Similarly, Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales is an ongoing anthology series that invites esteemed female directors to craft short films exploring contemporary femininity. To date, the series comprises 29 unique episodes, making it the longest running commissioning platform for female-led short films. Each film is a testament to the directors’ unique perspectives, which so far have included the likes of Ava DuVernay, Joanna Hogg and Miranda July, with Miu Miu’s fashion collections seamlessly integrated into the narratives to bolster the brand’s dreamlike standing. The series has garnered critical acclaim and is regularly showcased at prestigious events such as the Venice Film Festival and New York Fashion Week. ​

As more luxury brands position themselves as entertainment studios, cinematic storytelling is evolving beyond traditional marketing. Jewellery and handbag brand Alexis Bittar has leaned into episodic storytelling with its quirky Bittarverse soap opera, while The Ritz-Carlton, in collaboration with Madrid-based menswear label Late Checkout, produced a branded series titled Late Checkout: A Ritz-Carlton Story.

How brands are tapping into the fantastical

Authenticity isn’t dead — it’s just no longer the crème de la crème of customer recruitment. Instead of chasing a curated version of ‘realness’, people are turning towards immersive, collective experiences — spaces where they can actually feel something real in the moment, says Panzoni.

World-building is extending beyond physical activations into augmented reality, retail spaces and content creation. AI is fuelling this evolution, especially in beauty marketing. Since its 2023 launch, fragrance brand Finery has embraced this shift, collaborating with boutique creative agency NotContent to develop its fantastical, visually striking campaign videos entirely using generative AI. Taking its digital storytelling a step further, it launched its immersive virtual experience, the Finery-verse, on Roblox in October 2024. This activation, aimed at engaged Gen Alpha consumers, invited users to explore whimsical virtual worlds, collect ingredients representing fragrance notes and craft scents within in-game.

In its debut year, Finery went viral, achieving 2.2 million engagements and 32 million online impressions. And in 2024, the brand saw an almost threefold increase in engagement, double-digit sales growth and a 287 per cent rise in Instagram followers. ​

Another brand successfully tapping into fantasy is Perfumehead. Founder Daniel Patrick Giles crafted an entire fragrant universe — what he calls “the Osmocosm” — where his approach to selling fragrance hinges on his ability to build intricate, multilayered and vivid worlds around each scent. “He spins a narrative with such depth that it puts the consumer into a specific space and time where he details the time of day, the environment you’re in, the artwork you might be looking at, the poetry you might be reading, and in doing this you crave the fragrance before you’ve even smelt it,” says Suzanne Scott, global associate beauty director at communication firm Seen Group. “It’s hugely emotive and sensorial, and that’s the lure of fantasy.”

The rise of surreal and participatory marketing is fuelled by collaborations with cultural icons and sub-brands that make fantasy feel tangible. “Many brands now lean on collaborators and IP-driven marketing to amplify their presence in unexpected ways,” says Jaskaran Singh, founder of The Best Marketing newsletter. “Crocs x Mschf, and partnerships with entertainment franchises like The White Lotus, Wicked and Barbie have helped brands tap into surrealist storytelling while maintaining cultural relevance. By aligning with worlds that already carry their own built-in mythology, these brands make their presence feel less like an intrusion and more like an extension of an immersive narrative.”

Ultimately, brands that embrace fantasy aren’t just offering consumers a break from reality — they’re creating new realities for them to explore. Whether through interactive storytelling, AI-driven environments, or surreal collaborations, the future of branding lies in building worlds that audiences don’t just observe, but actively participate in.

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