For Christmas 2016, John Lewis’ strategy centered on thoughtful gifting. Through the campaign idea of ‘gifts that everyone will love’ the brand conveyed the joyful nature of Christmas by engaging the UK in the story of Buster the Boxer and his animal friends - who delight in secretly playing on a children’s trampoline intended for a little girl on Christmas morning.

We wanted to bring the joyful story of Buster and his friends into John Lewis so its core customers could discover the magic for themselves in a unique experience, with an online sharing element to further the brand’s reach with new customers.

Following a short, easy-to-follow tutorial in the VR world, the animals jump and perform following users’ gestures. This meant that users of all ages and experience levels would find the experience simple, intuitive, and engaging. The immersive world was designed to be instantly recognizable, but slightly fantastical.

Our premise was simple; immersive entertainment allowing users to engage and play with the animals in a memorable, fun experience, without the tech on show.

The urban garden animals emerge, and make their way to the shopper in the center of the trampoline. Through innovative technology users see their own hand movements in the virtual world of Buster’s Garden, and use them to control each animal’s bounce, spin and nuzzle – all with 360-degree positional sound effects. In another VR first, shoppers can instantly share a 3D film of themselves conducting the characters on social.

Footfall for both the VR experience and non-interactive Google Cardboard versions in the flagship store was 11,000 over a 6-week period, and totaled over 250 average daily users – so a high volume of Christmas shoppers engaged with the creative experience. Crucially, those enjoying the VR ranged from children to 84 year-old Christmas shoppers, so this was an accessible and fun experience with no tech-driven barrier to engagement.

Amplifying the campaign across social and increasing engagement with the brand, 5,000 user videos had over 19,000 views and 1,500 downloads over six weeks. In addition, branded 360-video Google Cardboard versions of the experience were featured in 10 key regional stores across the UK, and an accompanying 360 video released on YouTube reached over 125,000 views during the campaign.

John Lewis saw a 36% jump in sales year-on-year in 2016, taking over £175m in the week leading up to Christmas.

Crafting a unique commercial installation for one of the UK's busiest stores, during its busiest retail period, our interactive VR experience was both creatively and technologically ambitious. Amplifying the John Lewis Christmas campaign, and enabling customers to engage physically - and through online sharing - with the TV commercial's cast of characters, interactive VR was our solution. It gave us a platform to create truly immersive entertainment, allowing customers to engage with the TVC cast in a memorable and playful experience. But key to execution was delivering an impactful brand experience through significant technical innovation, while hiding that technology completely.

At best, VR enhances experience, and enables users to get closer to experiences that are beyond their reach, physically and emotionally. For brands it is arguably about evoking empathy, linked clearly to action and the campaign message. This was our key strategic foundation.

We'd fail, however, if the experience was fun and memorable but did not encourage people to move closer to purchase, and to want to share and talk about that experience. Effective advertising is often linked to effective memory-building. VR with its unrivalled creation of true ‘in-the-moment’ engagement and first-person experience, is the ideal place for powerful and lasting memories to be created.

And when that experience is linked directly to brand messaging, immersively not overtly, brand affinity and associated positive action are likely much more effective. But as with any medium, the power lies in good content, accessed easily. This was what our strategy aimed for.

The challenges John Lewis set were manifold. Craft a VR experience that did justice to the photo-real VFX craftsmanship of the TVC, and featured numerous interactive characters. Create an in-store VR experience for all ages to drive footfall and in-store spend on related merchandise, including of the VR headset itself. Build a hardware infrastructure that could be concealed from customers, but which was also technologically robust enough to be live and constantly active across full opening hours, seven days a week for six weeks. Installed in tandem to allow for seamless back-up in case of hardware failure. Introduce bespoke technological innovations to create the most immersive VR experience yet attempted in the retail space, with widely accessible versions for non-visitors, with shareability and reach at the heart of the entire production. All while delighting and amazing customers and amplifying the core Christmas campaign and messaging.