THE BACKGROUND: Bridging the Physical and Digital
In February 2024, to celebrate Burberry’s heritage of exploration and the outdoors, the British luxury brand transformed renowned department store Harrods with a month-long Knight Blue takeover.
To amplify the partnership between the two iconic British brands and allow audiences anywhere to experience the takeover, Burberry extended the physical pop-up by recreating the Harrods facade into a Burberry branded virtual store on the immersive online platform, Roblox, giving global digital communities the opportunity to explore the virtual Burberry at Harrods.
THE IDEA: Immersive Storytelling for Global Audiences
The activation engaged both Burberry’s physical and digital audiences through an immersive interactive brand experience.
- Explore, Play, and Shop: The virtual pop-up store featured a playful reimagining of the physical takeover, including tent materials, camping chairs and check platforms that became trampolines for visitors to explore the virtual space.
- The Great Outdoors: The virtual store was surrounded by four outdoor park scenes inspired by key brand cues and iconic British locations, such as the TB hedge-maze. Each location hosted obstacle courses and a variety of weekly scavenger hunts to collect coffee cups, where players participated to unlock free virtual items.
- Capsule Collection: IRL audiences could shop an exclusive range of products at Harrods, whilst digital audiences could purchase virtual items influenced by the physical capsule collection.
- Digital Exclusives: Digital twins of scarves, hot water bottles and horse-shaped carabiners were exclusively available for our digital communities on Roblox.
THE RESULTS: Setting the Standard for Phygital Success
The experience proved incredibly successful in the digital world, blending an iconic moment in brand history with an immersive virtual environment, deeply engaging global audiences:
- Digital Engagement: Fans worldwide flocked to the digital experience, successfully engaging both physical and digital communities and extending the partnership to global audiences.
- Global reach: The immersive digital experience reinforced Burberry’s heritage and position as forward-thinking pioneers and innovators
- Physical and Digital Commerce: Exclusive Burberry items sold through both the physical pop-up and digital platforms showcased the strengths of phygital commerce.
COMPANY: Sawhorse
