BrandnewVerse.101: Mastering Branded Experiences (Understanding Roblox)
Attending GDC in 2023, I felt like a YouTuber at the Cannes festival… but in 2008. A humorous moment was when I asked a Twitch analytics provider about their metrics and their utility for my campaigns. He looked at me with a condescending tone and said, “You develop on Roblox? Ah, my nephew makes games on Roblox and told me he was earning money with one.” He explained that since Twitch categorizes influencers by Amazon’s game codes, Roblox was just another game to him and couldn’t break the audiences down by experience.
This led me to two conclusions: first, his software was completely useless for what I needed, and second, his nephew had a brighter future in the video game industry than he did.
Roblox is like “the youtube of videogames”
Just as on YouTube, where one with their Gmail account can watch and upload videos, and where uploading a family video is not the same as being a YouTuber with millions of views, on Roblox, with the same account, you can play and create in Roblox Studio. Anyone in the world with a computer and a Roblox account can push their imagination to the limit and build incredible worlds. However, being an enthusiast does not equate to being a professional developer or building audiences on Roblox.
What makes Roblox unique is that it’s flipping the video game industry on its head, moving from a development model based on heavy investments and payrolls to creative youths in their rooms, applying their creativity and marketing skills to promote an idea they believe can be entertaining. Both the established companies and the up-and-comers are competing for the attention of players.
I experienced a similar shift while working in television. Back in 2008, YouTube was perceived as a platform for casual pet and prank videos, scorned for not being able to compete with the professional content of Television. Unfortunately, I spent the last decade of my career competing with YouTube, as it undeniably became the medium that captured the most attention and advertising revenue from the viewers. Because one single person can almost make nothing but millions of creators competing each other for capturing the attention of the people and improving their skills everyday can change a whole industry, this is what the creator’s economy is about and this is what Roblox is about.
As a marketing professional, it is essential to understand that having your group on Roblox is akin to having your own channel or profile on other social Networks
This is one of the first concepts a brand must grasp when considering entering Roblox. I recall an instance when a football club believed I should pay them to create their experience on Roblox. No matter how much I explained that it made no sense under a commissioned production model, I could not make them see reason. It was only after I asked if their community manager paid them for his work that an uncomfortable silence finally proved my point.
Of course, major IPs have special relationships with platforms where they publish content because they bring in an audience; this is a completely different discussion that typically must occur between the IP owner and the platform. However, developers, unless we are benefiting from that IP in our own game, are nothing more than a highly specialized branded content producer that helps brands connect with their audience on the platform.
This is part of our Guide BrandNewVerse-101: Mastering Branded Experiences, you can download the full report here or you can just subscribe to our Newsletter Roblox for Brands here
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