Mainstream culture has been inundated with augmented reality, virtual reality, and metaverse technologies that have never truly evolved in any significant way.

Immersive storytelling in these mediums has been stagnant and struggled to break through the entertainment landscape.

The launch of Vision Pro marked the beginning of a groundbreaking era in entertainment, with Apple Immersive Video redefining the standard of the immersive storytelling and changing the future of film-making, and how it’s advertised.

Our task was to prove that Apple Vision Pro is the future of filmmaking, while increasing interest in demo bookings at Apple stores. Traditional marketing could never demonstrate the promise of immersive video, so instead of making ads, we made and marketed a film to show what's possible on the device itself.

Submerged is a film that transports viewers to a place only Vision Pro could take them: inside a WWII-era submarine during a harrowing attack. Pairing Vision Pro’s innovation with a Hollywood-level production turned film viewers into crew members amidst the chaos of a sinking submarine. With Submerged, we had two clear objectives for two different audiences.

The first was to legitimize Apple Immersive Video as the next era of entertainment for Hollywood. Our second was to ignite global excitement for immersive storytelling to the world at large through unconventional advertising.

Submerged is the first scripted film captured in Apple Immersive Video, exclusively for Vision Pro, to market the possibility of the device and drive interest in demos.

This immersive fiction thriller, available to Apple Vision Pro users around the world for free, invites viewers onto a WWII-era submarine and follows its crew as they wrestle to combat a harrowing attack. Onboard a sinking submarine, chaos and panic consumes the crew as they struggle to save the ship and themselves.

This adrenaline-pumping thrill ride brings an outstanding and unique user experience only possible through Vision Pro. The film not only demonstrates the promise of Vision Pro, but showcases Apple Immersive Video as the next frontier in film-making, moving the brand forward.

We knew that Apple Vision Pro could revolutionize entertainment, but its high price point and low household penetration meant most people, from Hollywood’s greatest to the Letterbox addicts, had never tried it. Once we realized this, our strategy was crystal clear: get people to see it to believe it.

From our strategy, our task was two-fold: increase interest in demo bookings at Apple stores so that people could see it, while getting Hollywood to believe that Vision Pro is the future of filmmaking.

We knew traditional marketing could never demonstrate the promise of immersive video completely, so instead of making ads, we created and marketed a Hollywood-level film to show what’s possible on the device itself.

Submerged is a film that serves as both provocative entertainment and unconventional advertising, that breaks new ground in branded communications and drives the film industry forward.

We joined forces with Academy Award-winning director Edward Berger to craft Submerged: a gripping WWII submarine action thriller. Oscar-winning cinematographer James Friend brought it to life using proprietary 180degree cameras 8K per eye, shooting 90 frames/second that Apple created specifically for Apple Immersive Video.

Vision Pro wasn’t just the medium—it was integral to the filmmaking process. From framing shots on set to reviewing cuts in post-production, it proved indispensable over the 10-month production.

Submerged didn’t have a traditional advertising campaign surrounding it, like other entertainment IP, or even a product release from Apple would get, because Submerged was a way to breathe new life into Vision Pro use cases.

The best way to get people into headsets would be enticing them to book in-store demos, so we used organic social content including a trailer and BTS content to do so.

Submerged legitimized Vision Pro’s ability to revolutionize entertainment with everyday people and the Hollywood hotshots. The official trailer and BTS content for the film garnered 851K organic views in less than one week.

Most importantly, it achieved our objective of getting more everyday people into headset; we saw a +25% increase for in- store demo bookings following the launch of Submerged.

Submerged received 725 press pieces, from staples like tech and mainstream news outlets, but more importantly, over-indexing with film industry publications.

Since Submerged’s launch, Apple has been approached by over 30 award-winning A-list Hollywood directors about partnerships on Vision Pro.

High industry demand caused Blackmagic Design, the innovators behind the bespoke camera that shoots in the Apple Immersive Video format, to announce that the camera would become commercially available, making it the world’s first commercial camera designed to solely capture Apple Immersive Video.