Kiss and Google have just released a range of Kiss Live Cases, the customizable phone cases range for Nexus and Pixel, Google’s own smartphone models.
Despite it may sound like the umpteen license agreement for the most business oriented band, which more than others lives on merchandising, the news has a less obvious angle, which the same frontman Gene Simmons highlights.
In fact Live Cases are somehow “live”: not only they can be customized within a certain range, but through the Android platform they allow the smartphone to be personalized by special wallpapers and animations.
“Our fans have evolved a lot over the last 44 years” states Gene Simmons in his launch interview on Google’s blog, “and merch has always been really important to them. I think of Live Cases as the new concert T-shirt.”
The new wave in merchandising is to have it customized online, personalized and “live”, then. And Simmons may be right: while Kiss Live Cases designs may not be unlimited, they are a step forward from your standard black fan t-shirt.
