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Balenciaga's Digital Sonic First: Digital innovation is enabling new audio connection routes. In November 2023, French fashion house Balenciaga became the first brand to use a digital product passport (DPP) to unlock music. These digital verification tools, accessed via QR code, barcode or near-field communication (NFC), have previously provided real-time information, such as a product’s provenance. They enable ongoing engagement with customers – via information updates on the DPP – long after the point of sale.
Working with American Internet of Things fashion innovators Eon, Balenciaga embedded chips into a limited-edition collection of T-shirts and hoodies, sold in select stores and online. Activated via NFC, the chips release a track, written and recorded exclusively for Balenciaga by British trip-hop group Archive. The song link is encrypted and can’t be shared – scanning the garment is the only way to hear it, and new music can be added at a later date.
Fashion & Beauty Retailers Tap into Innovative Sonic Branding
Published 03 January 2024
The cultural cachet of retail/music experiences is powerful, with the metaverse also capitalising on virtual audio engagement for fans. Now, Balenciaga’s music-releasing digital chip and E.l.f Beauty’s augmented reality (AR)-enhanced mural signal further sonic branding innovation.
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Balenciaga's Digital Sonic First: Digital innovation is enabling new audio connection routes. In November 2023, French fashion house Balenciaga became the first brand to use a digital product passport (DPP) to unlock music. These digital verification tools, accessed via QR code, barcode or near-field communication (NFC), have previously provided real-time information, such as a product’s provenance. They enable ongoing engagement with customers – via information updates on the DPP – long after the point of sale.
Working with American Internet of Things fashion innovators Eon, Balenciaga embedded chips into a limited-edition collection of T-shirts and hoodies, sold in select stores and online. Activated via NFC, the chips release a track, written and recorded exclusively for Balenciaga by British trip-hop group Archive. The song link is encrypted and can’t be shared – scanning the garment is the only way to hear it, and new music can be added at a later date.
Balenciaga
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E.l.f Beauty’s Sonic Urban Art: Music is also at the heart of US Gen Z cosmetics brand E.l.f Beauty’s AR-enhanced murals in outdoor locations in three UK cities – London, Birmingham and Manchester. They form part of the brand’s Express Your E.l.f campaign, in which fans were invited to share what the letters E.l.f (which stand for eyes, lips, face) mean to them.
Created by British immersive production studio Aircards, the urban art – a portrait of Zimbabwe-born rapper, poet and DJ Meduulla by British artist Laura Greenan – is unlocked by scanning an outsized QR code on the wall. Smartphone viewers can then watch Meduulla perform her song Explosive.Lines.Flow, created exclusively for the campaign.
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E.l.f Beauty’s Sonic Urban Art: Music is also at the heart of US Gen Z cosmetics brand E.l.f Beauty’s AR-enhanced murals in outdoor locations in three UK cities – London, Birmingham and Manchester. They form part of the brand’s Express Your E.l.f campaign, in which fans were invited to share what the letters E.l.f (which stand for eyes, lips, face) mean to them.
Created by British immersive production studio Aircards, the urban art – a portrait of Zimbabwe-born rapper, poet and DJ Meduulla by British artist Laura Greenan – is unlocked by scanning an outsized QR code on the wall. Smartphone viewers can then watch Meduulla perform her song Explosive.Lines.Flow, created exclusively for the campaign.
Elf Beauty
Elf Beauty
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