HIT PLAY

The culture is winding down from fashion’s dizziest whirlwind of weeks; between New York Fashion Week, the MET Gala, Paris Fashion Week, and everything in between, our feeds have been saturated with sartorially-driven content. And while it might feel like aesthetic-overload, some brands are cleverly cutting through the static by cross-pollinating with other creative platforms, picking up even more new fans along the way. Gaming and fashion collabs are right at the forefront of that revolution.

From partnering with online multiplayer games like League of Legends to console games like Animal Crossing, brands are proving that gaming is as much about the lifestyle around each game as it is about the game itself. The collaborations vary; Louis Vuitton had a capsule collection with League of Legends while Moschino released a digital collection on The Sims and a physical collection to match. Across every one of these collaborations, it’s clear that gaming has quickly become both a new platform for brand transformation and a new way to create a brand universe.

The culture is winding down from fashion’s dizziest whirlwind of weeks; between New York Fashion Week, the MET Gala, Paris Fashion Week, and everything in between, our feeds have been saturated with sartorially-driven content. And while it might feel like aesthetic-overload, some brands are cleverly cutting through the static by cross-pollinating with other creative platforms, picking up even more new fans along the way. Gaming and fashion collabs are right at the forefront of that revolution.

From partnering with online multiplayer games like League of Legends to console games like Animal Crossing, brands are proving that gaming is as much about the lifestyle around each game as it is about the game itself. The collaborations vary; Louis Vuitton had a capsule collection with League of Legends while Moschino released a digital collection on The Sims and a physical collection to match. Across every one of these collaborations, it’s clear that gaming has quickly become both a new platform for brand transformation and a new way to create a brand universe.

When we were tapped to help ideate a campaign for JLO Jennifer Lopez’s Fall 2021 collection launch for Designer Shoe Warehouse, we took inspiration from these cultural cues and insights around gaming; but then we collectively pushed them further. For her Fall shoe launch, Jennifer didn’t collaborate with a game, console or otherwise — instead, she made her own: HIT PLAY.

To bring the JLO Jennifer Lopez brand universe to life within a game, we partnered with a global team of top-tier creatives, including Zak Amana, an acclaimed pixel artist, and Graz Mulcahy, the multidisciplinary composer known to most as GRAZ. Zak helped the team conceive a unique look & feel that captured Jennifer’s creative energy and iconic glow. Across three game levels, HIT PLAY tells the story of Jennifer’s life, from her roots to her rise to icon status and features the cities she calls home. Each level is paired brilliantly with tracks scored by GRAZ, inspired by Jennifer’s energy and her own cult pop sound.

In Ms Lopez’s own words: “It was so much fun creating the game! It’s 8-bit so it’s got that old-school vibe with a fun and fresh twist. The game levels are inspired by my three favorite cities – New York, Los Angeles and Miami – and incorporate elements of my life into each level. New York is set in the Bronx and shows the subway station I grew up riding, the L.A. level has a movie set and Miami incorporates my favorite escape – the beach. I can’t wait for everyone to check it out.”

Once the shimmering, detailed JLO universe was in place, we had to design an avatar, and who better to help us than Jennifer herself? Through a collaborative process that saw us mix & match art styles and silhouettes, outfits and shoes, we landed on the look: a Jennifer avatar with twin ponytails, a yellow dress, black boots (from the collection!), and her signature hoops. The avatar’s final look is inspired by one of Jennifer’s favorite looks from the Fall ’21 campaign shoot, and it brings the campaign and the game together in full circle — that’s the power of the JLO Effect.

When Women’s Wear Daily asked whether she had a say in how the avatar looked, Ms Lopez said, “Yes! It was a really interesting process seeing the different iterations, changing up hairstyles, adding my signature hoops and dressing her up … it was so hard to pick one but I love how she turned out.”

This is JLO Jennifer Lopez’s first game, and ours as well! Watching Ms Lopez’s fan base around the world erupt with enthusiasm when it dropped and then seeing her getting into the action as it was happening live by retweeting fans top scores, well, the months of work by our constellation of talent, from creative strategists and producers to developers, animators and composers, were all worth it. We hope you love it as much as we do.

If you want to bring your brand universe to life in a fresh way, whether it’s a pixel game or multiplayer universe, drop us a line.

With love,

New Moon