Why Gentle Monster Feels Like a Fever Dream You Can Wear
If you’ve ever stepped into a Gentle Monster store, you might wonder if you’ve stepped into a sci-fi art exhibit rather than an eyewear boutique. Yes, they do sell sunglasses, but for this South Korean luxury brand, eyewear is only the beginning. They have crafted this narrative that what you see through these pieces, whether it’s the giant robotic creatures or aesthetic sculptures from their campaigns and creative installations, embodies the product that you purchase. That, more than sunglasses, you are purchasing a piece of art.
Since being established in 2011 by Hankook Kim, Gentle Monster has captured the attention of luxury and fashion enthusiasts with its chic and groundbreaking designs. One of their unique selling points? The eyewear brand that meets the aesthetic needs of Asian fashionistas.
Unlike traditional luxury brands that lean on heritage, minimalism, or celebrity glamour, Gentle Monster has built an empire by crafting otherworldly experiences that are part performance, part cinematic world-building. In short, they’ve completely flipped the script with each of their campaigns feeling like a portal to another universe or a glitch in time that features surreal visuals, cryptic lore, and immersive physical spaces that turn shopping into a sensory trip.
Let’s take a look at Gentle Monster’s branding blueprint and discover how they’re changing the game in the luxury eyewear market, and what makes their campaigns — and the brand overall — so unique and viral.
Art Installations Instead of Ads
The brand’s philosophy centers around “luxury experimentation.” Gentle Monster is not only in the business of designing avant-garde sunglasses but also unconventional spaces. This can be seen in their global flagship stores, which feel more like a futurist art museum than a retail space.
This strategy enriches customer engagement and ensures that they keep coming back to witness the fascinating installations and sculptures, as well as follow the overall brand’s evolution.
The focus also prevents the brand from overt product pushing, with their products often coming secondary to the vibe. The artistic installations and experiential marketing strategies create a unique shopping experience and solidify Gentle Monster’s identity as a brand that intertwines creativity and strategy, and commits to imaginative design and storytelling.
Otherworldly Cinematic Campaigns
Apart from their exhibit-like stores, Gentle Monster also releases short films or visual campaigns that look right out of an art-house film! These advertisements are mostly cryptic and thought-provoking, mesmerizing audiences and encouraging them to form discussions online.
One example is the 2019 “13” campaign, which featured a narrative about an alternate reality where the moon drifts away, creating a 13th month called “Undecember.” This celestial phenomenon causes environmental and psychological shifts that cause people to become technologically dependent. The campaign delivered a series of 3D animated short films by Frederick Heyman and Ugo Bienvenu, which were also supported by immersive installations featuring robotic sculptures in some of their stores, where guests were able to experience the narrative in real space.
In 2021, they released “The Circle,” a collaboration with director Jenn Nkiru, which showed Black beauty and futurism through an Afro-surrealist lens, while “Galaxy of 9 Evening” advertised their 2023 BOLD collection through a matrix-like video that featured robots exploring their identity and existence.
Gentle Monster’s campaigns embody a strong narrative and lore, making the audience feel like they're part of an ongoing story that is both cinematic and fascinating. Infusing a narrative into the products shrouds them with a mystery that begs to be shared, explored, and experienced.
Harnessing Hype Through Bold Collabs
If there’s one thing Gentle Monster is good at, it’s building hype. Not only are they going viral for their impressive store designs and mysterious short films, but they also collaborate with some of the biggest celebrities, from global artists to K-Pop superstars, but in a subtle kind of way.
An example is their collaboration with Jennie of BLACKPINK, which gave birth to campaigns “Jentle Home” (2020) and “Jentle Garden” (2022). The former featured a doll-house pop-up in their Seoul store, which reflected the singer’s childhood imagination, while the latter campaign showcased Jennie in a pastel fantasy world surrounded by digital flora.
The garden campaign was shot by French photographer Hugo Comte, who’s known for his work on Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” album, and was accompanied by a mobile game where players got to manage a pixelated garden, and top participants got to win exclusive merch. This campaign shows just how powerful a collaboration campaign can be when positioned well, marrying Jennie’s star power, who has been making waves in the music industry with her solo pursuits, with digital interactivity and immersive retail design.
One of the company’s most recent collaborations is with Bratz — and yes, we’re talking about the dolls, which they dubbed the “Pocket Collection.” The eyewear line features compact and foldable structures, which they highlighted in their advertisements with Karina of aespa, whose futuristic aesthetic matched the collection’s vibe, creating a unique synergy with the humanoid Bratz doll visuals. The foldable feature of these glasses was creatively highlighted in the short video where a humanoid Karina is seen doing some impressive flips and flexibility, looking like the Battle Angel Alita from the popular Japanese manga!
This collaboration worked so well because it taps into Gen Z’s Y2K fascination with foldable designs, and presents a cross-cultural appeal as K-Pop meets the iconic toy franchise, bringing together two massive global fandoms right at the heart of the brand buzz. Collaborations like this broaden their audience while also adding cultural credibility.
The campaign was also accompanied by pop-up experiences in cities like Seoul, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, where people got to see towering Bratz statues, surreal décor, and even mini cafes, which many visitors had a field day with on social postings. In a nutshell, the Bratz x Gentle Monster collaboration is the perfect example of modern marketing: nostalgic, visually pleasing, and fueled by fandoms.
On the Mark Marketing
Gentle Monster’s marketing strategies lie heavily on aesthetics and their ability to evoke curiosity, emotion, and visual awe. Their virality stems from their artful, strange, and unpredictable campaigns that somehow elevate their products despite being in the background of the narrative. It’s a clever metaphor that while eyewear is merely an accessory, they have the power to enhance one’s look — that they too, can tell a story and evoke a sense of mystery for its wearer.
Their campaigns aren’t one-off ads or all flashy installations either. The brand has also released human-centered campaigns, such as the GENTLE Optical campaign (2021), which featured a minimalist photo series of over a dozen global personalities, highlighting individuality through eyewear. It also showcased inclusivity, which is a nod to the brand’s core purpose, as it was born from the need to create quality eyewear designed for the Asian face.
We believe Gentle Monster has got marketing down to a tee, and what’s even more impressive is how they managed to stay consistent with their identity and have kept their campaigns fresh and artistic with every release. These AI robots and gnarly installations have become so interwoven with their image that people associate Gentle Monster with art and viral aesthetics.
Safe to say brands can learn a lot about innovative advertising and expressive storytelling from Gentle Monster, and we look forward to how the company intends to shake up our world with their exciting collaborations and designs.
To know more about the brand and their art-forward designs, visit their website or follow Gentle Monster on Facebook, X (Formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Instagram.
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