The archive · Work & Ways of Doing · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
IKEA pays Roblox players to be virtual co-workers — 178K applications, Epica Grand Prix
IKEA UK built The Co-Worker, a paid virtual job in Roblox, to sell 'careers done different' — 178,000 applications, 50% more real ones.
IKEA UK & Ireland
What it had to solve
IKEA UK was struggling to attract younger employees in a tight labour market and was under-known as a place for a meaningful career. Instead of running conventional job ads, the brand wanted to meet potential recruits where they already were — in games.
How it works
In 2024 the UK labour market was tight and IKEA UK was struggling to attract younger employees, with little awareness of the retailer as a place for a meaningful career. Its people team and agencies decided the brand's non-linear 'careers done different' philosophy needed to be experienced, not described.
The answer was IKEA on Roblox. With Mother London, Weber Shandwick, Rapp and Swedish game studio The Gang, IKEA built a virtual store where players take real co-worker shifts — sales, interior design, food team, team leader — level up, get promoted and switch departments, just as in the real company.
To make the pitch credible, IKEA treated the virtual job like a real one: a two-week open call in June 2024 for 10 paid roles at £13.15/hr (its London co-worker rate), with CVs, questionnaires and digital interviews, followed by the game's launch on 24 June alongside 178,000 applications.
The campaign moved the recruiting dial: within a month real job applications doubled, and overall rose 50%. In a survey of applicants, 72% thought more positively about a real IKEA career and 85% saw IKEA as a great place to work. The Co-Worker won the Digital Grand Prix at Epica 2024.
Why it lands
- It met young candidates inside a platform they already inhabit instead of interrupting them with ads.
- Paying real wages to virtual workers made the experience a genuine job, not a marketing trick.
- The game embodied IKEA's non-linear career promise in its mechanics — players could move sideways and up.
- Ten paid roles created scarcity and news, while the open Roblox store gave everyone else a taste of the job.
- Outcome data (applications, perceptions) proved the campaign, not just its fame.
What it did
178,000 people applied for the 10 paid roles; within a month real job applications doubled and overall rose 50%. A survey of applicants (15,000 responses) found 72% thought more positively about an IKEA career and 85% saw it as a great place to work. The work won the Digital Grand Prix at Epica 2024.
What you can take
Instead of advertising a culture, let people work it for a day: paying players to do the job in a game turns an employer pitch into experience, proof and news at once.
Since then
IKEA kept the Roblox store live as a virtual showroom, food market and recruitment experience, and its hiring managers anecdotally heard players mention the game in real interviews. Other markets took notice: the Netherlands planned to use IKEA on Roblox in its own employer-branding campaign. At Epica 2024 the jury gave The Co-Worker the Digital Grand Prix, noting the press coverage alone could have won the PR category, and the project became a case study for gaming-based recruitment.
Sources
- IKEA is now live on Roblox — get your first look today
- IKEA is opening a new store on Roblox… and you could be paid to work there!
- Learn (and earn) while you play: Digital Grand Prix
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