Consumers increasingly live mixed reality lifestyles: seamlessly moving between their digital and physical identities, expressing themselves in ever-evolving virtual spaces. This provides an unparalleled opportunity for brands to connect with their audiences with new forms of immersive storytelling and boundless creativity.

We also know that Gaming is a key passion point for our consumers – they are deeply engaged and extremely active in their communities – and as such, plays a key role in how we engage our audiences with our universe. At the centre of our approach has always been our brand – bringing to life the values that we represent in a meaningful way that stays true to our heritage but also to the communities we engage with.

This year, as part of our outerwear brand campaign, we wanted to take our participation in this space to the next level, reaching a new generation of consumers with our brand stories, brought to life in a completely new and unexpected way.

Starting from our shared values of exploration, creativity and self-expression, we came together with the most beloved game in the world, Minecraft, to create a brand-new experiential adventure spanning the physical and digital worlds. Our mutual love for adventure and the outdoors enabled us to create an authentic activation unlocking genuine value for the fashion and gaming communities.

There were three key components to our partnership: a brand new adventure downloadable from the Minecraft Marketplace, an entirely bespoke physical capsule collection and immersive retail experiences in Burberry flagships across the world.

GAME

TELLING OUR BRAND STORY IN A NEW AND UNEXPECTED WAY

The game, Burberry: Freedom to Go Beyond’, designed together with Minecraft mapmakers Blockception, takes inspiration from Burberry’s pioneering heritage, and reimagines journeys into nature through the power of adventure. The game, commencing in a fantastical version of the City of London, the home and global headquarters of Burberry, is punctuated by creative references to the brand’s universe. With a venturesome and fast-paced narrative, players assume the role of a modern explorer, adventuring into the unknown to restore four element-inspired realms to harmony.

CAPSULE COLLECTION

A PHYSICAL CELEBRATION FOR THE COMMUNITY

We designed and launched our first capsule dedicated to a gaming partnership, which offered items for both men and women – including unmistakable Burberry icons, such as the Waterloo Trench Coat and scarves. Adorned with virtual landscape scenes and graphics of the Minecraft creature Creeper, pieces are animated by a pixelated iteration of the Thomas Burberry Monogram – and enhanced by floral embroidery in an ode to the outdoors.

RETAIL EXPERIENCES

BRINGING THE DIGITAL INTO THE PHYSICAL

Immersive retail experiences in select flagships and a dedicated pop-up brought the virtual worlds to physical Burberry flagships, creating beautiful stages for product discovery. These bespoke installations featured ‘Burberry: Freedom to Go Beyond’-inspired window displays, digital screens and flooring.

AMPLIFICATION

A series of immersive extensions bringing to life the 360 partnership.

CAMPAIGN

Merging the physical to digital – we also integrated our co-branded game-worlds and character skins into our product campaign photoshoot – in which the IRL models walked through our virtual worlds and we’re placed alongside their digital avatars.

3D OOH

Launched a series of immersive 3-D OOH displays, which brought the game to life in high visibility locations – including Times Square, Shenzhen and Thailand.

SOCIAL EXPERIENCES

Released an exclusive filter on Instagram, as well as bespoke emojis and special effects on Bilibili – a video-sharing platform in China to encourage social sharing.

COMMUNITIES

Connecting with fashion and gaming communities through native collaborations and experiences.

Limited-edition XBOX, which united our brand codes with new touch points to gift both fashion and gaming influencers as a campaign extension.

A series of livestreams hosted by high-profile gaming streamers such as ValkyRae and Yammy.

Series of events within our key flagship stores, for press and influencers to immerse themselves within the product and gaming experiences.

We also partnered with Conservation International to protect and conserve naturescapes for the explorers of tomorrow, by donating funds to help protect 500,000 trees and plant 25,000 trees and their forest conservation efforts around the world.

THE RESULTS

The partnership generated exceptionally good results for both parties – including:

Burberry’s highest-reaching digital partnerships of 2022 – with large volumes of press coverage across key fashion and gaming outlets. The overall reaction from the press was positive, they in particular liked the multi-layered approach between the digital and the physical.
The Burberry game was ranked a top downloadable DLC throughout the campaign duration – with a 4.8* rating within the first month – showcasing the narrative and game resonated well with Minecraft and Burberry communities.
The partnership brought high volumes of new gaming and fashion audiences into the Burberry ecosystem, by incentivising communities with early access to the product and exclusive in-game items.