360 Recruitment Videos

As part of its recruitment strategies and to educate the public, the Austrian Armed Forces relies on the use of 360° videos to showcase the Army's extensive missions in the most effective way possible, and thereby inspire potential new candidates to join the military and their diverse departments.

About the client

The Austrian Armed Forces are the military of the Republic of Austria. Its responsibilities include the military defense of the country and it has about 14,000 professional soldiers.

The Challenge

The Austrian Armed Forces (Bundesheer) is Austria's central military organization responsible for the country's defense. Its primary missions are the protection of institutions and democratic freedoms of Austrian citizens, as well as maintaining order and security inside the country and, especially, rendering assistance during catastrophes and disasters of exceptional magnitude.

The need of the Bundesheer for this project was to create a visual tool to illustrate their involvement in each of their assigned missions so that people would get an accurate idea of the duties and responsibilities of the Austrian Army and as a result, would want to actively support it.

Other than that the Austrian Armed Forces needed an effective talent recruiting communication tool as part of their new corporate innovation strategy. The process had to accurately illustrate the complexity of a staff training program, while simultaneously awaken the interest of potential candidates.

The Solution

Each Defense institution focuses on missions of different nature depending on the priorities of the country they belong to. Austria is no exception. This is the reason why we decided to showcase the Austrian Army’s particular missions for viewers to learn about the specific focus of each of these assignments through a series of 360 video episodes.

These included:

Helicopter flight: Black 72
Alpine Skirmish
Combat mission
Helicopter flight
Rescue mission

Each of the episodes displays an exciting mission which the viewers can become part of, instead of being passive spectators. Each video serves as an introductory training tool for new soldiers as well as a recruitment tool for potential candidates.

Helicopter flight: Black 72

Black 72 is an immersive recruitment tool for the Austrian Armed Forces’ helicopter division. It focuses on a crucial moment in the life of aspiring military pilots –their very first assignment. This stereoscopic 360 video immerses users into the excitement and anxiety of a rookie pilot, the thrill of conquering the skies, and the immense satisfaction of a successful mission.

To create a genuine feeling and atmosphere of flying a helicopter mission for the first time, Black 72 incorporated the latest 360 video technology available in the market, such as the Insta360 Titan. The production also included in-house solutions to fix cameras in and outside helicopters, resisting extreme curves, airspeeds of 300 km/h, and altitudes up to 800 meters. Black 72 also integrated a specifically tailored film score and ambisonic sound effects that put an additional accent on the story and emphasize tension. As a result, viewers could experience the same adrenaline rush, emotions, and feelings of a military pilot on a mission.

Black 72 became a paradigm of next-gen high-quality 360 video thanks to its immense leap of quality in equipment and unique storytelling. As a result, the Austrian Armed Forces gained an innovative new approach to military recruitment that provided aspiring candidates with an accurate and engaging taste of a military career experience.

In 2020, Black 72 has won the prestigious Silver Victoria Award from the International Wirtschaftsfilmtage.

Alpine Skirmish

Once again, we wanted to give the audience the feeling of participating in the sometimes very adventurous and extreme missions. In order to make this experience possible in an authentic and realistic way, we staged and filmed real combat missions in the mountains with the Austrian Armed Forces in winter 2018. These experiences can now be accessed at any time using VR headsets and allow the viewer not only to see the experience, but also to feel and sense it. They are up close to the action and experience the full impact of the mission for themselves.

Combat mission

Helicopter flight

Rescue mission

The result

Due to the high success of the videos, the Austrian Armed Forces decided to commission a set of episodes showcasing more of their missions. The implementation of the 360 video format proved to be an effective channel for boosting the response of viewers to the message communicated, providing a considerable increase in booth visits during fairs and events, as well as a successful recruitment tool due to a higher engagement level from younger audiences.

See the videos here.