We were approached by Honeywell’s creative agency Southpaw in the summer of 2014. The Fortune 100 tech giant wanted to use virtual reality to better showcase their range of aviation technologies at trade shows such as MEBA in Dubai and the Paris Aviation Show.
Trade shows are a key lead generation platform for Honeywell. The company attends several trade shows each year around the world, however, typically the centrepiece had been a life sized physical mock-up of a cabin. This approach, while adding a reality element to the product display, incurred logistics costs. It also, of course, quickly outdated as Honeywell’s technology and products were developed and released.
Understanding Honeywell's challenge, Happy Finish created a virtual reality experience that has proved to be more cost effective and efficient than their previous physical demo.
We delivered an interactive cabin environment using Unity 3D and enabled the user to navigate with their own hands using a leap motion tracker.
This VR environment has multiple benefits for Honeywell. It reduces shipping costs of the exhibit as it requires far less physical material/weight to be transported and reduces associated CO2 emissions. Also, it generates strong engagement with the audience and has increased qualified lead capture. We also included a tool that integrates data directly into Honeywell’s CRM and marketing automation system, making post trade show engagement more efficient than before.
Commenting on the project, VP of Communications at Honeywell Bill Kircos said: “All of this VR tech, not just cardboard, is really exciting and totally leaping (us) ahead of what almost any Fortune 100/B2B company is doing, much less in our old industry.”
“We delved deeper into Honeywell’s needs, asking numerous questions to gain a fuller understanding of their business challenge, helping us to ensure that what we created truly delivered a long term net positive ROI, not just a practical solution.” Daniel Cheetham, Chief Interactive Officer, Happy Finish. The success of Honeywell’s virtual reality experience has prompted them to explore the use of this technology further in their marketing mix.
