We have seen airlines experiment with the latest digital technologies such as Google Glass, smartwatches, and even drones (Easyjet MRO). Besides giving airlines an idea of the feasibility of deploying the latest digital devices into daily operations, the trials also create lot of PR (see also the ‘Innovation is the Marketing’ trend in our free The State of Airline Marketing 2014 report).
Oculus Rift
In an effort to reinvent the travel store experience, British tour operator Thomas Cook has opened a concept store that is leveraging the latest digital advancements to let store visitors immerse themselves in digital content. Promoted as ‘virtual reality holiday’, store visistors store can try on Oculus Rift headsets – a head mounted virtual reality 3D display, which features an ultra-wide field of view and low latency head tracking – that have been programmed to present a 3D, 360-degree vision of tropical paradise, in an effort to help build excitement around the holidays the company offers.
The headset – combined with a newly developed application – translates head and motion movements to the virtual world allowing customers to explore Thomas Cook’s Sentido resort and the interior of a Thomas Cook aircraft, while bespoke audio and fragrance complete the immersive experience.
According to a Thomas Cook spokesperson, “the technology advancements in virtual reality over the last 18 months have made it a real contender for playing a key role in changing the way we can showcase experience-based products to our customers, especially in the high street environment.”
Future plans include offering customers the chance to experience New York City with Oculus later this year, which ties in with the company’s strategic partnership with BrandUSA promoting America’s ‘Great Outdoors’ as well as Thomas Cook’s new flights and holidays to the Big Apple.
If the virtual reality trial is a success at the concept shop located in the Bluewater shopping mall (just southeast of London), the Oculus devices will be introduced to the other Thomas Cook stores in Leeds, Stockton on Tees, Bristol, Edinburgh, and Essex.
Virgin Holidays
Thomas Cook’s concept travel stores follow a similar initiative started by Virgin Holidays last year, when the leisure travel arm of Virgin Atlantic opened the first of two paperless ‘holiday laboratories’, giving customers the opportunity to create their own holidays on giant screens and iPads.
Both stores are paperless, with no brochures and a focus on video content and imagery to inspire customers, who will be able to “pull together” itineraries using motion capture – technology that records their movements – and take away the results in digital format to browse further at home.
The holiday laboratories will feature “multi-sensory” environments including textured flooring, mini putting greens, mood lighting to reflect different times of day, and scents to recreate the sensation of being on holiday. Customers can also have a photo taken against a ‘green screen’ after booking, so they can share details of their holiday on social media.
Oculus Rift
In an effort to reinvent the travel store experience, British tour operator Thomas Cook has opened a concept store that is leveraging the latest digital advancements to let store visitors immerse themselves in digital content. Promoted as ‘virtual reality holiday’, store visistors store can try on Oculus Rift headsets – a head mounted virtual reality 3D display, which features an ultra-wide field of view and low latency head tracking – that have been programmed to present a 3D, 360-degree vision of tropical paradise, in an effort to help build excitement around the holidays the company offers.
The headset – combined with a newly developed application – translates head and motion movements to the virtual world allowing customers to explore Thomas Cook’s Sentido resort and the interior of a Thomas Cook aircraft, while bespoke audio and fragrance complete the immersive experience.
According to a Thomas Cook spokesperson, “the technology advancements in virtual reality over the last 18 months have made it a real contender for playing a key role in changing the way we can showcase experience-based products to our customers, especially in the high street environment.”
Future plans include offering customers the chance to experience New York City with Oculus later this year, which ties in with the company’s strategic partnership with BrandUSA promoting America’s ‘Great Outdoors’ as well as Thomas Cook’s new flights and holidays to the Big Apple.
If the virtual reality trial is a success at the concept shop located in the Bluewater shopping mall (just southeast of London), the Oculus devices will be introduced to the other Thomas Cook stores in Leeds, Stockton on Tees, Bristol, Edinburgh, and Essex.
Virgin Holidays
Thomas Cook’s concept travel stores follow a similar initiative started by Virgin Holidays last year, when the leisure travel arm of Virgin Atlantic opened the first of two paperless ‘holiday laboratories’, giving customers the opportunity to create their own holidays on giant screens and iPads.
Both stores are paperless, with no brochures and a focus on video content and imagery to inspire customers, who will be able to “pull together” itineraries using motion capture – technology that records their movements – and take away the results in digital format to browse further at home.
The holiday laboratories will feature “multi-sensory” environments including textured flooring, mini putting greens, mood lighting to reflect different times of day, and scents to recreate the sensation of being on holiday. Customers can also have a photo taken against a ‘green screen’ after booking, so they can share details of their holiday on social media.
