Luxury brands eye LARPing trend in China

Ever keen to find ways of engaging with China’s younger consumers, luxury brands are finding a new route via the rapidly growing craze of LARPing – live action role-playing games, or “Script Murder” in Chinese.

A variation on the western “murder-mystery party”, the trend took off following the airing of the reality TV show, Who’s the Murderer? in which celebrities role play to solve the mystery. LARP sessions are hugely popular with young people, often in their 20s, who immerse themselves in their given characters and take part in sessions that can last anything from a couple of hours to whole days or even whole, fully immersive weekends, according to a report in Jing Daily.

The details

• Luxury brands are already exploring the potential of LARP – UK perfume brand Penhaligon’s created a story involving its “Portraits” collection, the bottles of which all featured different animals, which were turned into characters. 
• French jewellery and watch house Boucheron organized a treasure hunt event, and Hermès held an immersive exhibition called “Wanderland”, in which the Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum was used to host an elaborate 19th century detective-style treasure hunt, and rooms contained hidden clues. 
• Online versions offer an easier, more accessible entry point for luxury brands. This season, Italian luxury goods brand Salvatore Ferragamo launched an online game, “Enigma”, which gradually reveals the brand’s Spring Collection as participants play the role of detectives and are challenged to solve four puzzles as they explore Milan. 
• As a measure of its growing popularity, the LARP sector reportedly doubled in value between 2018 and 2019, when it was worth $1.5 billion.

Sourced from Jing Daily

^{[Image: Salvatore Ferragamo]}