Coach is taking a leap into gaming.
It will introduce its spring 2024 collection on Roblox and Zepeto on Thursday. This move supports Coach’s “Find Your Courage” ad campaign, fostering self-expression, and allows users to explore their identities with themed digital wearables available in Roblox’s Fashion Famous 2, Fashion Klossette and Zepeto, starting Friday.
“We’ve been doing a lot of experiences in the physical space. Knowing that we launched the new campaign for spring, this felt like the right time [to enter gaming],” said Giovanni Zaccariello, senior vice president, global visual experience at Coach, on Wednesday. He said the spring campaign, launched last February, focused on self-expression and created five worlds, which connect very well with Zepeto and Roblox. He called this the entry point in gaming for Coach. “It’s step one of many,” he said.
Coach selected self-expression gaming platforms that connected to the company’s “Find Your Courage” brand positioning, he said. Through an avatar, players can select who they want to be and self-express through clothing and bags. Coach’s Tabby bag was much more dominant in these games than in other games they researched, and that’s how they landed on Roblox and Zepeto.
A screenshot from Fashion Famous 2 and Coach.
Courtesy of Coch
Roblox research shows that 84 percent of Gen Z said their avatar-style influences their real-world fashion choices, and more than 50 percent prioritize their avatar’s style over their physical appearance. By choosing Roblox and Zepeto, Coach said it aims to reach millions through immersive virtual and social experiences that merge fashion with digital self-expression.
The company’s “Find Your Courage” campaign follows virtual human Imma as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and ultimately finds the courage to be real. On her journey, Imma travels through five different themed worlds, each created to speak to a different step in the journey toward self-expression, and each with its own set of ready-to-wear and accessories. Coach will bring three of these worlds into the immersive and social avatar space.
“There are runways shows, there are scavenger hunts and there’s a photo booth,” said Kimberly Wallengren, Coach’s vice president of marketing for North America, adding that Coach’s research shows Gen Z and Gen Alpha have a concept of multiple selves and are looking to express differently each day.
This collaboration marks the first luxury brand integration in Fashion Famous 2.
Fashion Famous 2 and Coach’s “Find Your Courage” screenshot.
Players can coordinate free Coach-inspired fashion items or purchase pieces from the original Coach 2024 spring collection with in-game currency. Participants can enter these worlds, coordinate their Coach outfit for the competition theme and walk for the judges in hopes of winning the most points. Coach’s cross-experience scavenger hunt also offers players the opportunity to win a virtual Coach piece by collecting hidden items and competing on the runways in both Fashion Klossette and Fashion Famous 2.
Coach has also launched an immersive experience on the social avatar app Zepeto, featuring an exclusive photo booth inspired by the campaign’s Colorful World. With more than 400 million users, Zepeto allows avatars to be styled with the latest Coach collections, created in collaboration with top creator Nova. Users can create branded user-generated content, including short-form videos.
Coach is the first luxury brand to release a limited-edition item on Zepeto, with a virtual store offering purchasable Coach items with in-game currency.
“Entering immersive platforms with ‘Find Your Courage’ represents an exciting moment for Coach, marking our innovative leap into connecting with a younger, digital-first audience,” said Sandeep Seth, chief growth officer and coach global chief marketing officer at Tapestry, parent company of Coach.
“It’s about creating a space where people can express their individuality and style in an environment where they feel most at home.”
From Friday to Sunday, the Coach House on Fifth Avenue in New York will be open to the pubic for a special hands-on experience with these collaborations.
The “Find Your Courage” collaboration will be available Friday in Zepeto on all iOS and Android devices, and the Fashion Famous 2 and Fashion Klossette takeovers will be available Friday through Aug. 19 on all Roblox compatible devices.
Wallengren said that while there is a sales opportunity, the point of the project is “to take the consumer away from a product opportunity and more into an engagement opportunity with our brand.”
“If we can get one or two, ten or thousands or a million people who never heard of us, or can be reintroduced to us, that really is the goal here,” she said.
“We did not build the worlds ourselves. We went into worlds that were already built. In the spirit of Fashion Famous, here are 2.2 billion people that could be wearing Coach product. We are not making money from it, but 2.2 billion people hopefully that could be wearing the Tabby bag in the virtual world. That for us is as important as the economics of this,” Zaccariello said. He said people will be spending time with the brand and also creating that emotional connection. “Maybe they’ll buy the Tabby bag a year from now. Or maybe they’ll start searching for Coach on Google. It’s not a one-to-one interaction from Day One,” he said.