How to create memorable experiences with VR and AR

Many brands face the same challenge. 

Whether it’s in the B2C or B2B space, brands offer products or services are innovative, feature-rich, and genuinely useful. Yet communicating that value to potential customers – quickly and effectively – can be surprisingly difficult. 

Whether it’s a smart appliance, connected device, software platform, or industrial technology, marketers often ask audiences to make a leap of imagination. To picture how something works. To visualise how it fits into their lives. To understand benefits they can’t physically see. 

The problem is that imagination creates friction. And friction creates hesitation. 

That’s where immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can make the biggest difference in the marketing mix. Indeed, 92% of B2B buyers say that AR presentations help to improve product understanding (source).   

Rather than simply telling customers about a product, brands can help them experience it. Rather than describing benefits, they can demonstrate them. Rather than relying on imagination, they can create understanding. 

The result is often greater engagement, stronger recall, and more confident purchasing decisions. Because people don’t buy what they don’t understand. 

Why immersive experiences are so effective 

At their core, experiences that cut through are built on three factors: understanding, emotion, and memory. 

The most successful marketing campaigns combine all three. 

When used effectively, AR and VR create a sense of presence that traditional marketing channels struggle to replicate. They allow audiences to interact with products, explore environments, and understand concepts in a way that feels tangible and personal. 

This isn’t about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about helping people make better decisions. 

Think about how your customers research products today. In B2B and B2C it’s often the same: they watch videos, read reviews, compare features, and seek reassurance before making a purchase. They want confidence, whether it’s for a personal purchase, or ensuring they’re making the right decision for their business.  

Immersive technologies accelerate that process by removing uncertainty. 

A customer can see how an appliance fits into their kitchen. An engineer can visualise how a lubricant protects critical engine components. A buyer can experience functionality rather than simply reading about it. 

Immersion accelerates understanding. And understanding drives action. 

What makes a memorable AR or VR experience? 

While the technology itself may be impressive, the best immersive experiences share a common characteristic. 

They’re designed around people, not platforms. 

Too many brands become distracted by the novelty of AR or VR and lose sight of the problem they’re trying to solve. The result is often an experience that generates initial interest but delivers little lasting value. 

Successful experiences tend to follow a few key principles. 

1. Start with a problem worth solving 

• The first question shouldn’t be, “How can we use VR or AR?”  It should be, “What challenge are we trying to overcome?” 
• Are customers struggling to understand a product? Is there a complex process that needs simplifying? Is physical access difficult or expensive? 
• Technology should be the solution, not the starting point. 

2. Make it intuitive 

• The most effective immersive experiences feel natural. 
• Users shouldn’t need extensive instructions or training to engage with the experience. Every interaction should feel straightforward, seamless, and accessible. 
• Technology should remove friction, not add it. 

3. Create emotional engagement 

• People remember how experiences make them feel. 
• Whether it’s curiosity, confidence, excitement, or reassurance, successful AR and VR experiences create an emotional connection that strengthens recall and brand perception. 

4. Deliver practical value 

• A memorable experience must also be useful. 
• If the experience doesn’t help the user solve a problem, answer a question, or make a decision, the initial excitement quickly fades. 
• The wow factor may attract attention. 
• Value is what delivers results. 

Case Study: GE Appliances and Virtual Reality 

When GE Appliances set out to modernise how they showcased their products, they faced a challenge familiar to many consumer technology brands. 

How do you effectively demonstrate large, complex products without transporting an entire showroom wherever you go? 

The company wanted to help customers experience products before purchase while giving sales teams a more engaging and flexible way to showcase solutions at events and exhibitions. 

Working with GE Appliances, we developed a virtual reality experience that allowed users to view products at true scale within their own environment. 

Rather than asking customers to imagine how an appliance might look in their kitchen or laundry room, VR enabled them to see it directly. 

Users could explore product finishes, compare styles, and understand scale and placement in a realistic context. 

The experience attracted attention from more than 100,000 qualified buyers at the largest home industry exhibition in the United States. 

More importantly, it addressed a genuine customer challenge. 

The VR experience reduced uncertainty around fit, appearance, and purchasing decisions. It transformed passive product viewing into active exploration. 

The technology itself was impressive, but that wasn’t why it succeeded. 

It succeeded because it solved a problem. 

Customers gained confidence. Sales conversations became more productive. Product understanding improved significantly. 

This is where VR delivers its greatest value. Not as a novelty, but as a practical decision-making tool. 

View a snippet of the experience via the GE VR case study.  

Case Study: Chevron Delo and Augmented Reality 

While VR is particularly effective for visualising products in a virtual environment, AR can be incredibly powerful when explaining concepts that would otherwise remain invisible, in the real world through adding virtual context.  

Chevron faced exactly this challenge with its Delo range of heavy-duty engine oils. 

The product’s benefits are significant, but demonstrating those benefits presents a unique problem. Engine performance happens internally, hidden from view. Explaining lubrication, protection, and efficiency through brochures or presentations can only go so far. 

To address this, we worked with Chevron Delo to create an augmented reality experience that placed users inside the engine itself. 

Through AR, users could visualise how Delo oils flow through critical components, reduce wear, and protect machinery operating under demanding conditions. 

Complex technical information became easier to understand because users could see it happening around them. 

The experience transformed education into engagement. 

Rather than reading technical specifications, audiences could experience product performance firsthand. 

This approach proved particularly effective at trade shows, events, and customer meetings, where attention is limited and differentiation matters. 

The AR experience not only increased product understanding but also reinforced Chevron’s position as an innovative, forward-thinking brand. 

By making the invisible visible, AR helped bridge the gap between technical complexity and customer understanding. 

Learn more about the Chevron Delo VR case study. 

The future isn’t about novelty 

For years, AR and VR have often been touted as emerging technologies and the next big thing. 

That conversation has changed. Today, the question is no longer whether immersive technologies have a role to play in marketing. The question is how effectively they can be integrated into the customer journey. 

As audiences become more digitally sophisticated, expectations continue to rise. Buyers increasingly expect to explore products, interact with experiences, and build confidence before making decisions. 

Immersive technologies help meet those expectations. 

But the future of AR and VR won’t be defined by increasingly complex technology. It will be defined by usefulness. 

The most successful applications won’t necessarily be the most visually spectacular. They’ll be the ones that solve genuine customer problems, remove friction from decision-making, and create experiences that people genuinely remember. 

In my experience, the most effective immersive experiences aren’t the ones that leave people saying, “That was clever.” 

They’re the ones that leave people saying, “Now I understand.”

And in marketing, understanding is often the first step towards action.

Are you looking to create a unforgettable VR or AR experience?  find out what services we can offer, or if you’re ready to chat get in touch!