The role of H&M has always been to democratize fashion. Making fashion accessible in an ever-evolving consumer landscape is essential to achieving this vision. As a major player in the industry, leading change is another critical piece in pushing our innovative roadmap forward. Today, post-Covid shopping behaviors and consumer preferences for a seamless digital-physical experience heavily influence this ambition.

To continue playing a key role in transforming the industry, our brief was to democratize a music experience for Gen Z consumers in a small, local market, irrespective of their socio-economic background or tech savviness. Despite the challenge of a limited budget and a tight eight-week timeline to move from idea to activation, our objective was to create customer value for a younger audience through emerging technology. We needed to demonstrate proof of concept via a pilot initiative and gather valuable insights for potential scaling efforts.

The core idea of Celestial Spaces was to connect the democratization of fashion with the democratization of music by creating a free and unforgettable virtual concert. By leveraging metaverse technology as an open-access playground, we could engage our target audience through their preferred method of interaction. Additionally, by championing BGYO, a P-pop band known locally but not globally, we increased market relevance while displaying local talent to the world.

This never-before-seen virtual concert in the metaverse also allowed participants to create their own customized avatars, view digital merchandise, and interact with each other through avatar dances, emojis and live chat. Band members were dressed in H&M collections to build brand association. The digital experience was linked to the physical world with an in-store experience at our flagship store in Manila. Here, customers could interact with the band in real life and purchase the merchandise they had seen virtually.

We identified our target audience as Gen Z residing in the Philippines, where a significant percentage (58.4%) belongs to the low-income group. As digital natives, this generation expects virtual experiences from brands that are equal to or superior to physical ones.

After conducting focus group conversations with several hundred Gen Z participants in our virtual showroom, we established our key insight: to appeal to this audience, we should create an inclusive and democratized brand space that revolves around a shared passion, namely music.

Given the low-income demographic, we needed to offer a branded experience that was culturally relevant and accessible without any financial or technical barriers. By urging our audience to participate using the call to action, "Join us in making music history," we could invite them to be part of something much larger than themselves.

During a weekend in September 2022, BGYO performed a concert in the metaverse called Celestial Spaces, specifically catered to Gen Z. We provided free worldwide access to the concert through any device – all you needed was wi-fi. Concertgoers could customize their own avatars, view merchandise, and interact with other fans globally. Additionally, viewers were able to get to know the boy band through brief chats between performances.

To connect the offline world with the online experience, fans had the opportunity to meet the band in person at our flagship store in Manila before the concert while shopping for custom-made merchandise they had seen virtually. Fans could also win exclusive merchandise and VIP tickets to the viewing party with BGYO.

This was a small pilot in the local market of the Philippines that received enormous attention both locally and globally.

BGYO, a P-pop band, made history with their first virtual concert through Celestial Spaces. Despite the challenge of short attention spans, users from 61 countries spent an average of 12.51 minutes in the space. The concert reached 48 million people, equivalent to 11% of the brand's total reach, with minimal media budget or PR.

The concert was organically featured by CNN within an hour of a released teaser, generating 35% of the brand's Twitter conversation. The concert received a 98.2% Net Promoter Score, with 94% of respondents expressing interest in buying tickets for future virtual music experiences. The merch sold out within 15 minutes, and 97% of concertgoers expressed willingness to purchase merch for similar music experiences in the future. The concert democratized the music experience by providing access to all, regardless of socioeconomic background or tech savviness.