Burberry took a cue from Tommy Hilfiger and launched a fashion chatbot of its own yesterday to complement the brand’s first foray into “see-now-buy-now” fashion.
Burberry has long been innovative in the digital space, becoming the first luxury brand to run a Snapchat Discover channel native ad back in April, and launching Pinterest’s first customized beauty board in August.
Though Tommy Hilfiger was the first to launch its fashion bot earlier this week, Burberry is seeking to differentiate by providing behind-the-scenes looks at the inspiration for the latest collection in advance of its London Fashion Week show on September 19.
To use the bot, users can go to the Burberry Facebook page and click the link of scan the mobile QR code. They then receive a virtual “save the date” for the London fashion show before they are led through a series of inspirations for the line, including Virginia Woolf’s novel “Orlando” and pre-production sketches of items like a women’s cavalry jacket and a bridle bag.
Users are then instructed to “enter the maze” where they are asked to click left or right to navigate through a series of images and GIFs that lead to additional information about the products. Once the maze is completed, the user is directed to the Burberry show space, where they will be able to make purchases from the line when they are available after the show next week. Burberry is one of a number of brands that opted into see-now-buy-now offerings this season.
Neda Whitney, group account director at agency R/GA, told Glossy earlier this week that while most chatbots so far have been service based, fashion bots make a direct connection to products that help drive sales.
“Linking one to a readily available fashion week collection, and making it specific to that, brings up a new avenue for communication. It’s going to drive a lot of awareness,” she said. “Bots are still such a new space that we still have to see how customers react and grow with it, but there’s a lot of room for brands to start that.”
