Animal Crossing & Brand Collaborations

By TFN Writer Mariah Cade

I often find myself overwhelmed with some of my fondest memories of my childhood. In these moments of retrospection, I’m catapulted into a time filled with summer nights at my Grandma’s house. On these balmy nights, only the light of my trusty 3DS illuminated the room as I played deep in the night. Sucked into an eccentric and endearing world of talking animals, I dutifully fulfilled my role as the mayor of my beloved village Roseville in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. New Leaf was released over a decade ago and served as a pivotal installment in the franchise, New Leaf was met with critical acclaim and record sales as it delivered the already successful series to a higher level, and to a broader audience.

Such momentum and hype was then followed by the release of the Nintendo Switch installment Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020. In the height of the COVID- 19 pandemic, New Horizons had seemingly infiltrated every cranny of the Internet, reaching insane levels of virality. Considering this, the game was akin to a worldwide phenomena, easily surpassing sales and popularity of its predecessor. A unique combination of the virality of the game, its customizable features, and the online gameplay created a lucrative opportunity for dynamic engagement with the consumers. Naturally, brands, companies, and even President Joe Biden leapt at the opportunity. But rather interestingly, high profile fashion labels launched collaborations with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, presenting curious implications for the future consumer engagement and perception. 

One of the defining characteristics of New Horizons, and what truly sets it apart from its predecessors, is the seemingly infinite amount of customization that is available to the player. In this installment you effectively play God, as you have the power to alter the topographical composition of your island, the exterior and interior of your house, and even your villagers house. While Animal Crossing has always featured some degree of personalization, this installment reaches unprecedented levels in the series. This crazy degree of customization is also extended to avatar customization and outfits. 

In the game, there are plethora of clothing options available through in-game purchase, and these are pre-designed. However, players have the ability to craft their own clothing designs, then upload them for public use through the Internet. This is accomplished QR Codes, Design IDs, and Creator IDs. On a more rudimentary level, this has been an existing feature within the series, but its true potential was actualized in New Horizons. The great value of this feature was definitely shown when two renowned fashion labels such as Valentino and Marc Jacobs used it to connect with a new audience. Using Creator and Design IDs, these brands were able to upload their pieces to New Horizons, making them available for players to customize their avatars with designer wear. 

Valentino showed off pieces from its Pre-Fall 2020 Collection and the Valentino Spring/Summer 2020 Men and Women Collections. Additionally, Marc Jacobs utilized this feature to bring six different looks into the game. Both of these collaborations were facilitated by and made possible due to the work of photographer Kara Chung. Chung runs an Instagram account titled @AnimalCrossingFashionArchive, where she develops in-game versions of real life pieces. 

And it didn’t end there. Another avenue through which brands launched collaborations with Animal Crossing, was the Dream Island feature. This is another feature that requires Internet connection, as players can upload a ‘dream version’ of their island that other players can visit anytime. This feature has been a great way for players to visit new exciting islands and gain inspiration for your own. Since New Leaf, players have been using this feature to show off incredibly detailed concept islands or villages including the iconic horror islands, or even Legend of Zelda themed islands. 

Quite brilliantly, brands sought to capitalize on this and launch dream islands of their own in 2020 and 2021. Companies such as Pandora, H&M, and Gucci Beauty all uploaded islands that players could visit to promote their brands and latest products. Pandora specifically created a Dream Island to celebrate the new ME collection. Armed with the boundless design possibilities afforded by New Horizons, the Pandora Island included homes inspired by the real-life houses of the collections creators, a Pandora Factory, an American-style diner and so much more. 

These brand collaborations are all in good fun, and provide unique opportunities for players to interact with brands that they love. Yet, this case of an eccentric and endearing game of talking animals being used to increase consumer engagement is definitely worth considering more closely. In current society, our self-conceptualization has become increasingly entangled with consumerism. This is totally expressed in other videogames, like your Neymar skin in Fortnite that cost too many V-Bucks.  How we choose to dress or design the characters that we play as, can reflect our perception or even the person that we strive to be like. Furthermore, these choices may simply reflect our different interests as we choose to dress as characters we love.  

Although these Animal Crossing QR codes and Dream Addresses are of no cost to the player, it still contributes to consumerism as players are actively choosing to engage with these fashion brands, digitally doning these pieces and granting the latter free publicity as a result. This choice of engagement and this preference for designer clothes even within a game like Animal Crossing is significant and displays the value of brand recognition. Sure, some people simply enjoy the designs, but almost intuitively we want to be included in this sense of luxury and exclusivity associated with high-end fashion labels. These brands like Valentino and Marc Jones have capitalized on this, and have effectively used the franchise to expand their audience and engage consumers in a new way when traditional paths were constrained. In the height of COVID, people were stuck at home with many facing economic insecurity. Admittedly, the intended and likely customers of such high end brands like Valentino or Marc Jacobs would be less affected by conditions, yet the likely customers of Pandora or H&M definitely would. When people cannot shop in person and lack the funds to shop online, yet are absolutely obsessed with this fun viral game, what would you do?

As of now New Horizons came out 4 years ago, the hype has ended, and the brand collaborations followed. With the release of a new Nintendo console looming on the horizon, it’s possible that a new Animal Crossing installment would soon follow. Looking into a future outside of the distinct social state of the pandemic, will brands even continue to use this sort of collaboration to reach new audiences? Considering the massive popularity and success of New Horizons and previous collaborations, it's certainly possible.