Destination British Columbia's wild VR experience

To promote British Columbia as a tourist destination and drive awareness to the province, Destination British Columbia approached Citizen Relations with the challenge of inspiring travel to the province.

At the core of the brand was the insight that BC's stunning nature and wildlife is what resonated with travellers the most. Utilizing the cutting-edge VR technology from Oculus Rift and Samsung, the Wild Within VR Experience was created to give users an interactive, 360-degree look of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Top travel media and influencers in the U.S. were targeted to offer them a first-hand glimpse of the beautiful province through the VR Experience.

Citizen launched this experience by creating the world's first ever virtual fam trip in both New York City and Washington D.C., to capitalize on the strong concentration of North American travel media. To bring it to life, a NYC loft was transformed into a BC wilderness scene. Everything from a forest of real Evergreen trees, to a complete camping site, the scents and sounds of the BC rainforest and an authentic campfire for making s'mores.

This campaign was extended by partnering with Samsung to preview the VR Experience at CES during the launch of the Samsung Gear.

The campaign received over 100 pieces of editorial coverage with a total of 49 million+ impressions. Some of the notable coverage came from National Geographic, Travel Channel, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Conde Nast, Outside Magazine, USA Today, Huffington Post, CTV, Globe and Mail, Global and CBC.