There are twoimmersive experiences in online gaming platform Roblox. Walmart Land and Walmart's Universe of Play are online worlds that are just ways to advertise toys to children. It has more than 50 million daily active users and two-thirds of them are under the age of 16. Walmart is probably trying to hook this market with virtual worlds.
Walmart Land and Universe of Play are virtual places to go. There are a variety of mini games and experiences inside, most of which serve to funnel players towards certain brands. In a virtual dressing room, you can use Walmart Land coins to spend on items like Skullcandy headphones or a fitness tracker. You can race Razor scooters around a track in Universe of Play. It is all very basic in terms of graphics and mechanics.
Most of the time we have been here before. Dell, Disney, MTV and Mazda were just some of the companies that created shops and experiences in Second Life. Advertising budgets have to be spent somewhere, and the "metaverse" rebrand seems to give a shallow futurist sheen to what is now a decades-old marketing strategy.
It is worth Walmart's time. Who is aware at this point? Checking the statistics for Walmart Land's achievements, it seems that a decent amount of users have at least log in, with 200,000 "Welcome to Walmart Land" badges given for entering the game for the first time. Some achievements, like getting a freeloot box, have only been won by a small group of players. We were one of a small group of people who enjoyed the sights and sounds of Walmart Land.
William White, Walmart's chief marketing officer, has talked about the virtual worlds in interviews as a way to connect with Gen Z. What are we doing to drive relevance in cultural conversations? How are we making a difference? The needle is moving from a brand favorability to a young audience. White spoke to CNBC. We are attempting to accomplish that here.
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