United Way | Character Playbook™ VR for Super Bowl LII

Working alongside the good people of Haberman and Street Factory, we created a football-themed VR experience for the Greater Twin Cities United Way at the Super Bowl Experience. The event was held at the Minneapolis Convention Center, open to the public for eight days leading up to Super Bowl LII.

Client
United Way
Type
Experiential
Agency
Haberman
Capabilities
Motion + Animation, VR + Immersive, Audio

The VR Experience

The creative challenge here was to present United Way’s Character Playbook™ messaging through an engaging, high-intensity VR experience.

A virtual coach would present various Playbook scenarios followed by a multiple choice question. Participants would answer questions by completing passes to corresponding receivers.

Based on their answers, fireworks, particle explosions and flamethrowers would fire and participants would hear advice from NFL stars including Stefon Diggs, Kyle Rudolph, Case Keenum, Adam Thielen, Everson Griffen, Calais Campbell, Patrick Peterson, and Demario Davis.

Inspired by NFL television presentations, we wanted to experience the feeling of being on the field when those giant stat windows crashed on screen. The monoliths slam into the ground from the sky, sending dirt and debris flying across the field.

Expanding on the sheer enjoyment of throwing footballs in VR, we created a quick-fire challenge that would come after the question and answer stage. Players were rewarded with giant comic-inspired word explosions when they hit the targets.

The Booth Experience

We created this activation for the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers as a front-facing VR experience. The 10×20 booth area was enough to fit two Oculus stations which helped keep the long lines to a minimum. Oculus tracking cameras were mounted on the televisions with clamps, so the player had room to stand and throw. Gameplay trailer loops were played on the mounted televisions to give bystanders a taste of the experience without spoiling any of the content.

The Pros Stopped By

Football players and coaches who stopped by the United Way booth to try their hand at the experience were:

Stefon Diggs, Wide Receiver, MN Vikings
Kyle Rudolph, Tight End, MN Vikings
Tony Dungy, former NFL player and coach
Bradley Pinion, Punter, San Francisco 49ers
Rashad Jennings, former running back, NY Giants

More Immersive