To launch its swimwear range, this multi-sensory and interactive VR installation, whisked customers from the Topshop store on a virtual waterslide that looped around London’s Oxford Circus.

The physical installation began with a swimming pool scene in the window of the store, made from moulded resin sheets lit to mimic water reflection. Inside, a 65-metre fake waterslide snaked around each floor. Coconut and sunscreen scents were pumped around the floors with the sounds of people splashing, flowing water and seagulls to emulate the feeling of being at a water park in summer. Apparently, the effect was so convincing that a lot of customers asked where they could get on the slide to ride through the store.

For the VR experience, shoppers sat at the top of the real slide where they were given a headset and headphones. They were then taken on a journey spiralling out across Oxford Circus over traffic and across Regent Street, through a Topshop billboard into a psychedelic tunnel before parachuting down onto a beach below.

View all the winning work from The Annual 2018 here.

Entrant: YourStudio.Managing Director: Tom Philipson. Creative Director: Howard Sullivan.Associate Director: Tom Edington. Topshop Senior Design Manager: Jodie Smith.