Mariah Carey’s holiday metaverse promotion includes virtual store

All Mariah Carey wants for Christmas is you – to visit her shoppable holiday metaverse experience.

The pop singer is launching “Mariah Carey’s Winter Wonderland” in the “Livetopia” environment of Roblox, a popular immersive 3D gaming platform. During the month of December 2022, the experience will feature a holiday-themed treasure hunt, mini-games, virtual item drops, and special virtual performances.

“Mariah Carey’s Winter Wonderland” will also include a virtual store offering exclusive virtual merchandise, unlockable houses, cars, Christmas hats, and other digital items. Certain exclusive items will include special power-ups that can be used within Livetopia after the holiday promotion is over.

The first of four consecutive nights of Carey’s virtual performance starts at 7 pm EST on Wednesday, Dec. 21, with additional showings at 7 pm EST on Dec. 22, 23, and 24. In addition, CBS will be airing an upcoming concert, live from Madison Square Garden, ‘Mariah Carey: ‘Merry Christmas To All’ as a two-hour primetime special on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

“Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. This year, I wanted to do something different to ring in the holiday season,” said Mariah Carey, “My kids and I live for Roblox, and we couldn’t be more excited to be creating this festive metaverse experience for everyone.”

Carey worked with metaverse agency and development studio Relentlo to help develop the Roblox promotion. Gen Z beauty brand Eos is presenting sponsor of this event, which is the company’s first metaverse activation.

“Relentlo is pushing the boundaries of audience engagement and rethinking how brands can enter these platforms with success,” said Neil Tewari, CEO at Relentlo.

“Brands want to enter these platforms, but often have no clear game plan on how to build an experience and strategy that actually resonates with users,” said Kyle Wonzen, VP, brand strategy, Relento. “Eos have been amazing partners who understand that the future of metaverse experiences require integrations that audiences adore, with or without the brand affiliation.”

Holiday promotions come to the metaverse

Retailers and brands are discovering that a virtual holiday promotion can produce some very real results. For example, Kohl’s is providing a metaverse Black Friday experience for Facebook and Instagram users, who can use a gamified augmented reality (AR) lens to choose items to purchase with Kohl’s Cash.

The department store retailer’s campaign utilizes several social media networks, including the TikTok short video platform. To highlight Kohl’s and Sephora deals during the Black Friday timeframe, the department store chain will leverage a new TikTok interactive add-on with its TopView ads which appear at the top of customers’ TikTok feeds, prompting users to shake their phone to reveal a surprise deal.

In another example, specialty apparel brand American Eagle also leveraged Roblox for its metaverse holiday promotion. Through Black Friday, American Eagle served as an exclusive fashion retailer in Roblox’s most popular virtual destination, “Mount Crescent,” with a branded holiday market featuring American Eagle digital clothing and accessories for Roblox players.