The Lateral Vision of Wine: Laura Tolson

The Lateral Vision of Wine: Laura Tolson

As I wrote earlier, Australia seems to be really advanced using digital technologies in wine industry, from production to sale,

There are so many disruptive technologies, nowadays, and they are revolutioning many aspects of our lifestyle; no doubt that wine lovers are going to see great positive changes.

I contacted Laura Tolson from Lateral Vision asking her to write what she is doing in the context of VR/AR, and this is her post. (Wine Roland)

Lateral Vision began, like many small businesses and start-ups, with a problem. 

Searching for technology

My family had a small heritage guest house that needed marketing.  Many months had been spent carefully renovating this property back to its former glory, but capturing it was proving difficult and still imagery just wasn’t cutting it. 
Being the tech-savvy problem solver of the family, my brother Alex found Google Street View for Business. 
At the time this was very new technology from Google, but it allowed a business to be captured in 360-degrees and added on to Google Street View. 
We couldn’t find anyone locally who could do this for us, so we applied for the Google Trusted Photographers course and a few months later, Lateral Vision began.

Initially, we just offered Google Street View virtual tours for businesses, but it wasn’t long before our clients wanted more. 

A Spheric view for a Lateral tour

They liked the immersive experience the 360-degree images provided, but they wanted to interact with the location and do more with the tour.  So, we developed CloudTour, our virtual tour platform which takes exploring place and space to the next level. 
Our latest CloudTour is of the impressive Adelaide Oval:  cloudtour.cc/adelaideoval
Lateral vision
Laura Tolson

Google Street View was really the beginning of the current wave of virtual tours and increasingly immersive technologies like VR. 

It was free to consumers, easy to use on most devices and a single platform for exploring many many places in 360-degrees.  As VR headsets become cheaper and better and AR is on the rise, consumers are wanting more than just Google Street View and businesses and brands are increasingly looking to incorporate AR and VR into their work. 
Most of our clients to date have sought VR/AR for marketing purposes – to ride the wave of immersive technologies as a unique and engaging marketing tool while it is still a novelty for many people. 

Growing up to VR and AR

However more and more, we are building VR and AR solutions for practical applications including training, education and as a tool for sales people.
Alex and Laura Tolson

The wine industry has been one of our biggest client sectors and there are lots of innovative and exciting wine brands which are continually looking for new ways to engage and interact with their consumers. 

A Game Changer

There is a clear understanding that the story behind the wine is just as important as the wine itself.  Don’t get me wrong, the wine has to be good and an excellent wine will speak for itself. 
But with the rise of online sales, wine clubs and a focus on the export market (actual and potential), how a brand communicates their story is changing.  There is wide support (including large financial investment from the government) to increase wine export and I strongly believe VR and AR will be a key resource in setting Australian wine and its famous wineries apart. 
Imagine being able to show international buyers the actual vineyard where the grapes are grown, walk them through the crushing process or do a face to face wine tasting with the winemaker – all in VR, all from the other side of the world. 
This is a game changer.
You can follow some links for other informations::
cloudtour.cc/chapelhill – Finalist entry in the Wine Industry Impact Awards 2017 Marketing & Communications category
Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon
Tags :  , , ,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

error

Do you like it? Follow me here