Manchester United Roblox Home Kit Release: Lessons for Brands from this Launch
My avatar wearing Club Brugge's and Manchester United's Roblox kit
Two football teams have already launched their home kits on Roblox this week, and it's only Tuesday! 🤯⚽🎮
Here’s what you can learn from their strategy:
What teams?⚽
One major football club, Manchester United, and a smaller but still significant club, Club Brugge from Belgium, are making their debut on Roblox (I styled my Roblox avatar with both T-Shirts 😉). It's no surprise that Manchester United is joining, as their biggest rival and city neighbor, Manchester City, was the first football team to activate on Roblox.
What is the purpose of these activations?🎯
These teams are testing Roblox as a cost-effective platform to engage with their fans. By releasing their kits on Roblox for players to style their avatars, they can gather specific data on the number of kits purchased, attendance at the launch, and time spent at the event, etc. This information will help determine the success of the activation and future strategies on the platform. Essentially, football teams (and brands) have found a simple and cost-effective way to test their audience on Roblox.
Clubs are also rewarding their loyal fans. Members at the “Young blues” at Club Brugge were able to claim the virtual kit for free.
Why is this smart for football teams?💡⚽
This strategy is excellent for football teams to grow their audiences on Roblox. Kids often choose their favorite football team between the ages of 8 and 12, which is an ideal target market for Roblox. By engaging with users on this platform, teams can potentially create lifelong fans. Manchester City set the precedent by being the first to activate on Roblox, and their success has inspired even their historic rivals to follow suit. If others are copying, it means the strategy is working.
Why is this smart for brands?💡
These case studies demonstrate how easy and cost-effective it is for brands to activate on Roblox. Gone are the days when brands needed to develop fully finished games to engage users on the platform. By releasing specific virtual merchandise, brands can test their success and gather enough data to decide whether to scale their investment in Roblox.
In a smart move, Manchester United teamed up with the popular Roblox experience, The Adidas Outfit Creator. This allowed them to focus their efforts on a part of an already successful platform to launch their digital assets. The partnership makes sense both in the virtual world and the real world, as Adidas is the maker and distributor of Manchester United's real-world jerseys.
This suggests that the Adidas team was probably the driving force behind this launch. They likely presented Manchester United with the opportunity to release their kit on Roblox.
What was missing?🎯
Both Club Brugge and Manchester United missed out on the chance to gather valuable insights from future fans interested in their brand. This launch presents a fantastic opportunity for brands to gather data from event participants, enabling them to enroll them in loyalty programs and send them updates about the brand and upcoming developments on Roblox experiences.
Yet, as a new presence on the platform, it's wise to initially focus on giving more than asking for, fostering trust and building a loyal following within the community.
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