Amid a luxury retail slump, Versace turns to the digital world

Versace is emerging as an unexpected frontrunner in the Web3 race. Hot on the heels of its augmented reality-powered filter collaboration with Snap, the Italian house has joined forces with Fortnite on a limited-edition activation, designed to bring players closer to its products. As more luxury brands tap gaming platforms as a promotional vehicle, how are consumer expectations evolving? In other news this week, the number of high street retailers harnessing emerging tech is increasing. On Friday, Mango released its latest campaign, generated entirely using artificial intelligence, while Gen Z hotspot Bershka has added interactive filters to its dedicated shopping app to further engage its youthful, digital-native audience base. Versace teams up with Fortnite on gamified activation What happened: Versace has made its foray into the Fortnite metaverse with a new, limited-time campaign dedicated to its Mercury sneakers. The experience, which kicked off earlier this week, invites players to wear the sneaker in-game for a limited time within one of Fortnite’s most popular creative maps – Murder Mystery. Within the map, audiences can explore an archaeological dig site and compete to be the first to find the sneaker, a digital treasure that will provide them with special in-game rewards. The verdict: Brands are increasingly harnessing gaming platforms to promote their latest products, as well as forge new communication lines with digital savvy consumers. But with more luxury labels now incorporating gaming into their marketing strategies, consumer expectations are rising. Which gaming channel a brand opts to collaborate with, for example, can massively impact an activation’s outcome. Fortnite in particular has its limitations. “You can't sell items, it's very hard to monetize, and you can't reach a vast audience because it all depends on where you are in the category channel on the epic store. A lot of these things put together make it quite difficult for brands to justify a Fortnight experience,” Charles Hambro, co-founder of Geeiq said during a webinar earlier this year. Mango releases entirely AI-generated campaign What happened: High-street retailer Mango has deployed the creative prowess of machine learning for its new “Sunset Dream” campaign, as part of the brand’s Teen clothing division. The AI-generated images depict models – machine made, not human – sporting the label’s new clothing collection against a backdrop inspired by the Middle East. According to Mango, the creation process began with shooting real photos of each garment in the collection, followed by training a generative AI model to learn how to create images by positioning the real garments on a model. Once the images were created with AI, the retailer’s art team selected, retouched, and edited the visuals. The verdict: AI generated content remains a tricky avenue to navigate for brands. On the one hand, machine learning can significantly improve and streamline a company’s creative process, while enabling design teams to take creative risks. On the other, the argument as to whether the tech is displacing jobs remains rife. Last year, for instance, Levi's AI generated models went viral after stirring controversy. The brand was accused of utilizing AI as a means of sidestepping paying real models. Meanwhile, brands like Casablanca have found a happy medium in tapping the tech while maintaining the human touch. Adidas, Manchester United co-launch phygital collection What happened: Coinciding with the unveiling of its new home kit for Manchester United FC for the 2024/25 season on July 1, Adidas dropped the uniform’s digital wearable counterpart into Roblox for players to try on and interact with. Created in partnership with Dubit, the sportswear label has designed a bespoke avatar clothing shop, where players can browse Manchester United-related products, within the “adidas Outfit Creator” experience on Roblox. The verdict: Adidas understands where the next generation of football fans is socializing and spending (read: their parent’s) money. Sports experiences on Roblox have demonstrated impressive engagement among players, such as Fifa World, which has recorded over 21 million visits since launching in 2022. Adidas’ latest project enables fans to show their support and express themselves in the digital world, in turn leveraging the brand's real-world impact. It also offers a more financially accessible alternative for younger football fans (prices for the new Manchester United home kit come in at over 100 British pounds, or $130) who may be unable to afford the real thing. Meta Bites The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has announced that the finalists of its latest competition will appear in a new mobile fashion game, coined 'Fashion League,' set to launch during September's New York Fashion Week. Players will be able to interact with the 10 finalists’ digitized designs, as well as compete in a series of challenges and gamified experiences. Bershka has introduced AR filters directly into its exclusive shopping app. Powered by Snap, the new Digital Fitting Room feature enables customers to try on 26 digital filters for clothes, accessories, and special effects, featuring collaborations with DressX. Under the Bershka Print Shop category, visitors can also explore the brand's “Wearable Art” phygital collection via QR codes. Glenfiddich has launched a rare 39-year-old whisky cask bottling exclusively on NFT beverage marketplace BlockBar. 150 bottles of the rare Glenfiddich 1985 cask were available via a sealed bid auction (a first for both BlockBar and Glenfiddich) on BlockBar's site from July 8 to 12. Winners also received a VIP distillery experience and overnight stay at one of the William Grant & Sons houses on the estate.

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Amid a luxury retail slump, Versace turns to the digital world