“Gamification in fashion presents an enormous
elling beauty pop up, the Coco Chanel Game
opportunity to communicate with and deep-
Center. This took the form of a multi-floor space
ly engage loyal consumers,” James Gardner,
that offered plenty of opportunity for all, from
founder of CreatetheGroup. “Fashion is itself a
arcade-style visual merchandising to customised
game, after all”. With games such as Farmville
arcade games, Chanel delivered a unique, playful
receiving over 700 million installs over the past
setting for its consumers to discover their new
decade (Wilson, 2019), it only seems logical that
products.
the fashion world incorporates this. Early May saw Nike launch a VR landscape, the Most fashion companies are already prominent
Nike 720 Air Store, where shoppers could access
in the digital sphere with websites, editorial
limited edition items once they had earned cred-
content, mobile commerce and social media
its from a previous real-life purchase. The pop-up
outreach, so this new form of engagement is a
store, which went live upon the launch of the
tactical way that brands are hoping to increase
new Air Max 720 style, can be visited by any-
brand loyalty. “When you reward a customer
one whereas the items are only available to buy
based on the success of their actions, the value
once the user has entered their order number
and the perception from that consumer increas-
for purchasing a pair of the new trainers. This
es, thereby maintaining a brand image,” Macala
essentially acts as a reward system for buying
Wright, digital marketing consultant, founder
the new trainers, which provides pleasure and
and CEO of Why This Way and editor in chief of
harvests a boost in consumer loyalty. Upon en-
FashionablyMarketing.me (Adams, 2012).
tering the order number, you are provided with ‘Air Credits’, which are put into a virtual wallet,
The first wave of experiential retail with the in-
and allows users to purchase the items that they
stallation of tablets and other technology simply
can see on their screens. The collection includes
is no longer enough. Consumers now more than
digitised items such as Air Max 720-themed wa-
ever crave experiences and therefore technology
ter bottles, socks and sticker. This virtual store
savvy brands are offering compelling activations
also expanded into the physical realm, with an
to entice consumers back into their stores. For
installation in the Oxford Circus flagship store in
example, Chanel Beauty jumped on the gaming
London (Bezamat, 2019).
band wagon in 2018, opening their first trav-
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