“You matter in that story—the way you experience the story matters.”
–Saschka Unseld, former Pixar director, current Creative Director at Oculus Story Studio.

VR has long been considered a facet of the gaming domain. Yet while some speculate that companies are adopting VR to “help them build sales and cut costs,” and scientific studies continue to explore the cognitive impact of VR, we’re very excited to see this technology debut in the social storytelling space.

Although VR has been around for years and experimented with in a limited artistic capacity, it has yet to make the jump to mainstream. However, in watching the short project videos on the Oculus Story Studio site, you experience an undeniable sense of the impact that insightful VR content can accomplish. Oculus films like “Lost” and “Henry” do an excellent job of showcasing, “the birth of [VR as] a completely new medium,” as Saschka says.

Henry’s Premiere from Story Studio on Vimeo.

Oculus’ social-centric campaign not only tactfully positions them at the forefront of millennial marketing trends for brand positioning, it simultaneously creates and nurtures the space it needs for VR content creativity to flourish. The thematic sentiment of Oculus initiatives, paraphrased from Unseld, is to inspire storytellers so that storytellers can inspire the world. In going social and opening up for collaboration and inviting new perspectives, VR for Good will undoubtedly result in powerful and poignant narratives, and set new standards for what a story looks like.

There will be a big learning curve, but even bigger opportunities to produce entertaining, educational, and engaging content. In looking to the future, there is seemingly no limit to this medium for filmmakers and brands alike.  We see a whole new realm of possibilities opening up for what can only be described as the most immersive storytelling art form the world has yet to see—or experience.

Editor’s note—Nonprofit and filmmaker applications for the VR for Good program are due in one week: June 17, 2016.

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Coats’ storytelling tips are still making the viral rounds, and while Twitter was the ideal vehicle to help disseminate these timeless to-dos from her personal blog, one thing was lacking: pictures.

Ironic coming from an artist, right? As marketers are coming to know, visual storytelling is the crux of a new form of public relations and  brand currency. This is evident in the rise of content marketing and strategy, the movement towards brands as publishers and a greater focus on infectious, aspirational positioning. A good story will always find its audience if given the right platform.

Coats was writing from her own voice as a former employee, not sanctioned or devised by Pixar; she was motivated to share lessons from personal experience, not from any brand strategy or content perspective. Pixar was the operative word to give her post clout (Klout) to begin with, but perhaps the lack of images was the secret ingredient for appealing to a cross-section of creative industries. It helped spark imaginative translations across the board. It wasn’t about Pixar, it was simply about the craft. But the Pixar name captured attentions and provided the credibility for sharing.

Recently Imgur contributor DinoIgnacio took Coats’ 22 tips and translated them into lovely visual storyboards with Pixar stills. It’s fun to revisit these now with images – and how different the impact can be when a great quote is affiliated with a great (brand) image. It’s as if a time machine took us back to 2011 and Pixar decided to issue the content itself.

So it’s come back full circle to the brand and with a very important lesson to content marketers: Loyalists are everywhere. Live, breathe and build brand values in every detail of operations. Then authentic content will generate from all sources, even if it takes a little while to get there.

DinoIgnacio writes – “I superimposed all 22 rules over stills from Pixar films to help me remember them. All Disney copyrights, trademarks, and logos are owned by The Walt Disney Company.” Well, thanks. They help us remember them too.

Here they are for your viewing enjoyment:

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