The international beauty brand essence was founded in 2001 by cosnova, one of Germany’s largest cosmetics companies. Ever since, the company has demonstrated innovation, zeitgeist, and a deep commitment to engaging young, digital-savvy consumers.
With the support of the game developers at global digital agency DEPT®, essence has blurred the boundaries between beauty, play, and self-expression by developing the adventurous Roblox Experience “essence FUN PARK.”
Reaching Gen Z and Alpha
Trends are constantly evolving in the cosmetics industry and essence was faced with the major challenge that the industry is in a state of upheaval, driven by the dynamic preferences of tech-savvy Gen Z and Alpha consumers. The challenge was clear: how can the essence brand authentically connect with the young target group?
Given the constantly changing beauty industry, essence has set the long-term goal of being relevant to Gen Z and Alpha. But to achieve this, it is not enough for the target group to love the products – the brand must share and exemplify the values of the target group.
Therefore, the challenge was not just to sell essence products, but to be a catalyst for positive change – both virtually and in the real world. This was also combined with the brand mission to ”make beauty fun.”
Finding a solution to “make beauty fun”
In response to these challenges and goals, essence looked for an innovative solution and called in the expertise of the global digital agency DEPT®. After the kick-off workshop, followed by an intensive ideation phase, the idea of developing a Roblox experience was born, and the foundation for the ‘essence FUN PARK’ was laid – an imaginative, immersive and colourful world on Roblox.
In this way, the brand’s young target group was to be addressed exactly where they spend a large part of their time: on gaming platforms. But why Roblox?
The platform’s user statistics speak for themselves:
- With 214 million monthly and an incredible 70.2 million daily active users, Roblox is currently one of the most important gaming platforms for Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
- 53% of users are over 13 years old and the fastest growing demographic segment is between 17 and 25 years old.
- The gender distribution on Roblox is almost balanced with 51% male and 44% female users, the remaining 5% are unknown.
“We believe that our target group will continue to develop on this platform, which is why we decided on it. And with DEPT® as a strong partner, we are confident that we will continue to grow beyond the boundaries of the beauty industry.”
— Thorsten Mühl, Chief Digital Marketing & Experience Officer, cosnova
Creating the Roblox game
At the heart of the ‘essence FUN PARK’, players can expect a world full of joy and harmony, a real safe space that stands out from the hectic and aggressive nature of typical game worlds. Players start their journey of discovery from the floating, castle-like essence space. Various islands such as Pink Beach, Turtle Island, Gray City, and the new underwater world “Ocean Detox” await them.
The products and core values of the essence brand have strongly influenced all locations and their designs. Colourful and diverse, without microplastic particles, and completely vegan, the ‘essence FUN PARK’ underlines its commitment to sustainability and beauty.
We also created an environment in which the use of real currency (Robux) is unnecessary. By collecting ‘essence coins,’ players can purchase everything they need, such as paint tools or stylish avatar items from the ‘Chic Chamber.’
The experience is characterised by popular game mechanics, environmentally conscious mini-games, and exciting quests. Instead of the usual competitive dynamics, we rely exclusively on cooperative game mechanics. With friendly house painting tools instead of aggressive shooter elements and cute ‘Pick up & Delivery’ and ‘Plant & Grow’ quests, the game offers entertaining tasks for younger kids and teens. And if you just want to hang out with friends, you can use our chill zones with a Ferris wheel, tree house or sun loungers.
A fresh perspective
essence x DEPT® is a story of innovation, courage, trust, and teamwork. The company was looking for fresh ideas around the connection to Gen Z and Gen Alpha and found its partner in crime in the DEPT® Web3 team.
The first result of this new connection is the joint initial development of the Roblox game ‘essence FUN PARK.’ At the same time, DEPT® was commissioned to support cosnova’s website team in strategy and UX conception.
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Victor Marcus Lunde
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