Ponzano, 14 June 2022. Starting today, United Colors of Benetton makes its debut in the Metaverse. Through the Roblox platform the fashion brand brings together both physical and virtual worlds via its new PlayChange store, an interactive brand experience that is especially in tune with young consumers.

The PlayChange shop takes its name from the initiative’s launch campaign, held during Milan’s February 2022 Fashion Week. The virtual location bears the same refined and minimalist look and feel created for the flagship store at Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Milan. It also shares the same pink ‘total look’ that – coloring everything from the shop windows to the interiors and from the hangers to the shelves - naturally emphasizes the shades of the Benetton garments.

Once visitors ‘enter’ PlayChange, they will be able to explore their surroundings freely and discover a selection of iconic garments from the SS22 collection. Through three special portals, they can then access three different game worlds:

  • Pink it!, where among sky, clouds, hot air balloons and rainbows the player has to touch and color pink as many floating silhouettes resembling sheep as possible;

  • Green Adventure, an open world forest to explore where, in order to survive, participants must avoid bees 'falling' from above;

  • The Color Race, a race set in the desert, where players follow a route marked by colored logos.

At the end of each game, a virtual card will appear, which will allow the player who has obtained it to go to a physical United Colors of Benetton participating store, do some shopping and benefit from the discount obtained by playing in the mini-games in the virtual store in the Metaverse.

"What we are experimenting with is a distributed omnichannel approach, that amplifies the physical shopping experience with a new, completely virtual one, creating a phygital circularity of physical world - Metaverse - physical world," explains Antonio Patrissi, Chief Digital Officer of Benetton Group. "Benetton has always been a pioneering brand, able to anticipate the times and trends. Our aim is to be the first to explore the possibilities for involvement that this new technology offers, bringing us ever closer to the consumption habits and vision that the younger generations have of the world of fashion and retail."

Many talents from the gaming and lifestyle worlds will participate in the launch of PlayChange. Narrating the Benetton store in the Metaverse will be Luca Vezil, a fashion, tech and photography enthusiast; TikTok influencer and fashion creator Gloria Schito, who has brought her passion for fashion into the Metaverse, and Surry, the pseudonym of Salvatore Cinquegrana, who started out in gaming and then successfully positioned himself in the lifestyle, travel and fashion worlds. In addition, streamers and gamers will actively join the initiative on Twitch playing in the three worlds of Playchange.

Landing page on benetton.com

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