HOW WE MADE IT: Ben Bridge Jeweler at MVFW 2023
Ben Bridge store front in Decentraland
On March 28th, 2023, Verse Digital launched the first-ever metaverse activation for iconic US retailer, Ben Bridge Jeweler.
The virtual store experience, which ran as part of Metaverse Fashion Week in Decentraland, joined the likes of DKNY, adidas, Tommy Hilfiger and COACH in a four-day celebration of digital fashion and wearables.
Despite being a relative unknown, compared to its globally recognised neighbours, Ben Bridge bested all other brands to accumulate the most number of minutes spent by users among the event’s experiences.
Here’s how we made it…
Visitors on the hunt for wearables and rewards
The Strategy
Towards the end of 2022, Verse Digital, alongside its partner Authority Circle, sat down with Ben Bridge to devise its first foray into the metaverse. The second edition of the Metaverse Fashion Week in Decentraland at the end of March provided the ideal opportunity.
The company was keen to explore new platforms and channels in a bid to reach audiences that hadn’t previously had any dealings with the brand — particularly with the imminent opening of a new flagship store in its home city of Seattle.
Education about the history of Ben Bridge, and its range of products were key stories. The company’s long-standing positioning as ‘your personal jeweler’ would be the theme running through the entire experience.
It was a theme that validated our approach in using gamification as the key ingredient for Web3 and metaverse activations.
“We believe gamification is the bridge from Web2 to Web3 for brands and users. Metaverse platforms like Decentraland come from a gaming tradition and are loaded with the tools and tech that allow for brands like Ben Bridge to push the boundaries of customer engagement. For Verse, it was simply a matter of leveraging these tools and drawing on our experience developing MMOs, mobile games, and with the Decentraland platform and its users to create the most compelling experience possible.”
The Ben Bridge activation would be built upon a series of quests — one for each day of the four-day event. They were designed to be five to 10 minutes in duration to keep users in the scene and experience key aspects of the build.
The reward for successful completion of a quest was an exclusive wearable. As a bonus, visitors could also claim free air drops of Ben Bridge-branded wearables on each of the four days.
Not only did wearables make sense in the context of a fashion festival, but they were highly relevant for a community that prizes avatar collectibles.
“At any sort of festival or event, it’s the ‘swag’ that visitors want. We knew that free wearables would be highly sought after and so we made them as desirable as possible, but tied them directly to tasks to generate traffic. Emphasizing Ben Bridge in the designs also means that the brand lives on in the metaverse long after the event.”
Quests were set by the virtual avatar of CEO Lisa Bridge and were based on an element of the Ben Bridge product range or company history.
In one quest, visitors had to learn the story of Ben Bridge from milestones on the Heritage Wall and then return to Lisa to answer a series of questions.
In another, they had to watch a video about the crafting of the Toscano Gold Collection and complete a final quiz.
The virtual avatar of Ben Bridge CEO Lisa Bridge, behind the counter
The Build
The thinking behind the store design was to create an open, modern structure with sources for engagement clearly defined.
The tendency with metaverse activations is to overdesign to mask the lack of activities inside. Given the prominence of quests and attractions, the Verse team went for simplicity, opting to house the bulk of the experience in a large and open ground floor layout, with a small upstairs viewing gallery. Designers also wanted to reflect the contemporary sophistication of the forthcoming Seattle store.
Once again, the history of Ben Bridge and its ethos as ‘your personal jeweler’ was in evidence.
In the centre of the store was the main product counter, behind which stood CEO Lisa Bridge; responsible for setting daily quests. Flanking the main counter were two other product displays, as well as a giant video screen and the Ben Bridge Heritage Wall. At the back of the store were branded outfits, including a suit, accessory combination, party dress and character skin.
But the personal touch was evident from the moment visitors arrived at the front door. The Verse team made use of the iconic Ben Bridge street clock, turning it into a non-player character (NPC) that welcomed visitors to the store and distributed free daily airdrops direct to their digital wallets. This reinforced the need amongst visitors to keep returning to the experience.
The Ben Bridge street clock as a non-player character (NPC) greeted visitors and distributed rewards
“We are thrilled to have amazing clients like Ben Bridge and amazing partners like Verse Digital. Our team is honored to have been a part of this groundbreaking event, and we are proud to have supported the super successful campaign. Working in the metaverse presents unique opportunities and challenges, and we are grateful to have collaborated with such innovative partners who are leading the way in this exciting new frontier.”
According to metaverse analytics firm GEEIQ, the average visitor to the Ben Bridge experience spent 14 minutes engaging with the company’s virtual store — “a near unheard-of statistic in the world of online advertising, where social media-originated brand impressions often clock in around three seconds.”
“Consider that MFW’s top brand this year in terms of ‘dwell time’, a coveted metric measuring minutes spent in an online experience, was not Gucci, Coach, or any other glossy, celebrity-friendly label known to dominate in-person fashion weeks. It was Ben Bridge, a jewelry chain typically found in suburban shopping malls.”
Vogue Business, which called the Ben Bridge experience, the “breakout success story” of Metaverse Fashion Week, visualized the amount of time spent by users in the virtual store:
In terms of wearables and rewards collected, and a breakdown of visitor activity, we can present the various statistics in full:
The number and range of wearables available to collect also set the stage for future activations, specifically the ability for digital asset holders to benefit from exclusive discounts and offers at physical Ben Bridge stores.
For the Verse Digital team, these kinds of additional opportunities are crucial to the future of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“If they haven’t already been scared off, a lot of brands and their customers still have a fairly narrow view of the potential of non-fungible tokens. This is not surprising given the initial application and coverage in the press. But for NFTs to be viewed solely as an asset of and for a digital ecosystem overlooks the huge opportunities for their use in the physical world. When devising an NFT strategy for clients, we aim for maximum relevance, utility and value wherever a brand and their audience are present.”
For Ben Bridge, their metaverse debut was a resounding success. The activation not only exposed them to an entirely new audience and opened new avenues for growth, but the way they engaged with that audience ensured that the brand had immediate value and relevance.
“Ben Bridge Jeweler has always been at the forefront of retail and creating unique experiences for our clients. The Metaverse is the future and we wanted to be one of the first to enter this world and create a virtual storefront as well as unique wearables. Whether we serve you in our retail stores, on our website or in the metaverse, we are still committed to being your personal jeweler.”