This month we have selected three of the best 360˚ video advertising campaigns used in the food and beverage sector and look at the different techniques used to increase engagement levels and reach.

This 360˚ video advertising campaign was released on 19th February 2016 on YouTube by the famous American cookie brand, Oreo. To date it has an impressive 3.3 million views and accumulated 2.9 million views in the first 30 days of launch*. The 360 VR campaign has also accumulated nearly 3,000 Likes and 300 comments*.

The 360 VR campaign effectively demonstrates the use of computer generated imagery to create a mind-bendingly immersive 360˚ environment. Throughout this 360˚ video campaign we are taken on a fantastical journey through a magical Oreo factory, somewhat similar to Willy Wonka’s weird and wonderful Chocolate Factory. The aim: to promote Filled Cupcake Oreo cookies. Yum!

At the start of our first best 360˚ video advertising campaign we are invited to look around and just as well, because it turns out there’s a lot that goes into making a Filled Cupcake Oreo cookie.

We follow the Oreo cookies through a dream-like world, as one by one, they float down a milky river until they reach irresistible perfection at the end. Along the way, we soak up the intricately designed computer generated 360˚ video landscape.

Among the chocolate covered mountains, piping bags squeeze mouth-watering icing onto cookies and spinning spoons fling sugar balls across the sky until they roll along narrow paths like marbles and land in their final destination: the Oreo cookie!

If you’re not already craving a Filled Cupcake Oreo then you will be after you watch the 360˚ video advertising campaign below…

The beauty of the 360˚ video environment is that each time you view the 360˚ video campaign, you benefit from a different experience. You aren’t simply watching a 2D campaign passively, instead, you are in control and have the power to determine where in the 360 degree space you are looking. Perhaps this is why 360˚ video engagement levels are higher than the more traditional video format (see infographic below). Each 360˚ video experience is user controlled and unique.

Second on our list of best 360˚ video advertising campaigns this month is Nescafé‘s Good Morning World experience. The 360˚ video campaign was uploaded to Facebook on 13th November 2015 and has so far received over 829,000 views and accumulated 821,000 views in the first 30 days*. It has also received an impressive 30,000 likes and 1,500 comments*.

This 360 VR campaign is particularly unique as it allows us to delve into morning routines of eight groups of people from around the world. As we have the ability to look around the 360˚ video environment, we can watch each group dance, sing and bop along to to the sound of an upbeat song that repeats carefree lyrics like, ‘don’t worry about a thing’.

So what brings them all this energy and happiness? Their morning cup of Nescafé of course! “It all starts with a Nescafé”. If you look down, the central point of our second best 360˚ video campaign is of course a fresh cup of Nescafé coffee which is kick starting each one of their days. You can really get a sense of how much Nescafé’s coffee is enjoyed by all people from every corner of the globe in this 360 VR campaign.

Nescafé’s 360˚ video advertising campaign is also a fantastic example at demonstrating how well the 360˚ environment provides the viewer with a different experience each time. As you look around the scene, you are rewarded by noticing something different: so much so that you may not have noticed the hammock-hanging man until the second or perhaps third time viewing the campaign. This is most likely why 360˚ video engagement rates are particularly high compared to the standard video format.

Look up to the ceiling in the 360˚ video campaign and you’ll see. He seems to be getting a lot of attention in the comments!

A couple of years on, on 8th August 2017, Nescafé pushed out another 360˚ video advertising campaign of a similar nature, this time, to the Vietnamese market. It now boasts a tremendous 5.3 million views on YouTube!

See the 360˚ video campaign below. (Unfortunately there’s no hammock man in this one).

Third on our list of best 360˚ video advertising campaigns is by the American brand Justin’s who produce natural and organic produce. The 360˚ video campaign, released on 12th March 2017, has so far been viewed over 41,800 times and reached 41,700 views after 30 days of the launch date*.

Despite the slightly cringeworthy bee puns at the bee-ginning of the 360 VR campaign, the message that Justin’s is delivering is a poignant one. With the use of a drone, we soar through and above the stunning almond orchards at sunrise and the narrator introduces us to a number of facts which are effectively supported by 2D overlays. As we fly through the air with the ability to look up, down, left or right, computer generated bees buzz around the 360˚ video environment with us.

As we immerse ourselves in our third best 360˚ video advertising campaign of the month, we learn that the honey bee population is decreasing due to pests, pathogens and pesticides, and how important bees are to contributing to the production of certain foods as pollinators.

Many of Justin’s raw ingredients are produced by honey bees, such as Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter, that’s why at the end of the 360 VR campaign we are told that Justin’s has joined forces with Xerces Society, PPAN and Growing Gardens to help fight the battle against a decreasing pollinator population.

*Data sourced from Tubular Labs.