The first Roblox game created for a sports brand in Brazil, with the Avenida Paulista flagship store recreated inside the metaverse.
What is the adidas Ultraboost Light experience on Roblox?
It is a branded experience inside Roblox developed for the launch of the adidas Ultraboost Light in Brazil in 2023. It digitally recreates the adidas flagship store on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, as the main setting of the game. The initiative was part of the set of communication actions adidas Brazil aimed at young audiences.
Inside the virtual store, users find an exclusive area dedicated to the Ultraboost Light and its features, plus a section with the brand's most important football jerseys and other featured footwear and apparel. Many of these items can be used to dress and equip the player's avatar throughout the experience.
How was the team behind the launch put together?
adidas Brazil chose Kidscorp as its strategic kidtech partner to develop the experience inside Roblox, together with Ogilvy Brasil in charge of creative and WMS in charge of media buying. The Roblox experience was the vertical axis and main touchpoint of a 360 communication campaign that also included content in other digital formats and on social media, designed to drive traffic to the game.
How does the game work inside Roblox?
- Lace up the Ultraboost Light: players equip their avatar with the newly launched model inside the virtual store.
- Go for a run on Avenida Paulista: the route takes players out of the store onto a virtual version of the avenue, where they must run while dodging the obstacles that appear along the way.
- Time rankings: those who complete the route fastest are recorded on a leaderboard, with their time and the number of runs completed.
- Prizes that bridge digital and physical: the top spots on the leaderboard unlock prizes that bring together the brand's online and offline dimensions.
Why did adidas choose Roblox for this launch?
Running is, in adidas' words, a sport that gains practitioners year after year, and Brazil is one of the brand's main markets worldwide. Roblox made it possible to communicate the lightness of the new Ultraboost Light directly to the Gen Z audience that is already, organically, on the platform.
The choice was also driven by concrete audience data: in 2023, more than 6 million Brazilian kids and teens played Roblox every month, an 11% increase over 2022. According to the Kidscorp Insights Portal, Kidscorp's proprietary research platform that surveys 84,000 kids, teens and parents across the Americas every year, 21% of Brazilian teens name Roblox as their favorite metaverse platform.
What they said about the launch
“Running is a democratic sport that gains practitioners year after year, and Brazil is one of the main markets for adidas worldwide. With this initiative we further expand the reach of the discipline, communicating the lightness of the new Ultraboost Light to the Gen Z audience that is already, organically, on Roblox.”
Pedro Portescheller, Senior Marketing Manager, adidas Brazil.
“We are very proud to present, together with adidas, Ogilvy Brasil and WMS, the first Roblox game developed for a sports brand in Brazil. Today, more than 6 million Brazilian kids and teens play in this metaverse every month, an 11% increase over 2022. The consolidation and growth of virtual spaces after the pandemic are turning metaverses into the new social network, and just as brands had to find their place in the social media universe ten years ago, today the challenge is to build strategic plans for Web3, the places where their current or future consumers already are.”
Humberto Galdieri, Country Manager, Kidscorp Brazil.
Frequently asked questions about the adidas Ultraboost Light case on Roblox
What is the adidas Ultraboost Light experience on Roblox?
It is a branded experience inside Roblox developed by Kidscorp for adidas Brazil that recreates the Avenida Paulista flagship store and turns the launch of the Ultraboost Light into a racing game inside the metaverse.
Who took part in developing the experience?
adidas Brazil chose Kidscorp as its strategic kidtech partner, together with Ogilvy Brasil in charge of creative and WMS in charge of media, to develop the launch of the Ultraboost Light inside Roblox.
Why did adidas choose Roblox for this launch?
Because that is where the Gen Z audience the launch was targeting already is, organically: in 2023, Roblox brought together more than 6 million Brazilian kids and teens every month, and 21% of Brazilian teens name it as their favorite metaverse platform, according to the Kidscorp Insights Portal.
Was it the first project of its kind in Brazil?
Yes. According to Kidscorp, it was the first Roblox game developed for a sports brand in Brazil, and it served as the centerpiece of a 360 communication campaign that combined other digital formats and social media to drive traffic to the experience.
In summary
The launch of the adidas Ultraboost Light on Roblox shows how a sports brand can build its own touchpoint inside a metaverse. Kidscorp, together with Ogilvy Brasil and WMS, turned a real physical store into a playable setting, with a simple mechanic and a reward system that connects digital and physical, backed by concrete data on where the Brazilian teen audience really is.
Learn how Kidscorp designs this kind of experience at U18 Creative Studio and how it connects with the delivery and data layer at U18 DSP.