The sense of touch plays a fundamental role in our lives – it not only shapes our perceptions of the things around us, but it also affects our emotions and the way we communicate information. More than half the brain is dedicated to processing sensory experiences, much of that focusing on touch.

But think of a mobile device – a flat, glass screen, void of any meaningful tactile experiences. A stark contrast to the explosive action in “Jason Bourne.” This trailer needed to move beyond a flat screen to create excitement and emotion by leveraging the smartphone’s ability to vibrate.

Forget what you know about mobile vibration – a ringtone or confirmation. The creative tools that exist today enable a more nuanced form of haptics, one that inspires the mind and seduces the user in ways a still screen never could.

To maintain the integrity of the big screen while simultaneously creating a unique, immersive experience on the small screen, a team of entertainment technologists artfully authored tactile effects to match both the visual and audio content of the “Jason Bourne” trailer. The tactile effects were designed to capture the nuance of the action and created to maintain the quality of content. The goal was to enhanced the trailer and create a more memorable impression of the content, not to distract.

In the final touch-enhanced version of the “Jason Bourne” trailer, fans felt every explosion, every gunshot and every car crash – all meant to keep their eyes stayed glued to the screen. Viewers were awed as they literally felt the screech of the tires as a SWAT car zoomed down the levels of a parking garage; the impact of Bourne plowing through parked cars on Las Vegas Boulevard, and the boom of a shotgun round aimed at rogue intelligence agents.

Over 10 days, the trailer was distributed to nine million viewers in Latin America. Not only did audiences find the touch-enhanced trailer less intrusive, but qualitative and metric-based studies demonstrated it drove higher engagement, interest and interaction.

A qualitative A/B trial was conducted to quantify the value of touch effects. For the 246 trial participants who were served the ad enhanced with haptic effects, there was a 41% increase in intent to purchase tickets for the film and a 38% increase in positive opinion about “Jason Bourne.” 71% of participants agreed haptic technology made the ad more interesting and 77% acknowledged that tactile interactions on mobile made them pay more attention. In fact, haptic technology reduced the level of intrusiveness of the ad when compared to the control group.

The audience in the quantitative study also responded favorability to the trailer. Users activated their sound option in 52% of the cases to hear the ad as they were watching. The vibrations timed with explosions in the trailer stimulated users' interest in watching the trailer and increased CTR by 12% with a completion rate of 8%.