Shopping League
View the case- Brand
- Kenzo
- Year
- 2018
- Objective
- Sales
- Industry
- Fashion & Beauty
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Merci-Michel
Objective
Kenzo needed its Sonic sneaker drop — just 100 pairs — to land as a genuine event rather than another online restock, and to do it without the bots and reseller sweeps that usually decide who actually gets a limited pair. The brief called for turning the sale itself into the experience, extending Kenzo's identity into the e-shop rather than just the campaign film around it.
Solution
Shoppers arrive at shopping-league.com on the one day the store is live and are let in as part of a capped, real-time crowd — everyone else's moves show up on screen as they happen, and once you leave there's no going back in. Spot a pair of Sonic sneakers and tap to grab it; if another shopper grabs it at the same instant, the two of you are dropped into a live head-to-head, and only the winner keeps the claim. Even after that, the pair sits exposed in the cart until checkout closes — rivals can still snatch it away — so the run to the order button is as tense as the duel itself. Cross the line first and one of the 100 pairs is yours. The 2019 sequel swapped the cart duel for an obstacle course, dodging lasers to reach the shop and fill a basket before the clock runs out.
Results
The first edition (October 2018) drew around 20,000 visitors and more than 3,000 active participants, competing over the 100 exclusive pairs put up for sale.
- 1
At a scheduled hour, the player opens the retailer's site on a smartphone to enter a temporary shop that stays open for a fixed window. Only a limited number of players are let into a session at a time, and the rules are stated up front: every action is visible to everyone in real time, and leaving the session is final.
- 2
Inside, the player browses the stock while watching other players' moves update live alongside their own. Picking an item adds it to the player's cart as a step toward checkout.
- 3
Claiming the same item as another player triggers a real-time head-to-head race to reach checkout first. Until an item is actually purchased it can be stolen out of a cart by another player, and the same can happen in reverse.
- 4
Whoever completes checkout first buys the item, drawn from a fixed, limited run of exclusive pieces.
- 5
In the second edition, the player again enters via smartphone, but reaching the shop first means clearing an obstacle course and dodging lasers.
- 6
Once inside, the player has only a few minutes to fill a cart with items from the limited clothing line before time runs out.
