Urbandale, IA--August 1st, 2016--Flick Fusion today introduced 360VR, a groundbreaking product that allows auto dealers to create and showcase virtual reality (VR) customer engagement videos on their websites, in email marketing, on social media, in mobile ads and on third-party auto shopping sites. Flick Fusion is first-to-market with a product designed exclusively for auto dealers that will revolutionize the way auto shoppers experience walk-around inventory videos.

"Virtual reality images are three-dimensional with a sense of depth that gives viewers a feeling of complete immersiveness," said Tim James, COO of Flick Fusion. "Auto shoppers feel like they're actually sitting in a vehicle, giving them a realistic experience and helping to set expectations for that vehicle."

To create a 360VR inventory video, dealerships or their inventory photo and video vendors will need to use a 360-degree camera, which are available to consumers and small businesses in a price range of $200 to $1,000.

Vehicle walk-around videos are filmed just like regular videos, with either a live or post-recorded audio voiceover highlighting features and benefits of the vehicle's interior and exterior. When the videotaping is complete, users can upload the video to Flick Fusion's SmartFlicks advanced video marketing platform, where additional informational and emotional content can be added automatically.

SmartFlicks will then distribute the completed VR inventory videos to the dealership's Vehicle Details Pages (VDPs), as well as to social sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook, and to third-party auto shopping sites that utilize the Flick Fusion 360VR player. The completed VR videos will be hosted on the video marketing platform so dealers can easily insert them into mobile marketing email campaigns or on mobile ad landing pages.

Flick Fusion's video marketing platform is able to capture viewer data on 360VR videos in the same way it does on its regular videos. Viewing behavior can be tracked across multiple touchpoints, and real-time marketing and re-marketing messages can be delivered to the viewer based upon their viewing habits. Additionally, viewer identity may be matched with an account profile in the dealership's CRM and real-time alerts delivered to the sales team.

Auto manufacturers such as BMW, Volvo and Infiniti have experimented with virtual reality test drive video campaigns, and Cadillac is planning to use VR to create virtual dealerships. These OEM-produced immersive test drives are created with high-end VR camera equipment and CGI editing, but are too cost-prohibitive for auto dealers to emulate.

However, Flick Fusion's 360VR offers an affordable VR production alternative for single and multi-store auto dealers, so they too may benefit from the increased engagement and excitement surrounding the growing virtual reality phenomenon.

Global search interest for virtual reality videos grew by nearly four times on Google in the last year. Results from a Google ad study that was performed with Columbia Sportswear revealed that a VR video ad resulted in a 46% higher view count, as well as higher click-through rates, interaction rates, shares and subscribes. In all, Columbia's VR ad drove 41% more earned actions than their standard video ad.

"Dealerships that are first to offer virtual reality inventory videos will be marketing trail blazers," said James. "VR videos offer an incredibly high level of engagement and are especially appealing to Millennials, who are the fastest-growing consumer segment in the U.S. and who purchased more than 4 million vehicles last year."

Flick Fusion will be offering demos of its 360VR product and virtual reality inventory videos at Booth #243 at the Digital Dealer Convention and Expo in Las Vegas, NV.

Every booth visitor who sees the 360VR demo is entered into Flick Fusion's 360VR giveaway promotion. One winner will be chosen to receive a Ricoh Theta S 360-degree spherical digital camera and a HooToo 3D VR Headset.

For more information, visit www.flickfusion.com.

About Flick Fusion

Flick Fusion offers intelligent video marketing solutions to auto dealers, making it easy to create vehicle inventory videos, video emails, dealership branded videos and more. Flick Fusion's innovative SmartFlicks hosting, marketing and distribution platform delivers automated, integrated, rule and behavior-based video content in real-time across multiple channels throughout the entire purchase cycle.

With CRM integration, auto dealers can capture video viewer data from any touchpoint, match that data to customer records in the CRM, and receive real-time alerts when certain viewing parameters are met.

Flick Fusion's mission is to give every consumer a better car shopping experience. Video is proven to capture buyers' attention, build emotional value, increase organic SEO rankings and convert more website visitors into leads. Flick Fusion is the preferred video marketing platform of more than 4,500 brands and partners.