GEEIQ
Sam's Club
How Sam’s Club reached Gen Z Roblox players with GEEIQ
The company
Sam’s Club is a membership club that is pioneering the retail experience, providing members exclusive access to value, convenience, and modern omnichannel shopping options.
The challenge
Sam’s Club had created virtual activations before, such as the Holiday Village on Obsess, the virtual storefront platform. However, to connect with new audiences, Sam’s Club had to show up where Gen Z is spending time. This led to the brand’s first activation on Roblox.
But would the Roblox community welcome a retail brand like Sam’s Club?
The solution
GEEIQ’s experts supported the development of a targeted, brand-first strategy to launch the first test-and-learn Roblox activation for Sam’s Club, in collaboration with Sawhorse Productions, an award-winning creative development studio that brought the build to life.
Instead of building a standalone branded experience, which would require significant investment to generate engagement, the GEEIQ team recommended that Sam’s Club integrate into three of Roblox’s top-performing games: Cake Off, Paradise RP, and Chained. Each game offered a highly engaged community that aligned with the brand’s US-based, Gen Z target audience, while also enabling clear measurement.
So, how did it work?
Players could collect a virtual Sam’s Club Membership Card to unlock in-game discounts and complete challenges to earn a limited-edition virtual Sam’s Club backpack for their avatar, a limited UGC (user-generated content) item. Each game featured a unique mechanic to engage players:
- Cake Off: Players earned 15% off virtual shop items by using Sam’s Club-branded cake decorations and winning matches.
- Paradise RP: Players unlocked a free car and were rewarded with the backpack after collecting branded items scattered across the map.
- Chained: A cooperative obstacle course where players who collected Sam’s Club items received up to 50% discounts and the UGC backpack.
In this way, each game introduced Sam’s Club and its membership card as a useful, rewarding presence that communicated the value of a Sam’s Club membership.
The results
In just four weeks, the campaign surpassed benchmarks, proving that even a traditional retail brand could win over a Gen Z gaming audience.
The brand achieved:
1. Higher reach and engagement.
Sam’s Club’s Roblox activation drove exceptional engagement, with players spending over five million minutes with the brand. In addition, nearly one million virtual membership cards were claimed, proving that players were willing to engage with the brand for a clear reward.
2. A winning virtual item strategy.
The campaign’s UGC strategy proved highly effective, with over 87k players claiming the limited-edition Sam’s Club backpack and 7k players marking the item as a favorite.
As a limited item, players can resell the UGC on the marketplace, where the backpack has generated more than 50 secondary sales, with players spending up to 600 Robux to add the UGC to their collection.
3. An uplift in brand love and purchase intent.
Post-campaign analysis showed a significant boost in brand awareness, perception, and purchase intent, showing that players weren’t just engaging – they were more likely to become future Sam’s Club members.
4. A high-performing paid media campaign.
The paid media strategy, used to amplify the integrations across the Roblox platform, delivered impressive results, generating millions of impressions and outperforming platform benchmarks. The Sam’s Club creative not only reached but resonated with its Gen Z audience.
How did GEEIQ help Sam's Club succeed?
With the GEEIQ platform and team of experts, Sam’s Club was able to:
1. Reach their geotargeted audience on Roblox.
Using GEEIQ’s platform data and network of popular Roblox experiences, Sam’s Club was able to pinpoint the most relevant Roblox experiences for its Gen Z, US-based target audience.
The GEEIQ team worked with Roblox to recommend three high-performing games: Cake Off, Paradise RP, and Chained. These aligned with the brand’s demographic goals and offered the ability to track meaningful in-game engagement.
2. Access performance dashboards and post-campaign reports.
Through GEEIQ’s private dashboard, Sam’s Club had access to real-time campaign performance data across all activations. This included key metrics such as UGC claims, quest completion rates, and average time spent engaging with the brand.
In addition, the GEEIQ team delivered custom post-campaign reports, benchmarking Sam’s Club’s performance against industry averages and competitor campaigns, as well as traditional marketing channels, giving the brand a holistic view of impact and ROI. This reporting also helped internal stakeholders understand the campaign’s success, allowing further investment in virtual worlds.
3. Deploy the most effective platform tactics.
GEEIQ’s team hosted dedicated workshops to guide the Sam’s Club team through the best practices on Roblox. Drawing from experience with campaigns for different brands, GEEIQ advised on high-performing paid media formats, ensuring that Sam’s Club’s media spend reached the right audiences and contributed directly to campaign outcomes.
Key takeaways
For Sam’s Club, this wasn’t just a test. It was a signal. The campaign proved that Gen Z Roblox players are willing to engage with the brand, especially when the value exchange is clear, the mechanics are rewarding, and the experience feels native.
Leslie Shepard, the Senior Manager of Digital Engagement and Personalization Marketing Strategy at Sam’s Club, reflected on the activation:
“This campaign showed us that virtual worlds like Roblox aren’t just experimental. They’re impactful. With GEEIQ’s guidance, we were able to engage a Gen Z audience in an authentic way, drive measurable results, and bring the value of a Sam’s Club membership into a space our future customers already love.”
