WPP, GroupM to join the Roblox Partner Program

WPP announced a global partnership with immersive gaming and creation platform, Roblox, building on several years of collaboration on interactive 3D brand content and advertising. The alliance will help scale expertise among agency teams and brands in leveraging Roblox as a new media channel.

Rob Reilly, chief creative officer of WPP, said, “Roblox is an amazing platform for brands to engage creatively with a young, expanding and valuable audience. By merging WPP’s creative firepower with Roblox’s innovative environment, we will continue to invent new and exciting ways for brands to connect with the next generation of consumers. Buckle up."

Immersive platforms like Roblox are commanding the attention of Gen Z, a generation that spends millions of hours daily in these digital worlds. The partnership adds to WPP's expertise in guiding brands through this rapidly evolving media landscape, harnessing the power of immersive media, including gaming—the fastest-growing channel to reach the Gen Z demographic—to unlock new opportunities for consumer engagement.

Tapping into Roblox’s nearly 80 million daily active users, as on June 30, 2024, and WPP’s experience in the gaming sector, the collaboration includes a broad scope of initiatives from offering Roblox sprint days to a joint advisory council to advance 3D measurement and Roblox platform education.

Stephanie Latham, VP of Global Brand Partnerships and Advertising at Roblox, noted that this alliance will “enable brands to harness our platform’s unique capabilities and connect with our incredible community, driving forward new standards in immersive media and delivering exceptional experiences for a diverse and engaged audience.”

WPP and its media investment company, GroupM, will join the official Roblox Partner Program as an agency partner to work directly with Roblox to establish a long-term measurement advisory relationship, shaping the future of the brand ecosystem on the platform and setting new standards for 3D environments and immersive media. Roblox will develop innovative ways for WPP’s creative agencies to utilise Roblox’s platform as a creative engine and partner with Roblox creators.

Andrew Meaden, global Head of Investment at GroupM, said, “Roblox has redefined the way young people interact with the world and discover new products and ideas. We are looking forward to partnering with such an important platform to shape the future of media investment, measurement, and brand engagement in virtual worlds and help our clients navigate this exciting new frontier.”

WPP and Roblox will also work together to pilot a first-of-its-kind Roblox certification program for marketers to deepen their expertise in the platform’s ecosystem. The multi-module training course will be developed for both creative and media agencies, with WPP team members being the first to get certified on Roblox’s platform.

The partnership builds on a longstanding foundation of work that WPP and Roblox have developed together on behalf of global clients including adidas, Church & Dwight, Danone, Nickelodeon and Paramount. Going forward, WPP and Roblox will host a series of client sprint days that bring together experienced Roblox community creators, developer studios and agency strategists to develop a unique activation in one business day.