Roku City Receives New Resident in Unprecedented Canadian Real Estate Association Activation

Users of the streaming service Roku are intimately familiar with ‘Roku City’, the vibrant, looping metropolis that serves as the platform’s screensaver. A place that has recently seen a lot of buzz, with the likes of McDonald’s, Barbie and Carnival activating within via custom placements, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has now joined the party, making it the first real estate organisation in Canada to do so.

Facilitated by creative agency No Fixed Address, this decision to have CREA arrive within the purple-haze, Easter-egg-filled city serves as an extension of the brand’s preexisting ‘Together, We’ll Make Home Happen’ platform. A tactical move designed to highlight the brand's REALTOR®-client relationships, this approach capitalises on the fact that, according to the indie, nearly 90% of Canadians use at least one streaming service.

“Streaming has become the way Canadians watch, and first-time home buyers are over-indexing on Roku,” says Thomas Wilkins, vice president of strategy at No Fixed Address. “For us, the opportunity was clear: show up where the next generation of buyers already have their eyes. When Roku introduced us to the idea of building inside Roku City, we knew it would be the perfect canvas to bring REALTORS® into a world people explore every day in a playful and modern way.”

Of course, operating in a space with plenty of people doesn’t actually ensure attention. So, in the runup to launch, the teams did heavy research to ensure this execution would achieve its desired resonance – eventually being bolstered in this non-traditional approach by a key statistic. Specifically, first-time home buyers (those within the age range of 18-34) are 70% more likely than the general population to stream on Roku weekly, which confirmed posting an Easter egg for users to catch would be a viable way of connecting with this prospective demographic.

“First-time home buyers are a group that’s increasingly sceptical about the value of REALTORS®,” explains Caroline Genet, director of marketing at CREA. “Meeting them in Roku City lets us show up in a place they recognise and love, but in a way that doesn’t feel intrusive. It’s contextual, unexpected, and it demonstrates that REALTORS® have a pulse on what is meaningful to them. Strategically, it moves from being your parents’ brand to a brand that can surprise and delight in culture.”

With that said, for both No Fixed Address and CREA, to meaningfully extend the brand platform, it was essential that they show up with more than just a simple billboard. As such, to take a more artistically unique approach, and pay homage to the brand’s prior advertising, the two decided to utilise assets from the recent ‘Sailors’ campaign when diving into this new venture.

“The ‘Sailors’ story was always about charting new waters, so we asked ourselves, why stop at TV?” says JP Dugal, creative director at No Fixed Address. “Dropping a house for sale into Roku City lets us take the campaign somewhere no real estate brand has gone before. It’s a fun way to extend the narrative of what we created earlier this year; the same characters now living inside streaming’s most iconic city. We love this type of fun collision of creativity and media.”

At the same time, for the agency’s group account director, Vanessa Côtê, the decision is also testament to the success of the initial campaign, and the way in which the “whimsical tale won over the hearts of many” – making it something that felt worth expanding upon, due to its visual recognisability.

“[‘Sailors’] introduced characters people connected with, so we saw Roku City as a chance to let them live on in a whole new universe,” she continues. “Dropping their house into the skyline, complete with seagulls, makes it more than a media buy. It’s a continuation of the story, just told through a cultural space millions of people are already invested in.”

To this end, the art team had its work cut out from the get-go, as integrating the spot’s oceanic aesthetic into this urban environment would be a major ask. So, to ensure the brand felt as though it had always belonged there, the agency teamed up with Roku’s designers to adapt details from the spot, ensuring it blended seamlessly, while giving the vibe of an intentional Easter egg.

Describing this part of the process as “quick and seamless”, according to Thomas, despite the tight turnaround required to bring everything to market, the overall experience was a positive one. In fact, the biggest challenge here was juggling artistic possibility with the need to stay true to both the brand and platform, something Caroline also affirms.

“Anytime you’re doing something for the first time, there are unknowns,” she adds. “This type of brand integration has been done before for QSR, CPG and entertainment brands, but never a real estate brand in Canada. So, making sure the integration felt authentic to Roku City’s aesthetic while staying true to the REALTORS® brand was a careful balance. Thankfully, the collaboration made it easy – Roku knows its world inside out, we know the brand, and together, we landed on something both sides were proud of.”

While it’s early days, and official results are still to come, both No Fixed Address and CREA feel confident in this unprecedented marketing approach. Although buying traditional media may be a tried and true approach for all, the decision to lean into creative storytelling with this narrative extension feels right for the market, emphasises Thomas, precisely because this isn’t just another ad.

“Canadians are inundated with traditional media, but Roku City has its own fan culture,” he asserts. “People on Reddit literally track new Easter eggs in real time! Showing up there allowed us to be a part of a conversation that’s already happening, versus interrupting it. That’s what made it the perfect move for REALTORS®.”

This is something CREA and its team is taking great pride in as well. Praising the agency’s “fresh, playful” adaptation, Caroline shares that she’s truly excited to see this new approach hit the market, connecting with Canadians coast to coast in a way that’s both original and relevant.

“I’m most proud of how we’ve shown up in a way that feels totally unexpected,” she concludes. “We’re used to seeing REALTORS® on yard signs or in commercials, but now they’re inside streaming’s most iconic city. For CREA, it proves we can evolve the brand, meet audiences where they are, and still make the role of REALTORS® feel essential. That’s a big step forward.”