Subvrsive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior industrial designer at a buying and selling marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subvrsive?

We wanted to better engage with our customers and give them an entertaining way to understand our company programs and information.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project is still in development, but Subvrsive is working with virtual reality and augmented reality to bring new and innovative experiences to our customers worldwide. They worked on a proof of concept and developed functional prototypes, using Unity, ARKit, ARCore, and others. They’ve also created some video content.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of about five people.

How did you come to work with Subvrsive?

A friend referred them. I talked to a few different companies, but Subvrsive seemed to be the most competent and innovative, so I partnered with them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $100,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in October 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve done an incredible amount of work in a relatively short period of time. Their proof of concepts has pushed our program farther than anything else we’ve done, making Subvrsive critical to our success. The project has led to large shifts in how we engage with our customers.

How did Subvrsive perform from a project management standpoint?

They have excellent and constant communication, meeting deadlines and consistently delivering high-quality work. Even though several department heads are involved in the project, everyone is aware of what’s going on. After phone calls, they write up a list of action items, which is useful for tracking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re proficient, not just in content creation, but also in the technical backbone behind the content creation, which has been exceptionally useful for our project. They’re easy to work with and open about their limitations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to continue growing to provide the same level of service as their workload expands.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any advice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior strategist with a global advertising firm. We focus on bringing difference initiatives to front-line employees, ensuring that brand values are being conveyed to those having conversations with customers and prospects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SubVRsive?

Traditionally, our employee trainings are staged workshops or lectures in classrooms, but we wanted to make something new, exciting and engaging. To keep the sales reps engaged, we really needed a variety of delivery methods, whether it’s VR, AR, or videos, so we went to SubVRsive to help brainstorm and create new models.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked on two big projects with them. The first was a 360-degree video to help sales reps understand different types of industry information, through the customer’s lens, such as what it means to be a business owner, and what their daily operations look like. That video showed what an actual work site looked like.

The second project was an AR app that conveyed what it meant to be a business owner. The trainees would key in on an image, which would then come to life and start talking to them. The app would tell stories about who they are, what they’ve done, and explain some of the pain points and challenges that they face every day as business owners.

What is the team composition?

We worked with the same core team of four people for both of the projects, which included, a director and a post-production person.

How did you come to work with SubVRsive?

It can sometimes be difficult to comprehend what our goals are, but they picked up on what we were trying to do right away and ran with it.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February until March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re still collecting results, but we’ve trained 800 agents across five locations so far, and that’s generated a really high Net Promoter Score for us. We’ve received very positive verbatim feedback as well.

How did SubVRsive perform from a project management standpoint?

They leveraged Gmail and Google’s platform to do the calendars, and we never missed a deadline. We were working on an incredibly dense timeline, and they were willing to put in the extra work to make sure that we hit it. They agility was a big asset for us in that regard.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the most exciting parts of working with them is that they took our pre-existing concepts and ideas, and pushed them out of the box. They brought in a lot of different and innovative ideas that nobody had seen before, which was integral to the success of our workshops.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think so. I know that’s not helpful, but it really was a pleasure working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a producer at an advertising agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SubVRsive?

We wanted to create a VR 360 video for our client, a pet hospital, to show how they gave back to the community and an animal shelter after a flood. The video needed to highlight the repairs and the free clinic they provided.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They shot the video with 360-degree cameras and a 360-degree robot. They used the latter in moving vehicles to film dogs at low-angle shots. SubVRsive also used a drone to shoot wide-ranging 360-degree footage.

What is the team composition?

The team had about five people. We had one producer during filming and another producer for post-production.

How did you come to work with SubVRsive?

Our boss is also part-owner of SubVRsive. They were experienced with VR technology and documentary-style videos. After some initial conversations, we felt their expertise and prices were a good fit for our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from November–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

SubVRsive made the narrative very engaging. They resolved stitching issues during post-production and created a quality product. The end-client thought the video was impressive and we were similarly happy with the final result.

How did SubVRsive perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Microsoft Word to create the timeline and manage scheduling. We then used email to work through problems – such as the stitching issues – and brainstorm solutions. The results reflected their ability to work through those obstacles effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise benefited our internal scripting process. We adjusted the script based on their recommendations for shots that would and wouldn’t work. The team collaborated well with the director we hired, even though he wasn’t part of their company. They were great problem solvers and team players through the entire process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Once, two resources got visibly frustrated with each other on set. They were young and in a learning process of how to communicate through stressful situations. We had another negative experience at the very beginning of post-production when determining which edits were feasible. However, there weren’t many issues overall and the problems that did arise were natural for any video production project. SubVRsive used clear communication to resolve everything quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the directory of technology at a television station in Austin, Texas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SubVRsive?

We are the producers of a music television show, and we brought on SubVRsive to do a 10-part VR 360 video documentary series that was basically a behind the scenes look at a season of the show.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did all the production and post-production, and worked with us on the shape and editorial of the show. The series eventually aired on YouTube and Google Daydream VR, and also served as a companion piece to the actual show.

To shoot the series they used the YI HALO camera rigs that are part of Google's Jump platform. They then used the Jump platform to do the stitching, and Adobe Premiere and After Effects for post-production.

What is the team composition?

Depending on the shoot they had a crew of 10 people on-site that was a mix of SubVRsive’s team and freelancers. We worked with around three people coordinating the post-production, and they may have had other assistant editors.

How did you come to work with SubVRsive?

We are a local station and often try to find local partners who can support our efforts rather than having to go outside of the community. SubVRsive is Austin based, and I'd known their VP of production from a previous job. Additionally, their CEO knows the general manager of our show, so we were aware of each other before the stars aligned to allow us to do something together.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from November 2016–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

A lot of the value for us was gaining knowledge that isn't part of our core skill set. Part of why we went to them is that we are not capable of doing something like this internally, so it was great to work with experts in the field. Some companies that are working on the front edge of technology are very guarded about how they do things because if someone knows how to do it they won't hire them, but SubVRsive was very good about being open with us. We could never go off and do this ourselves, but it was really valuable for us as clients to have the knowledge and edification about what and why things were happening a certain way.

How did SubVRsive perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn't use any project management software specifically, but the project management overall was very good. We communicated most often over email and used simple spreadsheets, but we were also able to walk over to their offices to have meetings. We do a lot of video production internally, but their management of the production was so far above and beyond what we do internally that our producers are now looking at it to try and mimic some of the same processes for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are extremely knowledgeable about what they do. When you're doing documentary shoots, especially with a-list musicians, you can't really take time to look up what the best setting is for the best shot, so it was great to have people who could make the necessary changes on the fly. You can’t make those adaptations unless you have the experience, and it was a pleasure to watch them work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They didn’t have the experience of working with musical talent, so that was something we brought to the table and had to train them on. However, they were very open to learning what they didn't know and very willing to let us guide them through that process. That was not really a negative, it's just the sort of thing that we deal with in this business.

Company Responses

Should be "and Adobe Premiere and After Effects for post-production."

After Effects is a software program for compositing and rendering.

Otherwise looks great, thanks!

-chris

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am director of the digital production and creative innovation for GTB, an ad agency for an automotive company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Subvrsive?

We were looking to improve our 360-degree capabilities of our VR players online. We wanted to better show off the interiors of our vehicle through real-life photography. We wanted to market our car’s larger interior space over its nearest competitors and encapsulate our online customers into our car’s space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Subvrsive started by coming to our location to shoot with a 180-degree-lens camera. Their team set up all the commercial production sets and shot inside the vehicle to show off interior and features—where the cupholders, USB ports, or outlets are. They also shot at different scenes like the countryside, city, or the nighttime.

Then, they developed the 360-degree VR player on a legacy browser platform and produced ads for Youtube and Facebook.

What is the team composition?

We were provided 10–15 developer team including a head of technology, head of graphics, and some technical assistants.

How did you come to work with Subvrsive?

Subvrsive has a great reputation for developing VR projects, so we contacted them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $200,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in November 2017 through March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Subvrsive worked hard to get this VR player onto the website, which was a monumental feat as it’s on a legacy platform. They made sure our content looked clean and professional.

Our Youtube-360 ads were performing really well and we always saw about a 3-to-1 engagement with 360 content to regular 2D content. They’ve done a great job.

How did Subvrsive perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated using email and didn’t need to set Basecamp because the project was shorter. We also used phone calls, texts, and Google Docs to run changes for the edits. Overall, they communicated very well with us and met every deadline—on time and on budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Subvrsive understood the technology better than anyone I know but also did a great job of sticking to the basics. They weren’t afraid to experiment and didn’t oversaturate the project—brought the minimum amount of resources to do the job.

Their professionalism and attitude were always a plus and most importantly, they just nailed the details—I knew I was getting a good product with realistic details. They really wanted to give us the best product and tailored their work to sell to customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t see anything.