Ahh… the venerable Virtual Tour. Are they still a viable media tool for advertising, real estate, and venue highlights; or have they been supplanted by video marketing products?

I’m not talking about the “pseudo” tours out there that take individual stills, pan and scan them, maybe add music, and voila; here is your “virtual tour”! I’m talking about the real McCoy, genuine article, 360-degree spin tours.

Clients will sometimes specifically request a real-deal, 360 tour for their projects

Nowadays, they seem to be deployed more selectively. After all, they are more labor-intensive to shoot, process, and post. They require 12 separate exposures (or more), special pan-heads for the camera, specific software expertise in the “stitching” of the images, and also dedicated tour servers for online distribution. It is possible to do a certain level of in-camera panoramic images (panos), with some cameras; but these are generally not considered “pro” level VTs, and are much more commonly utilized during vacation activities, for example.

Clients will sometimes specifically request a real-deal, 360 tour for their projects, and we are happy to have the training, the aforementioned expertise, and the specialized gear to fulfill the request. There is nothing like a true Virtual Tour. The immersive experience and sheer eyeball-holding power of these immersive images are certainly captivating. Plus, they can certainly be a powerful part of an overall marketing strategy for specific properties, allowing prospective lodging guests and buyers to “step in” to the beautiful spaces that are highlighted within the “spins”.

It seems that most campaigns utilizing these tours offer them as part of a larger strategy which includes stills, and also video marketing media. Either way, they are just a small part of the wide array of media content creation that Carolwood Productions offers.

Here is a sampler of true Virtual Tour “spins” highlighting various settings, ranging from real estate, interiors, and exteriors.