Louis Vuitton celebrates 200th birthday with a video game

When Louis Vuitton was born on August 4, 1821 in Anchay, France, no one could have guessed that his name would head a $14 billion empire two centuries later.

To celebrate this bicentennial, the company has kicked off what is promised to be a year of events, with the unveiling of a new video game. Already adept at staying relevant, the French fashion house is reaching out to a younger generation with a new digital universe to be explored.

'Louis 200' was released to celebrate Louis Vuitton's 200th birthday

Called Louis 200, the game takes players on a quest, in a nod to Vuitton’s own 470-kilometre journey from Anchay to Paris, on foot, when he was only 14.

The game mixes education, art, escapism and entertainment. Players act as the Vuitton mascot, Vivienne, who must be navigated through dream-like locations, which echo Paris, Tokyo, London, Beijing and New York. Players who successfully traverse all six locations will reach the final level, and the birthday celebration.

Through whimsical dreamscapes, players must collect candles that in turn open postcards, which offer a snippet of Vuitton history. With 200 such postcards, players find out about notable collaborations, special commissions, runway shows, art shows and even family anecdotes. For example, postcard number 21 tells how the couturier Jeanne Lanvin ordered pieces from Vuitton in the 1920s.

One of the 200 postcoards in the Louis Vuitton video game "Louis 200"

In addition to the candles and postcards, Vivienne must run, jump and scale her way to collect keys, to access the next level.

A visually charming journey – during which Vivienne’s attire can be switched through all manner of Vuitton monograms and charms – the game is also embedded with 30 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that have been created by the digital artist Beeple.

His game-specific NFTs are scattered throughout the game, so players must look out for pop-up banners, while anyone lucky enough to obtain one, can store it in a digital wallet that will remain locked until 2022.

Available for iOS and Android, the game was released on Wednesday, and is available in English and Chinese. Players can also compete against each other, thanks to a global leader board.

Players will play as the Louis Vuitton mascot Vivienne in 'Louis 200'

Louis 200 is not Vuitton’s first foray into video games, having released the wonderfully retro Endless Runner in 2019.

With a report by Accenture estimating the gaming industry to be worth more than $300bn, luxury brands are eager to get on board, and names such as Valentino and Marc Jacobs (as well as Vuitton) have gotten in on it by collaborating on outfits for the games League of Legions and Animal Crossing.

Earlier this year, Gucci created an immersive fashion experience for Roblox, while Balenciaga created an entire game called Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow to reveal its autumn / winter 2021 collection.

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Bayern: Rafinha (6'), Muller (12', 27')
Chelsea: Alonso (45' 3), Batshuayi (85')

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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