Dive Brief:
- Nestle's Nescafé brand worked with Google to develop the Nescafé 360 app to be used with a Nescafé-branded Google Cardboard virtual reality viewer.
- Consumers can put their iPhone or Android phone into the Cardboard and be virtually transported to Brazilian coffee fields, which can be seen in any direction that users turn their heads.
- The virtual reality experience features "three specially filmed 3D videos accessible via the app, which showcase how Nestle's Nescafé Plan is helping its supplier farmers achieve better quality coffee, higher yields and an increased income."
Dive Insight:
"The global launch of Nescafé 360 coincides with International Coffee Day on September 29, and involves distributing around 10,000 headsets across 13 markets, either through in-store events or as competition prizes," according to a news release.
Nescafé is the latest food and beverage brand to embrace virtual reality and other high-end technology as a marketing and outreach tactic.
Jim Beam created a virtual reality experience that takes consumers on a journey through a Jim Beam distillery as if they were a whiskey shot. After the journey ends, the whiskey shot being poured into the glass onscreen is an actual shot of whiskey in front of consumers when they remove the headset. Patron also created a 360-degree virtual reality experience that includes a virtual tour of the Hacienda Patron distillery in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, and a 30-foot drop into a field of sharp agave.