Roku City, the well-known, purple-hued screensaver for Roku, has recently featured ad campaigns like McDonald’s golden arches and Barbie’s dream house — an innovative marketing strategy that Alison Levin describes as an example of “baking the pie from scratch.”
Levin, head of global media revenue at Roku, and Carly Friedman, head of industry, entertainment, gaming, tech and Telco, sat down to discuss their work as part of Variety Studio presented by Canva at Advertising Week.
Levin shared, “For the first time ever, we actually allow brands to open their doors up in this whimsical, magical, digital city, and again, that a brand has never bought a building in a city before.”
The Barbie dream house campaign allowed users to buy tickets for Greta Gerwig’s summer blockbuster. Friedman explained, “So a completely immersive experience for our users and tying into things that they love.”
Similar initiatives included activations with Wendy’s and DoorDash in which users received a Wendy’s credit via the home screen.
Levin continued to explain how the company has benefitted from opening Roku City up to feature brand campaigns: “Consumers actually like Roku City better when advertisers were in it than when they weren’t. And so that idea that ads can actually make an experience better is something that streaming really can provide because it can be more creative.”
The team is also thinking of new ways to engage younger audiences. A recently launched Mr. Beast Fast Channel has caught the attention of young people, Levin noted.
Additionally, Friedman spoke about the collaborative process between Roku and their clients.
She said, “My favorite part about being at Roku is we’re consultative with our clients. So it’s educating them not only about what’s available within Roku, but about the CTV space where Roku fits and why it makes sense for their clients.”
Friedman spoke of the unique advantages Roku has as a streaming platform: “Roku is a TV with a digital brain. So we’re able to do things that you can’t really do on the linear TV space in the traditional space.”
