To share its vision of the city of the future and how its connected lighting technology will be applied, Philips Lighting created a preview of urban life in 2030 through a future-gazing virtual reality experience. This 360° VR video shows us how lighting can impact daily life in a smart city in presently inconceivable ways -- and all through a citizen’s eyes.

The beauty of the VR medium was not only its ability to bring a corporate vision to life or even the novelty of being an early adopter of this new technology. It was the sheer diversity of business and media uses it could drive. C-suite executives could now use it to open dialogue with stakeholders and salespeople to directly engage prospects. Besides being a totally transportable marketing and sales tool, it instantly demonstrated the company’s innovation and thought leadership in many business-critical settings.

The Smart City Life 2030 VR experience was premiered at the Smart City Expo in Barcelona in November 2016 to 30 influential hand-picked business and technology journalists from across EMEA.

Other influencers, business partners, potential customers, employees and members of the public have subsequently been able to view the VR experience.

Pre-planned stakeholder events have taken place in countries as far afield as China, India, Taiwan. Austria, Belgium, Poland, Norway and Mexico. And next stop will be at a forthcoming US Council of Mayors event, followed by events in the UK, Germany, France and Portugal.

The VR is also in use at major exhibition fairs across the globe (on stand), internal employee events at Philips Lighting campuses, as well as at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Its even being used in sales meetings with connected street lighting prospects across the globe.

Philips Lighting finished 2016 squarely in the #2 position in global share of voice and media coverage on the smart cities topic, a complete reversal of fortune in just one year.

The launch and collateral associated with the VR film have so far driven over 500 earned media articles on Philips Lighting. Stories are appearing in a range of national business and global trade media outlets in every part of the globe that are helping Philips Lighting to strategically reach its specialized b2b target of city planners and government leaders. Opportunities to see currently stand at 43 million (print and online) -- figures surpassing those calculated for the company’s IPO just six months earlier!

Over 25 industry analyst briefings have used the VR experience, helping to make the meetings more creative and dynamic.

YouTube-ready versions of the video have received 13 times more views than any previous Philips Lighting video.