Kaon Interactive, the leading provider of 3D marketing and sales applications for global B2B brands, announced two key milestones: the launch of an industry innovation, “non-immersive” VR (virtual reality), and the receipt of a coveted industry award. A new technology evolution to Kaon’s High Velocity Marketing Platform^®, non-immersive VR extends the value of the company’s existing virtual reality-based B2B marketing solution by delivering these experiences not just on VR headsets, but now on smartphones, tablets, desktop PCs, touch screens and the web.  This significant enterprise VR advancement has led to the recognition of a distinguished Communicator Award for Kaon’s deployment of a virtual reality application which contains non-immersive VR functionality for CenturyLink.

3D Immersive Experiences, Beyond VR Headsets

B2B marketers are looking to extend the immersive qualities and emotional impact of virtual reality storytelling by having participants experience that same sense of immersion on their phones, tablets, desktop, touch screens and the web. Previously, virtual reality was only available via headsets. With Kaon’s most recent platform update, newly developed Kaon VR^® applications can now be experienced not only on ubiquitous VR headsets, but extended to any device. Users can navigate the immersive application with their mouse, finger or controller by selecting the immersive environments and message touchpoints along the way.

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To elevate customer engagement within VR, Kaon has implemented a tracking technology that is typically used for augmented reality (AR).  This now allows users to navigate a 3D VR environment or scene by moving a phone or tablet around like a window into a virtual world. “This takes cross-platform experiences to a whole new level,” said Kaon CTO and founder Joshua Smith. “This is the first technology platform that allows the same immersive application to run on the whole gamut of enterprise hardware: AR, VR, mobile, desktop, touch screens, and web browsers.”

In a recent case study, Becky Kelly, director of solutions marketing strategy at CenturyLink, stated, “There is a huge cost and time efficiency in not having to recreate this interactive content from scratch for future sales and marketing programs and devices. We want to tell our story everywhere our buyers are, and Kaon’s platform affords us the ability to do that. Not only did Kaon help us push the envelope, they gave us an innovative technology platform that allows us to break new ground and raise the bar.”

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CenturyLink: Communicator Award of Distinction, Business Campaign

CenturyLink was selected from over 6,000 entries for the Communicator Awards, competing against submissions from companies and agencies of all sizes. The awards program is one of the largest international awards for big ideas in marketing and communications. Kaon earned a Distinction Award for its VR experience application, “Why Milliseconds Matter,” for global technology giant CenturyLink in the Business Campaign category. Developed by Kaon Interactive, the “Why Milliseconds Matter” VR experience was originally created for CenturyLink’s exhibit hall presence at AWS re:Invent in order to meet two goals. First, in lieu of approaching tradeshow attendees cold, CenturyLink wanted to ease the barriers for its booth staff to engage prospects. Second, the company wanted to have a better interaction with customers, once engaged, to help them understand why CenturyLink isn’t just another network service provider. Through a digitally simulated “connected city” with immersive animations and videos, customers were able to select interactive elements that communicated the value of CenturyLink’s robust global fiber network, allowing them to explore the world of autonomous vehicles, interactive signage, mobile communications, and cloud services. As a result of this innovation, the immersive VR experience drove four-and-a-half times the number of leads as the previous year’s AWS re:Invent.

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