Hartford Business Journal

May 23, 2016

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www.HartfordBusiness.com May 23, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 3 Businesses, schools, hospitals test virtual-reality technology By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com T he University of Hartford's business school is providing a virtual-reality tour of its campus to accepted students hoping to convert them into matriculating pupils this fall. Tufts Medical Center in Boston is using vir- tual reality to educate patients and family about its heart catheterization lab before procedures. More businesses, schools, hospitals and oth- ers are dipping their toes into the virtual-reality (VR) waters to see how they can exploit the mind-bending technology for myriad purposes, including to attract more customer attention. "A lot of companies are starting to explore it because it's kind of all the rage right now," said Melissa Tait, senior vice president of technology and project management for Farmington-based Primacy, an independent digital agency that did the VR work for the University of Hartford and Tufts. While still in its infancy in terms of how companies and others use virtual reality, Tait sees it taking off. She said companies are using it for various reasons, including as a learning, marketing or entertainment tool, or even for escapism experiences. The New York Times, for example, includ- ed Google Cardboard VR headsets — into which a smartphone capable of playing video off a virtual-reality app is placed to create an immersive 360-degree visual experience — with a Sunday edition last fall as an enhanced storytelling technique. McDonald's created a VR headset out of Happy Meal boxes in Sweden. Others in the VR realm include the likes of Red Bull and Marriott. "When it first came out, everybody was thinking, 'Oh, this is all about gaming,' but it's going to be so much more than that," Tait said. Organizations are able to connect and tell stories in a different way using VR and are building off that, she said. As an early adopter of virtual reality, Prima- cy is exploring other ways to use the technol- ogy, Tait said, believing VR will trend toward data connectivity. That could include interac- tion with application program interfaces to pull data into the VR experience, interaction with e-commerce where a user could tap to purchase something and interaction with search engines. "There's a lot of activity around VR and everybody's trying to figure out, 'Where is it going to go next and what's my niche spot to be in?' " she said. Virtual reality is a way to get people's atten- tion amid the daily bombardment of informa- tion and help cut through that clutter, said Ida Morris and Marisa Davis, marketing com- munications specialist and brand marketing manager, respectively, at MNI, a media plan- ning and buying company based in Stamford. MNI has pitched virtual reality on clients who are looking for ways to create an engag- ing, immersive experience with their target audience, Davis said. Morris believes VR will appeal to younger audiences in particular. "I feel like it's a very up-and-coming technology that is going to be especially important for Millennials who are going to want an immersive experience like that and are not satisfied with traditional market- ing," she said. University experience Colleges have been early adopters of VR technology. The University of Hartford's Barney School of Business tapped Primacy to develop its VR campaign, which immerses students into campus life via a customized and fully branded website with video and audio, and a Google Cardboard VR headset. In April, the school mailed the custom web- app and headsets to 1,300 students that were accepted by the university. The goal is to turn them into part- of full- time students this fall. "We wanted to find a way to stand out from other universities and show, not just tell, accepted students what life is truly like on campus, both inside the classroom and out," said Marty Roth, dean and professor of man- agement and marketing at the Barney School. Denver's Regis University last September began providing a virtual-reality tour of its campus at college fairs to introduce prospec- tive students to the school using an Oculus Rift VR headset. Kim Frisch, dean in the office of admis- sions, said the technology "allows us to bring our campus anywhere," inviting students, parents and counselors across the country to see and experience Regis and its Rocky Mountain surroundings through VR. Regis, which also worked with Primary on its campaign, has seen its campus visitors increase 3.1 percent year over year. "I think there's pretty good correlation between implementing virtual reality and the increase in our campus visitors," Frisch said. She expects VR will soon be common- place in universities' recruiting toolboxes. Healthcare uses Primacy also worked with Tufts Medi- cal Center on a virtual tour of its cardiac catheterization lab. In the video, Tufts pro- vides a 360-degree tour of its cath lab, and features an actual patient just before a heart Continued Heat Smart. Switch to Natural Gas. The secret to success? Find that competitive edge! And CT business owners are getting it with Natural Gas. Convenient. Dependable. Economical. Natural Gas is smart business. Find out more. Call 888.382.8664. AFUP26HB A student at a college fair (left) "tours" Denver's Regis University with the help of a virtual-reality headset. (Right) Boston's Tufts Medical Center provides a 360-degree tour of its heart-catheterization lab as part of a VR video for patients. P H O T O S | C O N T R I B U T E D

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