There is an airship that releases toys all the time, a music festival with street performers, rivers of candy on the streets and a shop for virtual purchases, but they can become real. The first foray of the American giant of large-scale distribution Walmart in the participatory and immersive world of Roblox, which took place a few days ago, is presented in the form of a large playground in which to have fun, discuss and above all shop. “Experiences are designed with the next generation of consumers in mind. The pandemic has shaken habits and redesigned consumption using social networks, apps and gaming platforms. That’s why we’re experimenting to reach shoppers differently, ”said William White, Walmart’s director of marketing. Thus the Walmart Land and Universe of Play experiences were launched on Roblox. Live streaming events or augmented reality navigation are no longer enough. Now it’s time to co-create with the community. Everything happens simultaneously with the launch of the new advertising format presented at the Roblox Developers Conference. From next year, immersive announcements will include the ability to create 3D portals that will transport players to customized virtual worlds. The demonstration video shows an avatar approaching a 3D portal in the virtual skatepark. “These ads allow brands to tailor campaigns to reach the Alpha and Zeta generations. We are faced with a multi-colored palette for unprecedented creative exploration, ”said Andrew Frank, vice president of Gartner.
How Roblox works
An infinite space to create, learn, build, have fun. Basically this was the original mission. “When Erik Cassel and I launched the precursor to our platform, our users were friends, family and a hundred tech enthusiasts we had recruited through Google Ads. We offered them an experience. Together to design clothes, build buildings, make discoveries, run businesses, spend time with family, play sports and attend concerts. We had already sensed the power of user-generated content ». So wrote David Baszucki, co-founder of Roblox. One, none and a hundred thousand identities. This is the chameleon strength of this creature born in 2006 and grown up thanks to its young users. On the other hand, in the fluid ecosystems, hybrid platforms dominate: here we are dealing with a programming space and a conversation social network. But be careful. It is not a games room, but rather a square, albeit anomalous compared to the more famous ones of the Zuckerberg house. A digital environment that makes 40 million games available thanks to the contribution of independent developers. «Roblox works like the school wall of the past, where you could decide to play, but also just to chat. It is the metaverse that already exists, especially in countries like the Western ones where apps like the Korean Zepeto are less popular. It offers fertile ground both to test the most effective digital ways of involvement, and to experiment with the languages that will be prevalent in the environments that will constitute the metaverse », explains Andrea Boscaro, partner of The Vortex and author of“ Effetto Digitale ”for FrancoAngeli. A social network that is something more, able to intercept that attractive range by marketers: 67% of users belong to the Alpha generation for an average daily residence time of 2.6 hours involving 58.5 million active users and 9 , 5 million developers. In the year of the pandemic, the turnover recorded over 900 million dollars, marking + 80%. The debut on the stock market generated a total value of 41 billion dollars, more than double that of Epic Games. «Roblox is different from other social networks because it has its roots in gaming which for adults is an experience in its own right, but for the Alpha generation it is an intrinsic dimension of online encounters. You are on Roblox under the pretext of playing together, even if you can limit yourself to conversing and getting to know each other. The fact that Roblox is not a game, but an open platform in which developers can create experiences, makes the offer infinite ”, explains Boscaro. But each rose has its thorns. In the spring, the international press re-launched accusations of labor exploitation linked to the dynamics of co-creation. “The video game empire is built on child labor,” headlined the Guardian.
I brand su Roblox
Yet brands are attracted to it like a magnet. Already last year Roblox conquered a dozen major companies: Nike, Chipotle and Kellogg’s. The platform monetizes by allowing digital items to be sold in stores. “Whether it’s a sports franchise, a fashion brand, a film studio or a music artist, there are endless possibilities to build engaging experiences in line with your brand values,” said Tami Bhaumik, at Roblox head of marketing. “Although traditional advertising solutions are offered, the campaigns that companies conduct arise from collaboration with development companies that help them create engaging experiences for a young audience: games, online events, meeting and collaboration environments, collections of digital items with which participants can enrich their avatars. Success lies in the originality of the interaction dynamics and in the budget planned to be able to promote it. Being a social network used mainly by children, the presence of companies and circumstances with which the brand can be associated is particularly delicate: so Roblox has introduced new features to help parents control their activity and in particular their contacts, private messages. and purchases. For a company that intends to be there, the dynamics that are designed must be designed to reduce the risk of deplorable behaviors such as cyberbullying and the theft of profiles and personal data ”, concludes Boscaro. Collaborate yes, but in the name of moderation: this is why participation in sponsored environments must include the mediation of the brand to avoid unpleasant or dangerous circumstances.