Coinciding with the launch of the 2025/26 Premier League season, Manchester City created StickerBook Challenge, an integrated gaming experience on Roblox, the world’s largest gaming platform. The activation brought the traditional football sticker collecting hobby to life in a digital, play-first environment.
StickerBook Challenge reached 40+ million users, with approximately 10.8% of Roblox’s monthly active audience reached during the campaign’s first phase.
Designed as a play-to-win experience, the campaign rewarded engagement rather than paid progression. StickerBook Challenge invited players to explore a City–themed 3D zone, collect digital stickers representing men’s and women’s first-team players, and unlock club-branded avatar wearables.
The experience lived within City’s owned Blue Moon Roblox world and was also integrated across five additional high-traffic collaborator games, extending reach and introducing the club to new young audiences.
The primary objective of StickerBook Challenge was to reach and engage the next generation of young fans, demonstrating how a global football brand can integrate authentically into gaming culture by rewarding participation through platform-native content and rewards.
A further objective was to strengthen the connection between live football and virtual play. Throughout the campaign, when Manchester City men’s or women’s matches kicked off in real life, and each time the teams scored a goal, players were rewarded with free avatar wearables in-game, encouraging fans to learn more about the club, including upcoming fixtures. This campaign also marked the first time a football club-branded Roblox activation delivered real-time virtual rewards triggered directly by live goals scored.
Manchester City engaged creative and development agency Dubit to design and deliver StickerBook Challenge.
Inspired by physical sticker collecting, the experience was built as a persistent journey that encouraged exploration, repeat visits, and participation across multiple games. StickerBook Challenge launched across Manchester City Blue Moon and five popular Roblox games, each featuring a club-branded 3D City Fan Zone integrated directly into gameplay. By translating a familiar offline hobby into a gamified digital format, the campaign embedded Manchester City’s brand directly into how fans played, socialised, and expressed identity on the platform.
By integrating StickerBook Challenge into popular existing games, Manchester City reached a significantly larger pool of players, many of whom were engaging with the club for the first time. This approach leveraged a key industry learning - meeting audiences where they already are.
Once in Blue Moon or a collaborator game, players could collect Manchester City digital player stickers (featuring both men’s and women’s teams), access live match updates, and unlock City-powered in-game boosts. These boosts (such as increased speed or jump height) provided tangible gameplay utility across Blue Moon and collaborator games, ensuring the brand presence felt positive and additive to the overall experience.
Sticker collecting was structured across three rarity tiers: Common, Rare, and Ultra Rare. Daily sticker refreshes introduced new player cards and rarity tiers, encouraging return participation. Rewards were tied to engagement milestones, with completed collections unlocking exclusive Manchester City avatar wearables that allowed fans to express club affiliation visually.
The campaign was delivered across two phases. Phase one (Aug–Sept 2025) launched alongside the start of the Premier League season within Manchester City's Blue Moon experience, as well as two additional Roblox games: Teamwork Puzzles, and The Floor Is Lava. Phase two (Oct–Nov 2025), saw StickerBook Challenge integrated within three new Roblox games: Clone Kingdom Tycoon, Paradise, and Lewis Life RP, supported by new rewards to sustain interest.
Summary:
StickerBook Challenge delivered strong engagement and reach across the Roblox platform.
Players spent longer per session in games featuring StickerBook Challenge than in typical branded Roblox experiences, with many progressing through full or near-complete sticker collections.
Organic social promotion generated 8.8 million impressions, including 2.3 million views on player-led content featuring first-team Manchester City talent. The campaign also marked the first time Premier League and Women’s Super League (WSL) players were featured within Roblox-focused social content on a football club’s channels.
Fan acquisition results: Players aged 13+ who collected a limited-edition Cityzens sticker in-game were invited to unlock a free, exclusive virtual kit by signing into their Cityzens account (City's free membership programme). This drove approximately 6,000 new sign-ups within one day, illustrating how digital engagement can translate into deeper fandom. This fan aquisition element demonstrated that StickerBook Challenge not only achieved top-of-funnel engagement, but also drove middle and lower funnel value for the club.
Conclusion:
StickerBook Challenge showed how a football club can integrate meaningfully within a gaming platform by leveraging club IP and aligning brand values with player behaviour.
Manchester City connected live sport with gamified virtual play and rewarded engagement in a way that was relevant to younger audiences on Roblox. Rather than advertising to fans, the club participated alongside them, demonstrating how brand integrations can enhance digital gaming experiences through thoughtful design, relevant rewards, and genuine value exchange.
