Coach CGI campaign features Lil Nas X with human, virtual influencers
The new promotional effort from Coach features a digitized version of rapper Lil Nas X, as well other CGI-generated influencers that are both real and virtual.
The specialty retailer is unveiling "Find Your Courage," a metaverse campaign featuring virtual human, model and digital creator Imma along with computer generated imagery (CGI)-created versions of musical artists Lil Nas X and Youngii Lee, actresses Camila Mendes and Wu Jinyan, and model Kōki.
Set in a virtual universe, the campaign introduces the Coach spring collection within a story about finding the courage to discover what it means to be real in your own way.
Launched Thursday, Feb. 15 with the first chapter starring Lil Nas X, the campaign follows virtual influencer Imma as she goes on a journey to find her courage, visiting each ambassador in their own unique virtual world.
With each visit, Imma learns each individual's "superpower"—a lesson that will help her discover what makes her real in her own way. Lil Nas X shows her the courage to change the game by writing your own rules instead of following someone else's rulebook.
In future chapters to be released in March, April and May, Wu Jinyan shows Imma the courage to take risks, Youngji Lee, helps her discover the courage to break the mold by subverting expectations with humor, Camila Mendes teaches her to keep evolving and love every version of herself, and Kōki shows her how to explore new possibilities in a virtual world that connects all prior chapters of the film and opens more doors to new virtual paths.
Directed by Vallée Duhamel and photographed by Charlie Engman, "Find Your Courage" is inspired by artificial intelligence (AI) and created using CGI. It also introduces pieces from the Coach spring 2024 collection.
Coach will additionally integrate the campaign into new collaborations with gaming platforms where users can dress their avatars in the Coach spring collection, as well as a new multi-sensory iteration of the Coach Tabby Shop online storefront for its Tabby shoulder bag collection
"Envisioning spring, I was inspired to explore the archetypes of American style and the codes that define Coach's legacy through the point-of-view of today's generation," said Coach creative director Stuart Vevers. "'Find Your Courage' expresses the feeling I wanted for the collection, where our heritage is the foundation for exciting new possibilities for self-expression."
"'Find Your Courage' is meant to inspire our consumers to seek out all possibilities for who they can be, despite the tensions and expectations in life they might feel," said Coach global chief marketing officer and North America president Sandeep Seth. "For us, Imma is the perfect ambassador to tell this story because she is challenging the notion of what we consider 'real' today. Her journey in our campaign takes us into a new world that pushes the boundaries of self-expression and inspires us along the way."
Coach offers immersive retail, wholesale experiences
The “Find Your Courage” spring campaign follows a 2023 holiday promotion leveraging the Zero10 AR Storefront augmented reality solution to provide an immersive digital shopping experience using the display windows at five store locations.
During the 2022 holiday season, the upscale leather goods and accessories maker launched an immersive virtual experience running on the Obsess platform and inspired by a vintage Coach store.
And in 2021, Coach also partnered with the Obsess experiential e-commerce platform, to create an immersive virtual wholesale showroom that was a 3D re-creation of its Fifth Avenue flagship store.
Coach is a subsidiary of parent company Tapestry. As of July 1, 2023, Tapestry’s portfolio included 330 Coach stores in North America and 609 international locations; as well as 205 Kate Spade stores in North America and 609 international locations; and 36 Stuart Weitzman stores in North America and 57 international locations.