4 minute read
Opinion - Generation Media
Can gaming help brands reverse the licensing model?
The rise of gaming amongst kids, both in the UK and Globally, has been well documented but some of the stats are worth repeating. Almost 80% of UK 7-9 year olds play games, with 40% them playing for more than 10 hours a week (Youth TGI) –that’s more than double the time they spend watching Linear TV.
This change in how kids spend their time has also had a profound impact on attitudes that go beyond the screen. Importantly, the top three games in the UK according to the Childwise Monitor Report are Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite (5-18 year olds), all of which feature commercial opportunities for brands to tap into.
Online virtual worlds such as Roblox give kids the opportunity to have greater control over their environment, from choosing which games they want to play, to what they want their avatar to wear. Given the amount of time spent in these worlds, it is little surprise to see that increasingly there is a blurring of Online and IRL (In Real Life) behaviours, and this is where the opportunity exists for brands. According to research conducted by SuperAwesome and Dubit, 56% of gamers report that styling their avatar is more important than styling themselves in real life, and nearly 85% are likely to try a product IRL after they’ve tried it with their avatar.
How does this impact the traditional licensing model? In the world of gaming, trends change at incredible pace. Therefore trying to identify the hottest properties, striking a licensing agreement and manufacturing product is a risky business. In-game branded experiences and opportunities can negate the need for this process, and instead make a ready-made brand the must have item.
At the top end of the budgetary scale, fully immersive branded experiences are a fantastic means of building and retaining brand engagement. Positively, it is kids’ brands which have demonstrated the best understanding of how to do this so far with six of the top ten branded games on Roblox designed for brands focused primarily on kids (October 2024, as reported by Metaverse Marcom):
Due to the high costs involved (for now at least) in designing and building these worlds, they should be considered by global brands only to maximise the potential return on investment. However, there are much more cost-efficient ways to introduce a brand into the Roblox experience (beyond standard ad placements such as Display and Video of course). In-game items are crucial to the Roblox economy, with more than 1.6b sold in 2023 (SuperAwesome/Dubit). Designing items that incorporate brand logos is a fantastic way to spread awareness across the platform and tap into the audience’s desire for their avatar to be an extension of the IRL personality. This relatively simple execution can also sometimes lead to virality (look up the Croc On Your Head trend for example) and is becoming simpler than ever, thanks to the power of AI. Roblox provides huge amounts of data, which AI models can use to identify what players are wearing and buying. This informs item design before making these available in pop up stores across key games on the platform, or as a reward for completing a mini-game to really drive brand engagement. With the average cost per engagement currently under £1, and 85% of users wanting to own the same items IRL, this creates a potential conversion model of the future. With the advent of eCommerce opportunities within the games themselves, it won’t be long before we can evaluate these types of activations all the way through to sale. At that point, we’ll truly know how effective gaming platforms can be. For now though, all the evidence suggests there is an under-utilised model waiting to be tapped into.
To help better understand how platforms such as Roblox or Minecraft can be incorporated into a marketing funnel, and start to generate online and IRL demand, get in touch with the team at Generation Media.
