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

14 Jul 2024

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.