Earlier this month, we hosted ‘An Invitation To Play’, a breakfast conversation about storytelling, imagination and the role of play in brand experience, at Maison Assouline on Piccadilly. Gathered around the table were our own Gemma Ruse; Sarah Boston, Global Director of Creative Concept and Innovation at Christian Louboutin; Sophie Howarth, Creative Retail Design and Experience Director at Coty UK; and Tim Nash, Founder of Shop Drop Daily.

What followed was a wide-ranging conversation about the future of play in brand experience. One theme kept surfacing: the world’s most playful brand experiences aren’t cookie-cutter repetitions, they belong completely to the city they inhabit, and they only make sense in their context.

Most brands treat play as a universal language; it isn’t. What feels joyful in London can feel cold in Seoul. The brands getting this right build worlds coherent enough to anchor a global identity, and flexible enough to speak to entirely different cultures without losing their values in the process.

As brands grow, the pressure toward consistency intensifies: one campaign, one message, replicated across every market. Sarah Boston, who spent years collaborating with StudioXAG, recalled a different era: “When we started working together, we would put a different window in every Christian Louboutin store in Europe. Totally different concepts. That just would not land now.” Global travel, social media and the pace of cultural exchange have collapsed the distance between markets. What happens in Shanghai is seen in Shoreditch the same afternoon.

But is total homogeneity the answer? “There’s local nuance,” Boston continued. “Seoul’s version might be totally bespoke to that location, but it’s still part of a consistent narrative.” The overarching brand world is the constant, but the expression of it changes.

“I’m obsessed with Jellycat,” said Tim Nash. “They understand world building. The product becomes the driver for an entire world.” The toy brand is a compelling example of localisation done well. In Selfridges, the concession was a fish and chip shop. In Paris, a patisserie. In New York, a diner. The branding is consistent, but the thematic language is entirely local. The result is a brand world that feels genuine wherever it lands, rather than exported wholesale from a headquarters somewhere.

Play isn’t a design aesthetic or a tone of voice, it’s a set of cultural codes, and those codes vary dramatically. Boston described a visit to ADER Error in South Korea which featured karaoke changing rooms, train carriage fitting rooms, and moving digital landscapes. Playful, undeniably, but filtered through a very specific cultural sensibility. “In South Korea there’s always this undercurrent of cool,” she said. “While the British tend to be a bit more whimsical.” The juxtaposition of irreverent ideas with industrial materials, concrete floors and metal ducting is a precise expression of what playfulness looks and feels like within that culture.

There’s a trust dimension too. As Gemma observed during the conversation, younger audiences have developed a sharp instinct for inauthenticity: “They can see through brands trying to sell them something or jump on a trend when it’s not actually at the heart of what the brand is.” An unconsidered approach to localising play doesn’t just fall flat, it risks alienating the very audience you’re trying to reach.

Play is an invitation. But like any invitation, it has to be written in a language the recipient actually speaks.

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