Chinese Laundry is high-stepping into 360-degree video, the brand told WWD in the lead-up to Monday’s launch of a new, immersive campaign for its spring collection.
The newly crafted videos making up the “Bloom” initiative showcase the footwear in 3D so consumers can get a better sense of the shoes for a “more elevated shopping experience,” said Sarah Zurell, chief marketing officer at parent company Cels Brands.
“We think that this is more valuable than just a flat image,” she said. “We wanted people to be able to, on our website, click on it and get to see what the shoe looks like from every angle.” The current version makes for a lean-back viewing experience, though the company is also exploring interactivity for the future.
As it is, the approach gives Chinese Laundry an on-ramp into the exploding popularity of video shopping content, which is wildly adaptable to multiple themes and elements.
From an IRL Chinese Laundry photo shoot.
Courtesy
For now, the theme is blooming flowers in a range of vibrant colors, which come together to form a landscape aimed at virtually transporting viewers into a different world. The sweeping shot starts with a wide view, then pulls up close as a flower blossoms, showcasing three new styles from the spring collection, namely the Mango Retro Slingback Pump, Rozie Dress Slingback and the Lucianna Dress Slide.
Art director Camille Black was instrumental to the project, but she didn’t do it alone. “We had an element of this campaign that we put together for our wholesale side, where we created a floral installation in real life for our wholesale trade show season,” Black said. “And then we took that element and brought it to a 3D designer who is out of the Ukraine — [her name is] Mary — and we worked together.”
The art director and digital fashion designer, who goes by The Digital Mary, specializes in computer-generated imagery cinematics and 3D animation.
A Chinese Laundry exhibit showcasing the flower motif.
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The strategy isn’t limited to this campaign or even director-to-consumer shopping.
According to Zurell, “We were also looking at working with Mary to build out deeper tech and work with artificial intelligence, so that this can be even faster to market.” She described the collaboration as “a blueprint” for an approach that goes beyond wowing shoppers to powering the wholesale side of the business too.
“It’s less of just a marketing tool and more of a go-forward strategy, as it relates to building out virtual showrooms and closets,” Zurell said. In that vein, she envisions deployment of more visual 3D efforts, a meaningful shift that can reduce time to market. The idea is to supply a steady diet of adaptable content that can be used for wholesale, trade shows, experiential campaigns, direct-to-consumer product pages, social media, email, MMS and more.
The new 3D video Bloom campaign is available starting Monday on chineselaundry.com.
