The nearly $22 million townhouse on West 17th Street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood may look familiar as the fictional home of Succession’s Roman Roy, but for one week this June, it was standing in as the home of another fictional billionaire—Gotham City’s most famous resident, Bruce Wayne. Within the 11,000-square-foot home, Warner Bros. and Relevance International curated a space with $40 million worth of luxury goods for Batman fans who dream of living like Bruce Wayne.
Inside, actors playing Lucius Fox (the fictional CEO of Wayne Enterprises) and Alfred Pennyworth (Bruce Wayne’s butler) guide visitors across dark, mirrored floors through blue and black sleek Baxter décor and six-foot-tall cast resin art structures. The sleek apartment is filled with the kind of if-you-have-to-ask-you-can’t afford it toys and gadgets you might expect Batman’s alter ego to own, including the world’s fastest e-bike ($29,995), a military-grade encrypted set of phones ($16,500), and a bespoke Alpange piano ($100,000). Everything in the home has a scannable barcode because everything is available to purchase on the companion site, BruceWayneX.com.
This shoppable showroom was part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s nascent gamble on luxury “retailtainment,” a collaboration with the New York-based marketing firm Relevance International called the Wayne Enterprises Experience.
Read the full story:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonemelvin/2024/06/23/40-million-batman-shopping-wayne-enterprises-experience-supercar-warner-bros-relevance/
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Inside, actors playing Lucius Fox (the fictional CEO of Wayne Enterprises) and Alfred Pennyworth (Bruce Wayne’s butler) guide visitors across dark, mirrored floors through blue and black sleek Baxter décor and six-foot-tall cast resin art structures. The sleek apartment is filled with the kind of if-you-have-to-ask-you-can’t afford it toys and gadgets you might expect Batman’s alter ego to own, including the world’s fastest e-bike ($29,995), a military-grade encrypted set of phones ($16,500), and a bespoke Alpange piano ($100,000). Everything in the home has a scannable barcode because everything is available to purchase on the companion site, BruceWayneX.com.
This shoppable showroom was part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s nascent gamble on luxury “retailtainment,” a collaboration with the New York-based marketing firm Relevance International called the Wayne Enterprises Experience.
Read the full story:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonemelvin/2024/06/23/40-million-batman-shopping-wayne-enterprises-experience-supercar-warner-bros-relevance/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
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FunTranscript
00:00As we're looking at all of the brands that we have, all of the IP and the franchises,
00:04and trying to understand how do we super serve the DC fan and came up with the concept of
00:10Wayne Enterprises and leaning into the giant organization that you will find in Gotham
00:16City and bringing this great new product to the people.
00:20This June, Warner Brothers Discovery and Relevance International hosted an exclusive invitation
00:26only event bringing luxury consumers into the lavish world of DC's Bruce Wayne.
00:32The Wayne Enterprises experience featured exclusively curated ultra-luxury products
00:37in a shoppable, story-driven experience inside the Manhattan safe house of Batman's billionaire
00:42alter ego.
00:44When you're shopping, it's not just, oh I like that object.
00:47There's more of an emotional connection.
00:50We're lucky enough to be connected and really work together collaboratively to create an
00:56amazing new model of retail, so what we've really been able to do is take the best parts
01:04of the Wayne Enterprises brand, really showcase who Bruce Wayne is, he has the best of everything,
01:12and curate the best of everything in all kinds of lifestyle categories.
01:19The Wayne Enterprises label is really focused more towards the gentleman, 30 plus, really
01:26looking at what I would call quiet luxury.
01:29So it's not something that is in your face and screaming, oh look what I have.
01:34So really kind of bringing that lifestyle to the fan.
01:41We already live in a luxury world.
01:44A lot of our clients are luxury brands.
01:46It was a logical thing to come together with the Warner Brothers team and really make sure
01:51that we are capturing the essence of Bruce Wayne in a compelling way that would draw
01:57people in, make them excited, have a great experience, but we wanted to keep it a balance
02:02of fun, also educational, and then also something that was going to be a wow that no one had
02:10ever seen before.
02:11How do people want to shop?
02:13Right?
02:14People still want to shop.
02:15We've gone through all the iterations of in-store only, mail only, catalog, digital, and people
02:23want experiences now.
02:24They want to be entertained.
02:26They want to go shopping, but they also want to be entertained.
02:28So it's kind of how the whole concept came about, is how do you bring theater into the
02:35home?
02:36And by doing so, it's first of its kind and very, very exciting.
02:43It really was a process of a lot of layers.
02:47So we would really think through the narrative and then tweak it based on new products coming
02:53in and weaving them in so that the characters are pointing to those products in a meaningful
02:57way.
02:58And Warner Brothers definitely helped us build in some good Easter eggs.
03:03Warner Brothers Discovery, we are storytellers.
03:05That is what we do.
03:06So how do we bring that storytelling to a more bespoke, interpersonal dialogue conversation
03:14that will engage somebody, but then be able to look around and say, oh, Bruce Wayne would
03:18have this in his house.
03:19I love this piece of art.
03:20I love this furniture.
03:21I love these speakers.
03:22So it really was a process of a lot of layers.
03:24It was a process of a lot of layers.
03:27Bruce Wayne would have this in his house.
03:28I love this piece of art.
03:29I love this furniture.
03:30I love these speakers.
03:31So it really is just, it's, again, it's a form of entertainment.
03:36But at the end of the day, they're out shopping.
03:40Gone are the days of clothes on a rack.
03:42I mean, I really think that that has its place, but it's not the be-all, end-all.
03:46And so now everyone's, as they're learning more about experiences, they're gravitating
03:51towards experiences more broadly.
03:53It was only a matter of time until the two worlds melded into one.
03:57So why not get entertained, have more storytelling as you shop?
04:02So I think that this will just continue not only for Wayne, but also other brands.
04:07You know, I think that it taps into a really unique type of nostalgia.
04:14Warner Bros. Discovery is, you know, we're an entertainment brand at heart.
04:17We do location-based entertainment all around the world to have the fans, like, really be
04:22a part of the brand and to feel like they're in that brand.
04:27This experience that we're doing here is something that has, again, never been done before.
04:32And it really is optimal luxury for a fan that doesn't want to be with the masses,
04:38doesn't want to be running around in costumes and whatnot, but feeling like they're a part of the story.
04:43I think that this presents a unique solution to a lot of dying retail.
04:48And I think that there's a great way to take this experience
04:53and build it into spaces that need footfall, that need activation, that need excitement.
04:59There's no reason that something like this couldn't really reinvigorate
05:02some of these spaces that are struggling.