Prada Candy Florale comic book
Channel boundaries continued to blur in the second quarter of 2014 as luxury marketers sought to connect in-store efforts with digital.
Often paired with an event or overarching campaign strategy, marketers looked to create innovative multichannel experiences. By extending the presence of a campaign to various channels, brand touchpoints appeared more organic and were likely to leave a lasting impression on consumers.
Here are the top 10 luxury brand multichannel marketers of the second quarter of 2014, in alphabetical order:
Maluca Mala for B&O Play and Opening Ceremony
Bang & Olufsen with Opening Ceremony – The Sound of Fashion
Danish audio and video company Bang & Olufsen partnered with retailer Opening Ceremony to increase awareness for its B&O Play Form Ai headphone collection.
“The Sound of Fashion” partnership was founded on the similarity between how the brands approach music, design and fashion. When establishing a working relationship, brands should target like-minded companies that share common codes and values.
B&O Play and Opening Ceremony worked together to create a “happy and carefree New York universe filled with bright splashy colors and high energy.” To best capture the brand and retailer’s lifestyle they selected a track by hip-house artist Maluca Mala titled “Trigger” for a campaign video.
In addition to its digital campaign, the partnership extends to the in-store experience as well. Within Opening Ceremony locations in London and New York are B&O Play-powered listening stations where consumer can listen to music to experience the sound quality of the brand’s headphones.
The BMW i3 Experience test-drives
BMW i3 test drives, microsite
German automaker BMW looked to boost test-drive registrations with an interactive video campaign that showed ordinary people in various countries driving the i3 for the first time.
The “BMW i3 Experience” campaign centered on a microsite that lets fans go for a drive with regular people that have never had an experience with an electric vehicle. The open-ended nature of the campaign allows the brand to travel from country to country to appeal to new markets.
Viewers could switch to another team at any point and there are also multiple filters through which to screen the experience. The speed filter showed drivers testing the car’s speed, the donuts filter showed drivers doing donuts and the special filter captured entertaining moments.
BMW capitalized on the potential interest generated by including a “request a test drive” button on the bottom right corner.
Twitter photo from Burberry
Burberry London to Shanghai event
British fashion label Burberry celebrated the opening of its Shanghai flagship store with an immersive theatrical event.
To connect with consumers in the store’s market, the brand posted content on Chinese messaging platform WeChat, with which Burberry has a digital innovation partnership. Leading up to the event, Burberry included its global followers in the preparation, posting a series of photos of the journey from London to Shanghai.
Also, to drive more traffic to the newly opened store, Burberry created a limited-edition collection of men’s and women’s apparel that retailed exclusively at the Shanghai store beginning April 25.
On April 24, Burberry hosted an event in Shanghai that allowed consumers to experience the brand’s heritage, connection to music and originality. During the event, Burberry provided special content to its followers on Chinese social platform WeChat.
Dior’s latest fragrance range, Dior Addict
Dior’s wonDiorland
French atelier Christian Dior expanded its wonDiorland initiative’s digital touchpoints with exclusive mobile content that enhanced the desktop experience.
By entering a device-specific four-digit code found on Dior’s mobile site for wonDiorland, consumers could discover additional content developed from the brand’s latest fragrance, Dior Addict. The addition of this mobile-to-desktop tactic aligned with Dior’s ongoing approach for the fragrance launch that included a dedicated Facebook account to attract brand enthusiasts.
For instance, the first slide called “The inspiration,” the consumer reads that the fragrance is a “journey of initiation similar to a treasure hunt towards a new identity.” A blue phone icon told the consumer that more features could be accessed via her mobile device.
By placing a finger of her mobile device, the consumer could “go to the other side of the mirror” shown on the desktop version. When a finger is pressed on the screen, a model is shown in a gown against a blue background to show the dreamlike state of Dior Addict while the desktop shows the model’s movements.
Harrods’ Color Explosion imagery
Harrods summer magazine, beauty events tie-in
London department store Harrods put beauty in the “hands of the app holder” with digital content on its branded magazine application to support its month-long, in-store cosmetic event series.
Harrods dedicated the June issue of its magazine app to an “app-solute color explosion” meant to act as an introduction to the retailer’s Summer Beauty Festival. The magazine content explored the latest summer beauty trends, while the in-store events acted as personalized demonstrations that propeled the theme of the June edition.
By tapping the plus icon found on the images, readers could view what products were used to create the pigment-dusted looks featured in the article’s imagery, but the article is not mobile commerce enabled.
Harrods’ Summer Beauty Festival includes make-up masterclasses, summer skin-prepping, gifts and month-long beauty exclusives. The festival also included summer beauty-themed events such as face and body treatments, bespoke makeovers, Q&As and complementary products.
Hublot Loves Football campaign
Hublot’s “Hublot Loves Football” world tour & microsite
Hublot strengthened its connection to the world of soccer through its international “Hublot Loves Football” campaign in the weeks leading up to the start of the FIFA World Cup June 12.
The global tour took Hublot from country-to-country where the watchmaker had been awarding local head coaches with timepieces, hosting events and debuting its “Official Watch” of the international soccer matches.
To keep retention levels high in the days before the first match on June 12, Hublot announced to its social media followers that its dedicated World Cup microsite was live.
Fans could also use the Hublot microsite to be kept up to date on the weather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and know what matches are coming up. The microsite also included an area dedicated to legendary Brazilian footballer Pelé, who is also a Hublot ambassador and the inspiration for the Classic Fusion Chronograph Pelé.
Hublot also funded the construction of a playground in a Rio de Janerio neighborhood during the World Cup.
Mercedes-Benz in Mario Kart Japan
Mercedes-Benz GLA in Nintendo’s Mario Kart
German automaker Mercedes-Benz enlisted Nintendo’s Mario and friends to help raise awareness for its GLA model.
The new GLA is being released in Japan, about the same time as Nintendo’s Mario Kart 8, and the two companies joined to promote the new compact sport-utility vehicle by providing it as an option for characters to race. Mario’s upgrade from a go-kart to a Mercedes-Benz indicates the increasing importance of gaming alignment for auto brands.
Nintendo upgraded its characters’ vehicles with a temporary free download of the Mercedes-Benz GLA. The option to download the “GLA Kart” will be available this summer on Mario Kart 8 for Wii U in Japan.
Mercedes-Benz released an ad that coincided with the game’s release date. The 30-second commercial features an 8-bit version of the popular Nintendo game, Super Mario Brothers, instead of a view of Mario Kart 8.
Prada Candy Florale comic book
Prada Candy Florale comic book
Italy’s Prada expanded the narrative of the female protagonist in its Candy fragrance campaigns with a comic book.
Housed on a dedicated section of Prada’s Web site, the comic book took Prada’s “Candy” character on a sci-fi journey to discover the newest Candy fragrance, Candy Florale. Creating a comic book, rather than a social video, to tell this aspect of Candy’s story allowed Prada to hold consumer attention longer using a more engaging format.
When the full PDF version of the “Candy’s Fantastic Voyage” comic book is downloaded, the consumer can scroll through the 15-page story. The consumer reads that when Candy asked the universe for a new fragrance, it answered by sending a rocket on an expedition to collect flowers on different planets to create her scent.
Back on Prada’s Web site, the consumer can share four animated frames from the Candy Florale comic book on Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook or download for other purposes. The consumer can also select to share two campaign images of Ms. Seydoux, who stars in the film version of the effort.
Screenshot of Prada’s Pradasphere microsite
Prada’s Pradasphere microsite, Harrods event
Italian fashion label Prada expanded the audience of its London exhibit at Harrods with a microsite dedicated to past campaigns.
Prada’s Pradasphere microsite provided both multimedia from the exhibit itself and also gave a look at runway shows and advertising images dating back to the 1980s. Creating this hub for consumers to view the house’s past likely boosted awareness of Prada’s heritage and served as an extension of the physical exhibit.
Pradasphere was a branded takeover of London department store Harrods through the month of May. The in-store experience, which opened May 2, included a pop-up shop, an exhibit, a café and window displays that educated consumers about the brand’s connection to art and pop culture. Through these displays across the store, Harrods was able to bring Italy into its doors and Prada spread awareness for its history and cultural projects.
On the Pradasphere microsite, when the consumer hit the “past” button, the spiral moved older content closer to them. Each thumbnail allowed for a viewing of either a campaign video, slideshow of advertising images or a video of a runway show.
The oldest entry was the fall/winter 1987 campaign, a black and white series showing a woman in bed or sitting next to a train track clutching a Prada handbag.
Chiara Ferragni wearing Tod’s Gommino on Dots of Life
Tod’s Gommino UGC microsite
Italian apparel and accessories label Tod’s put the spotlight on stylish fans with a user-generated microsite centered on its Gommino loafer.
Tod’s “Dots of Life” campaign asked consumers to submit photos of themselves wearing the Gommino, which were then compiled by the brand into an online gallery. This campaign gave fans of the brand a moment in the spotlight, while also showcasing the many varied wardrobes the shoes fit into.
The brand teased the microsite through social media, where it posted images of international bloggers wearing its Gommino across its Facebook and Instagram accounts. Each day of the campaign, Tod’s posted the best user-submitted photo to Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, as well as feature it on its Web site.
Final Take
Jen King, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York