Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Sports Games Creative Strategy with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
Sports Games Competitive Analysis
Competitors: MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2020, 8 Ball Pool™, Real Boxing 2, My NBA 2K20, Tennis Clash: Online League, NBA 2K Mobile Basketball, Asphalt 9: Legends, Basketball Stars™, Homer City, MADDEN NFL MOBILE FOOTBALL, Golf Battle, WWE SuperCard, Oh My Goal! – Soccer, Baseball Boy! MLB 9 Innings 20, NBA LIVE Mobile Basketball, Dream League Soccer 2020, MLB Champions, FIFA soccer, EA SPORTS™ UFC®, PBA® Bowling Challenge, Football Strike, Score! Hero, PGA TOUR Golf Shootout, NBA 2K20, R.B.I. Baseball 20, NBA JAM by EA SPORTS™, Football Manager 2020 Mobile
View competitive videos by hitting the competitor tab here.
Sports Games Creative Trends
Gameplay/Game Overview: Shots of gameplay that showcase graphics and players. (Home Run Clash, NBA 2K, Boxing Star, many more)
Distance Challenges: Simple gameplay that challenges viewers to hit an object as far as they can. (Baseball Boy, Slap Master)
Competition: Videos dramatizing head-to-head competition between players. (Darts of Fury, Home Run Clash)
Noob vs. Pro: Videos displaying bad versus good gameplay. (Darts of Fury, Mini Golf King)
Real Player Footage: Real footage replacing game characters and gameplay. (Tennis Clash, Sniper Arena, Draft Kings)
Cinematic Techniques: Slo-mo, camera pans, and other cinematic techniques utilizing game characters. (Johnny Trigger, Mr. Bullet, Sniper Arena, Tennis Clash)
Augmented Gameplay: Illustrations, emojis, talk bubbles, and voice-over added to gameplay or characters (Mr. Bullet, Draft Kings, Flip & Dive 3D)
Game Controller Overlay: The game controller overlays on gameplay to give it a game console effect. (Tennis Clash, City Fighter Vs. Street Gang)
Concept: Statcast
Create videos that incorporate statistics into the gameplay
Overlay graphics to show the distance of tape measure shots and challenge viewers to play and hit home runs
Overlay graphics on pitching stats and ground covered by outfielders, challenging viewers to beat their opponent
Competitor/Share of Voice
Baseball Boy: 90% SOV
Slap Masters: 100% SOV
Concept: Character Countdown
Create a countdown of featured players in the game
Showcases animation style, range of players, and stats
Use baseball card like graphics
Generates engagement (curiosity over the list of characters)
Competitor/Share of Voice
Rise of Kingdoms: 28% SOV
Concept: Trash Talk Voice Over
Juxtapose gameplay with player trash talk
Showcases gameplay and graphics
Mimics player dialogue and chat portion of the game
Uses subtitles
Competitor/Share of Voice
Icing on the Cake: 54% SOV
Flip & Dive 3D: 90% SOV
Concept: Emoji Gameplay
Feature gameplay with emoji overlays and talk bubbles to communicate player emotions
Humorous
Humanizes players
Showcases game graphics
Competitor/Share of Voice
Bullet: 3% SOV
Flip & Dive 3D: 90% SOV
DraftKings: 12% SOV
Concept: Real Game Footage
Intercut gameplay with real footage, so that it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s the game
Showcases game graphics
Promotes simulation aspect of the game: “The closest thing to being on the field”
Competitor/Share of Voice
Tennis Clash: 50% SOV
Sniper Arena: 3% SOV
Concept: Announcer Calls
Re-create the feel of a famous announcer calling a legendary game with gameplay and voice over
Creates emotional “what if” scenarios (see MLB The Show 2012 “Cubs Win” ad here)
Engages the viewer’s curiosity
Highlights the passion of sports fans
Competitor/Share of Voice
N/A
Concept: Cinematic Stories
Create videos using cinematic techniques and voiceover to up the emotional ante of the game
Showcases game graphics
Utilizes nostalgic sports documentary feel
Appealing to sports fans
Competitor/Share of Voice
Tennis Clash: 2% SOV
Johnny Trigger: 97% SOV
Bullet: 3% SOV
Concept: Noob vs. Pro
Create side-by-side videos of good and bad gameplay, with “Noob vs. Pro” header
Shows the difficulty of the game
Triggers player competitive urge
Incorporates head-to-head aspect
Highlights both “wins” and “fails” – both powerful hooks for players
Competitor/Share of Voice
Darts of Fury: 13% SOV
Mini Golf King: 12% SOV
Sports Games Creative Trends Concept: Sports Chants
Create a sing-along music video of gameplay with a famous sports chant
g. bouncing ball version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
Most chants are in the public domain
Showcases graphics and gameplay
Will appeal to sports fans (specific team chants could accompany more targeted campaigns)
Competitor/Share of Voice
N/A
Reveal more Sports Games Creative Strategy Secrets!
Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Entertainment Games Creative Strategy with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
Entertainment Games Competitive Analysis
Top Competitors: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Tubi, Philo, Pluto TV, Starz, Sling, Crackle, Paramount Network, SyFy, BET Now, Shudder, Vudu
What need are you fulfilling when using an entertainment app?
Eliminate boredom
I need my time to not worry about anything and just relax, catch my breath, be lazy and pamper myself
Elevate mood + aid sleep
Laugh and have good thoughts before going to bed
Access to content
Fulfills some nostalgia of shows I used to watch with family or siblings growing up
Catch up on new/old movies I have not seen before
I can select from a huge pool of movies and shows, and I am not limited to what I can and cannot watch
Find movies I might have a hard time finding another service
Concept: “Only on…” / “Not on…”
Focus on exclusive content. User profiles suggest hard-to-find content is a big reason for using multiple entertainment apps
“Only on…”, “Only free on”, “Not on <competitor>…” are all appropriate messages.
Images
Leverage specific exclusive titles, especially if those that are free to watch.
Feature hard-to-find titles that have remakes/sequels that competitors are hyping, e.g. Tubi promoting the original “Dolemite” when Netflix went all out on “Dolemite is My Name”.
Video trailers
00:15-00:30 second trailers that feature a combination of scenes and dialogue from multiple movies and alongside “Only on…” or “Not on…” messaging.
Insight
Given the popularity of Netflix and Disney+, it may be advisable to target them as competitors
Entertainment Games Competitive Trends
Movie Trailers: Videos with movie trailer-style content, featuring multiple titles. (Vudu, Pluto, Shudder, Netflix, Sundance Now)
Promoting Exclusive Content: Videos or images promoting exclusive or original content. (Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, Starz, BET, Crackle)
Special Offers: Videos or images with special offers. (Netflix, Hulu, Philo, Starz)
Competitive: Videos or images comparing prices to competitors or cable. (Sling, Hulu,Pluto)
Movie Poster: Images leveraging a singular movie or TV series to promote the service. (Vudu,Hulu)
Genre content: Video or images promoting a specific genre (sports, horror, etc.). (Sling, Shudder, Hulu)
Shared Passion: Videos or images that engage passion communities (e.g., Star Wars fans) with quizzes, trivia, and profiles. (SyFy)
Concept: Genre-Focused Creative
Evolve current movie poster creative to focus on genres and seasonal titles, from Black cinema and Nostalgia TV to Academy Award-winners and seasonal/holidays
Users see specific genres not necessarily available on category leaders such as Netflix & Hulu.
Image ads include
Awards season focuses on Oscar-winning titles, e.g. Chinatown. Movie poster or multiple titles.
Seasonal focus: summer blockbusters, holiday movies, etc.
Call out unique genre titles available.
Videos
00:15-00:30 second trailers hype specific genres and seasonal offerings with scenes/dialogue from multiple titles.
Concept: Creativo Centrado en el Género
Evolve current movie poster creative to focus on genres and seasonal titles in video and image creative, specifically targeting Spanish-speaking audiences
Memes with captions in Spanish.
Genres focused on Spanish-speakers, e.g.:
Para niños y familias
Peliculas en Español
Telenovelas y series
Escape the commute
Relax and enjoy some “Me Time”
Looking for a good action/family movie
Reality-TV
Concept: Shared Passion
User profiles suggest a love of nostalgia, old movies, and TV series. Let us reward that passion by using memes, quizzes and trivia to engage film buffs, movie fans, and TV addicts
Expand memes to use scenes from nostalgic TV and film.
Simple quizzes about old and new films and TV shows:
What actor starred in Greatest American Hero?
Random trivia about new and old genres:
John Travolta turned down the role of Forrest Gump. (Photoshop his face into iconic Tom Hanks pic?)
Combine with competitive “Only on…” or “Not on…” messaging.
Insight
SyFy and Shudder are currently running similar campaigns.
Concept: YouTube Pre-Roll with Google Vogon
TV and movie fans regularly look up scenes on YouTube. Create pre-roll ads that target the specific genre they are looking at, with Google Vogon ads
Example of how Campbell’s Soup utilized technology here
00:10 second pre-roll ads target a range of categories, with emphasis on competitive messaging:
Horror: “Scared of costly subscriptions? Stream your favorite horror movies for free with <app>.”
Sports: “Don’t pay to play with <competitor>. Stream great sports movies for free with <app>.”
Kids Show: “Put the money you’d spend on <competitor> in the kids’ college fund. Stream for free with <app>.”
Reveal more Entertainment Games Creative Strategy Secrets!
With the end of 2020 just weeks away, instead of winding down, now is the time to seize the Q5 final user acquisition opportunities of the year. Namely, the two opportunities to take advantage of right now are the following:
1. Preparing for the Q5 2020 year-end period where CPMs dip.
2. The upcoming Q1 change from Apple requires users to opt-in to Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) for campaign tracking. Eric Seufert from MobileDevMemo believes this will happen in March and will contract iOS spending by 30-40% over the course of Q2 2021 following the rollout of ATT.
How to Take Advantage of Q5 2020
Q5 is our coined concept. It includes the 10-day period between the last Amazon shipping day before Christmas until New Year’s Eve. Where retail and eCommerce advertisers pull back spending on Facebook and Google. So CPMs decline by about 40%, giving other mobile app advertisers a tremendous opportunity. You can view historical charts showing these CPM trends here: https://www.consumeracquisition.com/5th-quarter-2020-are-you-ready/
The window is now, so to take full advantage of this opportunity, here is what you should do:
1. If your arsenal of creative is drying up, bulk up your production to replenish now.
To capture this opportunity, we are advising mobile app advertisers to stock up on holiday creative. Also, do this quickly to capture this extended online shopping season. And if you have not already, also bulk up production and testing to capture CMP drops related to Q5.
2. Mobile app advertisers should have their biggest December / Q5 2020 ever!
This has been an unprecedented holiday season. The effect will be felt more significantly this year due to the overwhelming amount of first-time eCommerce spenders participating this year. Thus, pulling back near Christmas.
This year more than ever, mobile app advertisers should be ready to capitalize on an influx of ad inventory primed for non-eCommerce shopping. We are advising gaming, entertainment streaming apps, meditation and fitness apps, DTC, and others to GET READY!
3. Travel industry demand will flow into other verticals instead, as lockdowns continue.
The travel industry has been hit extremely hard in 2020 by global quarantines that started in March and show no signs of slowing, especially with lockdowns extended now.
Holiday gatherings this year are advised to remain small and travel discouragement is causing travel advertisers to forecast a low spend season.
This poses an additional opportunity for mobile app advertisers to reach millions of people. People who are staying home, finding gaming, entertainment, health, and fitness as a means to “escape or enhance” their at-home time.
4. People are much more likely to connect more this holiday through shared experiences via social sites vs in-person traveling.
Gaming with friends has never been more important. We expect that social platforms like Facebook, Google, and TikTok that offer a way to play and engage with friends and family will continue to surge through the winter season and well into 2021.
How to Prepare for IDFA in March 2021
Many challenges lie ahead in 2021 for marketers. Particularly around navigating the privacy-related changes stemming from Apple’s Apple Tracking Transparency (ATT) with iOS 14.4. Also, how it impacts the ability to identify and target audiences in social media. In fact, this is by far the most impactful thing that will happen to the mobile ecosystem. Along with the corresponding lack of optics that it provides for the entire mobile ecosystem, independent of vertical.
Facebook also notes that web campaigns will be limited to 8 conversion events per domain attribution. And will now be governed by “Aggregated Event Measurement”, as its mobile SKAdNetwork campaign-centric conversion value counts. Meaning that events will only be counted at the level of campaign granularity. As with SKAdNetwork conversion events, these 8 conversion events will exist on a priority spectrum. In addition, only the highest-priority event triggered by the user will be attributed to that campaign. Value Optimization (VO) campaigns will still be available to web advertisers. Although VO campaigns will only allow for 4 conversion events to be tracked. And 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows are being deprecated.
For app advertisers, Facebook has noted that advertisers will be limited to one ad account per app for iOS14 campaigns. But they will not need to create a new, dedicated account for iOS14 campaigns.
To prepare now and mitigate the impact of these tracking changes that are anticipated to take effect in March 2021, here’s what you can do now:
Media Buying and Measuring in Q5
If you plan to deliver ads for conversion events that occur in your business’s app:
Update to Facebook’s SDK for iOS 14 version 8.1 to help personalize ads delivered to devices on iOS 14. Also, continue to receive app conversion events reporting from iOS 14 devices. You can do this from the Events Manager. You will need to be an app admin to do so. Facebook’s SDK for iOS 14 version 8.1, currently supports Apple’s SKAdNetwork API and enables measurement for app install ads. If you do not have the SDK installed, you may want to install it.
If you plan to deliver ads for conversion events that occur on your business’s website:
You may need to verify your website’s domain to help avoid any future disruption of your website campaigns. Domain verification must be done for the effective top-level domain plus one (eTLD+1). For example, for www.books.jasper.co.uk, books.jasper.co.uk, and jasper.co.uk the eTLD+1 domain is jasper.co.uk. This can help ensure that your domain verification will encompass all variations.
Domain verification should be prioritized for domains with pixels used by multiple businesses or personal ad accounts. This will enable you to configure pixel conversion events when Aggregated Event Measurement becomes available.
If you plan to deliver ads for both web and app conversion events, take all the actions listed above.
Capture Q5 with Ad Creative
You can use your existing ad accounts to advertise to devices on iOS 14. But you will need to create separate iOS 14 app install campaigns due to reporting limitations from Apple’s SKAdNetwork API. The following are additional limitations that you will need to consider.
If you plan to deliver ads for conversion events that occur in your business’s app:
You can only associate your app with a single ad account. However, you can use the same ad account to advertise for multiple apps.
Each app is limited to 9 iOS 14 campaigns at once. Each campaign is limited to 5 ad sets of the same optimization type. You cannot vary your optimization choice across ad sets in the same campaign. There is a 72-hour reset period after you turn off or delete one of your 9 permitted iOS 14 campaigns. This is before it will no longer count against your limit. This will help minimize the risk of incorrect campaign optimization and reporting due to the delayed reporting of conversion event data from Apple’s SKAdNetwork API.
Auction is the only available buying option when you create an ad for devices on iOS 14. Reach and Frequency is not available.
Once your campaign is published, you cannot turn on or turn off the iOS 14 campaign toggle. You will have to turn off or delete your campaign.
If you plan to deliver ads for conversion events that occur on your business’s website:
Your pixel may only optimize for a maximum of 8 conversion events for each domain. Facebook will initially configure the conversion events we believe are the most relevant to your business based on your activity. All other events will be made inactive for campaign optimization and reporting. You will be able to manage your preferences in Events Manager. When you create your ad set, you’ll choose only one of the 8 designated conversion events to optimize for.
Ad sets that are optimizing for a pixel conversion event that is no longer active, will be paused. In advance of this limitation, you may need to consider making changes to your campaign or measurement strategy. You may also need to consider optimizing for upper-funnel objectives. For example, landing page views and link clicks.
We produce Hollywood-level creative at a fraction of the cost of holding company creative shops. And, at a high velocity of production with proprietary testing methodology tied to business outcomes.
We have sharpened our teeth in immersive digital storytelling (gaming) and bring that storytelling to new brands, verticals, and markets.
Our creative and platform are geared towards performance and business outcomes instead of awards.
Our capabilities lend themselves to emerging digital media such as OTT, DTC, Mobile Web, and DOOH. As established brands are forced to adapt to post-COVID digital transformation.
Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Simulation Lifestyle Games with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
Simulation Lifestyle Games Competitive Analysis
Top Competitors: Vertical Design Home, Home Design Makeover, Property Brothers, House Flip, Home Design 3D, My Home Design Dreams, Home Maker, My Home Design Story, HomeCraft, House Designer, Home Street, Home Design, Dream House, Design this home, Word Villas, Planner 5D, House Flipper
Top Competitors: Apps Zillow, RedFin, Realtor.com, Homescapes, Gardenscapes, SimCity BuildIt, Home Design Story, Design This Home, Home Design Makeover!
Motivations:“The idea of getting by in 2030 is just too big to wrap my head around, the path there is too obscure and has too many steps, so sometimes I have to turn on my Xbox… in order to feel like I’m making concrete progress in something I can control.”
Design Home’s recent appeal, and razor-sharp focus on real-life products and design trends, can tell us something about the type of void aging millennials are seeking to fill. They are a generation scorned by the Great Recession, holed up in city rentals, and unable to afford new homes or furniture. But they also can’t help but be influenced by social media and the excessive displays of wealth that come with it. They long to feel what it’s like to afford the lifestyle of a successful adult.
Day and Night: Show transitions from day to night, provoking an emotional response. (Sim City)
Text Transitions: Transition frames with colorful text in different shapes. (Home Design Makeover, HomeCraft)
Emphasize Copy Matching and Emotion: “Bring Vision to Life,” “Create your vision,” “The Power is yours.” (Sim City)
Client Based: Design for a specific client. (Property Brothers, Home Design Makeover)
Creative Expression/Design: Use pickers to create and furnish rooms and houses, while adding encouraging messages. (My Home: Design Dreams, Home Design Makeover)
Unique End Cards: End ad with mobile device and gameplay, search engine style, flipping logo. (Home Design Makeover)
Concept: Present a Challenge to Solve
Explore stories with an issue to solve, targeting creative decision-makers:
Present problem in the opening: “Help grandma sell her house”
The decor is customized based on client needs, using pickers and furniture options
Concept: Give Users the Power
Utilize empowering language to engage users who want to feel more in control of their design process:
Mix game footage with compelling copy that speaks directly to users’ ability to creative with their decision making
Concept: Show the Possibilities
Engage users and help them express their personal style by showing an array of different styles and options
Give users a creative outlet by transporting them to idyllic yet achievable homes
Concept: Incite Relaxation
Invite users to relax and unwind with concepts that compel them to disconnect:
Calming colors, imagery Copy that incites relaxation and “me time”
Concept: Before and After
Create videos that show before and after transformations:
Use various headers, split-screen, and “Cinderella Transformations” which flip screens and highlight drastic changes
Concept: New Intros and Outros
Create new intro and outros utilizing available assets:
Test Intros with the full logo (Design Home Makeover, Property Brothers, HomeCraft)
Add search-engine feature to end card (House Flip)
Open the first frame with a challenge or question (“Can you help me?”) (My Home Design Dreams)
Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Simulation role Playing Games with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
Simulation Role Playing Games Competitive Analysis
Top Competitors: Avakin Life, Chapters: Interactive Stories, Choices: Design Home, Cooking Diary, Covet Fashion, Design My Room, Episode: Super Stylist, Episode: Choose your Story, Fill in 3D, Hollywood Story, House Flip, I Peel Good, Icing on the Cake, IMVU Avatar, Ink Inc., Journeys: Interactive Series, Lily’s Garden: Design & Relax, Linda Brown, Linda Brown: Interactive Story, Love Sick, Moments: Choose Your Story, My Cafe, My Home: Design Dreams, My Story, My Story: Choose your own Path, Paint by Numbers, Party in My Dorm, Pottery, Secrets: Game of Choices, Storyscape, Super Stylist, Township, What’s your Story?
Event/Date Prep with Character Reaction: Picker utilized for hair/makeup/clothing, with character reaction (Hollywood Story, My Story, Lovesick)
Choices-Style situations: Empowered female characters given option to choose their next move (Episode, Choices, Avakin Life, IMVU Avatar)
Men Behaving Badly: Women triumphing over adversity and badly behaving men (Choices, Episode, Love Sick, My Cafe, many others)
Female characters in peril: Females suffering and crying but overcoming the obstacles and ultimately having the last laugh
Mean Girls: Cruel characters making fun of unpopular/weak girls, but ultimately losing against them
Relaxing, Mindless Expressions of Creativity: Decorating, painting, and cooking apps that display simple gameplay, sometimes comedically (I Peel Good, Icing on the Cake, Fill in 3D, Pottery)
Creative Expression/Design: Using pickers to create and furnish rooms, houses, etc. (Design Home, My Home: Design Dreams)
Time Progressions: Narrative style ads where present conflict is explained by going back in time or forward to the future.
Outfit Selections Montage: Showing many outfits or makeup choices. Dressing up girls for an event/date/contest
Choosing between two interests: Main character torn between conflicting interests (Best friend and lover, two lovers, money or love)
Awful Dates: Female characters enduring awful dates/relationships but finding a better partner in the end or having to decide what outcome to choose
Competitive Nature: Friends competing for better dates/outfits/more likes on Instagram/popularity.
Concept: Timed Character Reactions
Add personality to timed picker challenges by allowing models to react, either with expressions or with talk bubbles. (Hollywood Story, Love Sick, IMVU Avatar)
Make the timed challenges more story-focused to engage players (e.g. boyfriend is almost there) (Hollywood Story, Love Sick)
Concept: Choices-Style Situations
Precede picker situations with simple, choices-style situation that necessitates new style/design (Choices, My Story )
Simplify situations with dual picker (Avakin Life)
Create stories where makeovers help a woman get over a bad relationship, insensitive man, etc… (My Cafe, Choices)
Concept: Poor Pregnant Woman
Trends: Females in Peril, Awful men
A pregnant woman about to reveal baby news to the future dad.
Plot options
A) Guy has other plans
He’s about to reveal he doesn’t love her anymore/is leaving her.
B) She finds him cheating on her with someone else (Sister/agent/friend)
Ending
A woman has to make a difficult decision as a cliffhanger
*Competitor and SOV: Journeys 20.5%
Concept: Revenge with Timing Elements
Trends: Mean Girls, Time, Competitive
Bullied girl gets her payback years later
Starts in the present time with the bride crying/husband cheating with sexy attendee
Sexy attendee memory takes her back to High School days
Turns out the bride was very mean and bullied sexy girl
Options appear with
Revenge
Let it go
The scene returns to the present time with the choice made and the consequences
*Competitor and SOV: My Story, Journeys 25.5%
Concept: Ugly Betty with a Twist
Trends: Mean Girls and Outfit Selections
The girl is made fun of because of her looks
She decides to go home and change her appearance
A picker screen appears next to her
She selects new make-up, clothes, hair and removes glasses/braces
(I’d avoid doing the weight loss part)
Her “new me” comes to school and tries to seduce her crush
Two options appear
Crush rejects her because she’s now like everyone else
He lusts after her and dumps his girl
*Competitor and SOV: My Story, What’s your story 18.5%
Concept: You vs. Your Friend with a Twist
Trends: Competitive, Outfits, Two loves
Friends compete to find the hottest date
Two frenemies go to Tinder to find a hot date
Side by side screens show each swipe
Both choose a guy but this part is not revealed
Next, both girls are seeing choosing different outfits (fast montage)
Twist end, they both arrive to meet the same guy
The guy must make a choice
He chooses one
He chooses both
*Competitor and SOV: Kim K. Hollywood 31.5%
Reveal more Simulation Role Playing Games Secrets!
We have all seen the ads on TV — ads designed to shock, disrupt, or entertain. What can mobile app commerce marketers learn from fake gameplay ads?
Think irreverent brand ads from the likes of GEICO, Skittles, and Budweiser. A bit funny, weird, strange, and entertaining, and not always seemingly matched to the very product they are intended to promote.
What do these mobile app commerce marketers know that every other marketer who simply espouses their product, game, or app does not?
Think back now to every movie trailer that blew you out of your chair and got your butt into the seat of the movie theater. Did the movie and the 2-minute movie trailer line up exactly to the plotline as you would expect? Did it even come close? But moreover, when you were watching the movie, did you care, or were you so engrossed in the experience that the trailer had little to do with your end satisfaction with the movie?
So, why are trailers not always a short version of the film?
The answer is that to get “butts in seats” and ensure that the trailer you saw was enough to compel you to allocate your time and money to the movie, marketers focus on these three things:
Interrupt your thought stream so you take notice. Which nowadays means marketers must focus on interrupting your casual scroll through your social feed.
Create a reason, any reason, to follow the call-to-action. Even if that reason is only loosely tied to the product
Create enough attachment to the actual product to ensure that the product feels familiar and customers feel comfortable when they are actually exposed to the product
Game developers and mobile app commerce marketers often use alternative gameplay, more commonly called “fake gameplay” in their ad creative. The reason is that for mobile game developers, the stakes are incredibly high.
As the name implies, typically, 100% of a mobile game’s revenue is derived from their mobile app, as opposed to the commerce world where revenue can be split amongst app, eCommerce, and retail storefronts.
Game trends can also change on a dime. Users are incredibly fickle. With a limited barrier to entry to install an app, apps can launch with a great deal of success. But then fatigue very quickly (and see performance shift just as fast) if a new trend or competitor emerges.
Mobile Games
Mobile games are incredibly complex with large budgets and deep gameplay, and game developers cannot always alter gameplay to match fast-changing trends, nor should they if they have a quality product that users love once they start playing.
As a result, some apps never even make it out of the soft launch period, especially if they are not supported by strong paid user acquisition before word-of-mouth can support their growth. For those that do launch, many marketers are turning to alternative gameplay in ads to catch user attention. In fact, if you spend enough time viewing your social feeds, you will start to see similarities in ads for games. Common themes such as pickers, puzzles, hidden objects, matching, and success/fail, seem to come in waves before it almost feels like that is all that you see.
There are reasons for seeing so much copycat advertising. As Oscar Wilde once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Game developers are widely known for their adherence to test and learn internally and from peers in order to drive users to install their games and then also to drive deeper monetization.
Innovative game developers are experts in the “getting butts in seats” strategy by:
Introducing alternative gameplay in ads to create engagement and ultimately drive users to install and play their game
Identifying trending games or ad themes from other games and adding that gameplay to their ads to create the desired effect
As game developers are some of the most performance-minded marketers around, it is clear that the strategy of alternative gameplay simply works. Meaning, it drives financial performance. As a matter of fact, beyond alternative gameplay ads outperforming on scale, we have seen alternative gameplay outperform the nearest competitive ad on Day 7 Return on Ad Spend by 200%.
What you may not know is that to be successful with this strategy and to ensure that as a marketer, you avoid dissatisfied users, there is a playbook that can deliver success time and time again. And it goes like this:
The amount and weighting of impressions against a certain theme will provide you with tremendous insights as to what users are responding to.
We pride ourselves on creating tools and data sets to provide our clients with an objective view of the marketplace and the data to support creative strategies and creative learning agendas.
Step 2: Define the Strategy and Learning Agenda
Design the strategy based on the trends. The key element is understanding the user motivation behind the themes. As that will unlock a greater understanding of the boundaries of your creative strategy. Concept something completely new that will attach to the same user motivation. This will put you in the first-mover position on a new creative concept.
Remembering that every impression you burn on lower-performing ads results in a lower direct ROI. So you need to test as efficiently and as methodically as possible.
Let data be your objective guide to what works and what does not.
Step 3: Create The Familiar
This is where art and science merge and storytelling talent is paramount. Make users feel comfortable once they install and start playing the game. Do this by ensuring that there are enough creative assets to make the experience familiar:
Think about characters from the game or settings from the game in completely new experiences within ads.
It is a fine line between staying too close to your gameplay to where your ads miss a trend. Also, when you do not have a compelling reason to try the game. Or, you are not using enough game assets to make a user’s experience with a game feel familiar.
Key Learnings for App Commerce Marketers
So, what can commerce brands learn from this 101 on alternative gameplay for game developers?
Commerce brands often hesitate in letting go of the “let the product be the hero” mindset and embracing test and learn at scale.
Mobile app commerce marketers will often feature beautiful products in creative that do not compel you to stop scrolling. Countless commerce ads miss the mark on captivating the user at that moment and compelling them to care. Marketers need to test all variables of ads at scale as opposed to simply offer and call to action testing.
So, what can app commerce marketers do to change the paradigm?
Step 1: Do The Research
Identify the trends that garner impression volume.
It is okay to see what larger commerce brands are doing. But, we recommend looking at disruptive, upstart brands because:
They have more to lose by running unsuccessful ads.
They do not have the benefit of media weight to hide the effect of lower-performing ads or overall return.
Step 2: Define the Strategy and Learning Agenda
Within the trends, understand the motivations, including:
Practicality, status, utility, and self-reward.
Understanding motivation yields a wider range of creative possibilities.
Define the learning agenda:
This tends to be a hang-up for commerce brands because they are limited in creative assets. And those limitations are increased in the COVID era due to the logistical challenges of live production.
Solution: create new narratives through animation and aftereffects of existing creative assets:
Brands are slowly but surely leveraging animation to replace product imagery entirely such as Nespresso and Chipotle.
Add animation to existing products in order to turn an existing creative asset into an explainer of a core value proposition or product benefits, such as Nest or Vans.
Step 3: Create The Familiar
What makes Consumer Acquisition unique is that our creative storytellers use data for every aspect of decision making and strategy. To change your team’s mindset:
Your creative team needs to be comfortable leveraging data to inform how successful they are at walking that fine line between taking new creative risks and staying familiar.
When you are taking risks, you are creating improved engagement and action on your ads.
If you are staying familiar, your sell-through does not suffer once users land on your app, your website, or your store.
When you are doing this at scale, you are not only improving your overall digital marketing performance but you are also adding new benefits to existing creative assets. Thereby improving your return on creative production costs.
Consumer Acquisition as Your Strategic Partner in Adding New Life to Your Creative Assets
Our Creative Studio, combined with our marketing services teams, has developed a unique approach to scaling creative. It is tested and proven with our clients both large and small. Also, we execute creative testing through a combination of art and science. As a result, this ensures that we help clients find that “creative sweet spot”. And by combining data, trends, and breakthrough concepts, we find that winning creative.
We are 100% focused on business outcomes and financial performance in service to our customers. Also, we are transparent in our strategies and communications to ensure all teams are aligned towards the same goals.
Maximizing your creative asset return and improving your digital marketing performance is more important now than ever. We are here to partner with you on this new challenge as we head into 2021.
Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Card Games Creative Strategy with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
As of the last estimate, there were currently over 170 million active social casino gamers worldwide, with millions of players playing on any given day (Martin, 2014). To put this in perspective, social casino gamers outnumber online gamblers 4:1. Perhaps surprisingly, the average social casino gamer is a 40-year-old middle-class woman and women make up over 2/3rds of social casino gamers (Superdata, 2016). That said, social casino games seem to be a popular form of entertainment across all stages of life, including among adolescents and young adults (Kim, Wohl, Gupta, & Derevensky, 2016, 2017; Griffiths & Wood, 2007).
Motivations
Motivations for playing social casino games are likely similar to motivations for engaging in gambling (Wohl, Salmon, Hollingshead, & Kim, in press). That is, people may play for fun and entertainment, to pass the time, to relax, relieve boredom, or to distract themselves from negative emotions. Additionally, a portion of gamers may be attracted to the social feature of social casino games, such as seeing their scores on leaderboards and sharing their achievements on Facebook. Yet, some social casino gamers may use free-to-play simulated gambling games to practice their ‘skills’ before playing for real money gambling.
Social Casino Games: Current Evidence & Future Directions, Hyoun S. Kim, University of Calgary
Gaming Psychology of Near Misses:
“…Near-misses have some intrinsic appeal for our reward circuitry, tricking those brain cells into believing that we won even though we actually lost… This suggests that, from the perspective of our dopamine neurons, near misses are virtually indistinguishable from actual wins. Both forms of feedback tickle our reward circuitry, which is why Vegas invests in games and algorithms that are full of close calls. For a casino, the beauty of a near miss is clear: Although we’ve lost money if feels as if we won.”
The Near-Miss Effect, Jonah Lehrer, Wired Magazine, 3.28.11
Although no studies have investigated the ramifications of Candy Crush near-misses, one can make reasonable inferences based on near-misses in other scenarios. In slot machine games, near-miss outcomes encourage the urge to continue to play despite the absence of reward (Côté et al. 2003; Kassinove and Scharev, 2001; Clark et al. 2009; Billieux et al. 2012). In general, the idea of falling just short of a big win appears to facilitate players wanting to continue with the game in the belief that practice makes better, or more spins will eventually lead to success (Kassinove and Schare 2001).
The Candy Crush Sweet Tooth: How Near Misses in Candy Crush Increase Frustration, and the Urge to Continue Gameplay: Journal of Gambling Studies, Volume 33, Issue 2, pp 599–61
Card Games Creative Strategy Trends
App Explainers: Videos explaining how the game or app works with users/players, screenshots/gameplay, and rewards. (Caesars Casino, Gin Rummy Plus, Inbox Dollars)
Real Winners/Testimonials: Videos featuring real winners and amounts they’ve won. (Lucktastic, Lucky Day)
Newsreel: Videos showing newsworthiness of the app based on real or fake news coverage. (House of Fun Slots, Jackpocket)
Casino Lifestyle: Videos with colorful slot machine graphics and/or big band music. (Caesars Casino, Gin Rummy Plus, WSOP, Slotomania, Spades Plus, Spin to Win Slots)
Community: Videos featuring gameplay between players, or texts between players regarding the app itself. (IBotta, WorldWinner)
Winners/Testimonials: Videos featuring winning moments and real winner testimonial. (Skillz)
Card Games Creative Strategy Trends (Cont.)
Game Overviews/Gameplay: Overview of how to play, game elements, and gameplay, sometimes with a picker manipulating cards. (Grand Gin Rummy, Spades Plus, many others)
Player Focused: Player versus player with player avatars or live video inset, often focused on the range of types of players. (Poker Face, Blackjackist, many others)
Covid-Related: Videos with messaging built around boredom, being stuck at home, or not connecting with friends. (Gin Rummy: The Best Card Game)
Relax/Train Your Brain: Messaging centered on the way the game sharpens your mental skills and/or relaxes you. (WSOP, MobilityWare Solitaire)
Player Testimonial: Positive reviews or testimonials regarding the game. (21 Blitz)
The heat of the Moment: Hyper-focused moments in the game when a big decision will make or break you. (WSOP)
Humorous Voice-over: Mock announcer(s) or player voice-over, used over gameplay. (WSOP, Flip & Dive 3D, Flip Dunk)
Real Game Footage: Live footage intercut with gameplay. (Flip Dunk, WSOP, Zynga)
Concept: App Explainer
Explainer videos showcasing how the game works and how players win money:
Legitimizes app while demonstrating how you win
Demystifies the game, lowering barriers to play
Concept: Spokesperson
Use a spokesperson/actor to appear in a variety of videos:
App demonstration/overview
Interviews with real winners
Aspirational/optimistic stories
Competitive Landscape
This has been used by established sweepstakes firms, e.g. Publisher’s Clearing House – to their advantage
Concept: News Coverage/PR
Create videos that leverage any news coverage of the app:
Portrays the app as a legitimate way to win money and by playing card games
Removes barriers new players might have to download and play, e.g. fear it’s a scam
Provides social proof that card games are bonafide
Competitive Landscape/Share of Voice:
House of Fun Slots, Jackpocket
House of Fun Slots: 7% SOV
Jackpocket: 21% SOV
Concept: Card Game Influencers
Create videos featuring influencers such as Mikey Slice and PickTooth:
Attracts players while legitimizing the game
Demonstrates you can win money by playing
Aligned with eSports trend and builds on the success of poker TV broadcasts and programming
Competitive Landscape:
Seen more in games featured on live game streaming sites like Steam and Twitch
Concept: E-Sports Cards
Portray real winners as athletes:
Static images of winners in athletic/heroic poses
Graphics like baseball cards with stats and nicknames
Leverages skill of card game players, downplaying luck
Aspirational
Funny but tongue-in-cheek
Aligned with eSports trend and builds on the success of poker TV broadcasts and programming
Competitive Landscape:
Twist on the “Real Winner” creative featured in games like Solitaire Cube, Lucktastic and Lucky Day
Concept: Competitive
Juxtapose real money card games and social card games:
Why play regular solitaire when you could win money just for playing?
Short videos compare and contrast screenshots of “boring” card games with winners and excitement of real money card games
Other videos could juxtapose dull-looking stock imagery of people with “Plays Solitaire” winners/stars
Concept: Winners/Testimonials
Real (or not) winner testimonials perform well across all sub-genres. Testimonial videos tend to run long, so consider featuring them on your website and on YouTube:
Create still imagery ads featuring female winners
Consider opening shots of cash with motion instead of static imagery
Create videos combining winners and gameplay
TikTok style videos of female players playing/winning
Create short videos that better utilize the emotion of the winner testimonials
Create winner reels that leverage multiple winner testimonials into one video
Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Puzzle Hidden Object Games with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
Check Out Our Hidden Object Apps Reel!
Puzzle Hidden Object Games Competitive Analysis
Puzzle game competitors: June’s Journey, CC Friends Saga, CC Soda Saga, Gardenscapes, Homescapes, Toon Blast, Toy Blast, Cookie Jam, Sweet Escapes, Lily’s Garden, Funky Bay, Best Fiends, Lost Island, Manor Cafe, Resort Hotel, Passion Puzzle, Design Home Express, Meow Match, Diner Dash, Pet Rescue Saga, Choices, My Home: Design Dreams, My Cafe, Word Villas, Vineyard Valley, Township
Hidden Object game competitors: Pearl’s Peril, Criminal Case, The Secret Society, Agent Alice, CSI Hidden Crimes, Diggy’s Adventure, Hidden City, Letters from Nowhere, Murder in the Alps, Mysteries of the Past, Tropicats, Adam Wolfe: Dark Detective Mystery Game, Adventure Escape, Hidden Objects Mystery Society, Pearl’s Peril, Seeker’s Notes: Hidden Mystery, Bubble Island, Survivors: the Quest, Temple Run 2, Township: Farm & City Building, Horse Haven World Adventures, Klondike Adventures, Diamond Dash, Stand O’Food, Virtual City Playground, Just Dance Controller, Just Dance Now, Trials Frontier, Ubisoft Club, Cage & Aviary Birds, Clipomatic, Colorfy, Color Your Call, Galatea, Murder Minute, Paint Color, Quiz Crazy, Shudder, Tarot
TikTok is a hot spot for mobile app advertising right now. It is not hard to see why. The platform’s massively growing userbase and affinity for short-form video make it an ideal environment for all mobile app advertisers. To learn what TikTok is, its platform capabilities, and the TikTok culture CLICK HEREto read The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads 2021.
Here are just a few reasons why TikTok has become a must-use advertising platform so quickly:
It is big! With 800 million monthly active users, TikTok has a user base more than twice the size of Twitter (340+ million) and almost double the size of Reddit (430+ million). That makes it the sixth most popular app globally based on the number of monthly active users, and one of the most downloaded apps in 2020.
It is global. TikTok users span 150 countries worldwide (so you can do plenty of testing to smaller countries before you roll out to the US audience).
Its userbase is well-off. 51.8% of TikTok users in the United States make over $75,000 per year.
Creative is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising. Soon, the combination of Facebook’s and Google’s Media buying automation with Apple’s removal of IDFA will make ‘winning’ creative ﹘the five percent of Facebook videos that are successful﹘of paramount importance. Here we break down Casual RPG Games with competitive trends & creative recommendations, so you can learn from their creative best practices.
Check Out Our RPG Gaming Reel!
Casual RPG Games Competitive Analysis
Competitors: AFK Arena, Disney Sorcerer’s Arena, Idle Heroes, Tap Titans 2, Hero Wars, Taptap Heroes, Empires & Puzzles: Epic Match 3, Legendary: Game of Heroes, Almost a Hero, Clicker Heroes, Ulala: Idle Adventure, Hopeless Heroes: Tap Attack, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, Rise of Kingdoms, Questland: Hero Quest, Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, Rise of Kingdoms, Questland: Hero Quest
More Competitors: Clash of Clans, FTL, Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare, The Elder Scrolls: Legends CCG, Stormbound, Gods of Olympus, TerraGenesis: Star Settlers, Nova Empire: Space Commander, Bit City, AdVenture Communist, Godus, The Battle Cats, South Park: Phone Destroyer, Space Arena: Build & Fight MMO, Fire Emblem Heroes, Dungeon, Inc: Idle Clicker, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, Star Trek Fleet Command, Dawn of Titans, DomiNations, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, Craft Warriors, Mushroom Wars 2, Armello, Deep Town: Idle Miner Factory, Epic Battle Simulator 2, Zombie Gunship Survival, Hades’ Star, Prison Architect, King’s Raid, Hustle Castle, Fallout Shelter, Tiny Tower, Second Galaxy
Idle Clicker gamers are not primarily casual gamers. In fact, they have a perfectly average core gamer profile. Most are also driven by Completion (collect stars, complete all missions) and Power (leveling up, getting powerful gear). But least driven by Excitement (fast-paced, thrilling, surprises) and Fantasy (being someone else, somewhere else). – Nick Yee, The Surprising Profile of Idle Clicker Gamers, Quantic Foundry
Casual RPG Games Competitive Trends
Influencers: Gameplay featuring influencers and in-game commentary. (Ulala)
Game Overview/Gameplay: Gameplay with an overview of the game, levels, and rewards. (AFK Arena, Idle Heroes, many more)
Countdowns: Characters, weapons, or powers listed in order of their “awesomeness.” (AFK Arena, Rise of Kingdoms)
Puzzles: Characters featured in puzzles that are not reflective of gameplay. (Hero Wars)
Humor: Comedic voiceover juxtaposed against heroic gameplay/character footage, or dialogue between players. (Rise of Kingdoms, Questland)
Music Influenced: Aggressive metal music combined with gameplay, or as a music video. (AFK Arena, King’s Raid)
Game Trailer: Gameplay with an overview of game graphics, levels, and rewards. (AFK Arena, Star Trek Fleet Command, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, many others)
More Competitive Trends:
Characters & Countdowns: Characters, weapons, or powers listed in order of their “awesomeness.” (AFK Arena, Rise of Kingdoms)
Puzzles: Characters featured in puzzles that are not reflective of gameplay. (Hustle Castle)
Humor: Comedic voiceover juxtaposed against heroic gameplay/character footage, or dialogue between players. (Rise of Kingdoms, Questland)
Music Influenced: Aggressive metal music combined with gameplay, or as a music video. (AFK Arena, King’s Raid)
Player Focused: Gameplay that features inset player imagery and reactions or player interviews. (Space Arena, Mushroom Wars, DomiNations)
Noob vs. Pro/Level Focused: Gameplay that shows experienced versus new players, while often based on the level completion. (Space Arena)
Concept: Influencer Gameplay
Create short videos featuring influencers playing the game:
Attracts players while legitimizing the game
Demonstrates how to win stages and rewards
Competitor/Share of Voice:
Ulala: Idle Adventure: 51% SOV
Concept: Character Countdown
Feature characters in a countdown of best characters, powers, and/or weapons:
Showcases animation style, range of characters, and/or powers
Humorous voice over
Generates higher engagement (curiosity over rankings)
Competitor/Share of Voice:
Rise of Kingdoms: 28% SOV
Concept: Character Puzzles
Create videos featuring characters in brain-teasing puzzles:
Engages “completion” and “power” motivators for Idle RPG players
Shows characters in a familiar environment
Competitor/Share of Voice:
Hero Wars: 100% SOV
Concept: Comedic Voice Over
Create videos that juxtapose gameplay with a comedic voice-over.
Showcases gameplay and/or characters
Mimics gamer dialogue
Uses subtitles
Competitor/Share of Voice:
Rise of Kingdoms: 72% SOV
Questland: 8% SOV
Concept: Choices
Add simple pickers to characters and game situations:
