Digital snippets: Beats by Dre, Alexander Wang, Apple, in-store tech, China social media

A round-up of the latest stories to know about surrounding all things fashion and tech:

• Did Beats by Dre just out-Nike Nike with this incredible World Cup ad? [AdWeek]

• Alexander Wang and friends bring SNL’s Mango back in latest ad [GQ]

• Apple’s newest ad says we’re ready for wearables, now [re/code]

• In-store tech, sales driver or hype? [BoF]

• Beyond Weibo and WeChat: four chinese social platforms with big luxury potential [Jing Daily]

• Regent Street to deploy beacon technology in shops [The Telegraph]

• Is the price point of wearables weighing on sector growth? [FT Material World]

• Tanya Taylor partners with Instagram artist Kalen Hollomon on coolest lookbook ever [Fashionista]

• Nike unveils world’s first-ever 3D-printed performance sports bag [WGSN Tumblr]

Digital snippets: Oculus, Luxottica, Wren, Asos, Nike, Birchbox, Tom Ford, Kenzo

The big tech story this week has of course been about Facebook’s purchase of virtual reality headset company Oculus VR. But there were lots of others to know about too. Read on for an edit…

• Google deal with Luxottica will bring Glass to Ray-Ban, Oakley [WSJ]

• How Wren made a viral video of strangers kissing and increased sales by nearly 14,000% [Business Insider]

• Asos and Nike celebrate 27 years of Air Max with first Google+ shoppable hangout [Marketing Magazine]

• Birchbox, seller of beauty products, steps out from web to open New York store [NY Times]

• Tom Ford joins the world of e-commerce with sexy new web store [Fashionista]

• Kenzo’s virtual aquarium highlights the danger of overfishing [PSFK]

• Chanel releases new Coco Mademoiselle Keira Knightley ad – She’s Not There [The Inspiration Room]

• Lancôme ramping up digital initiatives [WWD]

• How Yoox became the Amazon of the fashion world [Telegraph]

• Why in-store tracking might not be as bad as it sounds [CNNMoney]

• The Shazam of fashion is here, introducing ‘ASAP54′ [Styleite]

• Silicon Valley never talks about the real reason you don’t own a smart watch or ‘wearable tech’ [Business Insider]

 

Courage underpins beautiful new Lacoste campaign film

#LiveBeautifully seems an apt hashtag for the latest ad from Lacoste. Created to support the brand’s “Life is a Beautiful Sport” campaign, it’s an arresting 60-second film depicting “a man about to risk it all to win the game of his life”.

That game, it’s suggested, is love. The Big Leap, as the spot itself is called, sees actor Paul Hamy building up the courage to go in for a kiss with model Anna Brewster in one scene, while another (the metaphor) sees him leaping off the side of a building and falling towards the ground until their lips lock. 

The film was created by BETC and directed by Seb Edwards. It features “You & Me”, a song by Disclosure featuring Eliza Doolittle remixed by Flume. 

It launched in France during the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, and will be broadcast globally from March 2014 onwards.

Digital snippets: Gap, H&M, L’Oréal, Dove, Lyst, Jelly

Here’s a highlight of the best stories in the fashion and tech space over the past week…

• You can now pin animated GIFs: here’s Gap’s (as pictured) [Fashionista]

• Will David Beckham’s H&M Super Bowl ad be #covered or #uncovered? [Fashionotes]

• L’Oréal’s Matrix offers stylist’s-eye view with Google Glass [BrandChannel]

• Dove launches short film, “Selfie”, about women’s self-image at Sundance [Creativity]

• Meet the stylish Sapeurs, the Congolese stars of Guinness’ new ad and doc [Co.Create]

• Why Amazon’s data store doesn’t scare people, but Facebook’s does [AdAge]

• Lyst, a fashion e-commerce aggregator, raises $14m more, plans beacon rollout with PayPal [TechCrunch]

• Jelly – and how fashion could lead the way [Trend Preport]

• Keep.com helps you shop for items on Instagram [Mashable]

• Nine unexpected ways retailers are using your data [Fashionista]

• Vogue hosts its first Google+ Hangout celebrating The Fashion Fund [Vogue]

All the interactive elements accompanying John Lewis’ #bearandhare Christmas ad

Hopefully by now you will have all seen, or at least heard about, John Lewis’ epic £7 million Christmas ad: The Bear and The Hare, created by adam&eve DDB.

The hand-animated tale has received an enormous 8.7 million views on YouTube since launch on November 8, and according to reports, helped drive sales of £101.45 million in the British department store in the week that followed, up 10.7% on 2012.

Despite the fact the spot premiered on TV in the UK during The X-Factor (played as an entire two-minute ad break), this campaign lives well beyond its traditional format. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more interactive ways how: 

• An accompanying e-book called ‘The Bear who had never seen Christmas’ has been introduced for iPad, iPhone and Android. It features a series of touch-to-activate features, including a treasure hunt throughout the pages of the story in order to decorate a Christmas tree at the end, and a musical component for kids to tap their screens along to  

• As with last year’s snowmen, the two main characters, Bear and Hare, each have their own Twitter profiles. Following them reveals all sorts of insights into their friendship: Hare planning to tickle Bear in his sleep, and Bear snoozing through the majority of it only waking briefly now and again to tweet out a line of Zzzzzzzzz’s

• John Lewis has also just announced its “ReWorked” initiative for the ad – calling all unsigned singers or bands in the UK to re-record Lily Allen’s cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know. Keane is helping to judge the winner, who will then be featured on the soundtrack for the ad on TV on Christmas Day. A page on the brand’s YouTube channel plays hosts to a note of good luck from Lily Allen as well as all the entries so far

• A Christmas card maker allows consumers to create their own personalised e-cards too. A selection of templates featuring the different woodland animals can be selected from first, then a personal picture uploaded or chosen by connecting with Facebook. Lastly, a message can be added before sharing it over social, downloading it to send via email or print out, and/or adding it to the online gallery

• In the physical space meanwhile, 11 John Lewis stores around the UK have special ‘caves’ for children to visit and have their photo taken with the Bear and the Hare. The Oxford Street and Peter Jones London stores are particularly worth visiting for the windows too, where a total of 188 animal sculptures have been made from over 7,000 everyday products, like a reindeer from Dyson vacuums, a polar bear from Nintendo Wiis and a turkey from a series of rolled up towels. Creative consultancy Chameleon Visual and production company Setsquare Staging spent a year developing them, as the below making-of video demonstrates. 

 

Jingle all the way at Kmart with #showyourjoe Christmas ad

In the running for best Holiday campaign 2013? I’d say so:

Chloé’s new Blowing Roses film

 

Chloé has released a short film for its new Roses fragrance that sees multiple women dancing as though they are the petals of the flower in bloom.

Blowing Roses, as it’s called, is based on the idea of petals “multiplying and spreading to create a kaleidoscope of roses”. Each of the models wear long, flowing dresses in delicate shades of nude – the resulting vision bearing a strong resemblance to Bailey’s Cream with Spirit ad from BBH in 2012.

It was created and directed by French choreography duo I Could Never Be a Dancer – Carine Charaire and Olivier Casamayou.

Meanwhile, See by Chloé has also released a short stop motion film for its new Paint a Scent product.

Brazil’s Reserva turns CCTV footage of burglary into creative YouTube sales promo

 

How’s this for inspired… Brazilian menswear brand Reserva has launched a video of the robbers breaking into its São Paulo store, to help promote its seasonal sale.

The spot, hosted on YouTube and being pushed across social networks, shows real CCTV footage of a gang of thieves raiding the boutique in December. Placed over the top is bold red copy reading: “It’s not necessary to break the window. Just come in! Inventory clearance: up to 40% off.”

It shows the robbers smashing the window, knocking over mannequins and making off with armfuls of merchandise worth $20,000. “Hurry!” reads the next caption. “Why are people doing such crazy stuff for Reserva?”

The Guardian refers to it as “creative revenge”. Or as Reserva owner Rony Mesiler told Brazil’s O Globo newspaper: “They stole my clothes and we stole their image.”

The YouTube write-up outlines that the store until that point had been beautifully prepared for Christmas. The team had to do a quick turnaround to clean it up ready for shoppers the same morning. They opened without a glass window and hit sales target for the day by 4pm. “DO instead of COMPLAIN,” is the message.

Mesiler adds: “Complaining gets you nowhere, business is about doing things. Rather than suck lemons, it is better to make lemonade with them.” The video, aptly, is called Limonada Reserva.

Prada’s A/W 12/13 film: a fantastical game of chess

The gaming aesthetic referred to in Prada’s autumn/winter 2012/13 print ads makes a true appearance in a new campaign film from the brand released this week.

Set across a “fantastical chess game”, the spot sees movements on the board then carried out in an alternate reality by the avatar-like models.

An original release for the Steven Meisel-shot campaign called them “virtual princesses poised for combat”, which now of course, makes total sense.

Dior’s new ‘Secret Garden – Versailles’ film fulfills mag potential

 

I wrote quite a tough review of Dior’s new online magazine when it launched in February, disappointed by the lack of real editorial interest in any of the pieces being published.

While there remain a couple of misses here and there, in general the aim to “both entertain and inform” now seems to be being met. Evidence lies in a couple of great recent pieces, including this Q&A with Hongbo Li, a stylist in the flou atelier at Dior Haute Couture; and this insight on the Dior Homme pop-up shop in New York.

Even better, the brand used the platform to reveal its new autumn/winter 2012/13 campaign film, “Secret Garden – Versailles”, last week. Pushing it out through a number of teasers, it finally revealed both a 60-second short and a full three-minute version, as above, a day apart.

Created by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the film features model Daria Strokous alongside Melissa Stasiuk and Xiao Wen Ju in a deserted Versailles.

“A wondrous path that winds through the Galerie des Glaces, through the palace’s endless interconnecting salons, as far as the grand tree-lined walks that sweep through the classic parkland à la française… a dreamlike fashion show where Versailles is transformed into Christian Dior’s secret garden, his emblematic château,” reads the copy.

Good job.