Jo Malone London is stepping into gaming for the first time by launching a Fortnite activation to mark the debut of the brand’s new Sea Salt & Bergamot Cologne.
The Estée Lauder Companies-owned luxury fragrance brand partnered with the user-generated games and media company Chartis to build a custom coastal experience inside the popular Fortnite map Minigame Box PvP, developed by creators Birdo and Dagwummy. The two-week integration draws on the cologne’s British coast-inspired scent story, translating its “wild waters” theme into an interactive, exploration-driven map built around playful storytelling and discovery.
Minigame Box PvP’s Jo Malone London integration will run between August 10 and August 24. The move reflects a broader shift in how luxury and lifestyle brands approach youth-focused platforms. Rather than building a standalone branded experience and hoping to draw traffic, Jo Malone London is tapping into Fortnite’s existing Creative player base, an established audience that campaign organizers say is more immediately reachable than one built from scratch. The company is framing the partnership as part of a wider Estée Lauder Companies strategy to engage consumers across new channels, including gaming and AI-driven discovery tools. The effort extends beyond the game itself through a companion creator campaign, with gaming streamers and social media personalities promoting the activation across Instagram, TikTok and Fortnite.
Jo Dancey, global brand president of Jo Malone London, said in a press release that the campaign was designed around how consumers now discover fragrance. She framed gaming as a way to reach audiences who may not encounter the brand through traditional social channels, calling the Fortnite push both a creative first and a strategic move to find new audiences where they already spend time.
“Sea Salt & Bergamot is inspired by the freedom and energy of the British coast,” Dancey said in the release, adding that the brand “loved the idea of bringing that sense of adventure into a world people can explore for themselves.”
In the press release, Chartis head of commercial Aida Andersson called its partnership with Jo Malone London a milestone for the luxury fragrance category. Andersson said the collaboration “marks a defining moment for luxury fragrance in interactive entertainment” and demonstrates how premium lifestyle brands can use UGC platforms as media landscapes to drive cultural relevance, engagement and discovery.
Chartis, which operates a creator network the company says spans more than 250 partners, reports that its games and social pages generate over 100 billion monthly in-game impressions and more than 6 billion social views, giving it what it describes as a 95-percent share across top UGC experiences.
Sea Salt & Bergamot officially launched August 4. Perfumer Mathilde Bijaoui built the scent around a bergamot top note, a sea salt heart and a driftwood accord base. It joins Wood Sage & Sea Salt in Jo Malone London’s coastal-themed fragrance lineup, though the brand describes the new release as immersed “in the wild waters,” distinguishing it from its shore-set predecessor. The cologne is sold in 10ml, 30ml, 50ml and 100ml sizes, available in-store and at jomalone.com.
Jo Malone London has been part of The Estée Lauder Companies since 1999 and sells in 82 countries and territories worldwide.