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K18, known for its always-on social media strategy, is taking things IRL. And, for the first time, it’s launching in the metaverse. The two-fold pop-up and VR activation will launch this weekend. The hair brand, which is a bestseller at Sephora, is known for competing with Olaplex in the bond-building category. It’s also become increasingly recognized for its TikTok savvy.
Beginning on May 12 and extending through the weekend, K18 will host a bus outside of the Sephora store at The Grove, the outdoor mall in Los Angeles. The mall has become a common spot for brands to pop up. Other examples of brands setting up temporary stores there include Shay Mitchell’s luggage brand Beis, high-end fragrance brand Byredo and skin-care brand Tatcha.
The brand has been posting about the pop-up on its social channels, promoting it to its 266,000 Instagram followers and 151,000 TikTok followers. It is also using paid ads on Instagram and TikTok to promote the event. Sephora and The Grove will also be marketing it.
“It all started with this idea of a magic science bus that would transport you to our K18 lab, and we wanted to create an in-real-life component of it, too,” said Michelle Miller, K18’s svp of global marketing.
Up until now, the brand has been hyper-focused on the creator economy. “That’s where we’ve often been first-to-market,” Miller said. While other brands have experimented with metaverse concepts and VR via virtual showrooms, K18 has opted out, with Miller saying such activations aren’t a fit for K18’s audience. The brand is now jumping into the metaverse, upon realizing fitting ways to leverage it. “What makes sense is immersive education and being able to tell [our] biotech story in a different way,” she said.