Bobo brings 53 years of brand equity into Roblox with Volare

For more than five decades, Bobo has been part of childhood in Indonesia. Now, the children’s brand is taking its long-standing “Bermain dan belajar” (“Play and learn”) proposition into Roblox, as it looks to connect its legacy with a generation growing up on interactive entertainment.

The 53-year-old brand has partnered with Volare Advertising Network to bring Bobo the Origin into Roblox through Bobo the Origin: RPG Comic Adventure.

The move comes as younger audiences increasingly engage with entertainment by entering and interacting with digital worlds, rather than simply reading or watching stories. For Bobo, the challenge is how to carry its established brand equity into those changing media habits without losing what has made the brand recognisable across generations.

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David Togatorop, editor-in-chief of Majalah Bobo, said the idea for a game emerged as the Bobo the Origin story developed.

The graphic novel reimagines Bobo’s origin story through a fantasy universe built around adventure, characters and discovery. Its journeys, enemies, potions and challenges also provided elements that could be developed into a role-playing game.

Roblox offered a way to turn those elements into an interactive experience, allowing audiences to explore the world rather than simply imagine it through the story.

For Pradhana Harsaputera, CEO of Volare Advertising Network, the bigger challenge was not simply putting the IP on a gaming platform.

“The bigger question was how a brand that has been part of Indonesian childhood for more than five decades can remain meaningful to a generation growing up with completely different media behaviours,” he said.

That shift also changes how audiences interact with stories, he said.

“Previous generations experienced Bobo primarily by reading and imagining its world. Today, children increasingly expect to participate in the worlds they love. They want to explore, interact, play and become part of the story,” Harsaputera added.

Keeping the proposition, changing the experience

Rather than repositioning Bobo for a new audience, the Roblox experience is built around translating its existing role as a “teman bermain dan belajar”, or companion for playing and learning, into an interactive environment.

Players can explore the Bobo the Origin universe, interact with characters and complete missions while encountering educational elements, including information about Indonesian flora and fauna.

“The medium can change, but that role does not have to. Rather than modernising Bobo by changing what it stands for, we are translating what it has always stood for into the behaviour of a new generation,” Harsaputera said.

The experience is built around two principles, explore and create, extending the idea of playing and learning into a more participatory digital setting.

The team has also incorporated measures aimed at younger players. Voice Chat is disabled, while Roblox’s existing safety tools, including filtered chat, parental controls and the ability to block or report users, are available within the platform.

Connecting parents and children

The strategy also looks beyond children themselves.

Bobo already has an established relationship with Indonesian parents who grew up reading its magazine and engaging with its characters and activities. Their children, meanwhile, are encountering entertainment through a different media landscape, including platforms such as Roblox.

The activation therefore gives the brand an opportunity to bring nostalgia and contemporary play into the same experience.

“For parents, Bobo carries memory and nostalgia. For their children, Roblox represents a familiar way of playing,” said Harsaputera. “When those two things meet, Bobo can become more than something parents remember. It can become something parents and children experience together.”

Bobo's expansion into gaming is therefore not positioned as a replacement for its publishing roots, but as another way for the brand to remain part of Indonesian childhood as media habits evolve.

For a brand that has spent 53 years building a place in Indonesian childhood, the challenge is no longer simply preserving that history. It is finding new ways for the next generation to make Bobo part of its own.

Discover what's next in Indonesia's fast-moving digital landscape at DMA Indonesia 2026 on 13 October in Jakarta, where marketing leaders will explore how AI, creator ecosystems, social commerce, and omnichannel strategies are reshaping customer engagement and business growth.

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