Pilsner Urquell uses VR to take Winter Olympics attendees to its brewery in the Czech Republic

Official sponsors, such as Alibaba, Visa and Coca-Cola have created experiences and showcases at the event.

The idea behind the campaign was to create an experience in South Korea that mimicked that of the brewery tour, which is one of its most successful ways of creating brand advocates for the beer brand.

Created by Purple Creative and VR specialists Wolf in Motion, people will be incentivised to don their Samsung Gear headsets in order to get a free beer.

Ludek Baumruk, brand director, Pilsner Urquell, said: “We wanted to immerse beer lovers into the Pilsner Urquell brewery world in a way that would really stand out beyond a simple tasting or virtual tour. Purple and Wolf in Motion have created and produced an emotional and personal experience, that really reflects the depth of care and knowledge behind how we make our beer. Launching the Virtual Reality Brewery Tour at The Winter Olympics just takes that to a higher level - we’ll be pouring pints for people from all over the world and they’ll be leaving Korea with some incredible Czech memories!”

The agency has created a behind the scenes video which explains the process that went into developing an immersive brewery tour. The agency explained that it used VR180, rather than 360 as YouTube statistics show that barely any VR video viewers look behind them.

Guillaume Couche, founder partner of Wolf in Motion, said: “Throughout the virtual brewery tour we blend VR180 video footage with 3D modelled content. This gives us the best of both technologies and allows us to do things that simply wouldn’t have been possible with a pure video experience. For example, the tour itself starts with an introduction to the brewery at the Jubilee Gate. This video version of the brewery then seamlessly transitions into a table-top miniature model, allowing guests to look across the different buildings that will be explored later in the tour. To achieve this we employed advanced projection mapping techniques, typically seen in large construction projects and high-end cinematic productions.”

Behind The Scenes - Pilsner Urquell VR Brewery Tour from Wolf In Motion on Vimeo.

Steve Bewick, Purple Creative founding partner and creative director, added: “The brief was to share our love of beer and craftsmanship with the world in a way that was real and compelling – so the visitors not only come away with a head full of interesting knowledge but as real advocates of the brand.

We’re fortunate that Pilsner Urquell is an authentic brand – not one born in a marketing department. In other virtual reality campaigns, technology can overtake the brand – it’s exciting but ultimately unfulfilling. We didn’t want to create an experience that was style over substance – but instead really try to capture the very human, very personal nature of a Pilsner Urquell brewery tour in Plzeň,” he said.