RALPH LAUREN RESEARCH:

Global - Who is Ralph Lauren?

Ralph Lauren is a global leader in the design, marketing, and distribution of luxury lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, footwear & accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. Over 50 years, the brand has been legendary for inspiring the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style. The strong reputation and highly recognisable image have been developed across a wide variety of products, brands, distribution channels, and markets. The brand’s unique selling point is amongst other luxury brands, Ralph Lauren reaches consumers globally with a breadth of product offerings, contributing to one of the world’s most widely recognised families of consumer brands.

Roblox – Why was their collaboration successful?

Ralph Lauren collaborated with Roblox and created a holiday-themed experience, allowing fans to explore the world of Ralph Lauren through the metaverse. ‘The Ralph Lauren Winter Escape’ experience includes engaging winter-themed activities and digital collections. The Polo shops feature eight digital winter sportswear looks, exclusively available for purchase on Roblox. In my opinion, Ralph Lauren’s collaboration with Roblox was a unique brand partnership and was successful because the collaboration builds on the company’s commitment to digital innovation and storytelling. Ralph Lauren is a global leader in premium lifestyle products, and they will continue this legacy by reaching the next generation of consumers and winning them over with the metaverse. According to my primary research 44% of participants heard or had seen either this or the Fortnite collaboration.

Virtual – How are Ralph Lauren transitioning reality into virtuality?

Ralph Lauren is one brand recognised for transitioning reality into virtuality. Their recent collaborations with Roblox and Fortnite have exclusively sold virtual clothing collections in an in-game store for players to customise their avatars. Alongside this, a virtual experience is now available for you to explore a Ralph Lauren store, the technology allows you to direct yourself around the shop and add the merchandised products to your basket.

Dream – How can Ralph Lauren continue to design dreams?

The brands impact extends beyond garments, Ralph Lauren quoted “I don’t design clothes, I design dreams”. To continue with this mission, Ralph Lauren will need to explore new areas of progression and my suggestion is to replicate all they have achieved and implement it into the metaverse. The brand has already been extremely successful in engaging with their consumers life from a variety of directions and now, I believe it is within the interest of customers to live out the dream in their second (virtual) life too. Dreams and the metaverse are similar, they are both a form of escapism and an opportunity for you to engage, immerse, and lose yourself within a concept. The metaverse goes hand-in-hand with Ralph Lauren’s mission to design dreams.

Imagination – What could be next for Ralph Lauren?

The brands core has always been about stepping into the worlds of Ralph Lauren, the next natural extension to develop this idea is for the brand to explore the metaverse and create a fashion-branded world.

Gen-Z – How can Ralph Lauren target Gen-Z?

Gen-Z spend twice as much time socialising in the metaverse (on video games) than in real life and Ralph Lauren is successfully engaging with this generation of consumers through their latest gaming partnerships with Roblox and Fortnight. To gain customer loyalty from Gen-Z, the brand need to continue exploring ideas in this field and to show they are making conscious efforts to cater to this demographic.

Gender – Why is Ralph Lauren a perfect fit for the Metaverse?

In my opinion, when I think about the Ralph Lauren consumer my mind instantly resorts to a particular gender, male. To my knowledge, I believe this is why the brand is already succeeding with its latest collaborations (Roblox and Fortnite) in the metaverse space. Notably, women are narrowing the gap between the percentage of male and female gamers. Men interact more regularly with gaming platforms and my primary research supports this, only 17% said they engage with video games. The metaverse and Ralph Lauren share the similarity of the male gender dominating the market. I believe this supports why this brand is a perfect fit for the metaverse.

Luxury – How can Ralph Lauren make luxury more accessible?

As we progress towards an immersive multiverse (metaverse), the value of virtual products will increase, but for now it is a perfect opportunity for a luxury brand to reach a younger consumer at a lower price point. For those consumers who want to purchase into the Ralph Lauren lifestyle but can’t afford to pay the price for a physical product, the metaverse encourages its users to purchase an in-game replica.

Lifestyle – What lifestyle are they trying to achieve?

Ralph Lauren aims to make their consumers identifiable with the brands lifestyle, they achieve this by encouraging their consumers to purchase their products in every aspect of their life. They print similar themes across all garments, furnishings, and accessories to make it highly recognisable that you’re living the brands lifestyle and living the dream of Ralph Lauren. I noticed this prominently in their recent ‘The Gift of Togetherness’ collection which was the inspiration behind my 360-campaign. However, it is something the brand has been achieving for years. The brand makes it possible for you to paint the interior of your home, furnish your home, dine out, and dress all under the Ralph Lauren label.

Future – What does the future of Ralph Lauren look like?

For me to envision what Ralph Lauren could look like in the future (in a virtual world), it is important to establish what the brand is iconic for. It is reasonable to assume that Ralph Lauren would continue playing on lifestyles and aesthetics they are famous for but add a futuristic twist when implementing concepts into the metaverse. The luxury lifestyle brand could continue its legacy of the iconic polo pony, the cowboy spirit, and the polo bear in a virtual setting, creativity is limitless when thinking about how these factors can be implemented. In my opinion, Ralph Lauren is legendary for their heritage and antique feel, checkered pattern, knit material, colour palette (rustic and earthly tones), and references to the outdoors, animals, and sports. I feel a sense of togetherness and believe this would benefit the brand, Ralph Lauren will need to interact and bring a new tribe of consumers together for the virtual world to be effective.

WHO ELSE IS DOING IT?

Luxury fashion and video gaming are two industries collaborating and growing alliances with one another, but only a minority of brands are beginning to recognise there’s more to the metaverse than gaming. Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, and Moschino are prime examples of this.

Luxury brands are ramping up their metaverse strategy and are beginning to explore it in more ways than virtual clothing. Gucci is launching its virtual world on the real estate platform The Sandbox. The brand has purchased an undisclosed amount of land and is in the process of building immersive experiences on the platform. This new venture for Gucci is the next project following its two-week virtual experience on Roblox. Gucci’s early adoption of digital trends is currently setting it apart from other luxury competitors, this highlights the potential for my FMP despite not having any clear direction of what the land will entail. Adidas has also entered the metaverse by purchasing a portion of land on The Sandbox, and like Gucci, the brand is being secretive and hasn’t disclosed any information regarding what use it is going to make of the land.