Make beauty fun – with a colourful Roblox Experience for Gen Z and Alpha – fundraising for LGBTQ+ communities
Game or Application
Essence’s “FUN PARK” on Roblox is a pioneering venture combining PR, advertising, and gaming, catering to the dynamic preferences of Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers. This innovative gaming experience goes beyond conventional methods, integrating beauty, play, self-expression, and inclusivity into the gaming world. It serves as an engaging platform for younger generations to connect with a style that resonates with them, while also acting as a means for essence to demonstrate its commitment to LGBTQ+ communities, enhancing its societal impact. The game’s inclusive, vibrant aesthetic reflects this dedication. More than just an advertising medium, essence’s gaming initiative offers a meaningful and relatable engagement platform, elevating the brand’s presence in the digital and social landscape.
Takeaways Game or Application
The Essence Roblox game provides an innovative route to engage with the Gen Z and Alpha audience within their digital leisure sphere while promoting an inclusive and accepting space.
The gaming experience prioritizes brand involvement in societal issues, addressing LGBTQ+ solidarity, and infusing the need for change within the young community.
The use of a gaming platform for fundraising demonstrates a forward-thinking approach to brand positioning and audience engagement.
The international beauty brand essence was founded in 2001 by Cosnova, one of Germany’s largest cosmetics companies. Ever since, the company has demonstrated innovation, zeitgeist and a deep commitment to engaging young, digital-savvy consumers. With the aim of authentically appealing to the emerging Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the brand embarked on a journey with DEPT® on the gaming platform Roblox.
In response to changing consumer preferences and the associated transformation of the beauty industry, essence has ventured beyond traditional ‘make-up’ channels and immersed itself in the vibrant and ever-evolving world of Roblox. This shift is based on the brand’s mission: make beauty fun.
With the support of global digital agency DEPT®, essence has decided to blur the boundaries between beauty, play and self-expression by developing the adventurous Roblox Experience “essence FUN PARK”.
“We want to strategically establish Roblox as another brand touchpoint. We believe that our target group will continue to develop on this platform, which is why we decided on it. And with DEPT® as a strong partner at our side, we are confident that we will continue to grow beyond the boundaries of the beauty industry.” – Thorsten Mühl, Chief Digital Marketing & Experience Officer, cosnova
The Challenge
Trends are constantly evolving in the cosmetics industry, and essence was faced with the major challenge that the industry is in a state of upheaval, driven by the dynamic preferences of tech-savvy Gen Z and Alpha consumers. The challenge was clear: how can the essence brand authentically connect with the young target group and build a close relationship?
The Aim
Given the constantly changing beauty industry, essence has set itself the overarching goal of being relevant to Gen Z and Alpha in the long term. To achieve this, it is not enough for the target group to love the products – the brand must share and exemplify the values of the target group.
Therefore, the challenge was not just to sell essence products, but to be a catalyst for positive change and motivate a generation to change the world for the better – both virtually and in the real world. This was also to be combined with the brand mission ‘make beauty fun’.
The Solution
In response to these challenges and objectives, essence was searching for an innovative solution and called in the expertise of the global digital agency DEPT®. After the kick-off workshop, followed by an intensive ideation phase, the idea of developing a Roblox experience was born and the foundation was laid for the ‘essence FUN PARK’ – an imaginative, immersive, adventurous and colourful world on Roblox. In this way, the brand’s young target group was to be addressed exactly where they spend a large part of their time: on gaming platforms.
If you ask Gen Alpha about their favourite leisure activity, gaming is in first place, with 22%. For Gen Z, gaming is in first place with 19% together with the use of social media. 87% of Gen Z specifically state that they use video games at least once a week. And while they are doing this, they are not only playing, but also socialising.
This results in enormous potential for brands to connect with the young target group authentically.
Why Roblox?
The platform’s user statistics speak for themselves:
- With 214 million monthly and an incredible 70.2 million daily active users, Roblox is currently one of the most important gaming platforms for Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
- 53% of users are over 13 years old and the fastest growing demographic segment is between 17 and 25 years old.
- The gender distribution on Roblox is almost balanced with 51% male and 44% female users, the remaining 5% are unknown.
- Imagine if you could capture the attention of your target group for 2.5 hours a day – that’s how much time users spend on Roblox on average. If you compare this to Instagram (0.75 hours on average) or TikTok (1.7 hours on average), the potential for brands on Roblox is enormous.
- In addition, virtual in-game currencies such as Robux have become the preferred means of payment for pocket money for many families in the USA.
The Implementation
Two aspects were pivotal for the successful launch of ‘essence FUN PARK’:
- Playing by the rules of the platform
With a clear focus on an authentic, user-centred gaming experience. - Game structure and mechanics based on the brand values
The essence brand values, such as ‘cruelty-free’ and ‘diversity’, are subtly woven into the game and improve the experience.
The Game
At the heart of the ‘essence FUN PARK’, players can expect a world full of joy and harmony, a real safe space that stands out from the hectic and aggressive nature of typical game worlds. Players start their journey of discovery from the floating, castle-like essence space. Various islands such as Pink Beach, Turtle Island, Gray City, and the new underwater world “Ocean Detox” await them.
All locations and their designs have been strongly influenced by the products and core values of the essence brand. Colorful and diverse, without microplastic particles and completely vegan, the ‘essence FUN PARK’ underlines its commitment to sustainability and beauty.
We also created an environment in which the use of real currency (Robux) is not necessary. By collecting ‘essence coins’, players can acquire everything they need, such as paint tools or stylish avatar items from the ‘Chic Chamber’.
The experience is characterized by popular game mechanics, environmentally conscious mini-games and exciting quests. Instead of the usual competitive dynamics, we rely exclusively on cooperative game mechanics. With friendly house painting tools instead of aggressive shooter elements as well as cute ‘Pick up & Delivery’ and ‘Plant & Grow’ quests, the game offers entertaining tasks for younger kids and teens. And if you just want to hang out with friends, you can use our chill zones with a Ferris wheel, tree house or sun loungers.
The result is an immersive, colorful world that radiates diversity and peace. The essence brand’s mission ‘Make beauty fun‘ has been brought to life.
Play essence FUN PARK here!
Questions?
Director Web3 & Partner