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Kenzo remixes handbag designs in interactive dance party

French fashion label Kenzo is letting consumers try their hand at music production through an interactive experience showcasing its spring/summer handbag styles.

For its ?Primary Colors,? the brand teamed with the production team behind anime series Culture Sport to create an animation that responds to a track created by the user on a drum machine, with handbags dancing to the rhythm of the customized electronic beats. Involving consumers in the creation of a digital experience helps to further immerse them in the intended message.

Mix artist
Kenzo?s feature is housed on its Web site, with social media content directing consumers to the page.

When the consumer first navigates to Kenzo?s site, an introduction video automatically plays. A girl sits in front of a desktop computer, getting ready to run a simulation.

As she goes to launch the program, she gets distracted by a ?new page in Paris? and clicks on that instead.

While she discovers the animated version of the Web site, she outlines some of the features, such as the rhythm box and the handbags. This serves as an entertaining demonstration for those who will be looking to create their own rhythms.

Once the video ends, consumers arrive at the main site. Here, on what the brand has dubbed the Kenzo CS909, they can click on boxes within a grid to create a four-bar dance hit, mixing and matching different timbres of percussive sounds within each beat.

The user also has the power to change the tempo by lowering or raising a number within the sequencer.

When the composer is happy with her creation, she can play it back to hear the finished effect. As she does, she can watch the handbags respond to the pulses in the music.

Along with the large-scale handbags seen within the animated room, a small television captures close-ups of the handbags as they sway and shake to the track.

Providing endless opportunities for the user, the track can be cleared and the consumer can compose again.

With no sharing mechanism, this effort is apt to stay within Kenzo?s immediate audience, rather than boosting awareness for the brand through word of mouth.

Acting as a vehicle for entertainment as well as ecommerce, each of the handbags is linked to its product page, allowing consumers to easily explore and purchase a style they have their eye on.

In control
Going beyond a static video, other brands have enabled consumers to leave their mark on a campaign.

To promote its LV & Me collection, Louis Vuitton created a video featuring a sassy robot, who walks the viewer through its personal alphabet letter by letter, saying things like ??A? stands for ?anything,?? ??C? stands for ?claustrophobia?? and even ??G? stands for ?getting divorced.??

Just below the option on Louis Vuitton?s Web site to watch a full video, the user can select to watch a cut of the video edited to spell out a number of words. Those words are: ?love,? ?glamour,? ?Paris,? ?vogue,? ?boys? and ?LV&Me.? To further amplify the personal touch, users can input their name and create another video (see story).

Co-creation has become a popular theme in luxury marketing, with brands hand delegating some creative control to the consumer.

Prada?s Miu Miu brought music and fashion together on mobile with the release of a new interactive application.

The Miu Miusic app lets consumers become the creator as they mix beats from DJ Frédéric Sanchez with animated moods featuring the label?s latest collections. Music and fashion often go hand-in-hand, whether it is the runway soundtrack that illuminates a designer?s vision or a creative partnership, and this app allows Miu Miu fans to create their own relationships between the two artistic outlets (see story).