WIN Reality
BASEBALL ENTERS THE VIRTUAL WORLD
The Beginning
When people think about baseball, they think about hot dogs, apple pie, and yes, maybe even Chevrolet. What most people don’t think of is virtual reality; unless of course they’re Dan O’Dowd or Chris O’Dowd. For years they’d dreamed of the day that technology would bring new opportunities to hitters, and begin to help level the eternally lopsided playing field that favors pitchers.
In 2020, that day finally came with the release of the Oculus Quest headset, which in turn helped WIN Reality change the game of baseball forever. While the company was founded in 2018, and its training software available in Major League clubhouses soon after, it wasn’t until the release of this new virtual reality headset that it was available to the masses. The catch? WIN Reality now had to pivot from VR development to mass awareness and hyper education.
To accomplish this, the startup focused on created a wealth of content to deliver a crisp and effective message, aimed at exciting their audience, and perhaps more importantly, introducing them to a virtual world that they were previously unaware of.
A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME
The Challenge
Unlike other titles available in the Meta Quest ecosystem, WIN Reality is not intended to be played like a video game, but rather is meant to be used as a serious training tool to help improve real world performance. As such, the creative not only had to sell the realism of the virtual environment that players would find themselves in, but also, that real data was being used so that hitters could take what they’d learned in VR, and apply it when it mattered most; in the real world.
back to school
Class is in session
In order to support WIN Reality’s push to spread awareness, the brand needed to pump out a steady stream of content that was engaging, and educational at the same time. As a result, a new series called WIN University was developed. The purpose was two-fold. 1) To showcase its training platform in a way that was different, and more detailed than that of their broader marketing campaigns, and 2) to be able to bring a prospect or new customer from zero understanding of the product, all the way to a power user.
THE WINner’s Circle
By players, for players
As “analytics” becomes more and more of a dirty word within factions of the baseball community, it was important for WIN Reality to show that they weren’t just a collection of tech bros wanting to capitalize on the virtual reality revolution. The primary goal of the show, beyond just creating content for its audience to consume, was to build its overall personality, and show that WIN Reality was populated by former professional and collegiate ballplayers. From it’s cofounders, all the way down to the sales reps, the Austin based company had first round picks, college world series standouts, and overall, was a passionate group of ballplayers that wanted nothing more than to usher the game they loved into a new era.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Think you can do it?
The biggest problem facing the whole of virtual reality gaming is usage. While this new interaction tool offers something that traditional platforms can’t, the truth is that there’s a reason PlayStation, Xbox, and PC gaming are still at the top of the video game pyramid. To combat this, WIN Reality launched a campaign that offered $10,000 to one of its users if they were able to be inch perfect, and pick where in the strike zone a pitched ball crossed the zone. To date, nobody has claimed the prize, but the results were undeniable, and led WIN Reality to host several other challenges that even included All-Star outfielder Mike Yastrezemski.