Steve Waugh Foundation & Fitness First Run 'Captains Ride' VR Experience

Australian cricket legend Steve Waugh’s ‘Captain’s Ride’ cycling campaign for his foundation linked up with Fitness First on an innovative digital experience that enabled members of the health club to join the inaugural Captain’s Ride from the gym’s excercise bikes thorugh virtual reality headsets.

The Steve Waugh Foundation’s ‘Captain’s Ride’ is a 920km bike ride from Sydney to Byron Bay in early November to raise awareness and funds for children and young adults with rare diseases.

With only 60 riders able to join on the road itself, the Foundation wanted to include as many people as possible in the initiative, so partnered with Fitness First to take over the gym’s Fitness First Platinum gym in Bondi spin classes for the week of the ride through virtual reality headsets.

The innovative link brings the Captain’s Ride to life through an interactive 360 degree Virtual Reality (VR) experience.

The campaign used Google Cardboard VR headsets and Android phones to immerse those in the spin class in the former Australian cricket captain’s fundraising ride through 360 degree cameras mounted to the handlebars of a rider’s bike accompanying Steve and the other ‘captains of business’ on their journey.

The VR experience enables those exercising in the gym to join the riders on the 6-day cycling challenge through the stunning New South Wales countryside, through the Hunter Valley, Gloucester, Armidale, Dorrigo and Grafton and finishing in Byron Bay.

Each day’s stage is dedicated to a particular child suffering from a unique rare disease.

‘The VR headset is like nothing I’ve experienced. It actually felt like I was riding right alongside Steve, very cool,’ commented former professional cricketer and Fox Sports commentator Brendon Julian who took part in the first spin class.

‘I think it’s amazing what he’s doing to try and put rare diseases on the map for children across Australia and I hope everyone gets behind him to raise as much cash as possible.’

Fitness First spin class participants cold then donate money to the foundation as part of the experience and all Fitness First members were also invited to donate via donation buckets at every club and via their website.

There was plenty of social support for the campaign both from the Fitness First strand

Steve Waugh cycles for @SWFAustralia charity in virtual reality with @FitnessFirstAU members https://t.co/XCdeklmLW8 pic.twitter.com/NHonNIZfio

— Marketing Editors (@MarketingMag) November 6, 2015

and the physical, in-person on-the-road ride itself

So close to raising $1m on the #captainsride for kids with rare diseases. Help us get there https://t.co/rspflTfaMv pic.twitter.com/KIXrnORcN7

— Steve Waugh Fndn (@SWFAustralia) November 8, 2015

The ride sees the foundation work with Havas Group,

Steve Waugh teams with @HavasGroup for charity bike ride @SWFAustralia @maxepmason https://t.co/xSJyMSrwnP pic.twitter.com/zboWTuh4ow

— Business Day (@BusinessDay) October 26, 2015

and key supports include property developer AVJennings, image company Canon and Industrie Clothing

The campaign has been developed in harness with Havas Village, Red Agency and Havas Worldwide.

‘When Steve first approached us to support the ride, we knew we had to think of something truly innovative that has never been done before in Australia. For us, the key proposition was bringing this to life for everyday Australians. We wanted to do something that would connect them to the ride and make the experience of supporting children with rare diseases as personal as possible,’ comments James Wright, COO of Havas Worldwide and MD of Red Agency:

‘This is perfect blending of goodwill, cutting edge technology and a lot of hard work from a lot of people for a great cause. This is an Aussie first, taking a live action experience and simultaneously taking it to a large crowd in virtual reality,’ adds Havas Worldwide executive creative director Tim Green.

‘When you think of the everyday reality of living with a rare disease, it’s the least we could do to help share these kids stories.’

Waugh himself added: ‘I’ve loved working with the team at Red Agency and Havas. It’s been a really successful year for the Foundation and the support, expertise and effort Red Agency and Havas has shown throughout has been outstanding. The rare disease patient is the orphan of the health system, often without diagnosis, without treatment, without research and therefore without reason to hope. This is why the Steve Waugh Foundation exists. The Australian rare disease community is growing, with a leading number of medical and advocacy groups joining together to give those living with a rare disease a voice.’’

Comment

Virtual Reality experiences are all the rage in the world of sponsorship activation as commercial partners seek to use the technology to immerse fans/consumers into the property experience.

Some of the standout recent work includes Gatorade’s ‘Bryce Harper At Bat 360’ MLB playoff initiative, AIG’s RWC ‘Haka 360’, Stella Artois’ ‘360 Rufus‘ Wimbledon work and Samsung’s Galaxy WSL immersive surf experience.

But this is one of the first cause-led VR initiatives that links to fundraising we have seen and we hope the bottom-line results produce the same level of success as the experience itself.

The Steve Waugh Foundation provides life changing support for children and young adults with a rare disease.

Links

Captain’s Ride Website:

www.captainsride.com.au

Captain’s Ride Instagram:

#captainsride

Steve Waugh Foundation YouTube:

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

Steve Waugh Foundation Website:

http://www.stevewaughfoundation.com.au/

Steve Waugh Foundation Twitter:

https://twitter.com/swfaustralia

@SWFAustralia