Brief: ‘Create a virtual reality experience to bring Vulnerable Customer work to life in an immersive way. Referred to as “The Helping Hand Programme for Vulnerable Customers”, the VR experience will be available in our Innovation Lab.'

The aim was to bring this vital work to life for colleagues, advisers and prospective clients when they visit the Innovation Lab, a dedicated space within the client’s base, to show what they can experience with this provider. We wanted to put the viewer into the shoes of both the vulnerable customer and the colleague by re-creating an actual phone call between a customer at home and a Helping Hands colleague in the contact centre.

This will be used internally to bring the rest of the business up to speed on the work of the team, and externally to show the extra training and core investment to vulnerable customers over other pension providers.

With a limited budget, we couldn't build sets, so found locations with exact depths of space and the same natural lighting direction. The environments are stitched fully and seamlessly in 360 for our viewers with no blind spots. To take this a step further and creative a fully immersive experience, we shot in Stereo 3D. We created many depth cues and deliberate environmental elements to help from a stereographer’s perspective. The table, overlapping floorboards, ceiling tiles, cupboards, views out windows to the passing traffic all helped the immersion. The back walls and ceiling of each space had to be a consistent depth, allowing us to composite the locations together in 3D space correctly. Heightening immersion, we used Spatial Sound ensuring wherever the viewer looked the sound was locked to picture - eg hearing footsteps of the host directionally and creating an appropriate divide of atmos between kitchen and contact centre.

This has been live for just 6 months, but has landed exceptionally well, with comments from clients that users have found it so powerful and effective and some have even been reduced to tears.

This has also resulted in the client buying more headsets for their innovation lab, and also take it on the road to roadshows along with some built replica tables to speak with external agents showcasing the investment and training and has proven to be a popular engagement tool. This differentiates the client positively in the eyes of their stakeholders and clients and it also inspires more staff members to join the Helping Hands team.

The client has now asked us to do more content in other areas of the business as this has been so well received and is original to the sector.