Lipton Tea has released two new 360 VR experiences to promote the launch of its new Magnificent Matcha and existing Enticing Chai products. Both 360 experiences take the viewer on a sensual journey “inside a cup of tea.”
The two videos were a collaborative partnership between Unilever, Carrot Creative, The Colony VR and Afterparty VFX, The Colony’s VFX, design and animation studio. Experience the Lipton “Magnificent Matcha” video here and “Enticing Chai” Tea here.
For the launch of Lipton’s innovative, new offering of Matcha and its Chai tea, the parties set out to create an equally innovative experience that uses a unique combination of consumer generated imagery and live action film.
“The idea was to immerse the viewer in a cup of tea, and energize them with rich imagery and motion graphics that speak to each tea’s origin,” says Harun Zankel, Creative Director at Carrot Creative.
Colony VR founder David Gaddie says, “It was such an unusual idea, we loved it straight away, but to bring Unilever and Carrot’s creative vision to life required a whole new VR toolset that had not yet been invented.”
Original footage was shot on a custom RED Dragon 360 rig while full 360 CG environments were created by Afterparty. The key was to create a sense of being inside a dense, vibrant, underwater world. As the viewer enjoys the dynamic ingredients swirling around them, evocative imagery of exotic locations and activities are glimpsed beyond the cup to provide further inspiration of the flavors.
The Colony VR and Afterparty had to create custom tools to integrate the existing VFX toolset into a 360 space. Matte paintings, CG, full simulations of liquids and ingredient elements and integration of live action plates and stock footage results in a dazzling underwater journey through the new Lipton Tea flavor experiences.
The visual experience was further enhanced by spatial sound design from Nylon Studios so that, when you turn your head, the sound experience changes, just as it would in the real world. The sound design dramatically reinforces sensual immersion and enhances the spatial reality.
The 360 experiences are designed to primarily run on YouTube 360 Video. Using virtual reality headsets, the experiences are truly immersive, but they can also be enjoyed on mobile devices (with or without a “Cardboard” viewer) or explored on a desktop.
Magnificent Matcha, the first experience launched, has already been viewed over 3.4 million times.
Visit Carrot Creative at: carrot.is
Visit The Colony at: www.the-colony.com
A behind-the-scenes video can be found here: https://vimeo.com/194432986
