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Training Constellation Brands sales teams in VR.
Background
The SIMI Way
Constellation Brands, the company behind Corona Extra, Ballast Point, and SVEDKA Vodka, has been building beer, wine, and spirits brands for over 70 years. With operations spanning the globe, they wanted to experiment with new ways to train their international sales teams without the inconvenience of corralling everyone to one location. So, they reached out to Subvrsive to create an interactive VR training experience centered around one of their North American brands, SIMI Winery.
Idea
More Training,
Less Travel
The vision for this experience was twofold. Constellation Brands wanted to bring sales teams on a virtual trip to Sonoma County, CA to tour SIMI Winery and learn all about its storied history. And secondly, they wanted to demonstrate in a hands-on way how to properly merchandise SIMI products in-store. So, we created The SIMI Way as a custom VR training tool designed to be used with the affordable (and portable!) Oculus Go.
Work
The SIMI Way
The experience begins with sweeping drone footage of Sonoma County and a friendly welcome to The SIMI Way. Then, after a brief tutorial on how to interact within the piece, users are instantly transported to a virtual replica of the winery’s original tasting room from the 1930s. There, they can interact with various artifacts and watch a 180° video to learn all about SIMI’s past. From there, users can venture into the barrel room for more interaction and a 180° video about SIMI Winery today. And finally, they can step into a virtual grocery store to learn how to properly stock a store shelf and set up a tasting table featuring SIMI wines.
Feature
Recreating the Tasting Room
In 1939, Isabelle Simi turned a 25,000 gallon redwood fermentor on its side to create Sonoma’s first ever tasting room. Sadly, the original tasting room no longer stands. But through referencing historical photographs and interviewing SIMI staff, our art teams were able to reimagine the room and bring it back to life in virtual reality. From the iconic arched barrel ceilings to the historic family photos adorning the walls, every detail within the room adds to the sense of Presence and convincingly transports users back in time.
Behind the Scenes
Combining VR and Immersive Video
To educate SIMI employees in the most effective way, our art, video, and interactive teams worked hand-in-hand to create a hybrid interactive experience. The SIMI Way uses stereoscopic 180° video to tell the SIMI story alongside interactive VR, which provides an experiential learning environment best suited for the merchandising portion of the experience.
"From the second we started working with them we could see that Subvrsive had done their research, had really spent a lot of time with SIMI as a brand and figured out what were the important elements, what were the good storytelling pieces."
- Katie Selfridge, Brand Manager, Constellation Brands
Opportunity
A New Way to
Train Employees
Humans learn by doing. And the great thing about VR experiences like The SIMI Way is that they make the whole process experiential, helping users to learn faster and retain more. Whether their goal is to make training more economical, less dangerous, or simply more effective, companies from all industries are experimenting with both virtual and augmented reality to train their employees in exciting new ways.
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