Click here to read the full article.
It has a city hall and a city council. A vintage art deco theater, a harbor and a fair amount of traffic. And plenty of billboards, of course. But despite brownstones, diners, skyscrapers and bridges, this city is no
recognizable metropolis — plus, it’s all bathed in a luminous purple glow.
Welcome to Roku City, the violet-hued screen saver for the widely used streaming platform that’s become a quirky, ever-changing diversion for over 100 million viewers, a canvas for imaginative ads and an increasingly important branding opportunity for the streaming platform.
Roku City has been scrolling across television screens since 2017, hiding Easter eggs by the dozen and hosting ad campaigns for companies including McDonald’s and Walmart and promotions for studio films, Emmy campaigns and talent like Demi Lovato. (Next year, Roku is set to become part of Fox Corp. under a $22 billion deal.)
The most chatter from fans of Roku City — yes, a screen saver has many, many devotees — springs from the Easter eggs, a revolving selection of more than 40 pop-culture moments and nostalgic references that populate the screen. Recently, viewers discovered Jimothy the raccoon scampering through the city. His appearance led to a sizable 12 million impressions on social media mentioning that the curiously shaped raccoon was paying a visit.
A topical reference like Jimothy can now be added in a matter of hours, according to Roku’s Damon Van Deusen, VP of global brand and creative. Roku employees have a dedicated internal Slack channel where they can propose possible additions. “It’s called the Rapid Response Easter Egg Team. That’s part of our Roku City Council,” he says.
What other viral figures have popped in to Roku City? Naturally, Punch the monkey, the winsome macaque with a stuffed companion who caught the internet’s sympathy earlier this year, made an appearance.
The screen saver gained popularity during the pandemic, particularly after a 2021 tweet went viral asking, “My boyfriend just now: ‘Would you live here? In Roku City?’”
The tweet generated 20 million views, and “From that moment, we started really paying close attention,” says Van Deusen.
So in 2024, when a cowboy-hat-wearing Kim Kardashian posted the phrase “Not my first rodeo” with Roku City playing on the TV behind her, Roku returned the tribute by putting “Not my first rodeo” on the theater’s marquee, a veritable ouroboros of pop culture currency.
But most of the Easter eggs are organic — that is, not paid ads — and kept secret so viewers can speculate whether the cars are really from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Back to the Future,” or why the city contains three but not four Ninja Turtles.
No Bummers in Roku City
What’s not welcome in Roku City? Anything that could be a downer, like the Titanic. “There was a really tragic submarine incident, and we thought, it’s a bit of a bummer to reference a sinking cruise ship where many people died, even though it’s a wonderful film and TV reference. That’s one we actually removed,” Van Deusen recalls.
Memorials to beloved figures are a different story. An homage to Catherine O’Hara featured all her iconic hairdos on the city’s Jumbotron, garnering over 3 million impressions. And a 40th anniversary tribute poster for Prince’s “Purple Rain” aligned perfectly with the city’s signature hue.
It’s the consistency of the city that’s so comforting, so how does Roku City stay fresh while keeping the cozy vibe?
One way is by staking out new destinations. In July, Roku made the city even more interactive with a new brand campaign that guides users to visit six themed areas featuring humorous promo spots, including a pirate ship, a volcano and a villain’s evil lair. Designed by the Preacher agency and directed by Andreas Nilsson, the spots are a bigger foray for Roku into live-action content.
“We shot on this old soundstage in Prague. We built an entire pirate ship, an entire beach, an island,” with the vignettes washed in purple light, of course, says Van Deusen.
While new features might give users a reason to click around and stay longer, the city itself can’t change too much. Roku is available in 15 countries, but a stab at localizing the backgrounds stayed on the drawing board. “We actually did mocks of London and Brazil and Sao Paulo, and they didn’t work. They felt too literal,” Van Deusen says.
Some buildings were also swapped out that felt too much like New York. So where exactly is Roku City? “It’s never meant to be literal, and it’s never meant to be specific. Just suggestive of everything,” Van Deusen says. That’s why nostalgia plays a big part, starting with the art deco-style movie theater that served as a jumping-off point for the city’s original designer, Kyle Jones. The numerous classic film references include Alfred Hitchcock’s silhouette, the leg table from “A Christmas Story” and “E.T.’s” bike.
They Want to Move In
“So many fans love the purple glow and just turning it on and like being comforted by what’s familiar,” Van Deusen recognizes, mentioning a recent customer survey in which two out of three users said they would visit Roku City if they could. Social media and Reddit are full of enthusiasts ready to move right in — including quite a few who are possibly too inebriated to settle on an actual television show.
“Roku City has immaculate vibes. I too, get stoned and picture myself living there,” said one Reddit user. Another answered, “Dude, I literally do this sober. It puts me in a trance. I actually got stuck in it earlier tonight.”
“I kinda wish I lived in Roku City — I’d probably live in the apartment above the barbershop and work in that factory,” another Redditor chimed in.
Like any metropolis, Roku City has advertising on billboards, but brands are also integrated into the screen saver. Viewers recently spotted a Trojan horse on wheels, a fun discovery for fans of “The Odyssey” that’s part of a larger Universal ad buy encompassing trailers and a themed intro screen.
“To the user, it’s a really cool, culturally relevant way to celebrate something happening in pop culture. And for our advertisers, it drives business results,” says Katina Papas Wachter, Roku’s head of media and entertainment sales and partnerships.
Roku monitors social media and other feedback to make sure the advertising doesn’t overpower the familiar city landscape. But for the right campaign, even the ubiquitous color can change: An extensive “Wicked for Good” campaign changed the purple background for the first time to pink and green around the theatrical and home entertainment releases, with numerous themed items to discover.
Advertisers are integrated into the city in various ways — for Lovato’s album release, fans could go inside a theater in Roku City to watch her perform two songx, while Walmart’s Whoville holiday takeover featured gift ideas that were shoppable.
These interactive ad partnerships are “a high-impact opportunity that allows us to flex our creative muscles,” says Papas Wachter, “but we are careful to make sure that it’s not too ad-first.”
As Roku’s city council scours the internet to see what the next viral critter might be, observers are already worried that Jimothy’s time is limited.
“As long as Jimothy continues to steal the hearts and minds of the world, he or she will be in Roku City,” assures Van Deusen. “As soon as Jimothy moves on, we’ll move on. But I’m sure there will be the next great zeitgeist moment taking its place.”
