Problem Solved: Specsavers’ Roblox ‘Obbies’ Teaching Eye and Ear Care to Gen Alpha
In an exciting first for the optical industry, we recently launched the ‘Specsavers Obby’, a new branded obstacle course game and virtual merchandise giveaway on Roblox.
Specsavers has the expertise, the knowledge and the technology to help people who game elevate their gameplay by creating these ‘penny drop moments’ to show how healthy eyes and ears connect people to the world around them and help create a more fulfilled game play.
By bringing the Specsavers brand to Roblox we can meet our audience (kids and their parents) in a new space where they choose to spend a large amount of digital time.
The Problem
Specsavers wanted to connect with the gen alpha audience who are difficult to reach as it’s important for younger people to understand early on in their lives the importance of eye and ear care.
People are unaware of how vision and hearing problems can impact the younger generations and don’t know which signs (eye strain, blurred vision, frequent headaches, misheard or unclear words etc.) may indicate you may need an eye or hearing test.
Ideation
We collaborated with a social agency, Tangerine, for suitable partners/platforms where we could convey health messaging in a natural and non-invasive way. We didn’t want our activity to come across as preachy or impact game play, rather be a natural part of the experience/game. We wanted a revolutionary way for us to engage customers and immerse younger players into the world of eye and ear care, somewhere ‘unexpected’ for Specsavers.
We looked at lots of platforms and gaming options and Roblox felt like the best fit due to its younger demographic and passionate community and the ability to create an obby [obstacle course] that would help gen alpha become more aware of issues like digital eye strain and myopia. We knew we wanted to be part of existing obbies within the game, and by utilising these options, that are well known within the Roblox world and loved, we knew we would drive a lot of interaction and conversation naturally.
It was relatively straightforward, as we knew from the off what we wanted to achieve. We brought on board a gaming studio, Dubit, and gaming production group, Banana Studios. We wanted to create a fully interactive and bespoke obstacle course, featuring eye and ear themed obstructions. We wanted to encourage gamers to look after their most valuable piece of gaming equipment – their eyes and ears, and that included exploring educational elements alongside entertainment.
For inspiration, we looked to other non-endemic brands that have gone into the gaming space in an authentic way. We also had learnings from our time at EGX in 2023 where we’d spoken to a range of gamers, of all ages and abilities, so we took inspiration from gamers themselves and kept in mind their feedback on how to interact in a genuine and meaningful way, without feeling intrusive or negative about gameplay.
Prototype & Design
The Specsavers Obby features numerous eye and ear-based obstacles for players to overcome, question gates relating to health messaging and advice from in-game optometrists. Players also have to navigate a maze using hearing cues to help them find the exit.
As part of the five Specsavers’ levels, players interact with branded virtual items from the retailer and have the chance to collect 10 limited edition Specsavers’ themed UGC (user-generated content) items, including glasses, hearing aids and even a Snellen chart sandwich board, which players can opt to equip their avatars with throughout the Roblox universe.
The aesthetic was an interesting one for us to explore, as Roblox has a very specific look and feel, and we wanted our game to feel natural in the three obbies we went into. We wanted to include eye and ear equipment that you may encounter in our stores, so younger players would become more comfortable with these tools and maybe question what some of the obstacles were, to encourage conversation with friends and family.
Live
Our testing process was thorough, and we got children who are already fans of Roblox to test the demo versions for us. We wanted feedback from gen alpha, as this was ultimately who we’d designed the game around, so it was important we got it in front of them for feedback before going live.
The development of the UGC we created for the project took a lot of tweaking. Ideally, we wanted it to be centred around eye and ear care, but it also had to be quirky and eye-catching so players would want to collect it and use it on their avatar. We landed on a range of colourful, funky glasses, futuristic headsets and even a Snellen chart as a wearable sandwich board – which all worked well for the younger generation and received positive feedback online.
We monitored feedback online throughout the game and were very lucky that the gaming community really enjoyed the obby and created videos and tutorials around it – with particular focus on winning UGC. As it was so popular when the campaign was coming to an end, we simplified the mechanic to win, allowing players to win multiple items from us.
The most interesting element for me was understanding if a health message could work in this space and whether people would engage with it. It feels obvious to lean into ‘Should've Gone to Specsavers’ mishaps, as we know humour always lands well. But we are more than just this 'gag', and need to find new and innovative ways to communicate this message, especially to a younger audience – so the findings will really help us shape how we behave in this channel moving forwards.
As part of the game, we introduced a small survey at the end to test what people had learnt. Over 30% of players interacted with the survey and it was great to see the information they had retained throughout the levels, proving that we could include health messaging in a way that felt natural to the game and engaged players without any negative connotations around gaming.
