Submitted by Viral NationAgency IPI Score 74/100

Opening Walmart Land to the world of the metaverse

Influencer Marketing

Viral Nation used avatar-led influencer content in waves to drive reach and engagement for Walmart's Roblox debut, reporting 66M impressions and 4.7M engagements at launch.

235KVisits
30-point increaseBrand lift
4.7MEngagements
66MImpressions

About the campaign

When Walmart launched Walmart Land and Walmart's Universe of Play on Roblox in September 2022, it was a major retailer stepping onto a youth gaming platform with more than 52 million daily users, most under 25, and press skepticism about a branded amusement park in the metaverse was immediate. Viral Nation, handling the influencer workstream alongside Digitas on build and strategy and Journey on the experience itself, worked from the fact that 88 percent of Roblox's audience is under 25, so promotional content had to look native to the platform rather than register as advertising.

The creative device was to feature each creator's own Roblox avatar inside Walmart Land itself, making the promotion indistinguishable in format from how Roblox users already share gameplay. Celebrity, macro and mid-tier influencers across lifestyle and gaming were deployed in waved content releases designed to sustain attention across the launch window, combining live Loot Box drops, virtual concerts, UGC-focused giveaways, split-screen LivePlays and organic tours of the experience, all amplified with paid media across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Viral Nation reports 66 million impressions, 4.7 million engagements and 235,000 visits attributed to the influencer program, while Digitas separately cites 49 million visitors in the first two weeks across both experiences and a 10 percent lift in brand affinity.

Case in 60 seconds

Walmart entered Roblox in September 2022 with Walmart Land and Walmart's Universe of Play, two interactive experiences aimed at reaching younger audiences who are not yet Walmart shoppers. The challenge was making a retailer feel native to a platform with a large daily active user base, the majority of them under 25.

88% of Roblox's audience is under the age of 25, so promotional content needed to look and feel native to the platform to resonate rather than register as advertising.

Feature each creator's own Roblox avatar in the content, placing influencers inside Walmart Land itself so that promotion was indistinguishable in format from how Roblox users already share gameplay.

Viral Nation deployed celebrity, macro, and mid-tier influencers across lifestyle and gaming categories in waved content releases, combining live Loot Box drops, virtual concerts, UGC-focused giveaways, split-screen LivePlays, and organic tours of Walmart Land, all amplified through paid media across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Viral Nation reports 66M impressions, 4.7M engagements, and 235K visits attributed to the influencer program at launch. These are self-reported figures. Separately, other launch partners cite additional visitor totals within the first two weeks across both Roblox experiences, figures not attributable to any single workstream.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Roblox skews heavily young, with Viral Nation citing that 88% of the platform's audience is under 25. The target was this next generation of potential shoppers, people not yet in Walmart's core customer base but reachable through creators they already follow in gaming and lifestyle.
A major retailer entering a youth gaming platform risks feeling like an intrusion, since a branded amusement park built to steer players toward purchases competes for attention with the platform's organic community content.
Walmart had signalled metaverse intent through trademark filings covering virtual goods, a virtual currency, and NFTs, but moving from filings to an experience that earns genuine engagement required cultural credibility, not just presence.
Walmart positioned itself as a destination inside a platform the audience already inhabits, hosting interactive entertainment such as virtual concerts, an Electric Island with an interactive piano walkway, a Netflix trivia experience, a dance challenge, and a DJ booth, rather than leading with retail messaging.
Per Viral Nation, content that features a creator's own avatar inside the experience reads as gameplay rather than advertising, matching the format in which the audience already consumes and shares Roblox content. Waved releases were designed to sustain visibility across the launch window rather than creating a single spike.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Avatar-led influencer videos on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok
  • Split-screen LivePlays showing Walmart Land and influencer live reaction simultaneously
  • Organic tours of Walmart Land walking through activities and areas
  • Live Loot Box drops inside the experience
  • UGC-focused giveaway content
  • Virtual concert content
  • Paid media amplification of organic influencer posts

Partners

  • Viral Nation (influencer marketing, per agency self-report)
  • Digitas / Publicis (build and always-on strategy, per independent source: https://www.digitas.com/en-us/work/walmart-land)
  • Journey (experience build, per independent source: https://journey.world/projects/walmart-land-2/)

Participation mechanic

  • Influencers' own Roblox avatars used as the creative device to make content platform-native
  • Live in-experience events (Loot Box drops, virtual concerts)
  • UGC giveaways encouraging audience participation
  • Waved content releases to sustain launch attention over time

Creator role

  • Celebrity influencers for mass reach
  • Macro influencers in lifestyle and gaming for scale
  • Mid-tier influencers in lifestyle and gaming for engagement depth

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Impressions66MReachAgency reported
Engagements4.7MEngagementAgency reported
Visits attributed to influencer program235KTraffic / visitsAgency reported
Brand lift30-point increaseBrand healthAgency reported

Why Viral Nation's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Using each influencer's own Roblox avatar as the creative unit made promotional content indistinguishable in format from organic gameplay sharing, which Viral Nation cites as central to resonating with an audience that is 88% under 25.

  2. 2

    Waved content releases rather than a single launch burst were designed to hold the campaign visible across the full launch window, a pacing decision suited to a platform experience that remains live beyond a single news cycle.

  3. 3

    Deploying multiple tiers of creator, celebrity for reach and macro/mid-tier for engagement depth, allowed the program to pursue both mass impressions and meaningful interaction within a single influencer architecture.

  4. 4

    Live and interactive in-experience formats, including split-screen LivePlays and Loot Box drops, gave audiences a reason to act immediately rather than passively watch, which is consistent with gaming-audience behaviour norms.

  5. 5

    Combining organic influencer content with paid media amplification extended reach beyond each creator's existing following, which is a standard mechanism for scaling influencer programs but is noted here as part of the stated strategy.

  6. 6

    Based on the available evidence, the broader launch drew a large audience quickly regardless of attribution, with independent sources citing high visitor counts and a reported lift in brand affinity, suggesting the overall multi-partner activation worked even if no single workstream's contribution can be isolated.

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