Why The Garfield Movie was a purrfect hit with Gen Z and Alpha on Roblox

With The Garfield Movie being the first Garfield movie release in 15 years, Sony Pictures recognized a big opportunity to immerse the next generation of fans in Garfield’s antics. Partnering with Gamefam, UM & WildBrain, the trio found that the answer is Roblox, where 77 million daily active users across Gen Z and Alpha spend over two hours a day on average – more than TikTok & YouTube.

They created the Milk Heist Quest featuring endless Garfield-themed content:

• 4 Game Takeover: Tapping into the zeitgeist of four of Gamefam’s most popular Roblox games – Easy Obby, Twilight Daycare, Build to Survive and Starving Artists (combined 4bn+ lifetime visits, 84% player rating) – we delivered an event that featured action from the movie & drove players to theaters. An interactive Garfield non-playable character led players on the journey to collect milk bottles and earn exclusive user-generated content rewards.

• Rewards: Offered unique Garfield-themed rewards, including Garfield-themed pets & backpacks.

• Influencers: Partnered with seven of the largest Roblox-native influencers with short-form content and long-form play-along videos/livestreams

The activation not only delighted new fans, but helped propel Garfield to box office success with the #1 movie in the world.

Objectives

• Raise Awareness for the Movie: Build a fun and immersive cross-game experience within four of Gamefam’s most popular Roblox games to familiarize players with the movie and drive ticket sales.

• Form Connection between Garfield and Players: Establish a meaningful connection between Garfield and players by authentically integrating Garfield’s notorious attitude into gameplay and influencer content understanding that younger players might not be familiar with the Monday-hating, lasagna-loving Garfield yet.

• Delight Players: Create challenging quests that engage diverse Gen Z & Gen Alpha audiences in a way that is fun and memorable, and play alongside their favorite influencers.

Challenges

• Ensure Movie Elements Enhance Gameplay: Integrating promotional elements across multiple already-popular games, especially in different genres, required careful consideration. We utilized Garfield authentically to fit each game’s gameplay while maintaining cross-game consistency.

• Introduce Players to Garfield & Avoid Spoilers: Although Garfield is a household name among adults, seeing him on the big screen was a new experience for many Gen Z and Alpha players. We familiarized this new audience with the whimsical world of Garfield and immersed them in Milk Heist scenes – without spilling major spoilers to maintain suspense for the premiere.

• Real-Time Adjustments: Virtual merch was redeemed in near-record time, so we pivoted in real-time to ensure our influencers were able to claim virtual merch for their videos and livestreams.

• Partner Coordination: The campaign involved collaboration among many departments at Gamefam, Sony Pictures and WildBrain – all leading up to a massive premiere. It required constant, transparent communication to accomplish each company’s goals.

Results

• Reaching the Masses: The campaign (live from May 10 - 27, 2024) recorded 31m+ visits across the four games – in just 18 days. It became the biggest movie campaign* on Roblox – beating Kung Fu Panda 4 (17m), Ghostbusters (9m), Despicable Me 4 (9m) & Kong x Godzilla (7.5m).

• Global Awareness & Engagement: The campaign achieved 229m global brand engagements, 90% of which came from outside the US – expanding love for the franchise all over the world.

• Lasting Impression: Gen Z & Alpha spent a remarkable 334m minutes with the campaign – equivalent to watching the movie 330,000+ times.

• Rewarded Engagement: Players earned 9m+ in-game rewards, as players’ avatars spread word about the movie across Roblox communities.

• Influencer Impact: Our influencer program secured 1.8m views in the first 30 days alone. The top livestream secured 750,000 views – directly impacting engagement, with Easy Obby recording a 50% increase in concurrent users (6,000 to 9,000 CCUs) during the stream.

• Crushing the Box Office: The Garfield Movie premiered to become the #1 in the world with $14m in US sales alone (despite being Memorial Day Weekend in the US). It’s now the #1 Garfield movie in franchise history.

* Limited-time, multi-game event

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