Macy's Virtual Reality HQs

Macy's had built its first VR storefront, a niche and unfamiliar concept, and needed digitally engaged shoppers to know it existed, go inside and buy. The problem was one of comprehension as much as awareness: a department store asking customers to shop inside a virtual environment is a hard sell, because the format is unfamiliar and the benefit is not obvious from a headline. Social listening pointed to a simpler route, that people will not read an explainer about a virtual store but they will watch a familiar creator enter, look around and shop, which proves the experience is easy.

Open Influence gave six fashion-forward creators custom avatars and had them demonstrate Macy's Virtual Reality HQs to their audiences step by step. The content ran across Instagram Reels, Stories and in-feed posts, with clickable story stickers and bio links routing viewers straight to the storefront, supported by both organic and paid distribution. Creators were chosen for varying levels of tech-savviness so the journey looked achievable for ordinary shoppers rather than early adopters.

The logic was that demonstration beats description for an unfamiliar format, with the click path built into the formats themselves so interest could convert rather than stop at views. Content ran on Instagram, and the team reported 19.24M impressions against a 759k targeted follower base, a 19.7% engagement rate and 11.5k+ link clicks, with the work named a Shorty Awards finalist in Creative Use of Technology. All figures originate with the campaign's own entrants, the calculation basis for the rates is not defined, and no figures for visits or sales inside the storefront are available.