As the title suggests, in this short article we will cover a number of points related to 3D visualization and how they can give you an advantage over your competitors as a company.
If you sell directly to customers in your own physical stores or online, you know that good content is one of the biggest factors to increase your sales. In 2022, even brands that are mainly B2B oriented are also forced to support their distributors with convincing images, videos, brochures and everything that will convince the end customer to buy your products from them.
In order to demonstrate how 3D visualizations can offer a competitive advantage, it is easiest to start from a concrete example case. Suppose your company produces luxury carpets and mainly sells them directly to consumers through your webshop.
You can of course go as far as you want in producing 3D visualisations, 3D animations, brochures etc., but let’s assume you have to limit yourself to a budget of €20,000 for the marketing materials of next year’s collection.
Of course you need enough image material for your online advertisements, social media and website: each model must have a number of ‘product photos’ on a white background, as well as a number of images in an environment that the customer would recognize themselves in when using your product. In addition, it has been proven that you can convince your target audience even better through video and that advertisements are also more effective.
In concrete terms, you have a collection of 10 main models, all available in 20 different colours/prints, making a total of 200 unique products.
How most of your competitors would handle it is as follows:
- All 200 unique products must be produced (for the price this is of course very dependent on the product, in the case of our carpet brand we make the assumption that these are €75 production costs per piece, so €15,000 in sample costs for the photos).
- They hire an interior designer (€300-€600 per day on average).
- They hire a photographer for a whole day (€500-€1500 per day on average)
- They hire a videographer to come and make videos for half a day (€500-€1000)
- They rent one or two locations with special furniture that fits the brand and the look they had in mind for the new collection (€500-€3000 per day, depending on the location of course).
- They rent a truck and one or more employees must load the 200 products at the department store and transport them to the location and unload them there. (around €1000 per day for rent, transport, personal expenses)
- A separate setting is set up for the product photos: screens, lights, canvases are set up and must be rented (€200-€500)
- The product photos are taken, of the 200 products, 4 photos are taken per product, about 800 images.
- The photos of the main models are taken, but there appears to be no time to change the product 200 times and to maintain perfect consistency. For example, only 10 photos are taken in the setting.
- Afterwards, the photographer still has to apply post-production to the 810 images. Hopefully this won’t be too bad since the product photos are often easy in post production. Still, the person is busy with this for a few hours to structure and name it all nicely and all in all this costs an extra day in post production (€ 500-€ 1500 per day on average)
- Video editing of a 30s video an extra day of post production around €1500
It’s quite a lot.. we arrive at an amount in total for the estimated costs in this example between € 20,000 and € 40,000, certainly not an unrealistic estimate.
Output: 800 product photos + 10 images in setting + video 30s
Duration: production time samples + organization + post production = 2-3 months
In addition, we can look at a process in which the brand opts for 3D visualization.
- Before the samples are available, we can get started with the plans and photos or descriptions of the materials we have to use.
- The main models are drawn in 3D (estimate €150-€250)
- After that, the variants can be drawn more easily in 3D (€40-€60)
- Then we make one or more settings for the project (€350-€800 per setting)
- Finally, we placed the desired 10 models in the setting and rendered (€100-€250 per image)
- A 3D animation is made of the products (€2000-€4000).
A slightly simpler process, the estimated costs in this example would be between €12,000 and €20,000.
Output: 800 product photos + 10 images in setting + video 30s
Duration: production time samples + organization + post production = 1-2 months
Cost savings: up to 70%
Time savings: 1-2 months
Let’s put these and other benefits together:
1. Flexibility
Suppose the collection changes (which is very often the case) ? Are you going to organize a new shoot for that one product? With 3D visuals, we dive into the model and adjust it accordingly.
Want to see a few extra images in a different setting afterwards? We already have the models, we build a new setting and do a new ‘digital shoot’ so that you quickly have a number of images for e.g. in the middle of the season.
Would you like to see in advance what customers respond best to, so that you can more accurately estimate the demand for certain products or colours? Quickly test a number of colors and models long before they are even in production and respond smarter to this.
2. Launch faster
Test quickly, quickly add some extra images and save an incredible amount of time. The assumption of 2-3 months that we made may even be too optimistic for many brands. For example, if you work with 3D, you can already have the entire brochure ready, long before the products even go into production.
3. No Limitations
In the example above, we even assume a ‘normal’ and local location. Suppose you want to rent an incredibly exclusive loft in New York? That is simply impossible, unless you have to pay tens of thousands of euros for this. Or a gigantic villa in the South of France? Bringing all your stuff there and renting a house can quickly cost you ten thousand euros more.
In the above cases we are still talking about ‘real’ examples of locations. Suppose you find a utopian, non-existent setting better suited for your brand? Or on top of a mountain top or an unreachable ‘magical’ forest with made-up environmental elements? Everything is possible in 3D.
4. You Own Your Products as“Digital Assets”
Suppose you are going to make models afterwards that are very similar to your previous products, then you can start from the existing 3D model and make adjustments a lot easier.
More and more applications are also coming online that make a 3D model very useful. Just think of configurators, product spin around tools (where you can show all sides of a product) and maybe another interesting one: the metaverse. Read a little more about the possibilities of the meta fresh and your products in the blog we wrote about it here.
5. Possible savings in budget
Depending on the complexity and quantity of products and the location and type of location of your setting, you may be able to make significant savings by working with 3D visualisations.
If you have a large collection with a huge number of variants of certain main models, 3D will often be cheaper. Of course, photo shoots at locations that are very far or expensive are also better done with a 3D model process. For example, we can also use expensive props or furniture (such as certain limited edition products or expensive designer furniture) in the model.
We hope that this way we have been able to show you some new perspectives on creating new marketing material for your brand. As you can see, it depends on a number of factors, but a choice for 3D visualization can in many cases be a true ‘no brainer’. Curious about the possibilities for your products or concept? We are happy to look at the possibilities with you, feel free to send us an email using the form below.
