The Metropolitan Enigma
Open the game- Brand
- Salvatore Ferragamo
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Product Launch
- Industry
- Fashion & Beauty
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Adoratorio Studio
Objective
With runway shows and boutique visits off the table for Spring-Summer 2021, Ferragamo needed another way to put its Hitchcock-inspired SS21 collection and Luca Guadagnino's fashion film in front of people, and to reach further than its usual fashion-press audience. Casting the film's Milan settings as a detective story was meant to pull in younger players, steer them toward specific pieces of the collection, and turn completions into emails and social shares.
Solution
The game opens on an illustrated map of Milan with three locations, only the first unlocked. Players start there as an amateur investigator, solving a memory-matching round built from the season's products to crack the first enigma and unlock the next site. From there they search a hand-drawn scene for hidden Ferragamo items and work through a word search, each solved puzzle revealing more of the collection and another fragment of the film's story before opening the next location. Finishing all four enigmas closes the case with a reward: exclusive SS21 content by email, a personalised Instagram filter, and a shareable image certifying the player's "detective skills."
- 1
The player enters as an amateur detective invited to solve the Salvatore Ferragamo Enigma, hunting for clues through hand-illustrated Milan streets tied to the SS21 fashion film by Luca Guadagnino.
- 2
The hub is three illustrated maps of Milan locations — Parco dell'Idroscalo, Via Chiossetto and Galleria Strasburgo — with only Parco dell'Idroscalo unlocked at the start; clicking an unlocked map opens its enigma as a standalone mini-game.
- 3
At Parco dell'Idroscalo the player plays a memory game, flipping tiles bearing Salvatore Ferragamo pieces and matching each product with its identical pair.
- 4
Solving an enigma awards a clue and unlocks the next location on the map, so the player moves through the three sites in a fixed sequence rather than choosing freely.
- 5
At Via Chiossetto the player plays a word search, scanning a letter grid to pick out hidden words in a calmer, more contemplative round.
- 6
At Galleria Strasburgo the player plays a picture hunt, searching an illustrated black-and-white scene to find three hidden Salvatore Ferragamo products.
- 7
As the player clears each location, the game reveals exclusive SS21 collection content and material built from the brand's style codes, and at some point during the flow the player supplies an email address to receive further exclusive collection content from Salvatore Ferragamo.
- 8
Completing all three locations rewards the player with a personalised Instagram filter and a shareable image showcasing their detective skills.
