Alcohol brand Stella Artois maximized their sponsorship of the Wimbledon this year with a virtual reality experience that gave fans wings of a hawk.
Fans who came across the Stella Artois Wimbledon installation were given the chance to fly like Wimbledon’s resident bird of prey, Rufus, over the tennis courts in a multi-sensory experience designed in collaboration with Momentum Worldwide, Mother London, and Unit9. Rufus is a Harris Hawk used to keep pigeons away from the venue during the tournament.
The “Perfect Flight” VR experience not only gives viewers a bird’s eye view of the courts with an Oculus Rift, but takes it a step further from VR experiences we have seen in the past. For added realism, participants laid on their stomach on a hydraulic simulator with fans blowing in your face, mimicking the experience of flying high above even closer. 360-degree video footage was captured using a drone, closely following Rufus’s actual flight patterns around the grounds.
Mother London created the film and creative concept, Momentum Worldwide setup the VR experience booth, and digital production company Unit9 created the Oculus experience.
Stella Artois has made the activation available to consumers outside of London through Google Cardboard. Android and iOS users can download The Perfect Flight app to launch the experience. You can watch the YouTube version here. Stella Artois also gave away Google Cardboard headsets at Wimbledon and at over 750 U.K. bars.
Image Credit: Craig Vallis
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