‘Going Places’: Bottega Veneta stokes Gen Z wanderlust in China

In the Summer 2024 collection now in stores across China, pieces like the Andiamo bag, which blew up on Xiaohongshu, and a subsequent Fall/Winter 2024 collection debuted at Milan Fashion Week this February, Bottega Veneta’s Matthieu Blazy — who was promoted to creative director in 2021 — appears to be refining his direction for the Italian luxury house. The result is a return to the brand’s roots of understated elegance and leather craft, without forsaking the bold experimentation that attracted a new generation of fans to Bottega Veneta under his predecessor. The Kering-owned brand is capitalizing on this fresh creative energy as well as the resilience of China’s luxury market, which is expected to grow by approximately 12% in 2024, according to Yaok Research Institute’s China Luxury Goods Report 2024, with its latest multi-pronged marketing campaign in China themed “Going Places.” The campaign links the brand spirit of craft and creativity with the current yearnings of Chinese luxury consumers — specifically younger generations — for culture, travel, discovery, and self-expression. In this latest partnership feature, Jing Daily unpacks how the campaign embraces different components and environments to build connections with consumers in China. Going places, literally and metaphorically Amid global financial pressures, consumer preferences are shifting to quality over quantity and pieces that retain value over time. Consequently, the high-end leather goods segment is experiencing a surge in demand, with minimalism and practicality a leading trend. The Hurun Research Institute predicts high-net-worth consumers in China will continue to pursue travel, a higher quality lifestyle, and improved wellness. “Bottega Veneta is in essence pragmatic … It is about movement, of going somewhere; there is fundamentally an idea of craft in motion,” says Blazy. This premise has inspired Blazy’s work at Bottega Veneta over the past three years and enables the brand to highlight its legacy of fine leather craftsmanship from Venice while simultaneously resonating with today’s consumers globally. Echoing the Summer 24 collection of “elevated everyday” looks to wear on trips and around town, Going Places also addresses the aspirational. It invites consumers to “dress to be whoever you would like to be,” appealing to Gen Z’s desire for self-expression, exploration, and escapism. Tying together these broad influences, the campaign is divided across three activations curated for the China market: a pop-up store, collectible fanzines, and city walk guides to six Chinese cities. Different angles Bringing a splash of wanderlust to one of Shanghai’s most luxurious malls, a pop-up store recreated parts of the Summer 24 catwalk in the main atrium of Plaza 66 on Nanjing West Road in March. A colorfully painted map of continents and oceans across the floor and walls set the explorative tone, leading visitors into an origami-style globe showcasing season highlights, including the popular Città and Cha-Cha bags. Olympic diving champion Guo Jingjing, swimming champion Ning Zetao, and table tennis champion Xu Xin, along with actresses Dong Jie and Zhou Yutong and idol singer Mika, brought celebrity buzz to the opening. In tandem with the offline event, the brand’s WeChat platform launched an artificial reality game mini-program where more than 143,000 visitors embarked on virtual interactive adventures around the pop-up store to collect animal stamps and animated stickers. Sharing stories Now in its fourth edition, limited-edition fanzines are proving to be an effective way for the Italian house to explore deeper levels of storytelling and fan engagement. The publication offers insights into Blazy’s creative process behind the Summer 24 collection alongside art photography by Alec Soth, and behind-the-scenes images, sketches, stickers. Fans can integrate themselves into the story via a travel notebook. “The fanzine allows any reader, anywhere, to join that journey and to imagine and record their own escapes and adventures — whether in the world or their creativity,” says Blazy. As well as being available in Bottega Veneta stores across China, for the first time the fanzine can also be found at selected bookstores globally, including Wallpaper*-affiliated Juanzong Books in Beijing, Ananya, and Xiamen, and Tsutaya Bookstore in Shanghai. Engaging with China’s burgeoning bookstore movement shows cultural nous. Popular among young urbanites who prioritize cultural experiences and a more contemplative lifestyle, these cultivated spaces offer an ideal environment to showcase the brand ethos and kindle aspirations through Bottega Veneta’s lens of art, fashion, and culture. Taking to the streets Encouraging physical exploration, the final component of the campaign is Città Tour, a series of city guides created in partnership with Conde Nast Traveler curated for “the most adventurous and trendsetting young people today.” Like bookstores, China’s city walk trend has become a status symbol among young, well-educated, and affluent urbanites since the pandemic. Walks satisfy a desire for slow-paced, low-carbon living. They also tend to be closely documented on users’ social media and therefore involve dressing up for the journey. Bottega Veneta’s city guides, including audio tours narrated by celebrities, reveal hidden treasures in each city, spanning art galleries, must-visit sites, dining and drinking hotspots, sport and healing experiences and, of course, shopping. A focus on art and culture draws parallels with the Summer 24 collection themes. Chinese tourists are expected to make more than 6 billion domestic trips in 2024, according to a report from the China Tourism Academy, with niche destinations and experiences increasingly popular drawcards, particularly for high-spending women travelers. The city guides provide a personal, experiential way to share Bottega Veneta’s spirit of sophisticated urban exploration. The guides cover Chengdu, Changsha, Beijing, Qingdao, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. This selection itself highlights the brand’s fearlessness to go beyond the well-trodden luxury path. As Bottega Veneta hones its direction under Blazy, the seasonal collections along with the bolstered China marketing strategy stand out for tapping established trends with a sense of detail. And by deepening cultural resonance and igniting fashionable wanderlust among high-end buyers and aspirational consumers, Bottega Veneta is likely to continue going places in China.

‘Going Places’: Bottega Veneta stokes Gen Z wanderlust in China

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Published May 07, 2024

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‘Going Places’: Bottega Veneta stokes Gen Z wanderlust in China