Case Study: Gucci's Web3 Playbook
Case Study: Gucci's Web3 Playbook
Gucci continues to be the benchmark on how luxury brands speak to next-gen consumers. This is the definitive case study on Gucci's Web3 strategy and how Web3 marks a new era for luxury.
Hey, it’s Marc. On 51 Insights we’re publishing obsessively curated field notes and actionable insights on how brands can leverage Web3 to grow their business. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
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Why Gucci?
Gucci is more than a brand – it’s a cultural icon.
As of 2021, Gucci was the fourth most valuable luxury brand worldwide, trailing Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Hermès.
Gucci was the first luxury fashion brand that released an NFT, and it continues to be at the forefront of Web3 innovations.
This wasn’t a coincidence: Gucci has excelled in the digital age. In recent years, the Italian luxury powerhouse found a way to speak to Gen-Z through a marketing strategy centered around Web3 and virtual experiences.
And just like Nike, as outlined in my previous case study, Gucci sits at the intersection of culture and technology – a sweet spot for deploying Web3 experiences.
Did Gucci actually succeed with its Web3 strategy?
What can we learn from it?
And is Web3 really luxury's next big thing?
Today we’ll look at:
Gucci’s brand
Gucci’s Web3 journey
Gucci’s Web3 scorecard (divided into performance & strategy)
The big picture & takeaways for you
Ready? Let’s dive in!
PS: If you’re new to Web3 and the metaverse, I suggest starting here.
A special thanks to Dr. Laurent Flores and Karim Eid for enhancing the the case study with Brand3Index.
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Gucci: Ever-Changing
Founded in 1921 by Guccio Gucci, the brand started as a leather goods store in Florence with a simple mantra: "Quality outlives price."
It carved out a unique space that married Italian craftsmanship with off-the-rack convenience – something even its French contemporaries found hard to replicate. Even today, the majority of Gucci’s revenue comes from leather goods, such as handbags and wallets, followed by shoes and ready-to-wear clothing.
Since then, Gucci has crafted an enviable legacy characterized by an almost uncanny grasp on cultural moments.
Capturing the Cultural Zeitgeist
Over its more than 100-year history, Gucci mastered the art of reinvention, creating a brand that’s constantly evolving with the zeitgeist of next-gen consumers, while remaining true to its heritage. A few examples:
Bamboo Bag: The introduction of the famous Bamboo Bag in the 1940s, crafted due to leather shortages, is an early example of how Gucci continuously developed the brand while staying true to its heritage.
Post-war lifestyle: After WWII, for example, Gucci tapped into the resurgence of luxury with exclusive, high-quality leather goods, symbolizing the La Dolce Vita lifestyle.
International jet-set: By the 1960s, Gucci became synonymous with the glamorous lives of international jet-setters, epitomized by the Jackie O bag.
Sexualization: Under Tom Ford's creative direction in 1994, Gucci embraced the sexual openness of the late '90s and early 2000s (cf. TV shows like "Sex and the City" and "Friends"). Its provocative ads and sensual designs made headlines, capturing the attention of a new generation.
E-Commerce: In 2002, Gucci ventured online, far ahead of other luxury brands that feared the digital realm would tarnish their exclusivity. This showed foresight into the purchasing habits of next-gen consumers who moved increasingly online.
Social media: In the 2010s, Gucci started with social media campaigns and collaborations with influencers (e.g. Harry Styles, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, or Salma Hayek) and streetwear brands (e.g. collaboration with Supreme in 2017) that resonated with younger audiences.
Sustainability, diversity, inclusion: Gucci launched the Gucci Equilibrium initiative and tuned into growing awareness about sustainable and ethical fashion. Its "Soul Scene" campaign, for example, featured an all-Black cast of models and dancers. And the 2018 runway show famously featured models carrying replicas of their own heads, challenging conventional ideas of identity and self-expression. In 2020, Gucci launched “Off The Grid”, its first genderless, sustainable collection, focusing on circularity, using bio-based and sustainably sourced materials. By featuring a diverse set of models, Gucci engages a younger, socially-conscious audience. It also partnered with Esports gamer group Fnatic.
Jane Fonda in Off The Grid Gucci ad campaign. Lil Was X in Off The Grid Gucci ad campaign, photographed by Harmony Korine. 
A group of London skaters photographed for the #GucciGrip project: Gucci’s watch designed for the skater boi – and girl.
By engaging next-gen consumers and tapping into subcultures, the Gucci brand remains an ever-evolving, cultural phenomenon in sync with the Zeitgeist of its era. In contrast, other luxury brands such as Hermès, for example, lean heavily on heritage.
Gucci's Instagram profile says it all: The oldest post is from Sep 16, 2023. This isn't just a social media strategy; it's a declaration. The past? Irrelevant. The brand evolves in real-time, continually reinventing itself.
Manuel Gonzalez, head of the luxury digital agency G & Co., notes:
“We commend Gucci’s willingness to adapt and allow consumers to enjoy the brand as they do. Its user-generated content and collaborations with some of the biggest icons of today’s world that can excite younger consumers.”
More than half of Instagram users are millennials and Gen Z, aged 34 or younger. Looking at the followers of top fashion luxury brands, it becomes evident that Gucci clearly strikes a chord with younger audiences:
Similar to how Gucci pushed digital channels and social media in recent year, Gucci’s latest venture into digital fashion, NFTs and virtual experiences is a result of its ongoing desire to stay culturally relevant.
“People need reality”: redefining luxury
In recent years, Gucci has started making luxury more accessible, thanks in large part to its former creative director, Alessandro Michele (he left Gucci in November 2022).
Michele revamped the brand's aesthetic, moving from a sexy, jet-setter image to a more eclectic, artistic, inclusive look. He turned it into a brand for everyone: all ages, all genders, and all cultures. He also embraced unisex wear and seasonless, fur-free fashion to reduce environmental impact.
This adaptability is in tune with the values of Gen-Z, a generation that seeks inclusivity and purpose. David Abraham of Abraham & Thakore notes:
“The goals of aspiration have undergone change. Luxury products must be accessible yet special while retaining their desirability. Today, the perception of luxury extends well beyond a mere physical product to something as ephemeral as an experience or a state of mind.”
This captures Alessandro Micheles’ thinking:
People really need reality. We can try to argue that Gucci is just about catwalk but it’s not true. Gucci is a really huge expression of different things. It’s a symbol.
Embracing digital
Gucci and its parent company, Kering, have shifted focus to direct-to-consumer sales in recent years. This approach offers control over brand image and customer relationships. It's a trend also seen with Burberry, LVMH, Richemont or Nike.
In 2021, 91% of Gucci’s revenue came from direct-to-consumer channels, a threefold increase since 2019. While part of this growth can be attributed to the pandemic, Gucci's digital strategy has been a key driver.
Half of Gucci's sales now come from millennials. The brand has built out its omnichannel strategy and was among the first luxury brands to integrate features like AR within its app, allowing users to virtually "try on" products. Partnerships with platforms like Snapchat1 further connect social engagement and e-commerce.
Why does this matter?
It demonstrates Gucci's ability to reinvent its brand within new cultural, social and technological contexts and its keen understanding of shifts in culture, technology, and consumer behavior.2
And it explains why Gucci was the first luxury fashion brand in Web3.
Now, let's delve into Gucci's Web3 journey.
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And then, Web3 came along
Gucci pioneered fashion luxury's entry into both the NFT space and The Sandbox's metaverse.
This wasn’t a coincidence. Kering is exceptionally vocal about its Web3 and metaverse ambitions. “We think that Web3 and NFTs are a real breakthrough and we want to be pioneers on that,” says Kering chief client and digital officer Grégory Boutté. Other fashion brands are approaching Web3 much more cautiously.
Kering's strategy is calculated. It has invested in Haun Ventures, a Web3-focused VC firm founded by former Andreessen Horowitz partner Katie Haun, to position its brands as leaders Web3 and metaverse leaders.
Gucci’s Web3 Timeline:
May 2021: Gucci launches its first NFT, Aria, an art film, in collaboration with Christie’s. The film is based on its highly popular Aria movie. Gucci also launches Gucci Garden, an immersive experience on Roblox, resulting in a Webby award.
September 2021: Gucci launches the Gucci Vault, an online concept store and experimental space. For the launch, Gucci created a temporary, physical installation space in Milan.
January 2022: Gucci partnered with SUPERPLASTIC, creator of animated celebs, vinyl toys & digital collectibles, to release the super-limited SUPERGUCCI NFT collection, featuring digital characters wearing Gucci outfits.
SUPERGUCCI February 2022: Gucci announces its partnership with The Sandbox, a blockchain-based virtual world.
March 2022: Gucci collaborated with digital artist Wagmi-san and his virtual digital fashion store, 10KTF (owned by Yuga Labs), to create the 10KTF Gucci Grail project. Gucci Grail is a collection of Gucci outfits and accessories personalized for holders of 11 selected PfP-NFT collections (incl. Bored Apes, Pudgy Pengunis, World of Women, Cool Cats and others).3
Gucci’s 10KTF campaign. May 2022: Gucci starts accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment in select U.S. stores. Gucci also launches Gucci Town on Roblox, a virtual space where players can explore, learn about Gucci, and connect with others.
June 2022: Gucci launches its experimental online art gallery, Vault Art Space, in partnership with SuperRare. It’s a place to view and collect the visions of contemporary artists. Its initial exhibition “The Next 100 Years of Gucci,” featured a selection of NFT artworks based on the House’s century of heritage.
The Next 100 Years of Gucci August 2022: Gucci integrates ApeCoin as an accepted payment method in its select U.S. boutiques.
October 2022: Gucci launches “Gucci Vault Land” in The Sandbox, a play-to-know experience that educates users about Gucci’s heritage through gamification. For two weeks after the launch, users could complete activities to earn blockchain-based rewards offered by The Sandbox.
April 2023: Gucci announced a multi-year partnership with Yuga Labs, the IP holder of Bored Apes, Crypto Punks, and others. They released the “Otherside Relics by Gucci” collection, limited-edition digital-physical pendants for Kodas or Vessels NFTs holders. Kodas and Vessels are NFT collections native to Yuga’s Otherside ecosystem.
July 2023: Gucci and 10KTF rewards 2,896 holders of the Gucci Material NFTs with an exclusive offer to exchange their tokens for physical, limited-edition Gucci products (either a wallet or a bag) at no cost. The Gucci Vault Material NFT was a reward for participating in a 10KTF mission in Battle Town.
Gucci also launched its second auction with Christie’s 3.0 called “Future Frequencies: Explorations in Generative Art and Fashion” This fully on-chain auction showcased many of today’s leading talents, such as Claire Silver, Tyler Hobbs, Emily Xie, Botto, William Mapan, Zach Lieberman and other innovators in the digital art space.
September 2023: Gucci recreates its runway show at Milan Fashion Week on Roblox and Zepeto. Both Roblox and Zepeto are virtual worlds that aren’t blockchain based.
Wow, that’s quite something. Because the naming can become confusing quickly, here’s an overview of Gucci’s Web3 activations:
And again with links:
Gucci Town (Roblox)
Gucci Vault Land (Sandbox)
Vault Art Space (Hosting “The Next 100 Years of Gucci” collection)
Here’s a more granular view of the different Web3 activations:4
Tying all these endeavors together is the Gucci Vault— an experimental online space. “We called it vault because a vault is a storage place for beautiful things,” says Alessandro Michele of the new retail venture.
Gucci Vault is more than a symbolic centerpiece. It’s Gucci’s vision of blending traditional luxury with the promises of a digital future.
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Gucci's Web3 Scorecard
The experimental phase of Web3 is over. Brand leaders must now produce tangible ROI from their Web3 projects.
The assessment splits into performance and strategy. Performance covers measurable outcomes (awareness, engagement, loyalty, sales), whereas strategy focuses on long-term planning and alignment with brand goals.
Performance
This section focuses on tangible metrics – essentially, the "what" and "how much." For this case, we’ll look at:
Volumes (primary & secondary NFT sales)
Total revenue (through royalty fees)5
Social mentions & engagement
Community strength
Gucci’s Web3 maturity (Brand3Index)
All NFT-related metrics can be accurately tracked in real time using blockchain data, available for public viewing.6 The challenge is to extract meaningful insights from it.
Strategy
This section covers the "why" and "how," focusing on:
Go-to-market
Execution
Strategic vision
Let’s start with performance.
Web3 Performance Scorecard
This summer, OpenSea, a leading NFT exchange, eliminated royalty fees, the last major platform to do so.
This matters for brands, since a lot of NFT projects from top brands have earned millions in royalties. Combined with the currently record-low interest in collections from brands, this means that monetization has to happen somewhere else. New business cases are required, emphasizing KPIs beyond volume and revenue.
As Web3 integrates into core business, focusing solely on NFT revenue can become misleading. Gucci, for example, used NFTs to boost physical sales. This isn’t directly captured in the following analysis.
NFT Volumes & Revenue
Comparing Gucci’s total volumes and revenues with other top brands, two things are notable:
Gucci generated massively less secondary transactions than other top brands. This explains why Gucci’s royalties only make up 13.7% of revenues, compared to Nike’s 49.9%.
Gucci’s total NFT revenue is good compared to industry peers, but nowhere near what Nike generated. It also generated most of its revenue from primary sales.
Secondary transactions gauge brand engagement beyond initial NFT drops. Despite Nike's seemingly high numbers, it too saw a sharp engagement drop amid waning NFT interest during the bear market.
A chart from January 2023 shows Gucci's fleeting volume contrasted with Nike's sustained engagement.
Only two of Gucci's six collections, SUPERGUCCI and 10KTF Gucci Grail, drove significant volume. The rest were negligible:
Aria was a single sale.
Gucci Town is for Roblox, which isn’t blockchain based.
Neither Gucci Vault Land nor Otherside Relics generated significant volume, similar to The Next 100 Years of Gucci collection (only 15 ETH).
Gucci Material NFTs were one-off rewards for 10KTF Gucci Grail holders, later burned.
The SUPERGUCCI collection has a total volume of 6,519 ETH, making it Gucci's standout. However, like other brands, its volume has dwindled over time.
10KTF Gucci Grail mirrors this trend, with a total volume of 6,300 ETH. Though initially stable, recent months show a sharp decline.
Social Engagement
Finding reliable social engagement numbers is notoriously hard. Here are numbers for Gucci's top two collections:
SUPERGUCCI
X: On X, the SUPERPLASTIC announcement stood out among Gucci's usual posts (1,220 likes, 470 retweets, 98 comments). However, compared to its most successful tweets (35k likes, 22k retweets, 1.1k comments), it's still relatively low.
Instagram: Instagram shows only 675 posts with #SUPERGUCCI – a modest count.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn had no official posts.
Google Search: Google saw a search spike at launch (Jan 2022), mostly in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Switzerland.
10KTF Gucci Grail
X: Again, I found no historical performance data on the #10KTF Gucci Grail hashtag. Users created a dedicated X account named “10KTF Gucci Grail Community 🔮”, which is not affiliated with Gucci.
Instagram: Instagram has a mere 101 posts for #10ktfguccigrail.
LinkedIn: Gucci’s launch post on its collaboration with 10KTF generated around 2.5k likes, 30 comments and 177 reposts – below average.
Google Search: Google showed a negligible launch spike for 10KTF Gucci Grail.
Other collections:
Gucci created a “Gucci Vault” profile on Instagram, which generated 141k followers. Gucci Vault also contains non-Web3 products.
Engagement on other collections is also relatively low. For example, Gucci’s announcement on the second drop of “The Next 100 Years of Gucci” collection generated 162 likes and 72 retweets. That’s clearly below Gucci’s average engagement numbers on X, and very low given its 7.1m follower base.
Gucci’s X announcement on its collaboration with Yuga Labs and the release of Otherside Relics by Gucci was arguably its highest engagement post (2,246 likes, 695 reposts and 135 quotes). Generally, all tweets related to Yuga Lab’s Otherside platform performed above average compared to other Web3 related tweets, but average compared to general Gucci tweets.
Overall, Gucci’s Web3 activations generated low engagement among its existing audience.
Community Strength
Before jumping to conclusions regarding Gucci’s performance, I would like to take a look at its community building efforts.
Why community?
As reported in the Future of Loyalty report:
Community builds a competitive moat that’s hard to replicate.
Community builds better brands due to fostering fans and advocates.
Community builds better products and services due to tighter feedback loops.
Community is good for business due to higher retention.
What’s the connection to Web3?
Community builds culture. The best brands are inherently cultural. When we buy Nike, we’re not just buying shoes. We’re buying into a cultural story. With Web3, brands have a technology to augment community and culture building.
It also affects how marketing funnels are built. Instead of optimizing for conversion, a brand emphasizes community and relationships.
Qualitative Community Assessment
Gucci focused mainly on acquisition, missing higher engagement opportunities. Despite having the most populated Discord channel in fashion, user activity remains low with passive involvement from the users. Nevertheless, it’s server outnumbers any industry peer – by far:
To measure Gucci’s community strength, I use my preliminary Web3 community formula outlined here, incorporating three relevant dimensions for a Web3 brand community: utility, purpose, and culture. These are approximated by 13 metrics, which are all rated between 1 (bad) and 10 (great).
Gucci excels in branding but falls short in community engagement:
Quantitative Community Assessment
The quantitative review focuses on:
Engagement & activity
Metric 1: Social engagement
Metric 2: Secondary volumes
Member retention
Metric 1: % of NFTs listed across the major collections, whereas 1% would be relatively low and 10%< would be relatively high.
Metric 2: % of unique holders. Generally speaking, if a collection has a high percentage of unique holders (e.g., more than 50%), it indicates a broad distribution and potentially a healthy, decentralized community. This could mean that the NFT collection has been widely adopted and has a good market presence. It might also signify that the collection is less susceptible to manipulation from large holders (often referred to as "whales").7
Let's examine:
Engagement & activity:
Engagement is modest, even in niche groups (see chapter “social engagement”).
Secondary volume matches luxury peers but falls short of top performers (see chapter “volumes”).
Member retention:
Items listed: 5% (average)
Unique holders: 45% (average)
Items listed: 5% (average)
Unique holders: 68% (good)
These metrics suggest Gucci has room to boost long-term holder engagement and community building.
Gucci’s Web3 maturity (Brand3Index)
Brand3Index, developed by Dr. Laurent Flores and Karim Eid, quantifies brands' Web3 maturity.
I believe that quantifying ROI of brands’ Web3 initiatives will speed up Web3 mass adoption by letting brand leaders justify their initiatives.
Laurent and Karim's model is spot-on. They used it to analyze Gucci's performance and it hopefully provides you with an even clearer picture of Gucci’s performance.
How the Model Works
Brand3Index evaluates four areas: Readiness, Awareness, Engagement, and Action, benchmarked against industry competitors.
Brand3index is based on 100+ data points collected from web2 and web3 platforms.
Note: Results are relative, not absolute. Industry comparisons include Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany, Prada, and Louis Vuitton.
Observations
Gucci Brand3index outperforms Luxury category rating at 127 (vs. 121 Luxury category) and this is true at every step of the consumer funnel : from awareness (55 vs. 53), to engagement (35 vs. 34) and action (59 vs. 55).
The difference in absolute value is not important, but if we dig deeper in the data, we notice that:
Gucci has experimented with more Web3 activation formats than other luxury brands (i.e. NFTs used as pendants for other NFTs; art; digital to physical activation, etc.).
The 10KTF Gucci grail generates high performance at every step of the funnel (see below table). Its engagement score is 24 points higher than the luxury average.
Finally, when we look deeper into web2 and web3 metrics, we notice that Gucci strongly performs on web3 metrics such as : NFT creative, distribution, partnerships, rotation rate and sales. This performance tends to confirm that Gucci has genuinely adopted web3 as a new marketing channel and is building best in class operations in this field. (see below table).
As a conclusion of our Brand3index observation, we can quantitatively confirm that Gucci is the best performer in the category, but has room for growth and further improvement, especially in terms of community and engagement.
To this end, Gucci “web3 readiness score” of 88/100 (the overall best performer) suggests that the organization certainly has the ability to tackle the challenge specifically in view of learnings from 10KTF and Koda Pendant initiatives.
Results are rated from 1 (bad) to 10 (great):
For more on Brand3Index, connect with Laurent and Karim on LinkedIn or send them an email.
Performance bottom-line: Best in class, but much more potential
Gucci excels in trademark promotion and brand affinity, but the engagement in its Web3 campaigns is relatively low. Additionally, the brand has failed to create sustainable momentum around its projects. Possible reasons could be:
Targeting & Complexity: Gucci's Web3 projects cater to a niche audience and don't resonate with the average customer. The terminology and structure of Gucci's Web3 campaigns are complex, making it difficult for an average consumer to engage.
Communication and community building: Gucci’s communication is still top down and transactional instead of community-centric and participative. There's little indication of a shift toward a more community-centric approach, which puts it behind competitors like Nike in co-creation initiatives.
Lack of coherence: Gucci's Web3 initiatives are fragmented, featuring disparate collections, stories, and platforms. This is great for experimentation. But a more unified approach, centered around a single narrative and platform, could serve as a foundation for future community building and value for users.
Financial Performance
In 2022, Gucci generated $11.22 billion in revenue, with only $11.6 million coming from NFTs – a mere 0.1% of its total revenue.
However, a focus on revenue misses the bigger picture: For the last three years, brands like Gucci have been in a phase of exploration with Web3. It wasn’t about immediate profits, but about understanding what resonates before scaling these technologies to a broader customer base.
Web3 Strategy Scorecard
Go-to-market: collabs, collabs, collabs
The best brands are inherently cultural. They successfully tap into subcultures or build their own culture. Collaborations are an effective way of enhancing that. They are also a low-risk option for established brands to enter the market.
Gucci did a phenomenal job with collaborations:
The SUPERPLASTIC collab led to the SUPPERGUCCI collection,
the Wagmi-san collab led to the the 10KTF Gucci Grail collection,
the SuperRare collab led to Vault Art Space that brought in dozens of established digital artists promoting the Gucci brand,
the Roblox collab led to Gucci Town within Roblox,
the Sandbox collab led to Vault Land within Sandbox.
Execution: bold experimentation, lack of strategic cohesion & community
Gucci’s eagerness and audacity to experiment with Web3 tech is remarkable, considering the risk it poses to its brand heritage. This sets it apart from luxury peers.
Its Web3 initiatives have the full backing of leadership. Gucci built up an internal Web3 team and started an internal education program for employees on Web3 and the metaverse.
Gucci’s bold experimentation with different formats (1:1s, proprietary collections, co-created collections, collabs) and platforms (NFT collections, Sandbox, Roblox), gave it the necessary tools and experience to take this to the next level.
But there’s a caveat: This has yet to translate into a coherent, long-term Web3 strategy. It's possible that Kering, Gucci's parent company, with its own Web3 ambitions, complicates the roadmap.
Meanwhile, other fashion brands such as Nike or Lacoste are more methodically building a unified Web3 ecosystem that emphasizes co-creation and shared ownership.
Moreover, Gucci falls short in community engagement. The brand has much room to grow in leveraging participative, more community-centric for brand engagement. This is unfortunate, as Web3 is designed to create new opportunities for collaborative value creation.
Strategic vision: towards new understanding of luxury
Gucci has recognized Web3 as a long-term opportunity to evolve its brand with the current Zeitgeist. It sees Web3 as a tool to address a changing perception of luxury among next-gen, purpose-driven consumers. Jian DeLeon, for Highsnobiety:
“New luxury that isn’t about price. It’s about culture, community, the values we share, and aligning ourselves with brands who can help enhance that worldview.”
Gucci understands that Web3 offers an opportunity to evolve from isolated to more collaborative, dispersed and personalized brand experiences.
It realized that Web3 is a tool to shatter traditional notions of luxury into thousand pieces… and turn it into unique, accessible, digital artifacts tailored for next-generation audiences.
Yet, for Gucci, it's still early days on the road ahead.
What’s next for Gucci
Going forward, Gucci needs to decide if it wants to build a Web3-enabled community and how to make its Web3 initiatives more appealing to a broader audience. It also needs to think about how closely its Web3 efforts should align with its core brand. The most important questions:
Is community important to our brand?
How do we build our brand more bottom-up, less top-down?
How important is Web3 for our main brand?
What’s our vision for Gucci’s digital future?
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The Big Picture & Takeaways
Luxury’s Web3 Opportunity
Web3 is “just NFTs". And NFTs are dead. But if (luxury) brands aren’t thinking about NFTs right now, they might miss a huge opportunity.
While some dismiss Web3 as merely a fleeting trend linked to NFTs, it's much more; it holds transformative potential for (luxury) brands.
For next-gen consumers, luxury isn't just about affluence; it's about cultural resonance and shared values. As Highsnobiety's Jian DeLeon puts it, the "new luxury" focuses on enhancing a collective worldview:
Consumers expect quality, purpose-driven products, and a degree of cultural credibility from their purchases. […]. Luxury today is more complicated and dynamic than acquiring rare and expensive items that denote traditional notions of “success.” […] The paradigm is shifting from exclusivity to inclusivity. Simply put, luxury is no longer a concrete form of elitism, but more about recontextualization.
Digital Ownership
Ownership isn’t just possession. It’s a means of self-expression, the foundation of identity. Based on identity, communities form. And from communities, culture emerges. NFTs serve as digital, cultural artefacts that become vectors of identity for consumers.
This is what makes Web3 so powerful for brands.
It allows them to create culture together with consumers. And it’s transforming brand-consumer dynamic: From top-down to more circular, reciprocal relationships, from social to socioeconomic.
In essence, Web3 enables a new era of "community-led brands," fostering co-creation and shared value within a broader cultural narrative.
Even though Gucci recognized that opportunity, it has ample potential to build towards that vision.
Actionable take-aways
As we wrap up, here are the key takeaways for you:
1. Leverage co-branding
Brand collaborations are a low-risk, high-reward strategy to tap into existing Web3 communities and generate learning opportunities. Identify partners that align with your brand’s ethos but may have totally different audiences. This is particularly interesting for smaller brands.
2. Think early about community
Think ahead about how to involve your community in meaningful ways. Your most ardent supporters can become your most effective brand ambassadors in the Web3 space. The absence of it can leave significant value on the table.
3. Develop a broader vision
Experiment with different formats and platforms, but align with a broader vision. Unifying your Web3 initiatives around a single narrative and platform can unlock a lot of synergies and additional utility for customers.
Also, keep in mind how Web3 activations align with your overall brand goals, your digital/e-commerce strategy, and existing loyalty programs. A Web3 strategy is as much a marketing strategy as a customer strategy. It’s woven into the branding and marketing mix.
4. Leverage Web3 to enhance your brand
Web3 offers opportunities for more fluid, diversified, and collaborative brand experiences. To realize this, you must be willing to open up your brand, decentralize brand authority, and empower consumers in the process. Gucci shows that this is possible even with a rich brand heritage.
5. Solve real problems
Think about the specific problems you're solving for your customers and your brand. Ask what Web3 enables that wasn't possible before and that genuinely enhances customer experience or utility.
Don’t focus on technology; focus on customer value.
– Marc
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I appreciate your time spent reading this article. My gratitude goes out to the incredible authors whose insights have shaped the thoughts expressed here. While many are directly acknowledged, others have contributed in personal discussions. I welcome your feedback and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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More Resources:
“People Need Reality” Alessandro Michele on his Gucci,” AnOther Magazine. Link
"Kering says crypto no longer niche, wants to be web3 pioneers," Vogue Business. Link
"Gucci takes the leap, will accept crypto in US stores," Vogue Business. Link
"Gucci Vault opens metaverse world in The Sandbox with games and vintage fashion," Vogue Business. Link
"How Gucci is leading the metaverse with Web3 enablement," Medium. Link
"Gucci marketing strategy and campaigns," Epiprodux. Link
"Gucci: An e-commerce case study," G-Co Agency. Link
"Gucci advertising strategy case study," G-Co Agency. Link
"Gucci Vault opens in The Sandbox, bringing luxury fashion into the metaverse," Forbes. Link
"How a century-old luxury brand like Gucci won over Gen Z," Fast Company. Link
"Inside Gucci Vault: A new online concept store full of beautiful things," Another Mag. Link
"The changing definition of luxury in 2021," Vogue India. Link
"High-performing Gucci remains Kering's leading label in 2021," Fashion Network. Link
"The House of Gucci: A complete history and timeline," WWD. Link
"Gucci Vault," Marion Abou. Link
Gucci partnered with Snapchat to create branded AR lenses. One such lens allowed users to virtually try on Gucci sneakers and then directly purchase them within the Snapchat app, connecting social and e-commerce.
Since 2018, the Gucci brand has displayed a continuous upward trend worldwide according to Brand IPX index. In 2021, Gucci also ranked first place in terms of its media impact value among all luxury fashion brands, which measures a brand's value in the (social) media sphere based on metrics like audience engagement, industry relevance, and content quality.
For a deep dive into the single initiatives and the mechanics behind it, I recommend this case study by M3 LAB.
Royalty fees for NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) refer to the percentage of the transaction value that the creator or owner of the NFT receives when the token is resold or traded on a secondary market.
For marketers, one of the most useful innovations of blockchains is that data on NFTs, wallets and transactions is transparently stored and visible on the blockchain. This opens an immense amount of new opportunities for insights, campaigning and performance analytics.
On the other hand, a relatively low percentage of unique holders (e.g., less than 10%) could indicate that ownership is concentrated among a few individuals or entities. It could also indicate a lack of broader community interest or engagement.
Great job Marc, amazing report.
I'm extremely surprised by all of these Gucci initiatives, they have put together a lot of projects in such a small period of time.
The idea of exchanging your NFTs for Gucci physical accessories is the most interesting mechanic for fashion and luxury brands, imo.
Best!