Special Feature - Minecraft Retail

Building a presence at retail

In its landmark 15th anniversary year, Minecraft has gone above and beyond to support its retail partners with activations that have elevated Minecraft’s in-store presence during the franchise’s key 15th anniversary year. Toy World looks at how the retail campaign has been executed across the globe.

EMEA

At Hamleys, Minecraft took over the first-floor windows of the iconic Regent Street store with a display that caught the attention of passers-by with its bold colour scheme and strong branding. Inside the store, the vinyl-wrapped elevator immersed consumers in the world of Minecraft as they travelled between floors, before shoppers then browsed toys and gifts from licensees including Lego, Mattel, Hasbro, The Noble Collection, Paladone and Xbox.

At Smyths Toys Superstores, Minecraft fans were treated to eight weeks of deals on Minecraft Xbox games, which were promoted across the retailer’s social media channels. From September, an additional campaign highlighting Lego and Mattel will also roll out across the Smyths store portfolio.

Asda has made use of branded FSDUs to showcase licensed homewares including cushions, lunch bags and blankets, while Tesco opted for impactful on-shelf branding to draw attention to its range of licensed clothing (including t-shirts and jumpers) from Fashion UK.

LATAM

Timed to coincide with Children’s Day at the end of April, Coppel installed eye-catching displays that showcased Minecraft’s full range of cross-category products, including Apparel and Footwear, with child-size mannequins and textured blocks perfectly reflecting the game’s aesthetic. Licensees included Union Kids and Reedition. In-store activations at key locations were supported by a strong digital presence for the duration of the two-week programme.

Japan

Parco Shibuya welcomed a Minecraft pop-up store on its sixth floor for four weeks from April 27th, covering Japan’s ‘Golden Week’ - a collection of four national holidays that all fall within a seven-day period. The popular pop-up shop was supported by licensees including Lego, Granup, Infolens and K-Company. In addition, the GG Shibuya Mobile esports café & bar immersed visitors in the world of Minecraft while providing delicious hot and cold drinks and food.

USA

Walmart, a key retail partner for Minecraft, is taking part in 10 activations that kicked off in April and will run through until December. Each activation tempts Minecraft fans to a different department instore, including Toys & Games, Clothing, Collectibles and Home, while a gift-with-purchase DLC (downloadable content) item specifically created for each activation offers them even more value for money and encourages repeat footfall month after month. Licensees on board include Dynacraft, Justice, Mattel, Lego, Just Toys, Jay Franco, Zak, Mad Engine, Handcraft, SG Footwear, Kellanova, Kelloggs, Random House Worlds, Monogram, Unique, Dr. Squatch, Disguise and Liquipel.

Online retailer Amazon, meanwhile, has run an on-package advertising campaign which saw its polybags and boxes redesigned to celebrate Minecraft’s 15th anniversary, with landscape and character artwork featuring prominently across both options. An on-pack QR code directs consumers to the Minecraft Amazon store, where they can shop for the latest Minecraft products from top licensees.