Key Highlights
- The ad expansion of Roblox plans include 3D portals to branded experiences.
- Roblox has become a magnet for brands that are excited to experiment in the metaverse.
Roblox has become a magnet for brands that are anxious to experiment in the metaverse, a loose term typically attached to experiences that blend aspects of the real world with digital ones.
Gucci, Gap, and Nike are among the companies that have run activations recently tailored to the platform, including persistent spaces that evolve. The gaming purveyor is now making a more significant push for media dollars by introducing more robust ad placements, though they are hardly traditional in form or function.
A demo video shows Immersive Ads in action, with a Roblox character addressing a 3D portal to Vans World, the virtual skatepark the apparel marketer issued last year. Roblox Vans World posters counter the portal while a video previewing the experience and bearing a sponsored disclosure plays on a screen overhead.
The avatar is transported to a branded space after stepping through the portal. Leaving Vans World works the same as entering it, with the player stepping back through the portal to the actual experience.
Immersive Ads permit brands to promote their bespoke Roblox venues to an audience made up of hard-to-reach younger consumers in the Gen Z and Gen Alpha set. It is a potential money-making opportunity for creators, as advertisers can shell out to appear in popular worlds where people are already spending their time.
Brands have worked with established Roblox experiences before rather than making their own from scratch. For a spring campaign around inclusivity, American Eagle integrated a club into Livetopia, an existing role-playing game on Roblox that has drawn over 1.5 billion visits.
Roblox aims to better support individual business endeavors by letting creators on Marketplace control the scarcity of their online goods and by permitting users to resell or trade items.
As per the report in August, Roblox missed Wall Street’s revenue and user growth targets in second-quarter earnings. The RDC announcement noted that the Immersive Ads would be “clearly labeled” as advertisements.
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