Why Creative is so Important

Section One

Why Creative is so important is because it is an advertiser’s best opportunity for a competitive advantage in social advertising, and it has been since 2019.

Here’s why creative is so important

Expensive, third-party automated adtech platforms aren’t as much of a competitive advantage as they used to be. Facebook and Google’s platforms have integrated the best features of those tools and offered them as standard features to campaign dashboards. All that fancy adtech is now available in your ad accounts, for free. However, if you are spending over $250,000 per month or running multiple titles, an inexpensive ad management platform like AdRules can greatly simplify your workflow and increase productivity.
If you’re spending less than $250,000 per month, you may not need expensive, high-end ad jockeys. Automation features have taken a lot of the controls away from UA managers and ad accounts with smaller ad spends have become easier to manage. However, if you are spending over $250,000 per month or across several networks, you may find it helpful to look for inefficiencies in automated solutions. There are still many levers where a Rockstar UA manager will outperform an algorithm.

Those two factors alone leave creative as the most critical competitive advantage. Because you can now run powerful campaigns without adtech, and lower-spending advertisers can actually get good results, two key competitive advantages are gone. Creative is now critical.

The data backs this up. After managing over $3 billion in ad spend, we’ve seen creative prove itself over and over as the single-best driver of ROAS.

Across our portfolio of accounts, we’ve found that 75% of the ROAS gains we’ve generated for clients can be directly attributed to creative optimization. Compare that to 15% of the ROAS gained from audience expansion, and 10% of the ROAS gained from media buying tactics and optimization.

Audience expansion and media buying tactics are still fantastic tools for the Rockstar UA manager, but creative wins hands down. Creative is king.

Why creative is so important but not all created equal

Just pumping out more and more creative variations from winning ads won’t give you the advantage you need. You need high-performance new concepts and control-beating fresh ideas. Those can be hard to find. Only 1-3 ad concepts out of 20 ever beat the control.

To know which creative assets and elements deliver big results, you need an efficient, accurate testing system. Without efficiency, it’s easy to blow your budget on testing variations that end up generating a disproportionate percent of non-converting spend.

This can be more of a challenge than it might seem. Beating the control is surprisingly hard… but more about that later.

If that looks different than how you’re managing UA campaigns right now, it’s time to bring your advertising – and your entire UA program – into 2020.

Creative Tunnel Vision and How to Overcome It

Even with a world-class testing methodology and creative optimization process, your creative team needs fresh ideas. They have to be aware of all the trends in ad creative that your competitors know about and are already taking advantage of.

To increase the success rate of creative testing while eliminating creative tunnel vision, we are sharing our proprietary creative strategies for gaming genres. We’ve reviewed thousands of Facebook and Google ads to create a “visual taxonomy” of creative trends. We use those trends to generate a list of fresh creative concepts informed by competitive ads, player motivations, and advertiser performance.

As Picasso said, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal!” Once you identify your competitors’ best ads, you have an endless supply of “tested” concepts. However, we have found that analyzing competitive creative, as challenging as it is, is not a UA or Design function. It appears to be a cross-disciplinary exercise.

At this particular snapshot in time, in 2020, we’re seeing trends like these that drive ad performance.

Ad Performance Trends

Connect the Dots
Puzzles
Noob vs Pro
Hidden Object
Influencers

Again: These trends come and go faster than fashion, and you need to be in touch with the heartbeat of online advertising across thousands of advertisers to even recognize the trends in the massive number of ads launched every day. Then, once you’ve recognized them, you need to adapt these creative trends so you can use them in your own ads. Get it all right, then test it with a super-efficient creative testing system, and you win the prize: New ad creative that beats the control. Here’s another reason why creative is so important.

It’s all a little bit like baseball… you’re only as good as your last hit.

Trying to keep up with trends that evolve so rapidly is hard. Trying to do it while you maintain ROAS is even harder. And expecting the same team of people to do it over and over again, week after week… is damn near impossible. Eventually, almost covertly, creative teams learn what works and what fails and then “play it safe” with their creative. They’ll default back to their greatest (and safest) hits of the past and become just a little bit too cautious about testing any out-of-the-box ideas that might not work. We call this “creative tunnel vision”.

Unfortunately, while many out-of-the-box ideas don’t work, some will. And one or two of those ads – those unlikely, out of the blue winners – could have delivered you a 10-40% leap in ROAS.

But if your team never develops those out-of-the-box ideas, they’ll never test them. You’ll never know how much revenue you’ve missed.

This is why an outside team can be so helpful. And why competitive analysis should be a core skill of somebody in every creative team.

Competitive analysis has two key benefits:

It lets you peer into an almost endless library of tested concepts (tested with your competitors’ ad budgets, not yours).
It increases your success rate for your new concepts, so your entire testing program involves a lot less risk.

Think of all this shared knowledge as the “wisdom of creative crowds.” Fortunately, we have ample resources to make competitive analysis efficient. Creative research tools like AdRules are great, as are SocialPeta and AppAnnie, and many others. There’s even Facebook’s ad library, which is completely free, though it only lets you see which ads your competitors are running, not how those ads have actually performed.

If that’s not enough, you can also check out our resource of over 500,000 competitive video ads from Facebook and Google AC advertisers. Just remember to check competitive benchmarks data so you can recognize what’s breakout performance and what’s just average for that genre.

Creative Trends, Recommendations, and Why Creative is So Important

Although creative trends change fast, they also vary dramatically across genres. And so while it is good to know broad creative trends, you’ll also want to hone in on your particular niche. Of course, you’ll also want to overlay all this with actual performance data. We want to chase trends that boost ROAS, not just chase every trend that comes along.

To get you started with this, we’ve developed seven genre-specific creative trend reports. Here are the highlights from several genres below or jump directly to your genre here:

Word Games Trends
Card Games Trends
Social Casino App Trends
Casual RPG Trends
Entertainment App Trends
Puzzle and Hidden Object Games Trends
Match 3 Puzzle Games Trends
Simulation Role Playing Games Trends
Simulation Lifestyle App Trends
Sports Games Trends

Word Games Trends

Competitive Analysis

Wordscapes, WordWhizzle Search, Word Cross Puzzle, Word Cookies!, Word Collect, Word Hunt, Word Tiles, Scrabble, Words with Friends, Word Connect, WordTrip, Word Mania

To view competitive videos, click here.

Creative Trends

Paper Puzzle: Mimicking gameplay with a paper version.
Scientific claims: “30 minutes a day sharpen your brain” “Neuroscientists recommend playing this game to stay young.”
Challenges: “What’s Americans’ favorite food?” “Can you find this item?”
Reasons to play the game: Meet friends, upgrade, learn new words, game tutorials.
Whimsical: “The first word you see is your destiny!”
Relaxing themes: “What are you doing to decompress?” Soothing landscapes and music.

Concept: Clever challenges

Introduce a question that must be answered by gameplay
Examples
- What word is fake?
- What’s the synonym of a word
Timed challenges that force users to act fast
- Find five three-letter words!

Concept: Mix reviews with gameplay

Showcase the benefits of playing the game by adding reviews
Emphasize by adding the name of user and country
Still make gameplay the center of the ad

Concept: Paper puzzle

Show “paper version” of the game by adding a challenge
Examples:
- Americans love ____
- Find 15 words
- Picnic items
- School supplies
- Recipe ingredients

Concept: Mix footage with gameplay

Mix UGC with gameplay to add realism to the game
Mix footage with game elements to showcase various game elements

Concept: Claim intro

Introduce gameplay with a short 2-3 sec intro card based on:
- Mental benefits
- Aspirational (Success, intelligence)

Concept: Goal intro

Introduce gameplay with a short 2-3 sec intro card based on:
- Improvement (Improve your vocabulary)
- Learning (Learn new words!)

Concept: Relaxation intro

Introduce gameplay with a short 2-3 sec intro card based on:
- Relaxation and “me time”
- Soothing copy that incites “time for yourself”
- “Get lost and find words”
- Relaxing imagery

Card Games Trends

Competitive Analysis

Competitors

Card Games: Solitaire Deluxe 2, Solitaire Tri Peaks, Spades Plus, MobilityWare Solitaire, WSOP, Solitaire Cube, Rummy Royale, Gin Rummy Plus, Gin Rummy Best Card Game, Gin Rummy Master, Spades, Spades Card Classic, Solitaire Deluxe 2, Solitaire Tri Peaks, Spades Plus, Fairway Solitaire, WSOP, Hearts World Tour, Klondike Farm Adventure, 21 Blitz, Bingo Town, Bingo Blast, Hearts Card Game Classic, Solitaire Time Warp, Grand Gin Rummy, Solitaire Epic Adventures, Bingo Pop, House of Blackjack 21, Bingo Bash, Wild Classic Slots, Poker Face Live Texas Hold Em, Zynga Poker, Blackjackist, Backgammon Live, Dominoes Gold, Flip & Dive 3D, Flip Dunk, NBA 2K Mobile, Chess Royale, Fairway Solitaire, Solitaire Grand Harvest, Pyramid Solitaire Saga, Farmship Solitaire 3D, Solitaire Garden TriPeak Story, Solitaire Treasure Island, Destination Solitaire, Solitaire Paradise, Solitaire Pets.
Casino/Lottery: Lucktastic, 21 Blitz, Lucky Day, Caesars Casino Official Slots, House of Fun Slots, Lucky Lottery Scratchers, Slotomania Vegas Casino Slots, Cube Cube, Worldwinner, Jackpocket, SpinToWin Slots, Dice with Ellen
Shopping/Cash Back: Inbox Dollars, IBotta, Receipt Hog, Shopkick, Surveys on the Go, Swagbucks

View competitive videos here.

Creative 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 testimonials. (Skillz)
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)

Creative Trends (cont.):

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)
Character introducing game: Main mascot introducing herself and game via speech bubbles – similar to the in-game intro. Tutorial explaining the game often found.
Faux Playable: Reproducing a playable by creating 2-3 chances to get gameplay right, ending on a big win (Casino big win style). Using prompts and CTA’s used in this format.
Scenes within the scene: Introducing a second scene by flipping cards and becoming a new scene within the main scene.
Elements of variety: Animated intro, evermoving background, perpendicular transitions.
Unexpected Cards: Cards exploding from a volcano, cards dancing onto the scene, cards floating into space.
Other games elements: Casino coin explosions, slot-machine simulation
Gameplay Wallpaper: Wallpaper made out of phone screens, which animate one by one, showing different gameplays or styles within the game.

Player Motivations:

Demographics: 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 it 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

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
Demonstrates how the game works

Competitive Landscape/Share of Voice

Caesars Casino, Gin Rummy Plus, Solitaire Deluxe 2, Dice with Ellen, Inbox Dollars, Shopkick, many more
Dosh: 76.8% Share of Voice
Gin Rummy Plus: 70% Share of Voice

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

Concept: Game Explainer

Create videos that explain how to play Rummy Stars and Spades Royale:

Showcases superior game graphics
Demystifies the game, lowering barriers to play
Demonstrates how the game works
Engages potential players
1 concept currently in production

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Gin Rummy The Best Card Game: 92% SOV
Grand Gin Rummy: 89% SOV
Spades Plus: 100% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in Social & Mastery motivation models

Concept: Player Types

Showcase the different types of players in Rummy & Spades

Can use “real” players (stock footage)
Types such as “The Risk Taker,” “The Slow & Steady,” “The Trash Talker”
Combine with gameplay scenarios

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Zynga Poker: 59% SOV
Poker Face: 100% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in Social motivation model

Concept: Character Countdown

Feature avatars while giving them a backstory and/or special talents:

Can adapt to “types of players” as well
Showcases animation style
Can use humorous voice over
Player backgrounds further game narrative

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Rise of Kingdoms: 28% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in Achievement motivation model (power & completion) and narrative

Concept: Game Benefits

Create videos that leverage the benefits of playing Gin Rummy & Spades:

Scientific evidence that card-playing relieves stress, boosts the immune system, improves motor skills, and increases memory function and socialization
Targets an older demographic (50+)

Competitor/Share of Voice:

WSOP: 24% SOV
MobilityWare Solitaire 31% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in relaxation and enjoyable self-improvement/self-preservation (a game with benefits)

Concept: Player Testimonial

Create videos featuring influencers or real players who enjoy Gin Rummy Stars & Spades Royale:

Attracts players while legitimizing the game
Demystifies the game, lowering barriers to play
Could be a combination of gameplay and remote/zoom interview or supers

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Dominoes Gold: 87% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in Social motivation model

Concept: Heat of the Moment

Dramatize the make or break moments in a game:

Engage players by presenting them with options to win
Demonstrates strategy and tension of the gameplay
Provides lesson in how the game works

Competitor/Share of Voice:

WSOP: 16% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in Social & Mastery motivation models

Concept: Play by Play

If you’ve ever watched WSOP, you’ve heard the announcers doing play-by-play (and a lot of random conversation). Let’s bring that “announcer” feel to Rummy Stars & Spades Royale:

Adds humor to the games
Makes games feel “larger than life”
Gives the games a more sport-like feel, rather than the older demographic it can sometimes be associated with

Competitor/Share of Voice:

WSOP: 6% SOV
Flip & Dive 3D: 89% SOV
Flip Dunk: 90% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested primarily in fun & entertainment

Concept: Avatar Lives

What do these avatars do when they’re not playing cards? Let’s put them in funny 2D situations (in a car, in a restaurant) where we can utilize their shape and engage them in mundane conversations

Breakthrough for this category where there is almost exclusively gameplay
Showcases visual style of the game
Can combine with gameplay

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Targets players who will be attracted to visual style and narrative

Concept: Near Misses

Create videos of gameplay in which near wins happen repeatedly and lead to FAILS:

Waiting for Gin card when other player puts down the card you need
Going down and getting undercut by a point
Can feature voice-over or supers underscoring frustration

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Multiple games using this technique but it has not been used in social casino games; the missed opportunity has given the psychology of near misses

Player Motivations:

Capitalize on near-misses motivating players to keep playing as much or more than wins

Concept: Slams/Music Video

Use R&B or other genres to create game art-based music videos:

Syncopate music to cards getting slammed down in gameplay

Competitor/Share of Voice:

AFK Arena: 78% SOV
King’s Raid: 25% SOV
Tap Sports Baseball: 16% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players who will be attracted to music and visual style

Concept: Character Introducing Game

Introduce character and the “playable” by adding speech bubbles.

Hi! I’m “character”!
This is my Island
These are your cards (Faux Playable)
Let’s play some cards!
Tap any card one higher or one lower.
Good! Do it again!
You got it! Now you’re ready to play the game!

*Player motivation: Challenge, Escaping

Concept: Scene Inside Scene

Narrating a story by making the cards the center of the story:

Cards appear on the screen
One of them is highlighted
Card flips over and a scene is seen inside it.
Each new scene is connected to the previous scene.
Character is always seen in the corner.

*Player Motivation: Escaping

Concept: Environment Focused

Showcasing TriPeaks changing environments by showing gameplay and Tiki directing the audience:
Cards appear on the screen:

Tiki is seen next to gameplay
Tiki directs the user to make a move
The environment is always moving onto the next one from right to left, ending in a night scene.

*Player Motivation: Escaping

Concept: Real Environment

Showcasing changing environments by using real footage that matches the game scenes:

Maintain same elements of best performer “Dive in” (IPM)
Adjust verbiage according to scene
- Come in
- Jump in
- Join in

*Player Motivation: Escape, Kill Time

Concept: Character + Date Scene

A mashup or best performer “Date Scene” (IPM) with best performer character inclusion:

A character appears in the scene as the date
The character appears as a waiter commenting how much he loves playing game too
A character is seen inside the gameplay

*Player Motivation: Stress relief (comedic)

Concept: Dark Waters

Presenting same mysterious elements of an original best performer (IPM) by including the flipping card/scene effect:

After cards are seen they flip over revealing the new scene
In the Following scene, each card flips to show Tripeaks characters.

*Player Motivation: Escape

Concept: Partnerships

Investigate partnerships with organizations and celebrities:

Create a partnership with American Cribbage Congress and/or Tournament of Champions
Enable player donations for ACC Youth Cribbage program helping kids with mathematics, critical thinking, and cooperative learning in school
Celeb hosted Ultimate Cribbage event (see Minnesota Wild NHL segment at right)

Competitors:

Zynga and has done celeb-hosted online events
Spades Royale Partnership with Dwayne Wade

Player Motivations:

Targets players who are unfamiliar with cribbage or its benefits

Concept: Mental Benefits/Relaxation:

Continue to create videos that leverage the benefits of playing cards, specifically cribbage:
Scientific evidence that card-playing relieves stress, boosts the immune system, improves motor skills, and increases memory function and socialization:

Targets an older demographic (50+)

Competitor/Share of Voice:

WSOP: 24% SOV
MobilityWare Solitaire 31% SOV
Scrabble GO: 32% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in relaxation and enjoyable self-improvement/self-preservation

Concept: Game Magnifier

Holding a finger on game elements (cribbage board, cards) magnifies that element until you click on it again:

This would allow an older demographic to play despite issues with eyesight.

(Aligns with current target demographic, 35-64+)

Competitive Analysis

Competitors: DoubleDown Casino, Jackpot Party Casino, Slotomania, House of Fun, Goldfish Casino, Heart of Vegas, Hot Shot Casino, Hit it Rich!, DoubleU Casino, Quick Hit Slots, Slotomania, 21 Blitz, GSN Casino, Caesars Casino Slots, Lucky Lottery Scratchers, Worldwinner, WSOP, SpinToWin Slots, Jackpocket, Huuuge Casino, Wizard of Oz Slots, Big Fish Casino, Cashman Casino, Pop! Slots, Bingo Blitz, Coin Master, FaFaFa Gold Slots Casino, June’s Journey, Cradle of Empires

Top Solitaire Competitors: Coin Kings, Coin Runner, VeryDice, Lucktastic Match, Crazy Coin Pusher, Coin Master, Lucky Day, Piggy Go – Clash of Coin, Bricks n Balls, Bricks Ball Crusher, Casino Coin Pusher, Pirate Kings, Disney Emoji Blitz, Match to Win, Wordscapes.

View competitive videos here.

Creative Trends

Game Overview/Gameplay: Gameplay with an overview of the game, levels, and rewards. (Big Fish Casino, Jackpocket, many more)
Bonus: Gameplay focused on offering free rewards, coins, and bonuses when you sign up. (Cashman, Double Down, many more)
Players/Gameplay: Split screens showing players enjoying the game with gameplay. (21 Blitz, WSOP, Heart of Vegas)
News Report: Real or fake news clips showing the importance of the game. (Jackpocket, Casino Slots)
Celebs: Celeb spokespersons advocating for the game. (Coin Master, Jackpocket)
Puzzles/Hidden Object: Brain teasers designed to engage viewers. (June’s Journey, Cradle of Empires)
Mortised Gameplay: Gameplay shown with backgrounds and licensed characters. (Wizard of Oz, Game of Thrones, Hit it Rich!, Hot Shot Casino)
Seasonal: Gameplay with seasonal additions reflecting Halloween, Christmas, and other holidays. (Huuuge Casino, Quick Hit Casino, lotomania, many more)
Fake Text: Two characters or “real players” interacting via text, discussing games, or daring them to play.
Split screens: Noob vs. Pro, Winner vs. Loser, Comparing screens with highlighted part of the screen, explosive elements.
Players with UI elements: Showing “players” using elements of the game in real-life situations (Game buttons, coins, interacting with characters).
Coin, Money, and Gift Cards showers: Big wins are seen often with luring monetary elements and prizes/ overtaking the screen or as transitions.
Celebrities: Games that monetize well rely on celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and The Kardashians to be part of their advertising efforts.
Real footage background + UI: Using the original game UI while exploring soothing, nature-based backgrounds as the perfect game backdrop.
Spinning wins with prizes: Faux Spinning wheel with Prizes and mascot encouraging the user to spin.
Connect the dots: A drawing outline is presented and the final picture is revealed at the end, connecting drawing to gameplay.
Color by numbers/Draw: Replicating old coloring books, a simple drawing is colored one color at a time until character or game scene is revealed.
Matching Cards: Faux matching/pairing game where two correct cards reveal a prize or game feature.
Save the character: Obstacle, a puzzle-like concept where I character in peril needs to be saved.
I Spy/Found the Object: Find one or several objects that are directly associated with the game.
Relaxing Themes: Adding a touch of escapism and relaxation to an otherwise challenge-based game
Current events: COVID-19 and Tiger King themes dominating the space currently.

Player Motivations

Demographics: 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

The Near-Miss Effect, Jonah Lehrer, Wired Magazine, 3.28.11

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

Concept: Faux Hidden Items/Puzzle Gameplay

Faux “relaxing” games interrupted by exciting gameplay:

Begin video with slower games like hidden items or word games, with the header: “Need something more exciting?”
Slot gameplay bursts into the frame, obliterating slower game and showing exciting slot gameplay
Slot gameplay shows jackpots, wins, and bonuses

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Targets women with “relaxing” ad; women represent 2/3rds of all social casino players

Concept: Mortised Gameplay

Feature slot gameplay in mortised environments that take advantage of the beautiful game animation:

Showcases game graphics
More eye-catching than simple gameplay
Positions game as premium “Vegas-type” slot play
“Wall of Wilds!”, “10x”, etc

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Goldfish Casino: 9% SOV
Hit it Rich!: 73% SOV
Wizard of Oz Slots: 7% SOV
Hot Shot Casino: 14% SOV

Player Motivations:

Engages players looking to distract themselves from negative emotions or to relax

Concept: Comedic Voice Over

Videos that juxtapose slot play with a comedic voiceover:

Showcases slot play and graphics
Mimics player dialogue
Uses subtitles

Competitor/Share of Voice:

21 Blitz: 56% SOV
Rise of Kingdoms: 72% SOV
Questland: 8% SOV

Player Motivations:

Mirrors social nature of slot play

Concept: Picker Jackpot

Leverage success from Match 3 games test simple pickers to game situations, such as picking coins to match 3 Fu Babies:

Increase engagement with viewers
Showcases slot play, game graphics, and characters

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Cradle of Empires: 16% SOV

Player Motivations:

Engage players looking fun & entertainment

Concept: Near Misses

Create videos of slot gameplay in which near misses happen repeatedly:

Slot wheels should tease an almost win
FAIL or ALMOST supered on near-miss slot play

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Multiple games using this technique, but it has not been used in social casino games; missed opportunity given the psychology of near misses

Player Motivations:

Capitalize on near misses motivating players to keep playing as much or more than wins

Concept: Seasonal

Create new versions of the game incorporating seasonal graphics:

Christmas, Halloween, Chinese New Year
Attract players with refreshed cr›eative

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Quick Hit Slots: 5% SOV
Heart of Vegas: 7% SOV
Slotomania: 9% SOV
Huuuge Casino: 6% SOV

Player Motivations:

Target players looking for fun & entertainment during seasonal holidays

Concept: News Report

Videos that showcase slots in a “fake news” report:

Stands out in a sea of gameplay ads
Good for launching new episodes/chapters

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Jackpocket: 16% SOV
Casino Slots: 7% SOV

Player Motivations:

Engage players looking fun & entertainment

Concept: Real Player/Gameplay

Create iterations of current gameplay/real winner ads by adding commentary/voice-over:

Comedic
Adds another element of entertainment

Competitor/Share of Voice:

21 Blitz: 56% SOV
Rise of Kingdoms: 72% SOV
Questland: 8% SOV

Player Motivations:

Mirrors social nature of slot play

Concept: Connect the Dots

Fun way to introduce the game to new users
- Starting with an undefined shape
- Hand slowly begins to connect the dots
- Figure is revealed – it’s a bear!
- Character comes to life and transitions to gameplay
- CTA
Options
- Challenging header
- Relaxing header

Competitor/Share of voice

32%

Concept: Color by Number

Fun way to introduce the game to new users
- Starting with a colorless drawing of known character
- Hand selects colors to paint the image
- Figure is colored
- Character comes to life and transitions to gameplay
- CTA
Options
- Challenging header
- Relaxing header

Competitor/Share of voice

24%

Concept: Matching Cards

A new way to introduce the game to new users
- Starting with an inciting question
- Hand tries to find the right pairs
- The right pair is found
- It’s a match + gameplay
- CTA
Options
- Challenging header
- Relaxing header

Competitor/Share of voice

26%

Concept: Save the Character

A new way to introduce the game to new users
- Starting with a recognizable game character
- Character needs to be rescued
- The user is given several options to do so
- After several attempts character is free
- CTA
Options
- Fail ending
- Mysterious ending

Competitor/Share of voice

43%

Concept: Find the Object

Introduce the game to new users in a whimsical way

Find the purple bear
Locate the watch
Where is the giant coin
Find 5 things

Format options
- Static carousel
- Video with timer

Competitor/Share of voice

63%

Concept: Relaxing Themes

Alluring new users that are looking to escape
- Including a relaxing header
- Use soothing backgrounds but keep game UI
  - Moving Nature-scapes
  - Moving shapes
  - Static images
  - Insertion of users relaxing at home while playing
- Soothing music and effects
- Calming CTA
  - “Sit back and relax”

Competitor/Share of voice

40%

Concept: Mystery Winner

Carousel emphasizing Amazon Sweepstakes
- Each card shows a single winner
- Copy simply reads
  - He/she won!
- Last card shows a silhouette with a question mark
- Copy reads
  - Will you be next?
    - Amazon Gift Card next to it

Competitor/Share of voice

26%

Casual RPG Trends

Competitive Analysis

Competitors: AFK 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, 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

View competitive videos here.

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)
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, often based on level completion. (Space Arena)

Player Motivations

Idle Clicker gamers are not primarily casual gamers. In fact, they have a perfectly average core gamer profile… most are driven by Completion (collect stars, complete all missions) and Power (leveling up, getting powerful gear), and 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

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 familiar environment

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Hero Wars: 100% SOV

Concept: Comedic Voice Over

Create videos that juxtapose gameplay with a comedic voiceover.

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:

Increase engagement with viewers

Competitor/Share of Voice:

AFK Arena: 6% SOV
King’s Raid: 4% SOV

Concept: Music Based

Use of Heavy Metal or other genres to create game trailers and game art-based music videos

License Steve Liberace metal song “Crush Them All” to create a music video featuring game characters
Create gameplay videos featuring different types of music to test.

Competitor/Share of Voice:

AFK Arena: 78% SOV
King’s Raid: 25% SOV

Concept: Game Overview/Trailer

Create new edits of game trailer:

Utilize new music (test different genres)
Utilize comedic voice over

Concept: PVP Gameplay

Augment gameplay with inset view of players experiencing the game

Attracts players while legitimizing the game
Demonstrates how to win stages and rewards

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Mushroom Wars 2: 6% SOV
Star Arena: 37% SOV

Concept: Noob vs. Pro

Create split-screen videos showing amateur versus experienced gameplay:

Highlights “motivation through frustration”
Demonstrates how to win stages and rewards

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Space Arena: 20% SOV

Concept: Player Interviews

Create videos that combine gameplay with interviews of actual game players and/or influencers:

Attracts players while legitimizing the game
Creates PR buzz around the game
Consider doing remote interviews while gaming conferences are on hiatus

Competitor/Share of Voice:

DomiNations: 23% SOV

Concept: Character Countdown

Feature characters from specific crews (Epic, Legendary, Common, etc) in a countdown of best characters, powers and/or weapons:

Showcases animation style, range of characters and/or powers
Can feature over the top voice over
Generates higher engagement (curiosity over rankings)

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Rise of Kingdoms: 28% SOV

Concept: Character Puzzles

Create videos featuring Pixel Starships characters in brain-teasing puzzles:

Engages “completion” motivator for strategy players
Could be accomplished with minimum animation with word-based puzzles on game background, engaging sci-fi fans

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Hustle Castle 47% SOV

Concept: Female-Centered Ads

Create ads that utilize more female characters and storylines:

Attracts more female gamers
Can be accomplished in character countdowns, puzzles

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Create ads that utilize more female characters and storylines:

Attracts more female gamers
Can be accomplished in character countdowns, puzzles

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Concept: Pixel Art

Utilize game graphics to create “pixel art”

Highlights beauty of pixel games
Create kaleidoscope videos by mirroring quadrants
Visually arresting

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Entertainment App Trends

Competitive Analysis

Top Competitors: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Tubi, Philo, Pluto TV, Starz, Sling, Crackle, Paramount Network, SyFy, BET Now, Shudder, Vudu

View competitive videos here.

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)

User Motivations:

What are you looking for in an Entertainment app?

Something to put me in a positive mood
Background noise until I finally fall asleep
Escape the commute
Relax and enjoy some “Me Time”
Looking for a good action/family movie
Reality-TV
Something short before work
“Anything to help me wind down from work”

Why do you open an Entertainment up?

Unwind/settle in
Relax and escape
A quick laugh

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 haven’t seen before
- I am able to select from a huge pool of movies and shows and I am not limited to what I can and can’t watch
- Find movies I might have a hard time finding on 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

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 focus 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

Concept: Shared Passion

User profiles suggest a love of nostalgia, old movies, and TV series. Let’s 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 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 Shows: “Put the money you’d spend on <competitor> in the kids’ college fund. Stream for free with <app>.”

Puzzle and Hidden Object Games Trends

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
To view competitive videos, click here.

Creative Trends

Cinematic Storytelling: Romantic, dramatic stories (Murder in the Alps, Criminal Case, Galatea)
Female-centered storytelling (StoryScape, Solve It, Galatea)
Cats! “Find the Cat” concepts are becoming more ubiquitous and beginning to evolve (Criminal Case, Hidden City)
Hidden Object Countdowns (Pearl’s Peril, Hidden City)

Concept: Story-focused challenges

Attract Hidden Object players with hidden object challenges in a movie trailer-like format, like Murder in the Alps and Criminal Case.
Try counted clues in Criminal Case style (before and after)
Use a series of images/hidden object challenges that tell a story (similar to Murder in the Alps)

Concept: Story-focused countdowns

Use crime scenes to create more of a story in finding hidden objects (Pearl’s Peril, Criminal Case, Murder in the Alps)

Concept: Character-centric Stories

Utilize simulation/role playing-style (e.g. Pocket Gems Episode) technique to tell character-centered stories (Solve It, Storyscape)
Create simple puzzles that “save” your main character – targeting both solitary story-centric and self-challenge players (Homescapes)
Tell character-centered stories with voice over and/or supers (Galatea, Dream Home Solitaire)

Concept: Gameplay Methods

Combine live action people playing the game (relaxed, escapist) with gameplay (Klondike, Pearl’s Peril)
Combine gameplay with leaderboards (Tropicats)

Concept: “Find the Cat”

Incorporate saturated interiors with food with “Find the Cat” challenge or other short headers/items:
- “Select the Gun”
- “Where is the Dog”
- “Locate the Rope”
- “Find 5 Cats”
- “Find 5 Oranges”

(Criminal Case, June’s Journey)

Consider using cinemagraphs like the bar scene (Pearl’s Peril, Hidden City)

Concept: Timed hidden object challenges

Try different timed hidden object games that still incorporate a story, e.g. “Save Your Patient”. (Hidden City, Pearl’s Peril)

Match 3 Puzzle Games Trends

Competitive Analysis

Competitors: Fishdom, Gardenscapes, Homescapes, Mansion Blast, Home Design Challenge, Wildscapes, Slices, Township Farm & City, Wordscapes, Clockmaker, Meow Match, Home Design Makeover, Jelly Juice, Lily’s Garden, My Home, Paint by Number, Sweet Road, Vineyard Valley, Brain Out, Candy Crush, Cookie Jam, Disney Magic Kingdoms, Fashion Blogger, Fashion Boutique, Museum Story, Sweet Escapes, Tropicats, Tropic Trouble, Choices, Dragon City, Episode, Hustle Castle, Lost Island, Merge Dragons!, Party in My Dorm, The Simpsons, Covet Fashion, Klondike, Minecraft, Clash of Clans, June’s Journey, Panda Pop, Manor Cafe, Home Blast, Hidden Resort
Top Competitors: Match 3: Toon Blast, Farm Heroes Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Toy Blast, Candy Smash Mania, Jewel Crush, Jewel Fever, Candy Blast Mania, Candy Pop, Sugar Blast, Cookie Jam Top Match 3 game.
Top Competitors: Building: Matchington Mansion, Homescapes, Gardenscapes, Township, Fishdom, Coin Master

View competitive videos here.

Creative Trends

Puzzles: Locks & Gates and other puzzles that challenge users to free a game character (Fishdom, Gardenscapes, Homescapes, many others)
Picker Videos: 3D or 2D situations with picker, often resulting in disastrous fails. (Township, Sweet Escapes, Manor Cafe, many others)
Hidden Items: Videos or still images that contain hidden items the user must find. (Meow Match, June’s Journey)
Design Challenges: Tasks that must be completed within allotted time or budget. (Design Home, Sweet Escapes)
Real Player Gameplay: Split screen featuring a player and gameplay. (Jelly Juice)
Female-Centered Vignettes: Women overcoming adversity and men behaving badly in soap opera situations. (Lily’s Garden, Choices, Vineyard Valley, My Home: Design Dreams)
Choose Your Adventure: Series of situations where you choose between two actions. (Choices, Episode)

Game Controller: Picker that mimics a game console, guiding character through levels. (Candy Crush, Hustle Castle)

Creative Trends (Cont.)

Lifestyle and Gameplay: Showing lifestyle footage and gameplay that matches image (Toon Blast, Farm Hero Saga)
Gameplay + Side Character: Gameplay elements leaving the screen to interact with character (Candy Blast Mania, Candy Smash Mania, )
Mixing gameplay with narrative: Storybook narration, Coloring book style (Bubble Witch Saga))
3D effect: Characters “floating” above gameplay (Farm Heroes Saga)
Funny but still cute: Evil character getting hit by gameplay, mentioning how you can’t get weight by playing candy games (Candy Blast Mania, Bubble Witch Saga))
Incorporating game to solve a problem: Using gameplay to find a key to escape a room (Candy Smash mania)

Player Motivations

Sample motivations for playing:

Stress relief
Complete levels or beat score
Killing time
Escape from “real life”
Socialize with friends, family or other people

The Most Common Primary Motivations for Women are Completion and Fantasy For

Completion is the Most Low-Risk, High-Reward Motivation

match 3 — Quantic Foundry, 7 Things We Learned About Primary Gaming Motivations From Over 250,000 Gamers

Game Player Motivations

Concept: Faux Hidden Items Gameplay

Faux “relaxing” games are interrupted by exciting interactions/fights between characters:

Begin video with slower games like hidden items or word games, with a header like “Find 5 Bats”
Characters breakthrough painting as others chase with a (baseball) bat.

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Decorative/creative opening could attract puzzle players

Concept: Locks and Gates

New 2D animation style
Try characters in “How to Loot?” where a lock releases sweets or allows her to escape
Test “What’s Next?” vs FAIL – to appeal to new users
Leverage “dumb ways to die” assets

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Gardenscapes: 96%
Homescapes: 36%

Player Motivations:

Engage puzzle players who want to complete challenges

Concept: Connect the Dots

Create videos where finger connects dots to create characters:

Simple background
Engages the viewer’s curiosity
Can speak to game truths like Clockmaker’s “We know you’re tired of Match-3 ads..”

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Sweet Escapes, EA

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for creativity and narrative in games

Concept: Serial Storytelling

Serial storytelling style:

Soap opera clichés and adult situations to capture the attention of the 25-54 female demographic.
Minimal scenes (“UP” style opening)
Rival characters fighting over a love interest.
Female characters overcoming odds and bad male behavior.

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Lily’s Garden: 91% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for narrative in games

Concept: Perilous Situations

Rescue situations: Feature characters. Leverage pop culture, movies, or just mini-games.
Character holding rope bridge (Indiana Jones)
The character holding a clock (Harold Lloyd).
Dumb ways to die concepts
HS/GS “in a theme tied to the game”

Concept: Character Countdown

Feature various characters in a countdown:

Showcases animation style, range of characters and attributions
Generates engagement (curiosity over list of characters)

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Rise of Kingdoms: 28% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets completionists seeking to master levels/characters

Concept: Pop Culture

“Nailed It” TV show, predicted winner, iterate with new items (gingerbread) 2 item pickers, new fail, new kitchen items.
Best Fiends throwback ad featured familiar “I Love Lucy” black and white opening. Leverage familiar TV show opens with characters that speak to our target demo.

Concept: Hidden Objects

Count off hidden items or count the difference between side-by-side images of environments.

Concept: Comedic Voice Over

Create videos that juxtapose gameplay with funny voiceover:

Showcases gameplay and graphics
Mimics player dialogue
Uses subtitles

Competitor/Share of Voice:

The icing on the Cake: 54% SOV
Rise of Kingdoms: 72% SOV
Questland: 8% SOV

Player Motivations:

Mirrors social aspect of puzzle games

Concept: Character Competitions

Feature game characters in different competitions:

Slap Off
Strip Poker (word search removes items of clothing, will keep it PG)
Funny way to show character in a new environment

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Slap King: 100% SOV
Slap Master: 100% SOV
Sinful Puzzle: 13% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets competitive players

Concept: Off to the Races

Create videos featuring game characters in different races

Water slide race, Car race, running race
Dress up characters as mascots at a baseball game, make it interactive with “see who wins”
Showcases characters in a new game environment
Engages viewers who’ll want to see who wins

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Aquapark: 83% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets competitive players

Concept: One Word at a Time Stories

Simple text-based videos with an attitude that entice or antagonize viewers:

Simple background
Easy to make and test
Can speak to game truths like Clockmaker’s “We know you’re tired of Match-3 ads…”

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Clockmaker 83% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for creativity and narrative in games

Concept: Incorporate gameplay cleverly

Audience Profile: Completion & Design

Make the gameplay a crucial component of the ad story.
Examples
- The gameplay allows you to open a door to an escape room
- Gameplay gives the key to save a character
Use various shapes to present gameplay (heart-shaped, flower, circle)

Concept: Mix Lifestyle and Gameplay

Audience Profile: Fantasy

Opening ad with a lifestyle that matches gameplay/characters
Adding elements of game characters to lifestyle footage
Make Lifestyle part of the story

Concept: Maximize Gameplay Blocks

Audience Profile: Fantasy, excitement

Make gameplay parts interact with other elements of the ad
Examples:
- Gameplay blocks hit evil character
- Blocks come to life and take over the screen
- Gameplay blocks talk to each other discussing ways to make a big move

Concept: Risqué Ideas

Audience Profile: Destruction and

Excitement

Less brand focused
Irreverent elements
Examples:
- Inclusion of gross items
- Physical discomfort
- Can’t look away style
- Humor

Concept: Target Different Player Motivations

Target Different User Clusters

CTA always on in non-picker: Play Now, Try Yourself, etc.
End Card “FAIL” appeals to certain users, test “What’s Next?”, “Try Yourself”, etc.

Concept: Test Gameplay Elements

Continue using hand style creative, but make it have a purpose
- Selection crucial to narration
- The selection moves ad forward

Concept: Add Narrative

Add narrative to best performers transitions to explain the story better
Help understand what the goal is

Concept: Test Level Completed – Player Motivation

Ad levels completed to gameplay best performers (Audience main motivation is completion)
Emphasize the number of levels
Challenge user to get to higher levels

Concept: Test Mini Fails vs One Big Fail

Show a succession of mini fails followed by the big fail ending
Add fail sounds to emphasize the mistake

Concept: Spot the Differences

Feature characters in “spot the differences” videos:

Showcases animation style, range of characters, and attributions
Can be timed or not
Can utilize game scenes or characters

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Hidden Relics: 25% SOV
June’s Journey: 10% SOV
Differences: Find ‘em All: 100% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets completionists seeking to master levels/characters

Concept: Visual Puzzles

Create image and/or video concepts that utilize optical illusions or visual tricks.

Leverages the strength of image concepts
Visually arresting
Engages viewers to solve
Object Match

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Hidden Relics:25% SOV
Sentence: 15% SOV
Fit’em All: 100% SO

Player Motivations:

Targets players looking for immersive brain teasers

Concept: Brainteasers

Utilize portions of the game to create brainteasers:

Gem sequence: “What Comes Next?”
Gem color combiner: “What Color?”
“What do the gems equal?”

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Targets players looking for immersive brain teasers

Concept: Skill Challenge Puzzle

Create skill games involving game assets:

Place the gem in the ring
Similar to Spacestation docking simulator but with a ring base & gem

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Targets players looking for skilled challenges while keeping gems top of mind

Concept: Peril Pickers

Explore perilous situations and picker styles, with characters:

2D Animation
Can put them in desert-like situations or game-like settings where items lead to their rescue or fail

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Matchington Mansion: 100% SOV
Manor Cafe: 100% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for humor, narrative and completion

Concept: Other Styles of Pickers

Create picker videos that don’t just use renovation or peril setup:

Experiment with POV of viewer or character
Encompass a challenge (e.g., memory game, where Jenni has to remember which gems are missing)

Competitor/Share of Voice:

My Cafe: 11% SOV
Cooking City: 52% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for completion

Concept: Emotional Rescue

Create videos highlighting consumer need for relaxation and emotional wellbeing, with Genies & Gems being an easy solution:

Create with simple titles and simulated player gameplay

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Cooking Diary: 2% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets current societal mindset

Concept: Supered Stories

Simple text-based videos that entice or resonate with viewers:

Simple background
Easy to make and test
Can speak to game truths like Clockmaker’s “We know you’re tired of Match 3 game ads…”
Can combine with gameplay

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Clockmaker: 58% SOV
Sweet Escapes: 12% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for narrative in games

Concept: Player Focused/Testimonial

Create videos incorporating characters either playing the game or reviewing it:

Use real game reviews
Can use as supers or voice over
Can show players inset enjoying the game during gameplay

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Jelly Juice: 19% SOV
Episode: 100% SOV
My Cafe: 6% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for creativity and narrative in games

Concept: Character Makeovers

Create videos where picker alters character appearance:

“Give Character a Makeover” (pick new glasses, hair, etc)
“Give Trix a Trim” (shampoo, haircut)

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Matchington Mansion (SOV not yet available)

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for creativity and narrative in games

Concept: Game Trailers

Create a trailer/overview video for the game utilizing movie trailer techniques:

Slo-mo, montage, title cards, music
Gives viewers a sense of the game while upping the overall impression of the game

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Minecraft: 80% SOV
My Cafe: 6% SOV

Player Motivations:

Player’s understanding of the overall game

Concept: Female Centered Vignettes

Create stories centered on characters overcoming obstacles to get stolen gems back:

Inherent conflict with bandits/thieves
Gives viewers (majority female) a character to connect with and root for

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Lily’s Garden: 81% SOV
My Home: 35% SOV
Choices: 97% SOV

Player Motivations:

Player needs a narrative story

Concept: Hidden Prizes

Feature gift cards or other prizes in a hidden objects image or video concept:

Adds an element of reward beyond finding objects
Could tie to in-game promotion

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Diner Dash: 72% SOV
Coin Dozer: 98% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players looking for further rewards beyond gameplay

Concept: Faux Hidden Objects Gameplay

Faux “relaxing” games are interrupted by exciting Genies & Gems gameplay that bursts through the screen:

Begin video with slower games like hidden items or word games, with a header like “Find 5 Butterflies”
The game breaks through visual with 5 butterfly gems

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Player Motivations:

Decorative/creative opening could attract other kinds of puzzle players

Concept: Game Trailer/Music Video

Use music create game art-based music videos:

Syncopate music to gem explosions and drops

Competitor/Share of Voice:

AFK Arena: 78% SOV
King’s Raid: 25% SOV
Tap Sports Baseball: 16% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets players who will be attracted to music and visual style

Concept: Making of the Game

Give players a peek behind the curtain and the making of the game:

Markedly different from other game ads
Messaging could be about the care taken with the game and story

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Player Motivations:

Targets players who are interested in decoration & narrative

Concept: Continued Evolution of Puzzles

Create puzzle videos (connect the dots, word finder) that continue to succeed for competitors (e.g. Sweet Escapes, Zynga):

Simple background
Engages viewer’s curiosity

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Sweet Escapes: 16% SOV

Player Motivations:

Targets player need for completion

Concept: Puzzle Challenge

Engage potential players with puzzle challenges that feature game characters:

Figure out how to wake Liam after a storm
Nurture/save turtles by directing water back to their lagoon
Renovate damaged structures on an island (e.g. a bridge that’s out)
Solve the simple puzzle (like test tube candy puzzle) featuring objects from gameplay

Competitors utilizing trend:

Fishdom, Wildscapes, Township, Brain Out, Sweet Escapes, Tropic Trouble, Hustle Castle

Motivation:

Targets achievement masters while renovation puzzles could also target expressive creators

Concept: Puzzle with Purpose

Create puzzles with a purpose that combines Match 3 or other gameplay with character situations:

Match 3 gameplay rewards help renovate animal habitats
Word finding locates object (e.g. Liam’s ball)
Match 3 gameplay removes barriers to allow animals to escape perilous situations

Competitors utilizing trend:

Toon Blast, Charm King, Angry Birds

Motivation:

Targets achievement masters while renovation puzzles could also target expressive creators

Concept: Animal Picker

Try pickers that renovate animal habitats or nurture the animals, which can result in fails or wins:

Picker concepts that rebuild different animal structures or improve their design/look
Cake or other decorative opportunities (Liam’s birthday cake!)
Choosing what to feed different animal characters (e.g. no steak for Liam since he’s a vegetarian)
Animal salon where you can pamper animals (haircuts, bathe, detangle, etc.)

Competitors utilizing trend:

Wildscapes, Matchington Mansion, Mansion Blast, Meow Match

Motivation:

Targets expressive creators as well as nurture/cuteness themes

Concept: Female Focused

Create short vignettes focusing on female animal characters and how they overcome stereotypical male behavior, using talk bubbles or gestures to communicate:

Characters talking about another character until he happens to walk by
Character talking empowerment with her animal sisters
Characters and a party; One gets angry when a male animal starts talking to another as if the main character isn’t there
Ongoing series in which a couple tries to resolve their conflict

Competitors utilizing trend:

Lily’s Garden, Choices

Motivation:

Targets expressive creators and need for immersion and narrative, as well as adult themes

Concept: Choose What’s Next

Let players affect the narrative and dramatize the conflict between animals, focusing on more adult themes (jealousy, anger, and other emotions) and one character’s experience of them:

A couple starts hanging out; what should he do? (Barge in or Leave them be?)
One character is hogging the limelight at a party again. (Tell her or go somewhere else?)
One overhears two girls talking about her hair. (Confront them or Runaway?)

Competitors utilizing trend:

Choices

Motivation:

Targets expressive creators and need for immersion and narrative, as well as adult themes

Concept: Testimonial

Create videos and images that feature player testimonials:

Supered player testimonials over characters and backgrounds (multiple)
Review of the game with voice over/subtitles combined with gameplay and scenes
Player inset giving a review of the game over gameplay

Competitors utilizing trend:

Meow Match, Jelly Juice

Motivation:

Targets expressive creators and need for immersion and narrative, as well as adult themes

Concept: Achievement

Create videos that chronicle what achievement looks like in the game:

Place characters on top of Match 3 object tower to represent levels
Contrast Day 1 achievement with achievement on successive days (Day 10, Day 30, etc)

Competitors utilizing trend:

Pet Rescue Saga

Player Motivations:

Targets Achievement Masters

Concept: Animal Testimonials

Feature animals giving reviews of why they like the game (inspired by the old Nick Park Creature Comforts series and BBC’s Walk on the Wild Side):

Real animals giving reviews of the game, their favorite:
- Prairie Dog: “I wonder if Alan has heard of Wild Things Animal Adventure? It’s got puzzles and animal friends and tons of levels. Alan! Alan!”
- Find similar footage of real animals and create voice over
- See “Walk on the Wild Side” here
- See Nick Park’s “Creature Comforts” here

Competitors utilizing trend:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Targets animal lovers who love puzzle games

Concept: Choose Your Option

Utilize “Choices” type option to let players feel more in control of the narrative :

Engages viewers
Fits well with “chapters” used in the game

Competitor/Share of Voice:

Choices: 97% SOV
My Cafe: 15% SOV
Episode: 88% SOV

Player Motivations:

Player need for a narrative story

Concept: Fairy Tales

Continue to explore different variations on fairy tales with the main character:

A clever way to connect narrative and gameplay
Two main characters mashup with the third main character
“Sword in the Stone” with the main character

Competitor/Share of Voice:

N/A

Player Motivations:

Targets players interested in narrative

Simulation Role Playing Games Trends

Competitive Analysis

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?

To view competitive videos click here.

Creative Trends

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)
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)

Competitive Trends (cont.)

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.
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: Poor Pregnant Woman

Trends: Females in Peril, Awful men

A pregnant woman about to reveal baby news to her 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

Scene returns to present time with the choice made and consequences

*Competitor and SOV: My Story, Journeys 25.5%

Concept: Ugly Betty with a Twist

Trends: Mean Girls and Outfit Selections

A 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
Guy must make a choice
- He chooses one
- He chooses both

*Competitor and SOV: Kim K. Hollywood 31.5%

Concept: Sleeping with the Boss

Trends: Awful dates, Mean Girls

Woman gets in trouble for sleeping with the boss
- A girl is reading a text she just received while at work
- Snarky coworker reads it too and discovers coworker is sleeping with the boss
A jealous coworker has several choices
- Send a chain email to the whole company
- Blackmail coworker
- Reveals she’s also sleeping with him
Boss also makes a decision based on news
- Fires them both
- Asks for a threesome

*Competitor and SOV: Journeys 12.5%

Concept: You’re not the father

Trends: Awful dates/Choosing between two

Guy discovers positive pregnancy test in the garbage
- He’s excited about becoming a dad
- His girlfriend is in the other room texting another guy
- She seems upset
- She tells the other guy the baby is actually his
Choices
- Tell the boyfriend baby is his
- Tell him the truth

Concept: Something in the closet

Trends: Awful dates

A girl comes home and hears a noise in the closet

She’s scared so texted her boyfriend to help her find out
Boyfriend doesn’t reply

Choices

The girl decides to call the cops
She investigates on her own

Outcome

Turns out the boyfriend is in the closet with someone else

Simulation Lifestyle App Trends

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!
To view competitive videos, click here and select the competitor tab.

Creative Trends

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)

Player Motivations

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.

The House That ‘Design Home’ (and Millennial Anxiety) Built, Alyssa Bereznak, The Ringer

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 to 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)

Concept: Test New Transitions

Try full-frame, colorful transitions with compelling text (Home Design Makeover)
Test different transition styles (Color blocks, Brick style, My Home Design Dreams)

Sports Games Trends

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.

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: 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: “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

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

Table of Contents section 2

Why Creative is so Important

As part of Brainlabs
we now offer:

Paid Search | SEO | Programmatic

Learn more!

Section One

Why Creative Is So Important

Here’s why creative is so important

Why creative is so important but not all created equal

Creative Tunnel Vision and How to Overcome It

Ad Performance Trends

Competitive analysis has two key benefits:

Creative Trends, Recommendations, and Why Creative is So Important

Word Games Trends

Competitive Analysis

Creative Trends

Concept: Clever challenges

Concept: Mix reviews with gameplay

Concept: Paper puzzle

Concept: Mix footage with gameplay

Concept: Claim intro

Concept: Goal intro

Concept: Relaxation intro

Card Games Trends

Competitive Analysis

Competitors

Creative Trends

Creative Trends (cont.):

Player Motivations:

Gaming Psychology of Near Misses:

Concept: App Explainer

Concept: Spokesperson

Concept: News Coverage/PR

Concept: Card Game Influencers

Concept: E-Sports Cards

Concept: Competitive

Concept: Winners/Testimonials

Concept: Game Explainer

Concept: Player Types

Concept: Character Countdown

Concept: Game Benefits

Concept: Player Testimonial

Concept: Heat of the Moment

Concept: Play by Play

Concept: Avatar Lives

Concept: Near Misses

Concept: Slams/Music Video

Concept: Character Introducing Game

Concept: Scene Inside Scene

Concept: Environment Focused

Concept: Real Environment

Concept: Character + Date Scene

Concept: Dark Waters

Concept: Partnerships

Concept: Mental Benefits/Relaxation:

Concept: Game Magnifier

Social Casino App Trends

Competitive Analysis

Creative Trends

Player Motivations

Gaming Psychology of Near Misses

Concept: Faux Hidden Items/Puzzle Gameplay

Concept: Mortised Gameplay

Concept: Comedic Voice Over

Concept: Picker Jackpot

Concept: Near Misses

Concept: Seasonal

Concept: News Report

Concept: Real Player/Gameplay

Concept: Connect the Dots

Concept: Color by Number

Concept: Matching Cards

Concept: Save the Character

Concept: Find the Object

Concept: Relaxing Themes

Concept: Mystery Winner

Casual RPG Trends

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Trends:

Player Motivations

Concept: Influencer Gameplay

Concept: Character Countdown

Concept: Character Puzzles

Concept: Comedic Voice Over

Concept: Choices