Louis Vuitton’s walking tours of Beijing, Hong Kong & Shanghai

This year’s Summer Olympics focused new international interest on Beijing in particular and China in general, so it’s not surprising to see new products and services emerging with a Chinese twist. Case in point: a new series of MP3 audio tours of Chinese cities created by luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton Soundwalk MP3 audio guides, produced in collaboration with Soundwalk (creator of “audio tours for people who don’t normally take audio tours”), are designed to give users a vibrant portrayal of three Chinese cities–Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Each is led by an icon of Chinese cinema, with Gong Li narrating the Beijing tour, Joan Chen describing Shanghai and Shu Qi leading the tour of Hong Kong. The hour-long tours blend walking instructions with nostalgic story-telling, accompanied by the signature sounds of each city, and are carefully synchronized with the itinerary. They are available in English, French, Cantonese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, priced at EUR 12 each. Narrated walking tours by MP3 are a relatively inexpensive way to give consumers some of the experiences and status skills they so ardently crave, even if they never actually make it to the location in person. Soundwalk already offers a variety of other MP3 tours of cities including New York and Paris, as well as Puma-branded running tours of Berlin, New York, London and Paris and a multibranded Da Vinci Code tour of the Louvre. It’s not hard to imagine vintners, musicians and artists–to name just a few examples–creating MP3 tours of their own, guiding consumers through the highlights and influences of their city or region. How could a tour bring a new experience element to your brand…? Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen