In June, Meta was launching its first metaverse campaign since the company’s rebrand. The work aimed to highlight the kinds of immersive shared experiences that the metaverse enables, and show people how this new technology can have a positive impact in their lives.
The timing aligned with Father’s Day in the U.S. which inspired the idea.
Insight: A lot of great dads are crummy at video calls and talking on the phone, but they’re awesome at hanging out.
So for Father’s Day, we told the story of a real dad and daughter who live far apart and brought them together in the metaverse for a long overdue fishing trip.
For an unscripted docu-style film, Fishing with Dad was surprisingly complicated to make.
Conceptually, it was important to us that the story and virtual experience were real and portrayed authentically.
We partnered with Real VR Fishing, a popular multiplayer fishing game for Meta Quest.
Next, we had to find a real dad and their adult kid who lived far apart, wished they could hang out more, and had a history of fishing together. Not to mention being good on camera while wearing VR goggles.
The metaverse and VR are brand new to most people, especially non-gamers. The team had to balance our desire to capture authentic first-time ‘wow’ reactions with the logistical reality of needing to onboard newbies to the unfamiliar tech (so we didn’t burn time on shoot day.)
Documenting the shared VR experience took three crews working in tandem – one capturing the dad in Missouri. Another capturing the daughter in California. And a third capturing them fishing together inside the metaverse.
The final challenge was weaving the setup, the backstory, and the VR experience into a cohesive narrative in thirty seconds.
Fishing with Dad is exactly the kind of story Meta set out to tell. The film is a heartwarming and relatable example of how the metaverse can overcome physical distance to connect people in fun, meaningful new ways.
With over 10 million views and counting, Mel and Carson’s story continues to open eyes to the new kinds of immersive shared experiences made possible by the metaverse, and the positive effect it can have on their lives.
