4 ways brands are activating on Roblox, Fortnite and other gaming platforms

Despite video games representing a fraction of advertisers’ total spend, brands are still hot on the space’s potential to drive interactive marketing opportunities. Some 86% of advertisers say that gaming is of growing importance to their companies, and 40% have plans to increase their spend on games advertising in 2024, according to a new study published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Virtual platforms, such as Roblox and Fortnite, continue to wage heavy interest from brands thanks to their younger player bases, as well as opportunities to develop fully branded worlds. And smaller mobile games, such as Words with Friends, offer a chance to reach a whole different set of gamers, particularly those who prefer short gaming moments over longer marathon sessions. On the heels of the IAB’s annual gaming confab, PlayFronts, which took place in New York earlier this week, here’s a look at four recent brand activations on four different platforms, and how each marketer attempted to leverage the specific advantages posed by each gaming ecosystem. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here TurboTax collects filings on Fortnite TurboTax launched a game on Fortnite earlier this month to build an association, in the minds of Gen Z consumers, with its company when it comes to filing taxes. Increasing brand visibility has proven to be a hallmark of games advertising, with 78% of advertisers stating that games are “excellent” or “good” at raising awareness, according to the IAB’s new study. No, TurboTax is not requiring players to submit their actual tax forms, nor is it simulating the complexity and tediousness of the real-life process (players only have to click a button to submit). Rather, the brand is hoping to ingratiate itself with the youngest generation of tax filers by meeting them on one of their favorite gaming platforms. “Millionaire Tycoon” allows players to build their own empires, including through the acquisition of mansions, cars and other symbols of wealth. But in order to level up in the game they have to pay the taxman, typically by entering a TurboTax office inside the world. At least 60% of Fortnite players are over the age of 18, said Louis Timchak III, VP of sales at Bent Pixels, a media platform that collaborated on the effort, along with Wieden+Kennedy Portland. This is why activating Fortnite for a tax-themed activation made more sense than doing so on Roblox, he said, despite the latter having seen more brand activity over recent years. Fortnite’s graphics and developer sandbox, Fortnite Creative, also allow for more realistic gameplay, through which TurboTax was able to create numerous branding moments, down to the in-game currency, which was emblazoned with the TurboTax logo. (The activation was not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Fortnite maker Epic Games.) “The level of complexity was an absolute advantage,” said Timchak. Over 1 million users have played “Millionaire Tycoon” in less than a month, accounting for 30 million fake tax submissions. The game runs through Tax Day, April 15. Warner Bros. goes for older games on Zynga While gaming has become quite immersive, the space offers other environments for brands less interested in creating their own virtual worlds. Warner Bros. leveraged this side of gaming to promote its “Wonka” movie on Zynga, the developer behind Words with Friends. Warner Bros. activated several Zynga titles in an effort to reach various audiences, not merely Gen Z. Words with Friends served as the anchor point, bringing a level of scale and visibility that rivals top mobile games. Here, players could compete against a virtual Wonka, as well as access content to view the film’s trailer and buy tickets. And since Zynga offers games that are already themed around Wonka IP, these titles served as natural extensions to the marketing push. For example, Warner Bros. injected updated messaging into “Wonka’s World of Candy Match 3,” as well as “Willy Wonka Slots.” The psychographical alignment between Zynga gamers and potential Wonka moviegoers was more important to Warner Bros. than age, said Gabrielle Heyman, head of global brand partnerships at Zynga. This stands out because most brands activating gaming do so in an attempt to target Gen Z audiences. But Heyman thinks marketers have a blind spot when it comes to who is gaming the most. More than 60% of adult mobile gamers are older than 35, according to Comscore data cited by Heyman, meaning that youth-catering platforms like Roblox and Minecraft only serve part of the overall gaming audience. Moreover, interactive, bite-sized games, like those on Zynga, reach an audience that doesn’t have time to spend hours on a platform. Whereas Roblox boasts average daily gaming sessions of over two hours, Words with Friends gamers play an average of eight hours a month. “Zynga has adults, people who are busy—we reach them super flexibly,” Heyman said Zynga declined to share performance metrics on the activation. NFL brings Gen Alpha-friendly Super Bowl programming to Roblox The NFL has focused some of its largest recent marketing moments on expanding its fan base, which was also the case for a kid-centered gaming activation timed around this year’s Super Bowl. The league, in collaboration with Paramount and media company Gamefam, brought a suite of programming to Roblox, intended to gin up Gen Alpha interest in the big game and its first-ever alternate telecast hosted on Nickelodeon. The two-week event took place in “SpongeBob Simulator,” where players go to see how the Super Bowl would be showing up on Nickelodeon. Bikini Bottom was the theme for much of the programming, wherein players were tasked with preparing the city for the big day, but the NFL also tied up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a tycoon-style game. The NFL has previously targeted young audiences via Roblox, including through similar football game-themed programming for the Christmas Day game last season between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders. The activation, dubbed “Nickmas,” featured IP from Nickelodeon and games from Gamefam. Given its massive user base and variety of customer touchpoints—such as mini-games, in-game advertising and virtual items—the platform made the most sense for a tentpole event like the Super Bowl, said Sam Fink, director of content partnerships for the NFL. And while bespoke worlds are a popular way for brands to show up on Roblox, the NFL chose to show up in a space that was already created. “SpongeBob Simulator” is run by Gamefam through its pre-existing partnership with Paramount. The ability for brands to find and collaborate with a network of established partners is another advantage Roblox offers, said Fink. A tie-up with Gamefam allowed the NFL to leverage its other Roblox games popular with Gen Alpha audiences, such as “Twilight Daycare” and “Easy Obby.” Each was adapted to the Super Bowl theme; the former required players to train babies for a spot on a football team, and the latter offered an obstacle course to prep for the big game. Over its two-week run, the Super Bowl programming generated over 545 million minutes of gameplay, according to metrics provided by Gamefam and Nickelodeon. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs H&R Block revives competition series on Minecraft TurboxTax was not the only tax services company to launch a gaming activation in recent months. H&R Block, in collaboration with agency Gale, revived a competition series on Minecraft to win over young adult players. Rather than creating its own games, H&R Block thought it would be less disruptive and better received if it rebooted a game that was already tried and trusted amongst Minecraft enthusiasts, said Andrew Martinson, senior marketing manager, media and strategy, at H&R Block. “We didn’t want to piss anyone off,” he said. The chosen reboot was Minecraft Competitive League (MCL), a series that pit players against each other through multiple levels of games. H&R Block added custom skins and characters, including a brand mascot called “Sir Block,” and placed digital advertisements around the tournament’s venue. Once the world was recreated, the company invited professional Minecraft players to compete for a prize pool of $100,000. The intention was to attract pre-established user fanbases, which would be brought into the experience via their favorite player’s Twitch and YouTube livestreams, said Martinson. Unlike TurboTax’s gaming activation, H&R Block’s effort did not go for the general audience on its respective platform. Much of this population is too young to care about taxes, and therefore not a reasonable cohort for H&R Block to target, said Max Bass, emerging connections director at Gale. MCL was the better fit, he said, because it skewed more toward an audience aged 18 years or older. H&R Block saw an average of 30,000 viewers for its tournament streams, and after holding its first competition in February, saw a next-day 10% year-over-year increase in traffic to its website. The company is now looking into expanding the effort in other ways that could attract a younger adult audience, such as through offering a Discord server, said Martinson.

4 ways brands are activating on Roblox, Fortnite and other gaming platforms

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