Bringing VR to IR
Sir Noel Mobbs, born in 1878 and one of the original founders of Slough Trading Estates, is talking you through 100 years of the company now known as SEGRO. Before your eyes a 1930s car factory transforms into one that produces jam and a full-sized train steams past to collect goods before you’re treated to a Thunderbird 2 flyby. You’re taken from the past to the present and into SEGRO’s vision of the future, too. You end your tour in a room where you can handle objects from the firm’s history, read its first company newsletter and watch Mobbs himself in an IR film from the 1950s.
This is just a small glimpse of what you can do with virtual reality (VR). And what key stakeholders – many inside their own homes under lockdown – have been experiencing as part of SEGRO’s virtual centenary celebrations this year.
‘What is special about the [virtual] room is that it is connected to the device – so as somebody walks around in the real world wearing the headset, those footsteps are mirrored with movement in the virtual world,’ says Alex Wodzicki, group digital marketing manager at the London-headquartered property investment and development firm. ‘When you combine this feature with extraordinary graphics and compelling content, the end experience is something rather special.’
And while IR wasn’t the key driver behind this particular exercise, Wodzicki says the opportunities for investor relations are clear. ‘As a storytelling platform it excels, but we feel there are many potential uses for the technology that span everything from exhibiting our property portfolio with true, 3D-immersive virtual tours to demonstrating our ESG initiatives,’ he says. ‘The possibilities are incredibly exciting.’
There are challenges, of course. Wodzicki cites the time spent learning to use the tech – which he candidly describes as a ‘steep learning curve’ – as well as choosing what to include and what not to include: essentially fitting 100 years of company history into a 12-minute experience.
The need for VR hardware, its associated costs and just the newness of the technology have also created reluctance in the past, notes Sonal Patel, partner and executive producer at MerchantCantos in London. She adds, however, that ‘despite barriers to adoption, VR certainly has the potential to complement an important company story in a spectacular way.’
And while equipment costs might be off-putting, Patel advises companies to bear in mind the savings that are also involved. ‘Rather than taking analysts and institutional investors around the world to visit a new factory, office or facility, you’re achieving a three-day trip in half an hour,’ she points out. This offers added benefits, with a ‘boost to your green credentials’ as well as being the safest option in the post-Covid-19 new normal – or simply if you happen to have operations in remote or high-risk areas.
‘AGMs, investor meetings, capital markets days, roadshows and ESG presentations are perfect environments in which to provide this totally immersive experience in the real or imagined world,’ continues Patel – echoing Wodzicki's thoughts on the technology’s potential for IR.
But of course it works best when you have something amazing to show. ‘Imagine a site tour of your new Johannesburg manufacturing facility or your state-of-the-art high rise [building],’ says Patel. ‘Perhaps it’s an opportunity to showcase a neurosurgical technique or to take your latest aircraft for a test run. Anywhere users couldn't ordinarily go themselves makes it an illuminating and unforgettable experience.’
Wodzicki says feedback from users has been ‘overwhelmingly positive’. So will SEGRO be using VR again? He says it certainly will: ‘It isn’t a question of if we use it again, but how.’
