2. The Metaverse
Madness
A.k.a.“Web 3.0”, the metaverse
is a new evolution of the
internet that allows users can
be a part of various virtual
reality worlds where they can
interact, game, and
experience things that they
would generally do in the real
world.
3. What is
Roblox?
Roblox is an online platform
that lets users play games that
are created by other users on
the platform. They now have a
catalog of more than 20
million games with over 43.2
million daily active users and
over 202 million monthly
active users as of 2021.
4. Who are these active users? Let’s
understand the demographics.
25
29
13
16
14
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Under 9 9 to 12 13 to 16 17 to 24 25+
Share
(in
percentage)
Age (in years)
Roblox’s demographics by age
Under 9 9 to 12 13 to 16 17 to 24 25+
6. A few early adopters of Roblox
GUCCI
Launched Gucci Garden
where people could explore
the digital space created in
collaboration with Roblox,
interact with other users,
and buy exclusive digital
items from GUCCI
Nike
Nikeland is an exclusive virtual
showroom of digital Nike
products like shoes, clothes,
and accessories to personalize
users’ avatars that can be
taken anywhere within the
Roblox ecosystem
Netflix
Netflix created a digital space
that looks like the Starcourt
Mall, the iconic location from
the Stranger Things webseries,
and created interactive games
where users could play and
interact with each other
7. How did these brands benefit from
such promotions?
Creating such digital experiences within the Roblox metaverse
ecosystem allowed these brands to come up with innovative
ideas to interact with a specific set of audiences in order to
market their products to these users. However, the demographic
data that we saw earlier suggests that a big chunk of users on
the Roblox platform are very young. In fact, more than 54% of
their user base is under the age of 13.
Then why is it that these brands are still interested in
marketing to users on this platform?
8. Here’s why!
In all these cases, the brands deliberately focused on targeting to this demographic
because of the following reasons:
• Netflix’s strategy was straightforward. They wanted to directly target a younger
audience to promote their latest original web-series Stranger Things.
• Gucci, on the other hand, was thinking far ahead, in my opinion. They reached out
to a segment of the audience that was not exposed to their brand yet and wanted
to create a desire to buy their real-world products among these users. As for
making monetary gains, GUCCI raked in about $3.5 million from the sales of these
digital collectibles.
• Nike also worked on the same lines by creating a desire among young users to
want to buy Nike products in real-life by creating a cool digital space where users
could dress up in Nike clothes, shoes, and accessories and be a part of a
community being built by Nike.
10. It Depends!
On a number of factors that are determined by what
your brand is and who you are trying to reach.
11. Here’s an example
MUBI is a curated film
streaming service that hosts a
large library of exlcusive
content from independent and
emerging filmmakers around
the world.
HBO Max is a content
streaming service that hosts a
extensive library of the biggest
blockbuster films and shows,
and also produces original
content.
Let’s take two companies in the retail space
Which one of these would be successful in marketing on Roblox?
12. HBO Max
MUBI serves a very specific and niche
audience that may not be present on
platforms like Roblox. More importantly, it
is of no use for MUBI to attract a fresh set
of audience from Roblox as they would
not be relevant to what is being offered.
As for HBO Max, they have content for a
much wider audience. They have multiple
offerings for various demographic and
psychographic segments. A lot of this
content is pop-culture centric which
attracts a larger portion of the younger
generation. Which is why, in my opinion, it
would be more appropriate for a brand
like HBO Max is better suited to run
promotions on Roblox
13. Conclusion
Roblox is an online platform has grown tremendously in the past few years.
With a massive increase in the popularity of the Metaverse and the ability to
create virtual worlds in Roblox has led it to be such a popular destination for
users and brands alike.
While it may not be the best platform every type of company in the world, it
is extremely effective for the brands that may have relevant audiences or for
grooming potential audiences by giving them the right exposure to your
brand.
