French fashion and perfumery house Givenchy Parfums is foraying into the metaverse with the launch of a beauty house on Roblox.
Givenchy Parfums has become the latest clothing and footwear company to join the metaverse race. The French fashion and fragrance house announced Wednesday that it will launch a beauty house on Roblox’s metaverse platform. Givenchy’s immersive world features a castle, created as a nod to the home of the brand’s late founder, Hubert de Givenchy.
What will The Givenchy House of Beauty bring to users?
The Givenchy House of Beauty, scheduled to launch on June 13, 2022, will allow users to create their own avatar faces, which they can enter into a contest for a chance to win virtual accessories and rewards.
Commenting on the expected launch of the live version, Romain Spitzer, CEO of Givenchy Parfums, said the decision to jump on the metaverse bandwagon is part of the company’s strategy to “explore new universes, digital games and also social platforms.”
Spitzer stressed the importance of Givenchy, owned by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, remaining the “house of audacity” in this exciting digital age.
“It’s important to be first in the things we do,” Spitzer said, adding, “Not about being first. Every time, it’s about the consumer, it’s about targeting the right consumers or future consumers where they are.”
The Givenchy House of Beauty is unique, with striking colors that capture the viewer’s attention in an instant. Its structural landscape, which also doubles as a play world, looks like a fairytale kingdom built in the center of a modern cityscape, thanks to the stately castle that honors the memory of the company’s creative founder.
There’s also a swimming pool and a makeup station where avatars can style their hair and virtually apply their color cosmetics.
“That’s really the interest and the distinctiveness of that universe,” Spitzer told Women Wear Daily in an exclusive interview, adding that users can submit a real-life facial graphic that is indistinguishable from their avatars in the metaverse, allowing them to purchase products in the store.
Why are gaming platforms attracting attention?
For one, the gaming sector provides fruitful benefits for brands looking to transform ecosystems into potential consumer and e-commerce opportunities.
In addition, platforms can serve as a bridge between the physical and virtual realms.
Coincidentally, the hype around non-fungible tokens has reached a plateau, with brands now opting to explore other unique user interfaces within the metaverse.
And while cynicism around the metaverse prevails, marketplaces and platforms offer ample opportunities for brands to create unique digital experiences for users while keeping one foot firmly planted in reality.
Givenchy’s House of Beauty maintains this connection by allowing visitors to present a real-world facial graphic that corresponds with their avatar’s makeup looks to purchase products in-store, as well as match real-time events.
Givenchy Parfum may be one of the first to tap into this market, but it certainly won’t be the last. As gaming platforms become the next chapter of long-term luxury strategy on the Web3, these services are likely to become one of the most valuable and popular e-commerce outlets for consumers around the world.
Residences on Roblox top the wish list when it comes to luxury. While not necessarily a new initiative (Roblox has been around since 2004), brands have accelerated their use of the platform’s resources in recent months.
Services like Roblox, once a simple means of evasion for devoted players, have now become bankable revenue streams for fashion brands around the world, from Gucci’s “Gucci Town” to Tommy Hilfiger’s “Tommy Play.”