Fendi integrates gaming for greater Instagram impact

June 1, 2017

Fendi's game for pre-fall on Instagram; Image credit: Fendi

Italian fashion label Fendi is gamifying interaction with followers on Instagram as part of a new campaign teasing its pre-fall 2017 bag collection.

Instagram users can play with Fendi on the application in a series of fun activations that keep fans coming back daily. Players will get up close and personal with its new bags.

“This campaign uses fun, engaging creative and uniquely leverages Stories functionality in a way that gets more users looking at and tapping on Fendi's stories,” said James McNally, director of strategy at So Dope, New York.

“Creating a 'gamified' experience within stories is great tactic to get fans to engage with the brand's story content and give them a little endorphin jolt when they 'win,' which may help build brand affinity, at least subconsciously," he said.

Mr. McNally is not affiliated with Fendi but agreed to comment as an industry expert.

Fendi, who was reached for comment, created the game campaign in collaboration with Sky Pie Studio.

Instant Instagram visibility
Pre-fall 2017 marketing for Fendi is ramping up and its use of social media aims to excite followers with interactive elements.

Fendi chose the Instagram Story feature for a gamified campaign in which users can come back every day to try something new. The fashion label is also sharing accompanying content on traditional evergreen Instagram posts to increase visibility.

The use of stories may give the campaign a wider reach, since many Instagram users will check the new stories multiple times a day. The location of Stories, at the top of the app, and its functionality as a continuous stream from one user’s post to another will increase its visibility to more followers.

Each day Fendi will share a new game on its Story featuring bags from the pre-fall collection.

For instance, on May 31 the featured a game in which various straps quickly change and users were instructed to tap in an attempt to catch one particular strap. Each strap is a real one featured within the pre-fall collection.

Fendi's Instagram game; Image credit: Fendi

Other games follow common themes that most consumers are familiar with such as a bubble pop game and Tic Tac Toe.

Fendi shared a preview of its game through a standard Instagram post with a short video.

Tap today in Stories to play along with the new #TapYouStrapYou Fendi fun! Each interactive story features the latest #StrapYou & iconic bags from #FendiPreFall17. Tap again tomorrow to see which new game pops up! // Created in collaboration with @skypie
A post shared by Fendi (@fendi) on May 30, 2017 at 7:28am PDT

The video shows marionettes such as a hand and a fluffy monster giving the viewer a quick preview on an iPhone along a sign that reads, “Tap to play.”

Fendi flagship
The Italian fashion house also recently gave back to its hometown of Rome through art.

Fendi commissioned a sculpture from artist Giuseppe Penone for the sidewalk outside of its Palazzo Fendi flagship. Meant as a donation to the city that has served as its backdrop and inspiration for more than 90 years, the permanent installation is designed to be a public exhibit (see more).

The LVMH-owned fashion house also put its best furry foot forward to welcome consumers to its newly opened points of sale in Tokyo.

Fendi began just more than 90 years ago with a focus on furs, a brand code that is still explored by creative director Karl Lagerfeld today, despite the material's waning interest among some consumers. Fendi’s roots as a furrier are on full display at its year-long pop-up in Omotesando and its new Ginza Six flagship through both displays, decor and services (see more).

While Fendi’s campaigns and initiatives are unique and interesting. It could be doing more for its pre-fall campaign.

The game is set up as though players can win or lose, but due to its functionally it seems as though every user wins. The label could also do more to make a bigger impact with the campaign.

“Promoting a ‘game’ within Stories is likely to drive up engagement on the Story content, and this fairly unique way of using the Story ‘tap to pause’ does earn Fendi some buzz,” So Dope's Mr. McNally said. “One risk to this approach is that it may drive up metrics around engagement with little impact: there is no ‘winning’ in Fendi's game, or clear action that the consumer is supposed to take when finished.

“To make something like this more meaningful, Fendi could ask fans to submit a screenshot with the correct strap selected, although admittedly the tap + screenshot action is somewhat awkward,” he said. “Simply asking fans to pause the video when a certain strap is shown - the way the ‘game’ is currently configured - is likely to drive a spike in engagement, taps on the Story clip, but little follow through, such as product page views or conversions.

“Fendi could improve these campaigns by having a stronger call to action closing clip on these stories.”

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Fendi integrates gaming for greater Instagram impact

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