rewrite this title 7 Brands Engaging Gen Zers with Custom Roblox Experiences

Gaming platforms in the metaverse have become an essential part of younger generations’ daily digital lives as they offer a highly interactive way to connect and socialize virtually, with a heightened focus on personalization. Roblox is one of the largest metaverse platforms at 80+ million active users daily spending an average of 2.4 hours on the platform, which is more time spent daily than YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Netflix combined. With over half of the community younger than age 13, the platform offers brands an opportunity to reach younger audiences by building custom Roblox experiences.

Roblox users represent themselves as one of two types of avatar styles, and personalize them through branded avatar goods called UGCs. Ranging from clothing and accessories to hairstyles and makeup looks, the digital items Roblox avatars can wear are highly customizable. As players explore different brand worlds, they raise awareness and visibility of products they’re wearing. 

The number of brands and retailers creating gamified experiences and selling virtual goods on Roblox is growing fast, gaining attention from high-profile multinational brands looking to reach its highly-engaged, youthful audience. Roblox monetizes experiences by allowing brands and creators to sell digital items in their in-game stores or on its avatar marketplace in return for its virtual currency, which users can purchase using real-world money. 

Here Are 7 Roblox Brand Experiences:

1. Walmart Discovered

Walmart developed their Walmart Discovered activation to emphasize the importance of creators on Roblox—spotlighting 300+ community creators for users to discover, shop and vote on across departments. The retail-giant wanted to empower Roblox players to find something that resonated with them, encouraging them to discover new UGCs and experiences. In Walmart Discovered, players could navigate the immersive space with their sidekick virtual cart, nominate their favorite UGCs and experiences to show creators their support, play various mini-games against friends, unlock exclusives like backgrounds for your avatars to take pictures with and more. 

2. Fenty Beauty + Skin Experience

Fenty Beauty launched a limited-time Roblox experience featuring key products from Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Fenty Fragrance, to engage fans of the brand. The experience featured exclusive UGCs such as a virtual beanie (also available IRL in keychain format), custom branded mini-games and a dynamic leaderboard displaying the top fan-made lip glosses of the week. Every week, players could create fully-custom glosses, designing everything from the bottle design and shade name to ingredients and effects. The unique glosses were then displayed on the selves of the virtual Sephora Experience for others to vote on. At the end of the four-week activation, Rihanna herself voted on her favorite lip gloss to create IRL through Fenty Beauty. 

3. The amikaverse

Haircare brand, amika, launched the amikaverse as an extension of the brand’s purpose, embodying their commitment to inclusion, responsibility and sustainability. The beauty brand also highlighted self-expression in the experience, featuring exclusive digital wearables from vibrant hairstyles to a hair dryer jetpack. Amika even held a digital sweepstakes offering users the chance to receive a limited-edition, vibrant jacket inspired by the brand’s iconic packaging. 

Upon entering, visitors are greeted with a Bestie to help them navigate the immersive, play-driven world—each leading to a different section of the experience corresponding to their character: Stylist, Gardener and Recycler. Stylists guide players to the Salon, where they could hone in on their hair expertise and address the diverse set of hair concerns presented by various NPCs. With Gardener besties, users venture to the Garden where they grow and harvest ingredients of different amika products. The Recycler path highlights the brand’s commitment to sustainability, empowering players to explore the amikaverse and collect materials to combine into packaging. Once users have the hair care knowledge, ingredients and packaging, they’re able to tap into their creativity and create custom products to gift to friends within the experience. Learn more about the amikaverse, developed by Obsess. 

4. My Hello Kitty Cafe: Tycoon

Japanese entertainment company, Sanrio, followed the popular tycoon style for their Hello Kitty experience, allowing Roblox players to create, manage and decorate their own cafe, rain or shine. Visitors are greeted with Sanrio’s famously adorable, kawaii characters in the immersive experience, before hopping behind a counter to serve other players or shop other tycoons’ shops. By completing challenges and playing custom mini-games, users could unlock rewards or win exclusive UGCs by entering giveaways. Hello Kitty made the experience extra immersive by featuring a dynamic environment: updating décor for holidays, showcasing seasonal changes such as weather and alternating between night and day.  

5. Barbie Dreamhouse: Tycoon

Build your own Malibu dreamhouse with Mattel’s Barbie Dreamhouse Tycoon Roblox activation. With up to four floors and 30 rooms, ranging from a yoga studio and walk-in closet to a helipad, players can build a dream home only found in Barbie’s world. Just like Barbie herself, Roblox players can try different careers via mini games in the experience or just beach and hang out in Malibu Town Square. Similar to IRL Barbies, the gamified experience highlights the ability to customize and accessorize—from the iconic blonde ponytail to fabulous outfits and makeup, there is no shortage of UGCs for these avatars. 

6. The Ralph Lauren Winter Escape

Ralph Lauren ventured into Roblox with a limited-term experience called “The Ralph Lauren Winter Escape” that offered a digital collection of gender-neutral clothing. Avatars could wear up to eight sportswear looks and select items from the current collections. Ralph Lauren’s Roblox experience had new product drops on a weekly basis, from new looks to limited-edition accessories and surprise bonus items. Christina Wooton, Roblox’s Vice President for Global Partnerships, commented, “This new digital experience is meant to further express Ralph Lauren’s focus on digital innovation, following its virtual store experience [by Obsess].”

7. Crocs World: Tycoon

Crocs World: Tycoon on Roblox allows players to harness the power of imagination and personalization in a park revolving around the iconic footwear—with custom colors, shapes and Jibbitz charms. Players can explore the beach-themed park in a Crocs Car or via Crocs Jetpack and earn likes within the game to unlock new attractions and customization possibilities. Further leaning into personalization in their virtual endeavors, Crocs launched a virtual Jibbitz Experience with Obsess, centered around self-expression, gamification and education. The Obsess-powered virtual experience showcases the brand’s iconic Jibbitz charms with innovative features such as the custom-built claw game and the groundbreaking 3D Jibbitz Customizer, empowering consumers to create their own unique pair of Crocs to be purchased directly in the virtual environment.

Obsess develops shopping-focused, Roblox experiences for brands on the platform, leveraging tactical merchandising and custom mini-games to promote purchases. Each aspect of an Obsess-powered virtual experience on Roblox is designed based on years of 3D spatial data from 350+ virtual stores. Obsess also extends ROI of Roblox brand experiences by pairing them with a virtual store, empowering consumers to shop both physical and digital products. While the Roblox platform does not currently allow users to purchase physical items in the virtual experience (coming 2025 with the launch of the Shopify partnership), Obsess-powered virtual stores do via e-commerce integration. Creating a virtual experience that is accessible across platforms extends the reach of a single activation and speaks to different audience groups wherever they are. 

Roblox provides a huge opportunity for brands to engage younger generations in the metaverse. Forward-thinking brands are setting up virtual worlds in Roblox and on their own websites, such as with virtual stores. To learn more about creating a custom brand activation on Roblox, book a demo or email contact@obsessvr.com.