Pilsner Urquell transports visitors from Korean Winter Olympics to Czech Republic with VR brewery tour
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Behind The Scenes – Pilsner Urquell VR Brewery Tour from Wolf In Motion on Vimeo.
A VR beer experience has launched at The 2018 Winter Olympics. The ‘Virtual Reality Brewery Tour’ will transport people from the Republic of Korea to Pilsner Urquell’s brewery in Plzeň, Czech Republic.
Made by Purple Creative in collaboration with VR hotshots Wolf in Motion, the experience will be housed at Czech House in the Olympic Village, Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea throughout the Games.
Steve Bewick, Purple Creative founding partner and creative director explains how the tour works:
“Wearing Samsung Gear VR headsets, our virtual visitors are taken on an in-depth tour of the brewery in 180˚ live action video, from the vast malt floors full of germinating barley to the chill of the underground maturation cellars.
Along the way they get to see some incredible things and experience rare brewery highlights, from soaring to the top of a 50m water tower or watching the huge lagering barrels being repitched in the cooperage, an event that happens just once a year.
By using live action footage, the tour is able to truly immerse the user in their environment, allowing them to interact and engage in a surprisingly personal and real way – just like they would if they were in Plzeň. The tour also uses CGI and animations to enhance the user’s understanding of complex brewing techniques, giving an ‘under the bonnet’ glimpse of life at the brewery.
Users will personally meet the craftsmen who work at the brewery, from our Beermaster to our Brewmaster, so we can show what a human brewery it is, not a faceless factory, a place rightly proud of the generations of skill and expertise they have.
The experience lasts nine minutes and ends with a glass of Pilsner Urquell, perfectly poured by a Pilsner Urquell Tapster, sitting in front of the person taking the tour as they finish it.
The brief was to share our love of beer and craftsmanship with the world in a way that was real and compelling – so the visitors not only come away with a head full of interesting knowledge but as real advocates of the brand.
We’re fortunate that Pilsner Urquell is an authentic brand – not one born in a marketing department. In other virtual reality campaigns, technology can overtake the brand – it’s exciting but ultimately unfulfilling. We didn’t want to create an experience that was style over substance – but instead really try to capture the very human, very personal nature of a Pilsner Urquell brewery tour in Plzeň.”
The tour will be open to the public daily from 11:00am starting Feb 10.
