Now a globally-renowned, luxury fashion house that specializes in clothing, luxury goods, and accessories, Chanel was the first of its kind to revolutionize the fashion world. In the early 20th century, they were replacing the norm : structured corset silhouettes, with a practical innovation : more functional yet fashionable clothing for women. Despite their beginnings in creating garments, Chanel has also conquered the watch market with the iconic J12 timepiece they created. Their original use of ceramic as the primary material in this model had unprecedented success across the world

In a constantly changing world it is not easy to remain on top and stay relevant. This is the challenge that Chanel’s Marketing and Acquisition team have had to face: how can we ensure the J12 watch remains a sales hit in ten years time? 

Using its unique Design Fiction framework, the Schoolab team were able to unveil eventual scenarios regarding the future of the luxury industry, as well as Chanel’s positioning. The aim was not to predict the future but to immerse the stakeholders in what new client demands could arise and how Chanel could pioneer new experiences and activation tools to meet them.

After extensive research, applying a Design fiction perspective, we were able to create a wide range of possible futures and outcomes for the product. These included the evolution of the product, new customer profiles and behaviors, as well as new metrics of success. The study of these, coupled with the Chanel team’s intuition, allowed us to carefully select the most promising outcomes and implement them by running workshops with the main stakeholders in the company.  A new strategic roadmap for the J12 team and ecosystem was created based on the outcomes of these workshops.