To help support the brand’s reinvention efforts, we were tasked with telling a disruptive story to Millennial business travelers about how Marriott is defining the future of travel. In developing a vision of the future of travel, one word came to mind: Teleporter. The ability to “jump” effortlessly from place to place is the ultimate way to travel. So we built one. We used the power of virtual reality along with a suite of unprecedented 4D “sensory” elements – mist, scent, wind, rumble, etc. – to make the user feel like they had taken a 90-second-vacation to the beaches of Maui and the top of a skyscraper in London. The Teleporter toured eight cities nationwide. The result was one of the most-successful outreach efforts in the company’s 90-year history, with more than 1.6 billion media impressions and over 240 million social impressions.

The Teleporter was perhaps the most-immersive virtual reality brand experience created to date, requiring numerous technical innovations to execute.

The experience featured both a photoreal CGI recreation of a new Marriott great room, as well as live-action 3D 360 video. For the latter, we had to pioneer a new technique of capturing and processing that video.

Additionally, the 4D sensory elements featured in the Teleporter – wind, scent, mist, rumble, etc. – all had to be seamlessly tied to the virtual reality experience through a custom show-control system.

Once completed, the Teleporter toured the United States, visiting eight major markets.

The Teleporter program was one of the most successful outreach efforts in the company’s 90-year history. It told a compelling story of a new, innovation-driven brand that captured the imagination of fans and press.

Along the way, it amassed over 1.6 billion media impressions and more than 240 million social impressions.

As a result, Marriott has taken the Teleporter on an international tour and is researching how virtual travel can play a larger role in the brand’s products and marketing.