As part of its integrated, multi-strand back-to-school campaign, January saw Australian retailer The Athlete’s Foot launch a game on Roblox called ‘Fitopia’.
The free online game leverages the traditional New Year exercise and health trend and seeks to bring the best parts of going back to school to life in a fun and educational way: giving every kid the opportunity to win on day one.
The Fitopia virtual world is a land of giant scale with distorted oversized school and schoolyard objects and activities and the game features three distinct worlds where kids can connect, play and share through engaging recreations of the classroom and schoolyard environment.
One game focuses on exercise simulations and sports by bringing back classic schoolyard contests with more familiar after school sports such as soccer and trampolines. Another game puts players in an oversized classroom environment and challenges them to solve brain teasers and puzzles designed to challenge logic and creativity. While a third is a fast-tracked ticket to school camp complete with adventure obstacle courses inspired by ‘The Athlete’s Foot 3D Fit Experience’.
At the centre of it is a branded game lobby: a virtual recreation of The Athlete’s Foot store where kids can collect TAF-Coins and earn powerups as well a school, jungle gym, zipline, sandpit, a train, waterslide in all the oversized “FItopian” style.
Personal pupil player avatars feature throughout the game and each can be brought to life in the real world as a key ring: which is redeemable as a gift with purchase in any of The Athlete’s Foot stores around the country and feature a unique code to unlock avatars.
The game was promoted through a social-first campaign and can be played here.
The Roblox gaming initiative underpins The Athlete’s Foot’s 2023 ‘Back To School’ campaign which aims to shift product whilst encouraging kids to achieve things they never thought possible.
Fitopia was been created with Melbourne based digital agency LeapFrogger (which specialising in online marketing, SEO, SMM, SEM, web development, programmatic advertising) and was conceptualised by its LF studio team.
“We are so excited to be the first Australian retailer to engage in the Roblox universe. Innovation is at the core of everything we do at The Athlete’s Foot, first with our exclusive in-store fitting technology and now in the metaverse,” said The Athlete’s Foot Australia General manager Ian Taunton. “We hope to be able to bring a new experience that adds genuine value to our community, whilst also continuing to reinvent the retail experience in Australia.”
LeapFrogger Managing Partner Dim Nedanovski commented: “From concept to testing, this has been a fantastic project to be a part of with The Athlete’s Foot. The connection between the instore experience and the game has been very important to everyone involved and we feel the final execution does a great job of rewarding and challenging back-to-school kids – arguably the most important family members in most households.”
Fitopia will be available to download on Roblox from January 2023.
Comment
Of course, the metaverse doesn’t actually exist yet – despite the efforts of so many tech bosses, futurologists and marketers.
But this metaverse style initiative makes The Athlete’s Foot the first Australian retailer to launch a game on the online platform Roblox.
Other notable 2022 sports, sports retailer and sportswear linked Roblox gaming initiatives included Dick’s Sporting Goods ‘School Of Sports’, ‘Vans World’, ‘Nikeland’, ‘WimbleWorld’ and ‘UEFA Women’s Euro 2022’.
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