Responses by Andrea Gherardi, chief technical officer and partner, and Fabrizio Piccolini, executive creative director, Mirror.

Background: Everything started with a pitch we won for the latest chapter of the Pasticcino Bag World Tour. The bag is a super iconic piece from apparel brand Weekend Max Mara, released in special editions tied to various destinations over the past two years. After Venice and Paris, this year’s destination is Japan with its incredible cultural and aesthetic richness. For this major launch, we created a global, holistic communication campaign that spans multiple touchpoints—billboards, events, social media and the Treasures of Japan web game.

The website is part of this broader storytelling effort, designed to let people discover the new collection and its cultural inspirations. Using anime-inspired language and game dynamics, the web game fits perfectly into the campaign’s online-offline journey, serving as the digital engagement hub. It’s all about discovering the collection in an interactive way, driving lead generation with a final reward and guiding users to the e-commerce platform for purchases.

Design core: The creative idea behind the campaign draws on Japan’s blend of tradition and modernity. From ikebana to neon lights, from traditional rituals to pop culture, from Kyoto to Tokyo, the campaign captures it all. We created Pasticcino-chan, the website’s star, from scratch to lead the user on a journey beginning in Paris and heading to the Far East. Through three levels, users help Pasticcino-chan uncover treasures. Set in 3-D environments symbolizing Kyoto and Tokyo, the gameplay draws inspiration from anime and kawaii culture, paying tribute to Japan’s rich cultural imagery.

Challenges: As an agency, we’re all about three things—strategy that gets results, creativity that resonates and execution that captivates. These principles helped us maintain consistency across objectives, messaging and aesthetics in this large and complex campaign—a real challenge, especially when trying to explore each medium to its fullest without being redundant.

This website introduced a new visual language, a fresh tech framework and gaming dynamics. We balanced these elements with other holistic campaign assets through constant dialogue and collaboration with all the teams.

Beyond the development and technical requirements, our biggest challenge was to make the audience feel part of our storytelling and seamlessly follow the journey. We had to engage them enough to share their data to redeem the game badge, a small but meaningful gift. With more time, we would have liked to add more variety in the final phase, letting users choose their favorite badge. However, this project was transformative for our agency, bringing out the best in us and showing our ability to work together in powerful synergy.

Navigation structure: The navigation was designed to be intuitive, reflecting the journey-based concept of the campaign. Users are guided step-by-step, mirroring Pasticcino-chan’s journey through Japan. The linear structure ensures a seamless flow, keeping the user engaged and moving forward without confusion. Special navigational features include transitions between different game levels that are smooth and visually integrated into the storytelling. The design emphasizes exploration, encouraging users to uncover each treasure at their own pace while maintaining a cohesive narrative.

Technology: The web game Pasticcino’s Quest - Treasures of Japan was developed using a combination of modern front-end technologies. Key elements include HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript for a responsive, dynamic user interface, supported by WebGL for real-time 3-D graphics rendering.

The game features impressive 3-D environments that are rich in detail yet optimized for performance, ensuring a fluid experience across devices. The integration of anime-inspired visuals and smooth animations highlights the game’s attention to detail, while the seamless transitions between different levels keep the user engaged. The game’s reward system is a notable technical feature, encouraging user interaction and data collection in a nonintrusive way, which aligns perfectly with the campaign’s objectives.