Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00You might have seen the headlines about this thing, a $10,000 limited edition Gucci branded
00:09gaming console in a special box.
00:12One of a hundred were made all custom and I've got one right here.
00:16So might as well take it out the box, shall we?
00:18I'll be honest.
00:19I don't know.
00:20I haven't unboxed many Gucci things, but there's a lot of leather and Gucci Xbox branding on
00:27it.
00:28It actually smells pretty good.
00:30So let's, uh, let's open it up.
00:31Why not?
00:32One out of a hundred.
00:38And there it is.
00:40It's the, uh, it's the old green inside of a Gucci box we've all seen.
00:45Actually.
00:46Oh, here.
00:47There's a, uh, there's a game pass card.
00:50So somebody watching this just got a free game pass.
00:54So the inside, this has some pockets up here.
00:57Okay.
00:58Let's get the console out of here.
01:02Oh, okay.
01:06It's covered in Gucci logos from head to toe all the way around.
01:11Uh, not, not on the back though.
01:13Just, just the front and the sides and the rest is exactly like a normal Xbox series
01:21X.
01:22I think I can put that over here.
01:33So you got your cables, normal HDMI cable, normal power cable, not Gucci branded cables.
01:41And then you have two controllers here.
01:43Both of them also customized.
01:46I've seen a fair share of custom controllers in my day.
01:49This one has the stripes, the red and the blue stripe and the Gucci font at the front.
01:56Other than that, normal black controller.
01:59Oh, and this is one of 100 MKBHD edition.
02:03So one of one, two.
02:05So they put MKBHD in green on the back.
02:09Oh, they put it on the Xbox too.
02:11There you go.
02:13You see that?
02:14It says MKBHD on the Gucci Xbox.
02:18So technically this is an MKBHD Gucci collab, right?
02:20Is that it?
02:21I think that's it.
02:22Oh, this whole thing comes out.
02:26And then there's just more compartments to buckle things in and it's all padded and upholstered
02:32and you can probably repurpose this if you want.
02:36This becomes your Gucci carrying case for something.
02:43Maybe you take your Xbox to the hotel with you when you travel.
02:46This would be the place to carry this around.
02:50It's a lot.
02:53It's a lot.
02:56It's a lot.
02:59It's just ridiculous.
03:02Okay.
03:03Just for the record, I didn't buy or customize this.
03:08Microsoft sent or Gucci sent it here to the studio.
03:11So I don't know.
03:12Who knows?
03:13Maybe it's a customized one of a hundred, $10,000 Xbox.
03:18Follow me on Twitter for a giveaway of this Xbox.
03:21So let's take this opportunity to talk about brand collabs.
03:25What they are, why they keep happening and how we got here.
03:29So we already know brands just love to collaborate, right?
03:33It's basically a corporate one-on-one strategy for increasing brand awareness, trying to
03:37get something trending or capitalizing on overlapping audiences.
03:40Oftentimes they're really cringy, but sometimes, sometimes you get something that's pretty
03:45cool or even iconic.
03:47There's Nike and PlayStation.
03:48There's Lego and Ikea, Uber and Spotify, Doritos and Taco Bell.
03:54There was even a Burger King and McDonald's collab, believe it or not.
03:57But I want to talk about collaborations in tech because there are endless examples.
04:02But when I think about them in my head, I kind of divide them into two different categories.
04:07The ones that seem to make sense.
04:10And then the ones that seem kind of dumb.
04:13So if you look at something like Apple and Nike Plus, for example, okay, yeah, it makes
04:18perfect sense.
04:19Apple got to add some fitness focused features to their watch with a trusted partner to attract
04:23more of the workout crowd.
04:25And Nike gets a bunch of new customers using Nike products and exposed to the Nike brand
04:30via the machine that is Apple sales.
04:32So basically it's a win-win for both companies.
04:35Or there was the OnePlus Hasselblad collab earlier this year.
04:38That's again, it makes sense.
04:39It's a win-win.
04:40OnePlus has this new but ongoing partnership where they get to put the Hasselblad name
04:45alongside their smartphone cameras.
04:47So that's a win for OnePlus because a lot of people who trust the Hasselblad name in
04:51photography will now associate OnePlus with high quality cameras, whether it's true or
04:56not.
04:57And it's a win for Hasselblad, a pretty traditional old timey camera company who can now associate
05:02their name with an upstart, trendy smartphone company to signal that they're high tech and
05:07fashion forward.
05:08You know, this happens with Leica all the time too.
05:10So whether they're cringy or super corporate or not, whatever the vibe is, there are a
05:14number of brand collabs all around the tech industry every year that makes sense.
05:20And then there are monstrosities like this.
05:24Because on the surface in the tech world, this seems dumb.
05:26It's a Gucci Xbox.
05:28Why would that be better than a regular Xbox?
05:30Does a Gucci Xbox perform or play games better in some way?
05:35Do I get anything out of having a Gucci Xbox?
05:38Of course not.
05:39But if you've noticed, there's actually been a lot of tech collaborations like this.
05:44Tech companies collaborating with fashion companies, fashion brands.
05:49So tech products are in this weird place where most of the stuff you buy is supposed to be
05:53purely functional, right?
05:55You buy a piece of tech because it accomplishes a task or serves a certain function.
05:59It's a computer that does the thing you need it to, but not necessarily because of the
06:03fashion.
06:05But whether we like to admit it or not, there is a personal element to all of these purchases.
06:09I've always said the smartphone you buy is actually one of the most personal choices
06:14you make.
06:15You hold it every day.
06:16You take it everywhere with you.
06:18It wakes you up in the morning.
06:19You feel kind of empty and lost without it.
06:21So even though it is just a piece of tech, it's no wonder the companies that sell them
06:25want you to feel like they're also pretty fashionable in addition to being a good piece
06:30of tech.
06:31You might remember LG collaborated with Prada on smartphones three different times.
06:36Samsung collaborated with Hugo Boss on a smartphone back in 2008 and again in 2011.
06:41Louis Vuitton collaborated recently with headphone maker Master & Dynamic to sell some $995 earbuds.
06:48There was a gold Dolce & Gabbana Razr 3 a decade ago.
06:52And I think Apple and Hermes may be the best example of them all.
06:57Hermes?
06:58Hermes.
06:59I never know if I'm saying that right.
07:01Hermes.
07:02Hermes.
07:03Hermes, right?
07:04But I just remember so distinctly when the Apple Watch went on sale.
07:06The first one went on sale back in 2015 and Apple, they of course made a couple versions.
07:11There was a black version and a silver version.
07:13It was stainless steel, but they wanted to of course signify that it was fashionable because
07:18it's a watch and they have to get the fashion crowd to like it.
07:22And so they made the Apple Watch Edition.
07:24And this version was plated in solid 18 karat gold and it started at $10,000.
07:31Now anybody already subscribed here to this channel probably already knows that it's a
07:35bad idea to drop 10 bands on a first gen tech product just because it's covered in gold
07:42and you think it's fashionable.
07:44But that's a real thing people did.
07:46That's out there.
07:47Like the real humans actually spent that money on the first gen Apple Watch.
07:50Tech blogs had a field day with the headlines.
07:52We already knew this was coming, but yeah, a year later there was a new one.
07:56The edition was discontinued.
07:58Of course, it turns out Apple, even as massive and popular and successful and wealthy as
08:04they are, can't break into fashion immediately just by themselves on their own name.
08:10And so shortly after that, we did see the beginning of that Hermes collaboration.
08:14So that fashion brand comes in, they'd start to do custom watch bands, unique styles with
08:18leather that match the watch faces and custom packaging and higher prices.
08:23Cause you know, it's fashion.
08:24That's kind of the way things work.
08:25But that, that collaboration has been way more successful.
08:28It continues to this day and it's a win-win for both companies.
08:31Hermes gets a much more tech focused crowd and Apple gets to break into the much more
08:37fashion centric crowd.
08:38So fundamentally that's what they're always looking for in these brand collaborations
08:42is a win for both sides.
08:43That win-win, kind of like MKBHD and new channel sponsor Cash App.
08:49Cash App is incredible.
08:50I get to share it with you guys.
08:51They're the easiest way to send, spend and save money.
08:54And you can buy stocks or even Bitcoin with a dollar.
08:57So if you use code Marques to sign up, 15 bucks will appear in your account.
09:01It's not bad.
09:02And then $10 will go to Girls Who Code.
09:05Link below.
09:06But the point is, the point is this, none of these tech fashion collabs actually makes
09:11the product better.
09:13Like none of them.
09:15That's not the point of this type of collab.
09:17Now you could argue that the tech on tech collabs actually do.
09:21You could say if a OnePlus and Hasselblad are collaborating, that that actually can
09:26make the camera in the phone a bit better.
09:29You could argue that.
09:30You could argue that the Nike Plus and Apple sponsorship and collaboration actually made
09:35a better product.
09:36But this is just a monogrammed Xbox Series X.
09:41It's not a better Xbox.
09:44The Dolce and Gabbana Razr was just a gold Razr.
09:48It's more about the experience of taking it out of the box, the custom packaging, the
09:53fashion nature of it, whatever you think about this fashion.
09:57That's what that collab is more about.
09:58And then there's also the X Factor, which is just hype.
10:02So brands have various levels of this.
10:04And in a world where the PlayStation 5 from rival Sony was pretty much the most hype thing
10:09in gaming for a whole year around its release, I mean, it's still impossible to get.
10:14So Microsoft and their brand team is of course looking for ways to get people talking about
10:18and thinking about Xbox Series X, which came out around the same time.
10:22And what better way than by creating a limited edition, super hyped, special Xbox with one
10:28of the most hyped companies.
10:29So even though the product isn't actually better, the hype and all the brand awareness
10:33created by this collab is a win-win for both companies.
10:37So that's why the Gucci Xbox exists.
10:40This honestly probably would have been received the exact same way if it was a Supreme Xbox
10:45or a, I don't know, Louis Vuitton Xbox.
10:47It's just, they just want people saying Xbox more, you know, and it's working.
10:51It's working, isn't it?
10:52I'm here sitting on video talking about it and now it's on YouTube going into their brand
10:57sentiment calculator.
10:59And of course there's no dislikes on this video, so it must be working.
11:03But yeah, the truth is I divided them into two different categories at the beginning
11:06of this video, those that seem to make sense and those that don't.
11:10But at the end of the day, when you look at it as a win-win in some way, they kind of
11:14all do make some level of sense.
11:16So I wouldn't be shocked if we keep seeing more of this type of stuff.
11:21Thanks for watching.
11:22Catch the next one.
11:23Peace.