On Roblox brands have 3 main ways to do marketing.
Create a branded experience
Integrate their brand into an existing game
Selling branded items
Like on Tiktok, either you can create your own content, or you can integrate the content of other creators.
1) A Branded “Game”
Create an organic marketing machine
On Roblox, a brand can create its own branded “game.”
The goal is to build an organic marketing machine that generates visits every day.
Barbie launched its Roblox game a year ago and generates over 500k daily visits organically. Each visit averages 14 minutes of playtime, resulting in millions of hours played each month.
With this mindset of establishing a long-term presence on Roblox, the branded game will be designed to retain players as much as possible and encourage them to return.
❌ 1 acquisition = 1 visit (Day 1 retention issues)
✅ 1 acquisition = 2-10 visits (Good retention)
Create a Gaming Community
Planning a long-term project on Roblox allows a brand to gather its community of gaming fans.
This community is powerful. The brand can activate it anytime by offering new free UGC items, launching a new event, or even releasing a new game.
For example, E.l.f Cosmetics built its gaming community on Discord and sold out its free UGC collection in just an hour.
Moreover, this fan community represents a strong potential customer base in the real world.
Example of branded games :
Barbie Dreamhouse Tycoon
310M+ Visits
14min Average Playtime per Session
88.8% Rating
Sunsilk Hair Care Lab Tycoon
46M+ Visits
9min Average Playtime per Session
90% Rating
Alo Sanctuary
115M+ Visits
17min Average Playtime per Session
87.3% Rating
Sonic Speed Simulator
1B+ Visits
17min Average Playtime per Session
92% Rating
2) A Branded Game Integration
Guaranteed reach
Instead of building its own branded experience, a brand can integrate with existing Roblox games.
Branded game integrations are perfect for short-term promotions.
Some Roblox games already generate millions of visits every day. Integrating into these popular games guarantees reach for the brand during the time of the integration.
Most branded game integrations last 4 weeks.
Different ways to integrate a game
1. Quest + FREE UGC items
The most common way to integrate a game is to set-up quests for players to get free UGC items.
For example, Skechers integrated Livetopia by setting up a scavenger hunt in the shopping center of the map, rewarding players with FREE UGC shoes.
2. Quest + In-game items
Brands can also set up branded “in-game” rewards. Players would need to complete a quest to unlock a branded item that is only usable in the respective game.
For example, Renaud integrated Greenville and set up a guided scavenger hunt on the map, rewarding players with a “car” (Renaud car).
3. Long term partnership / Acquisition of the game
Recently, we’ve observed a new approach to partnering with an existing game.
The game formed a long-term partnership with the National Football League (NFL), rebranding it as NFL Universe Football.
3) Create Branded Items
Brands can create and sell items on the marketplace. In 2023, the marketplace saw 3B+ transactions. Players buy items to customize their avatars, offering brands a chance to establish a strong presence in the daily playtime of the Roblox audience. This creates a deep connection with players through loved items worn during gameplay. Moreover, when players wear branded items, it boosts brand awareness as other players notice the branded content.
An official Roblox survey revealed that 75% of players find wearing digital fashion from a recognized brand important to some degree, with 47% rating it as very or extremely important. Additionally, 84% said trying on a brand’s item in virtual spaces would make them more likely to consider it in the physical world, with 50% being very or extremely likely to do so.
To succeed in creating branded items on Roblox, brands need to have a long-term vision. As competition is fierce in the marketplace, brands must create a wide range of items to increase their chances of having a best-seller.
Adidas is a leading brand in this area, having created over 2,500 items and even launched a dedicated Shop Avatar experience to showcase them. As part of their strategy, they collaborated with their partner football clubs to launch collections of items for Manchester United, Ajax Amsterdam, Al Nassr, and more…
PS : Long term or short term
The way a brand will activate on Roblox firstly depend if they are willing to activate for short term or long term.
I will always advise brands & IPs to bet on the long term. To really get benefit from Roblox ecosystem for Marketing purpose, most of the brand & IPs will need to establish on Roblox platform. Therefore, their goal will be to promote their Roblox experience either through ROblox Ads, or through a game integration or creating and selling UGC items inside their experiences.
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