Hennessy Mobilis, France
France – LVMH-owned spirit brand Hennessy has opened an exhibition in its home town of Cognac, revisiting the Maison’s rich heritage and history, with a little help from virtual reality technology.
The result is Mobilis, an immersive VR experience created by French designers Olivier Kuntzel and Florence Deygas. The initiative is part of celebrations of the 40th anniversary of European Heritage Days, a series of cultural events held across Europe every September. The multi-sensory digital art installation takes visitors on a voyage exploring Hennessy’s savoir-faire, guided by sketches drawn by the Maison’s founder, Richard Hennessy. It seamlessly merges craftsmanship and technology, using latest-generation VR headsets and special effects for wind and vibrations to showcase the Maison’s many crafts – from grape-growing and distillation to assemblage and calligraphy.
‘At Hennessy, we are very passionate about preserving, enriching and passing on our heritage – blending history with poetic licence,’ emphasised the brand’s CEO and president Laurent Boillot. With this venture, Hennessy cements its commitment to fusing tradition with innovation, embracing VR as a means to preserve and transmit its legacy.
UK – House of Sunny, known for its playful textiles and designs, is offering fashion enthusiasts a unique opportunity during London Fashion Week in September 2023. Founder Sunny Williams has transformed the brand’s Hackney showroom in East London into an immersive Airbnb stay, allowing guests to experience fashion in a whole new way.
This stylish oasis features decor inspired by House of Sunny’s iconic pieces, including exclusive designs from its latest collection. The immersive space joins Airbnb’s Design Category, adding a new dimension to the platform’s stylish listings.
Only two lucky guests will win a free stay at Sunny’s House. They will enjoy a one-to-one design session with Sunny and experience themed rooms that include an entrance inspired by the Hockney Dress, a luxurious bed surrounded by waves reminiscent of the Sundown Cardigan, the Wardrobe of Dreams, featuring the latest House of Sunny collection and a stunning rouge bathroom paying homage to the brand’s La Belle dress.
As explored in our upcoming Home States Futures: Residential Retail macrotrend – RSVP to attend our exclusive webinar now – immersive brand experiences in the home will take consumers to new brand awareness, satisfaction and retention levels.
House of Sunny and Airbnb, UK
Estée Lauder, US
US – Beauty group Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has partnered with Google Cloud to pioneer new uses of generative AI, as part of its mission to transform the luxury digital experience.
Google Cloud’s generative AI systems will power real-time monitoring of customer sentiment and feedback for the conglomerate, allowing ELC to rapidly address customer concerns, identify relevant external trends and improve customer service. The beauty group is also implementing Google’s PaLM 2, an AI language computer learning model, to monitor mentions of itself on social media and in call centre operations.
‘At The Estée Lauder Companies, we aim to delight consumers with transformative products and services,’ said Gibu Thomas, executive vice-president online at The Estée Lauder Companies, in a press release.
In our EQ-Commerce macrotrend report, we examined how consumer expectations, particularly in luxury, are higher than ever when it comes to the retail experience. Generative AI will be invaluable in helping brands foster hyper-personalised services and customer care.
As our offices become more social, intimate and personal, our homes are becoming more collaborative, corporate, commercial and hybrid.
But our living spaces are also becoming the real battleground for brands – with consumers demanding new kinds of intimacy, service and regenerative practices, and brands delivering these through transformative experience and superlative service.
Our Home States Futures macrotrend will highlight a new approach to viewing the home as an active and concentrated retail and lifestyle eco-system. It will become a hub that brands must target, woo and win over in precise and interconnected ways. To conquer this home-centric market, brands may appoint chief household officers and businesses will need to coordinate conversations, find synergies and create clear cross-selling strategies.
Join our in-house team, invited experts and global panellists at our Home States Futures online event on 19 October 2023 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm BST as we examine the future home – in terms of how we broker time, maximise wellbeing, re-assess usage, reduce waste, embrace data and develop new ways to side-hustle revenues from our sitting rooms.
Ketut Subiyanto
