#46: Olympics Kicking Off on Roblox & IRL

In This Article

Around the Block…

• AR / VR / Visuals: Selfridges, Oakley

• Gaming / Metaverse: Balenciaga, Manchester City

• Roblox: Visa / International Olympic Committee (IOC), NBC / IOC, Coach, Psycho Bunny

Chain Reactions!

• Olympic Activation Round-Up

Around the Block…

AR / VR / Visuals

• Selfridges: Partners with Snap for AR Mirror Experience at Flagship

  • The UK department store launched a sports-themed activation at their Oxford Flagship store, including two AR mirrors powered by Snap technology. Shoppers can virtually try on sports kits and easily access and share the images via QR code. The pop-up experience will be live throughout July and August.

  • Source: Retail Tech Innovation Hub

• Oakley: Integrates 3D Product Visuals on ‘Inner Spark’ Website

  • To support their latest campaign, ‘Inner Spark’, Oakley has integrated 3D visuals of three glasses models onto their product landing page. Users can scroll down to see detailed 360-degree views of the featured items.

  • Source: Oakley / LinkedIn (Luca Baldi)

Gaming / Metaverse

• Balenciaga: Collabs with ‘Need for Speed Mobile’ Racing Game

  • Balenciaga has partnered with the popular racing video game Need for Speed, integrating content into the game's mobile version. The game is exclusively available in China (with plans to roll out in other markets later this year). Players can purchase and unlock Balenciaga car designs and digital apparel. As part of the partnership, Balenciaga is also selling physical connected merchandise in China.

  • Source: Balenciaga / HypeBeast

• Manchester City: First Football Club to Create Fortnite Map

  • Man City created their very own Fortnite map called ‘The Ladder’, a 1v1 game where players rise and fall in standings and arena settings to ‘climb the ladder’ among competitors. Players face off to become the champion among 22 competitors in 11 arena settings. The experience was developed by the creator studio Karta.

  • Source: Manchester City / Fortnite (The Ladder)

Roblox

• Visa: Partners with the Olympics to Launch Roblox Experience

  • The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Visa have teamed up to create a Roblox experience celebrating the upcoming Paris Olympic and Paralympic games. Visitors can play competition-themed mini-games, buy items in the virtual shop, revisit global Olympic history, and score free UGC digital items.

  • Source: Roblox (Olympic World) / International Olympic Committee

• NBC: Partners with the Olympics to Create Team USA Roblox Game

  • The official US broadcast partner of the 2024 Olympics has partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to create a dedicated Team USA space in Roblox (IOC has also partnered with Brazil on a separate regional environment, in addition to the global world created with Visa). The Team USA experience includes an obstacle course, a Peacock fan zone, a virtual shop, and the Team USA House featuring Ralph Lauren’s official Olympic collection. The activation also features virtual versions of 20 US athletes competing across Olympic and Paralympic events.

  • Source: Roblox (Team USA Ultimate Obby) / NBC Sports / International Olympic Committee

• Coach: Unveils Roblox & Zepeto ‘Find Your Courage’ Activations

  • After Coach’s tease announcement last week, the brand has unveiled the ‘Find Your Courage’ campaign integrations within Roblox and Zepeto. On Roblox, Coach is integrating within popular experiences Karlie Kloss’ ‘Fashion Klossette’ and ‘Fashion Famous 2’, where players can showcase their virtual Spring 2024 Coach looks on the virtual runway, among other activities, through August 19th. On Zepeto, players can try on and shop virtual apparel and accessories.

  • Source: Coach / Roblox (Fashion Klossette) / Roblox (Fashion Famous 2) / Zepeto (Coach) / Venture Beat

• Psycho Bunny: Hosts Pop-Up Island in Roblox ‘Resort Tycoon 2’

  • The clothing brand partnered with Metaverse Group and Super League to create a limited-time experience, live from July 2nd through July 16th, within the ‘Resort Tycoon 2’ game. Psycho Bunny was showcased on an island - where visitors could claim a free digital pool floaty and purchase branded items. According to a release, ‘in the first 10 days since launch, Psycho Bunny on Roblox had already generated over 7 Million brand impressions, 220,000 in-store product interactions, and over 5,000 items claimed/sold.’

  • Source: Business Wire (Psycho Bunny) / Roblox (Resort Tycoon 2)

Chain Reactions!

• Olympic Activation Round-Up

  • With any big cultural event, marketing campaigns and brand activations will follow! The Olympics is no different this year; however, some brands are leaning into emerging tech to help them stand out among the plethora of messaging before and during the games. So far, we’ve tracked the following brands leaning into emerging tech tied to Olympic activations:

    • Nike: Launched interactive game experience in Paris leveraging Snap AR featuring sports-themed mini-games for a chance to get on top of the leaderboard.

    • Foot Locker: Created interactive map experience in Paris where visitors check in by accessing AR content and earning points that can be redeemed for rewards.

    • Visa & IOC: Above, partnered to bring the Olympics to life on Roblox.

    • NBC & IOC: Above, partnered to create a Team USA Olympic experience on Roblox

    • IOC: Has also created an AR experience featuring 15 scenes that is accessible through the Olympics App, Snapchat, and at Paris competition venues.

    • IOC: Partnered with Animoca game developer nWay to create official NFT pins featuring the Paris Olympic mascot.

  • We’ll watch for what else emerges as the games commence!

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