How e.l.f. is using Roblox to train Gen Z and Alpha to learn capitalism

E.l.f. is launching its first Roblox experience, one aimed at fostering entrepreneurship, based on research by the cosmetics and skin care marketer showing nearly two-thirds of Gen Z users want to start businesses rather than work in corporate jobs. Building a permanent Roblox presence around that insight is part of the brand’s plan to stick around and be relevant long term on a platform where many brands have already come and gone. Web3 and metaverse marketing blog Catch up on the latest virtual experiences and more Click here E.l.f. Up!, a Roblox experience built by metaverse games and experience developer Supersocial, takes users through the process of creating “dream startups” that represent causes or subjects they care about. It includes gamified financial literacy and social awareness skill building experiences. Also behind the effort is eGEN, a gaming and esports consultancy. Included in e.l.f. Up! are Big Mood, a recording studio and karaoke bar; Holy Hydration!, an underwater sea life charity and animal rescue; Halo Glow, a crystal cave jewelry and art gallery; and Power Grip, an extreme climbing gym and tech startup. Future developments will include a multi-lingual rollout, a pet adoption center where users can adopt animals to join them and areas inspired by new products and launches. Also read: Roblox’s value to brands increases E.l.f.’s long hot streak It's worth watching e.l.f.’s strategy as it has seen meaningful growth in the beauty business. E.l.f. grew sales globally 76% to $215.5 million in the fiscal second quarter concluded Sept. 30, on top of 33% growth in the prior-year quarter. The company is one of only five public consumer-brand marketers that’s grown for 19 straight quarters and averaged at least 20% sales growth per quarter over that span, according to Chief Marketing Officer Kory Marchisotto. In U.S. retail channels measured by Circana and reported by Evercore ISI, e.l.f. grew cosmetics sales 56% in the calendar third quarter on top of 15% growth the prior year. It has passed the venerable Revlon business at retail and is closing in on Coty; and that data doesn't even account for e.l.f.’s direct-to-consumer sales, which remain a core part of its business. Coming late to Roblox E.l.f. has sometimes been at the forefront of digital marketing trends, including an early presence on TikTok in 2019. With Roblox, the brand is arguably on the back side of a metaverse hype curve that saw many brands launch Roblox and other metaverse experiences in 2022, but shift focus to AI in 2023. But this is not about trying to ride an industry wave of any kind, said Marchisotto. It’s about following e.l.f.’s fan base where they already are and want the brand to be. “I like to think about things as the power of accretion, like the way planets are formed,” Marchisotto said. “It starts with one thing, and then a series of things for the world to get bigger and bigger.” What she calls the “Elf-a-verse” is well primed for the brand’s arrival in Roblox now, she said. “There’s a community of people who are asking for us. We’ve already established credibility, partnerships and relationships in the gaming world.” See all of Ad Age’s Breakout Brand Leaders here Building from TikTok, Twitch In a similar fashion, e.l.f. originally entered TikTok “because there was a large community of people calling for us to be there,” Marchisotto said. “While everybody else was waiting on the side of the swimming pool for the right KPIs and the right monetization and the right way to present it to leadership, we were in the deep end swimming and figuring out how to do the backstroke in turbulent waters.” The TikTok experience gave e.l.f. the confidence to enter Twitch, she said, “because what we learned on TikTok was that there was a high affinity for gaming.” E.l.f.’s partnership with Twitch has generated tens of billions of views and showed the brand there’s “an entire community of people who wanted to live at the intersection of gaming and beauty.” Many brands have come and gone from Roblox, but e.l.f. plans to stick around long term, Marchisotto said. “We see a lot of brands create a campaign, they make some noise, and they leave,” she said. “What took us longer to get here is that we’re building a world that is permanent.” Building e.l.f. Up! around entrepreneurship is part of that strategy because “we’re seeing this huge passion economy of these Gen Z and Alphas who really don’t want to work in traditional organizations anymore,” said Brad Timmons of eGen, a technology services company. “E.l.f. didn’t want to turn up in a makeup way. We wanted to turn up in a supportive way of those passion economies.” Twitch also taught e.l.f. that the “Elfaverse” could be a safe place for self-expression among the brand’s fans in a way that gaming often isn’t. “We knew that 77% of people, women, were reporting they were being bullied” on Twitch, Marchisotto said. “They were coming in under aliases. We wanted to create a world where they could feel safe. One thing that really stuck out to us was that 80% of Gen Z say that expressing themselves in immersive spaces helps them feel comfortable expressing themselves in physical spaces.” Metaverse glossary Key words and terms brands should know Click here

How e.l.f. is using Roblox to train Gen Z and Alpha to learn capitalism

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