The Greater Whitsunday Virtual Reality Tour - Case Study
Greater Whitsunday Alliance (GW3) is the independent regional economic development body that represents and advocates for the Mackay Isaac Whitsunday region. Their role is to champion the region and act as the regional ‘concierge’ to connect industry, business and government together to ensure growth and prosperity.
Located in Northern Australia, the Greater Whitsunday region spans an area over 90,000km2 and is home to an incredibly diverse range of established and emerging industries. It’s a major regional economic powerhouse - but one that operates out of sight for most key decision makers based in Australia’s major cities. GW3’s challenge was to tell the story of the region, and to do it without those decision makers needing to leave their city.
Kylie Porter, CEO of GW3, saw that the key to achieving GW3’s potential was to immerse people in the story of the region by bringing the region to them.
Their innovative solution was found in the Greater Whitsunday Virtual Reality (VR) Tour, available on 12 Meta Quest 2 headsets that travel Australia with the GW3 team for events, expos and meetings. This immersive experience takes the user on a VR tour showcasing the traditional and emerging industries across the region, telling the story of how each is embracing technology and change.
“Immediately, they know that we’re talking about a highly sophisticated, science focused industry that is all about growth. It completely changes the quality in the dynamics of our conversations every time. I can’t do that in another way.”
The full economic tour is seven minutes long, however has been designed for the user to experience novel information within the first two minutes. Using this tool, stakeholders are brought on board right at the outset of any conversation, vastly speeding up the communication process.
“It’s done a lot for our reputation. It’s memorable.”
The VR experience has been an incredibly effective storytelling tool, and not just for industry and government bodies. Even for those local to the region, the future of jobs is a mystery to many. For example, the future of farming is high-tech and requires just as many digital skills as the ICT sector. “You can’t be what you can’t see” says Kylie, with VR providing a gateway to support their workforce development aspirations.
Most importantly, Kylie stresses that despite acting as incredible “clickbait” to entice and engage attention, GW3’s use of VR isn’t a gimmick or a tool that exists by itself. It’s backed up by strong, clear purpose and used to enhance the broader conversations and work carried out by GW3.
“It doesn’t do the job for you, but it does certainly break down some barriers.”
To create the experience, GW3 has formed a successful partnership with a local media company to capture the 360-degree footage, which has significantly eased the content development process. Kylie cites the key to this success being a clear understanding from both parties of the final product outcome, how it will be used, and its impact.
As well as recognising the importance of continual investment into new content, GW3 hopes to also expand their experiences to include interactive elements, noting that “as our understanding about the impacts of using this technology improves, so will our delivery on the content we use it for.” In developing this, the same principles of purpose will continue to apply to ensure that any interaction is meaningful and relevant to both the process and to the audience.
Through their VR tour, GW3 have demonstrated an incredibly innovative application of VR in broader industry. As an industry leader, they understand the power of VR as a storytelling tool that attracts attention, engages their audiences, and transforms the quality of their interactions and outcomes.
Explore the desktop version here.
