Challenge
JCPenney needed a fresh approach to drive traffic during the holiday season.

Solution
A VR gamified adventure to the North Pole.

The experience was strategically placed in high-traffic areas of malls near JCPenney stores, bustling with holiday cheer, a fabricated set, oculus rift, and eye-catching product displays to intercept mall goers and ultimately drive them in-store.

We sent mall-goers on a virtual reality journey to visit Santa and his friends at the North Pole. Flying in Santa’s sleigh, riders were fully immersed in the arctic world via haptic technology – cold gusts of air rushed past their feet as they landed on the snow.

Upon landing in the mystical wonderland, they were given five doors to choose from, and behind each door was a different vignette based on a variety of holiday characters. One example showed Santa working out, another a group of reindeer playing poker. After enjoying one of the short films and interacting with Santa and his friends, a gift box was handed to the participant in the virtual world, and upon returning from the North Pole, when the user removed the oculus headset, an identical gift box was presented, blurring the lines between the virtual and physical world. In the gift box, was a special discounted offer that served as a trigger to drive mall-goers into JCPenney.

We extended the reach of the typically solitary VR experience by engaging the crowd with a gamified choose your adventure mechanic, and a similar discounted offer for those standing near marked floor decals. Meanwhile, on Facebook we targeted users within a 15-20 mile radius of the participating malls with a video invitation utilizing the Facebook 360 tool.

Record redemption rates were achieved for the coupons that were handed out.

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Results

238M+ Impressions

40K+ Social Mentions

99% Positive Net Sentiment

20K+ Coupon Redemptions