Augmented reality tools and you can have your own personal guide. Some holiday packages come with fun activities like treasure hunting and special events that make use of AR technologies to enhance the experience. So why not look for such packages and make full use of your vacation to make new wonderful memories.
But that’s not all. Nothing stops you from recording your experience and replaying it in VR anytime you want.
6. Learn Something new
Did you know that you could learn a new skill using AR technology? This might be obvious to some but not to all.
But it’s the holidays, and we don’t want anything too serious just something light and enjoyable. Plus if you have kids then AR is a great tool for encouraging children to read. All your characters are already drawn, just add emotions, make them move and talk.
How may you ask? AR of course. For example, the Nutcracker with the incredible atmosphere of the New Year’s ball, with colorful decorations and detailed graphics, will surely make children spend all their Christmas holidays reading books like this.
A great example of an AR book has been created by Little Hippo and Live Animations. This interactive fairy tale allows children to play games while reading and paint exactly the way they want. What could be better?
For you adults in the room having an AR tool helping with Christmas recipes and drinks is not a bad way to spend a few free minutes during the holidays, while also impressing your family and friends.
In conclusion
At the end of the day, there is no better time than now to start planning your winter holiday season and any of the above activities should keep you more than occupied while having fun. Hence, all we can say is Happy Holidays.
