Japanese beauty brand Shiseido has launched the Rouge Rouge Kiss Me digital app, which allows two people to kiss their smartphone and share a virtural kiss, which coincides with the global launch of its 16-color Rouge Rouge lipstick collection tomorrow.

The app is triggered when one participant logs in to rougerougekissme-shiseido.com and logs who they want to kiss, in what color. The recipient will receive a text or email with a link to download, and then share a kiss – with a screenshot of the ‘kiss’ available to download.

Created in collaboration with Tokyo-based creative firm TeamLab the app, which is similar to Burberry Kisses technology created with Google a few years ago, is intended as a long-term promotion for the company.

Ruba Abu-Nimah, Global Creative Director of Shiseido said to WWD.com, “To share the moment is the point, and social media is getting faster and faster so we thought it should be in real-time.
“We were approached by our marketing team when we were planning this launch for the lipsticks and they asked us for the usual fare. They wanted a microsite that they can patch onto existing sites that would give info about lipstick and the science and tech behind it.
“Consumers don’t go to web sites to learn about lipsticks.”