Jaguar's Wimbledon Works Led By Murray VR Experience & Reactive Film Series

Jaguar serves up its first 2016 Wimbledon work with a virtual reality experience led by the auto brand’s new ambassador Andy Murray.

The VR phase is part of Jaguar’s second #FeelWimbledon activation programme as it leverages its sponsorship rights to the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) around the iconic tennis tournament.

The immersive 360° film puts users right onto Centre Court itself and enables them to experience the atmosphere while hitting the tournament winning shot from Murray’s own perspective: it runs across YouTube,

and the car company’s social sites like Facebook,

and Twitter support too.

#FeelWimbledon in Virtual Reality. Search 'Feel Wimbledon with Andy Murray' on the YouTube app to get even closer.https://t.co/B1eKhk5RFc

— Jaguar UK (@JaguarUK) June 28, 2016

The campaign features the copyline: ‘As creators of world-class performance, we’re taking fans closer than ever to the heightened emotions that make Wimbledon so extraordinary. Because in tennis, as in cars, not all performances are the same.’

The link between the three-minute Wimbledon video and the brand focuses around the new F-Pace and draws parallels between world class performance heightened emotional experiences and exhilaration

Launched online as a 360° YouTube film, on 21 June (six days before the start of the 2016 Championships), the VR Centre Court experiencedebuts at Goodwood Festival of Speed (Jaguar’s motorsport event).

The auto brand will then create a Jaguar #FeelWimbledon experiential zone including the VR experience on the concourse at Waterloo Station for fans travelling to Wimbledon and commuters passing through the railway station for the duration of the tournament.

It is also rolling out VR across 20,000 Jaguar showrooms to allow in-store consumers wearing Google Cardboard headsets not just to feel the Centre Court experience, but also to choose the model, make, colour and features of the brand’s cars and to see the interior features and make real-time changes.

‘There’s no greater feeling than walking out onto Centre Court. It’s hosted so many incredible matches, the greatest champions ever, and the atmosphere is truly one of a kind. This special experience is reserved for very few players and supporters, so it’s amazing that Jaguar’s VR experience can bring people closer to the unique feeling of tennis’ most famous court,’ said Murray – who has invested in several technology start-ups in the recent years.

‘I’m extremely interested in the development of technology, and have several investments in exciting British projects. The growth of virtual reality, especially its use in sport, is fascinating. I never thought I’d have my own VR experience,’ he added.

Jeremy Hicks, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover, said: ‘We’re excited to welcome Andy Murray to Jaguar. Our shared passion for performance makes this a special partnership, and we’re proud to be associated with one of Britain’s leading sportsmen and the UK’s best summer sporting event. Andy and Wimbledon provide us the perfect platform to showcase our new F-PACE to a global audience.’

Following this leading-edge VR phase, Jaguar will then launch a film series exploring the ‘four emotions of Jaguar’ to fit around the tournament.

Thus, a further strand of the Murray-led Jaguar Wimbledon work sees the world number two take on his fastest opponent ever – in the form of a contest with Jaguar’s 200mph F-Type SVR driven by stunt driver and (disguised) tennis legend John McEnroe.

The ‘Murray v Jaguar (& McEnroe)’ encounter activation revolves around an online film in which Murray smashes 160mph target on the Jaguar at Thruxton Motorsports Centre

McEnroe initiated the challenge in the Jaguar XE, F-TYPE SVR and the new Formula E racing machine in teaser livery and aimed to test Murray’s precision, power and reaction speeds to the limit.

Three-time Wimbledon champion McEnroe, who only revealed his identity at the end of the challenge, said: ’I wasn’t going easy on Andy. You can see from his reaction when he realised it was me. It was priceless! I’ve seen him react badly before, but nothing quite like that.’

Murray said: ‘Trying to find an inch perfect serve at 130mph against the top players in the world is tough enough, but hitting a target racing past you at 160mph was the toughest and most unique match I’ve had.’

Another film in the series is ‘Andy Murray’s Secret Chauffeur’ (with Jimmy Carr).

Murray, who owns a Jaguar F-Type Coupé and has already placed an order for the new Jaguar F-PACE, also commented at the event that he is ready to seal his second Wimbledon title: ‘I have played my best ever tennis on clay this year, and my form is as good now as it has been over the last couple of years.’

Plus, it has produced ‘reactive’ videos so that it can adjust and attune it activity based around the event action and on-court results.

Thus, a film focusing on the Jaguar F-Pace roof opening and closing can run if/when the rain comes and play needs to be halted for a short time to close the Centre Court roof,

or as Murray steps out onto Centre Court the auto brand posted its ‘Anticpation’ reactive social clip.

This is it. @andy_murray steps out onto Centre Court. Feel the anticipation build. #FeelWimbledon https://t.co/QMTNRqVV9W

— Jaguar UK (@JaguarUK) July 10, 2016

According to Herd, one of the key to successful sponsorship activation is the ability to be reactive: ‘We can change our messaging or video campaigns based on the results. As a sponsor, you’ll fail if your campaign can’t adapt in real-time.’

This year’s activation even includes a first-of-its-kind, in-car Wimbledon app fopr real-time scores on the road.

#FeelWimbledon wherever you are with InControl. See the scores in real-time with the first in-car app of its kind.https://t.co/AZGOGNJ4SA

— Jaguar UK (@JaguarUK) June 30, 2016

According to Mick Desmond, commercial director of the AELTC, ‘Jaguar’s #FeelWimbledon campaign with Andy Murray supports our commitment to deliver the best possible experience for our fan base each year, whether it’s attending the tournament, engaging via digital channels at home, on-the-move or in-car.’

Comment

It was back in April 2016 that Jaguar signed a three-year deal to become the first official car partner of the Wimbledon Championships and this year’s innovative use of technology in its Wimbledon work follows last year’s Jaguar ‘Feel Emotion’ activation which was led by cutting edge, real-time strand based around biometric fan data – as well as supplying an official vehicle fleet for the tournmant (see case study).

But this isn’t Jaguar Land Rover’s first VR experience – indeed it was experimenting with the technology in partnership with IVBM as long ago as 2014.

It is one of more and more car marketers and sales teams are now using augmented and virtual reality to enhance or replace the traditional showroom.

And not just premium auto outfits like Jaguar, BMW and Mercedes either: other brands to explore virtual experiences in recent months include >Ford, Fiat, Nissan and Skoda

Such trends are behind predictions that VR is set to become a $1bn industry by the end of 2016.

In the accompanying PR pieces around the VR launch, Jaguar argues that the technology isn’t a gimmick and that VR is already helping it sell an ‘incredible amount of cars’ and Jaguar Land Rover UK communications head Robert Herd says VR is having a major impact on the brand.

Jaguar Land Rover has previously previewed models such as the F Type, F Face and Discovery Sport through VR and aims to continue to evolve the technology’s role within its retail experience.

Indeed, Herd says there is no longer any consumer fear about testing VR experiences

‘We felt there was a perfect opportunity to build something cutting edge for Wimbledon and we want the public to experience hitting the winning smash and how that feeling of joy has similarities to driving one of our cars,’ he explains.

‘Jaguar now designs its cars in a VR environment and sells its cars in a VR environment; it is incredibly successful for driving purchases.Yes, initially consumers think it is gimmick but they quickly convert and it is driving a lot of additional car sales for us.’

Links

Jaguar YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/jaguaruk

Jaguar Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/JaguarUK

Jaguar Twitter:

http://twitter.com/JaguarUK

Jaguar Instagram:

http://instagram.com/JaguarUK

Jaguar F-PACE Web:

http://www.jaguar.co.uk/fpace

Jaguar Web: