Vans World Case Study · Matt Shipman

The challenge

Roblox has 70 million daily users, most younger than the average Vans customer. Vans needed to start speaking to the next generation of consumers.

Vans World wasn't built to advertise to that audience. It was built to meet them where they already were, doing things they already cared about: skating, customizing, expressing themselves. The goal was something they'd actually come back to, not a branded billboard with a play button.

That meant solving three problems at once. Making Vans feel like Vans inside a platform with its own visual language and culture. Building enough depth to earn repeat visits, because an activation people see once is a campaign, not a platform. And staying true to skate culture, which is the brand's actual foundation, not a marketing angle.

The approach

Moves that mattered

Anchor it in skateboarding

Skate is authentic to Vans and gave us a core loop that rewards skill and repeat play. We built interactive skate features that gave kids something to get better at.

Bring Customs into the game

We built a version of the Vans Customs platform directly into the experience, so kids could customize shoes for their avatars using the same creative tools that power physical product.

Keep it alive after launch

BMX features, live streaming events, and a Gucci collaboration expanded the world over time and kept giving players reasons to return.

The outcome

120 million visits, and an early lead in immersive branded experiences on Roblox.

Since launch, Vans World has driven over 120 million visits and outperformed other branded activations on Roblox in both engagement and time spent, putting the brand in front of an audience it hadn't reached before.

The customization loop connected avatar expression back to real-world product, the same bet that started with the WebGL customizer, carried onto a new platform.

120M+

Visits since launch

Beat

Most successful brand app on Roblox

Deep

BMX, in-game customization, and digital rewards