Brand engagement & activation ideas
We look at the top 5 trends emerging from the S/S ‘22 catwalk and what parallel lessons we can apply from that to other industries we work with.
The continued cross-pollination of retail, experiential marketing, media and tech, reflected several key show initiatives which showed new fan behaviours and brand opportunities.
This included two pop culture collaborations – Balenciaga X The Simpsons and Yahoo’s multi-faceted concept with Selfridges, which teamed up British designer Charli Cohen X Pokémon.
The Immersive Dept. Store: Yahoo Ryot Lab x Selfridges + Charli Cohen
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of cult video game Pokémon, Yahoo Ryot Lab (Yahoo’s immersive storytelling division) has collaborated with UK department store Selfridges and British fashion designer Charli Cohen on Electric/City – a virtual shopping experience selling both digital and physical limited-edition goods.
Combining 3D virtual environments, digital clothing software, motion capture, blockchain-residing collectibles and AR, the 360° video game-esque virtual experience (accessible via mobile or desktop) allows fans to explore an extraordinary cyberpunk landscape full of dark, neon-lit streets. ‘In-game’ hotspots let them buy both garments from the Pokémon physical collection (for at-home delivery) while an immersive store stocks four digital-only pieces that are stored in a unique web-wallet by Swiss blockchain specialists BlockV. This reputedly enables the owner to wear the item in hundreds of other virtual communities including VRChat, Somnium Space and Mozilla Hubs. People can also create their own avatars, dressed in Cohen’s garments.
Additionally, the physical collection unleashes an additional experience – access to an AR body-tracking Snapchat lens allows fans to also digitally wear the same outfit (and share it on social media).
Cult Cartoon Kicks: Balenciaga x The Simpsons
Immortalising (or at least seeking to insert itself) in pop cultural history, after getting guests to render themselves models by walking a red carpet catwalk to a viewing room, Balenciaga presented a bespoke episode of US cartoon The Simpsons. In the short film, Balenciaga employees including creative director Demna Gvasalia were animated, wearing full past-season Balenciaga clothing while the cartoon’s famous cast wore some of the brand’s most iconic looks. At the time of publishing the film has garnered over 4.7m views.
Balenciaga is no stranger to pushing the envelope for catwalk shows (or their equivalents) to maintain relevance with younger luxury fans.
NFT Collectibles: Yahoo Ryot Lab x Rebecca Minkoff
Another Yahoo project (this time for NYFW, with longstanding partner US brand Rebecca Minkoff) focuses on NFTs (blockchain-supported digital assets). Viewers on desktop or mobile virtually roamed semi-fictionalised parts of NYC punctuated by photographs of key looks, and a stylised version of her SoHo flagship, similarly featuring model portraits.
In both instances, the interactive artworks were actually NFTs; on clicking one, a pop-out window appeared allowing them to place a bid, facilitated by US NFT marketplace OpenSea. Additionally, those participating via mobile could scan an AR-activating QR code to bring the experience in-home. This revealed a vignette of New York overlaid onto their surroundings to scale, complete with audio effects such as honking cars.
Completing the virtual circle, the entire physical collection was replicated in 3D and sold on British-German virtual goods marketplace The Dematerialised
The DIY Virtual Fashion Shoot: Dandelion + Burdock x V&A’s Pose XR
Giving fashion fans the chance to play art director with their own virtual shoot, the UK’s Victoria & Albert Museum(V&A) collaborated with London College of Fashion’s Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) and experiential tech specialists Dandelion + Burdock on Pose XR.
The mixed-reality tool is anchored in a series of volumetric videos (volumetric capture converts a person, object or place into 3D digital data, and then reproduces it as a realistic, high-quality image that can be viewed 360°). This allows fans to manipulate the model, objects and environment via web browser control, so they can direct the imagery via desktop or mobile. Dandelion + Burdock has stated its intention to follow up with a solution whereby the viewer will be able to download the setting they’ve created in the form of a gif or video.
While not related to a specific brand, the concept – launched as part of the V&A’s Digital Weekend during London Fashion Week during September – reveals a key opportunity for brands to create a vital bond with fans via interactivity, based on the brand’s own assets.
Holographic Humanisation: Yahoo Ryot Lab x Christian Cowan
A third Yahoo Ryot Lab project sought to democratise access to the shows with a multi-stage (transmedia) web-based augmented reality (WebAR) activation. Initially, a highly realistic hologram of Cowan was constructed via over 100 volumetric capture cameras, rendering him in sufficient detail for a 360° view in AR (on a mobile device).
Pre-show fans could scan a QR code on his website, an e-invite, or social media promos to surface the hologram, with the context-aware AR scaling him to fit the users’ surroundings, before delivering a personal invitation to the show. When the collection arrives in spring 2022, codes embedded in the physical tags of the collection itself will unleash another Cowan clone to regale fans with details regarding its inspirations and production.
Key Learnings / Future Insights
Action WebAR
WebAR is an important transformative technology, near guaranteed to achieve high penetration, thanks to its ability to virtually ‘transport’ products or people into users’ surroundings with simplicity (no app download required). Use it to humanise your digital experience, creating a direct link between fans and your brand, before and after an event.
Deliver a Physical Digital Split
One of the most ground-breaking aspects of the Electric/City project between Selfridges, Yahoo Ryot Lab, Pokémon and Charli Cohen is its doubling on selling both digital and items from within the same experience. Look to this as a template for an increasingly hybridised era where consumers will prize their digital identity as much as their IRL one.
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