Metaverse and Gucci – a great marketing plan

Gucci and Vans have both built experiences on Roblox before, albeit separately. Now they are back there again – but this time, they are together.

Gucci and Vans are combining their pre-existing virtual worlds on a new Roblox project and launching new digital goods and gaming. This new Roblox project links Gucci Town and Vans World and sends players on a scavenger hunt in it – where they have to collect fabrics and patterns, jumping between the two worlds via showbox-style portals. Once they finish their hunt, they can redeem their swatches for shoe accessories or skateboard backpacks or other co-branded items for their Roblox avatars to wear for free.

This is not the first foray into Metaverse for Gucci. It did a Webby award-winning, two-week Gucci Garden experience in May 2021. It also had a temporary space on The Sandbox, where it offered NFT-brd wearables. It set up the Gucci Vault Land which was designed to be a gamified “landing space” for its Web3 efforts. Gucci also has NFT projects and partnerships through its Dream Big team, dedicated to solely to metaverse and Web3.

This partnership with Vans is the first time ever that Gucci has shared metaverse space with another brand. Vans has its own hugely successful Vans World Roblox experience.

Roblox has established itself as the destination for fashion experiments. Brands like Nike, Tommy Hilfiger and Karlie Kloss have spaces there. Brands like Rebecca Minkoff, Dundas and Burberry sell Roblox wearables. It has influenced strategies for virtual stores (seen in Clinique’s recent space) and Metaverse Fashion Week.

Metaverse burst onto the technological landscape as a perfect place for fashion brands to offer their customers a far more immersive experience than they have been able to hitherto.

But after an initial burst of glory, it seems to have spun itself into negative press, scandals about crypto and apparent ruin. The entrance of the more vibrant and alive AI only seemed to be the final nail in the coffin.

But is that really so?

While several brands are shying away from the Metaverse with even mammoths like Disney deciding to quit the digital space, on the one hand, not all is lost.

Absolut Vodka went back to a metaverse activation for Coachella. For the second time! And now, here is Gucci doing it, again for the second time!

Metaverse is great for fashion brands – the bigger the brand name, the better the fit almost. Customers who can’t imagine buying anything from their physical store can pop in here and get wearables for their avatars. And for such die-hard fans of the brand, buying a physical item from the brand is but a tiny step away. A great marketing strategy!

The next smart strategic move by Gucci was to bring in gamification. Everyone knows that branding alone just won’t do for a successful metaverse activation. You need something else to keep your customers engaged and immersed in the experience it offers. And what better way than gamification!? You play a game, here a scavenger hunt, find all the prints and patterns and swatches and you win wearables for your avatar! Many large brands have seen successes doing just that!

Gucci and Vans already has a physical collaboration going – sneakers called Gucci Continuum x Vans. This metaverse version that is now available for the Roblox players also echoes the physical versions of the Gucci Continuum drop. A very smart Phygital strategy, if one might say so.

With big brands like Gucci and Absolut among so many others still seeking the metaverse as their orbit of choice to engage with their customers, one wonders if one can even think of writing off the many facets of Web 3. Metaverse at least seems to be doing well!