AT&T Adds Virtual Reality Component To “It Can Wait” Campaign
Telecommunications company ramps up its anti-texting-and-driving campaign with a VR simulation showing the consequences of paying attention to your phone while driving.
While it’s derivative of the many slow-motion-style impending doom and/or crash-in-reverse safe driving PSAs which have been created over the years, this new effort from Reel FX for AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign adds a virtual reality component.
The campaign, expanded to address not just texting while driving but also Web usage, social media posting, emailing and video chatting, includes a 100-city tour that will give people the chance to immerse themselves in the horror of a car accident by strapping on Samsung Gear VR headgear or by downloading an app that will work with the Google Cardboard VR viewer.
Also part of the campaign is an online video, created by BBDO New York, which tells the intimate story of several people dramatically affected by drivers who decide to look at their phones while driving. This four-minute PSA will be supported by three 30-second videos, one of which will have a TV spot.
Reactions to the video are overwhelmingly positive. One YouTube commenter, Alex Kimble, writes, “I pray that this goes viral.”
Of the campaign, AT&T Executive Director of Brand Management, Michelle Kuckelman, said, “Although people admit that such behavior is terrible and that they do it, they don’t necessarily see themselves as part of the problem.”
Dale Carman, co-founder of Reel FX, which helped created the VR simulation, added, “We purposely wanted to make this a linear experience that you couldn’t escape. One of the miracles of VR is you experience ‘presence.'”
The VR component and the extended video will be promoted on the brand’s social media channels.
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