How Stephanie Latham is building out Roblox’s immersive ad offerings

Since Stephanie Latham joined Roblox last October as VP of global partnerships, she has helped scale the platform into a multipronged advertising wellspring. Her core contribution has been immersive ads, which are placed within Roblox experiences and are expanding to include different media and formats. Portal ads, for example, transport users into branded experiences, while in-game video ads will promote offline products and services. But like most Gen Zers, Roblox users aren’t interested in traditional ads, so Roblox is focusing on developing more innovative ways to package brand messaging. “How do we ensure it’s immersive and additive and not disruptive?” Latham said. Brands including e.l.f. Cosmetics, Lamborghini and Hilton Hotels have leveraged their virtual worlds for promotional activities in ways that only Roblox can deliver. Hilton, for example, tied up with Paris Hilton’s “Slivingland” experience to offer users actual loyalty points for its hotels. The next focus for Latham and Roblox is connecting real-world commerce to the platform’s virtual advertising opportunities. “Imagine building a burrito and then having it delivered to your door,” she said. See Ad Age’s Tech Power List honoring marketing leaders What is the biggest technological challenge facing your sector of advertising and technology, and why? We want to make sure advertising is immersive and non-disruptive in this new space, and makes people’s experiences richer on the platform. Moreover, this means we also need new measurement solutions that accurately reflect the broader impact on brand awareness and favorability from showing up authentically in immersive 3D spaces, along with resulting changes in consumer behavior. How are you preparing to overcome this challenge? I believe we are building a new media channel, and as you can imagine, this implies doing some work that’s breaking the ground in various areas. [Immersive ads] started with the launch of image ads and portal ads last year—the latter transporting people into experiences including branded spaces and enabling on-platform discovery of brands’ content. This work required developing new technology and tools—for example, new ad formats like portals or tech to measure an impression in a 3D space; new metrics, like cost-per-teleport; and advertising standards and APIs to block ads for younger users, because we serve ads only to people 13 and older. What piece of technology could you absolutely not live without, besides your phone? In the physical world, my Oura ring has become my go-to device to track well-being and part of my daily routine to check on sleep and other important health insights. In our fast-paced world, it’s becoming more and more important to prioritize and focus on health. Who is your technological hero, alive or from the past, who inspired you the most? I have always been a big fan of Grace Hopper and one of her famous quotes: “The most dangerous phrase in the language is, ‘We’ve always done it that way.’” It’s a constant reminder of the need to continue to change the status quo and embrace innovation. I spent 10 years working under Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook/Meta, and it’s impossible to not be inspired by the work she has led to unlock more opportunities for women in all industries to have seats at the table. See Ad Age’s Tech Power List honoring marketing leaders

How Stephanie Latham is building out Roblox’s immersive ad offerings

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