The global gaming market was worth $173.70 billion in 2020 and is well on its way to reaching $314.40 billion by 2026. Much of this exponential growth is on the account of the global lockdown that had to be reinforced due to COVID-19, which made people stay home and many of them turned to game platforms for entertainment.
Although the opportunities for game developers are massive, there’s also a cut-throat competition and a not-so-easy-to-please customer base that must be tapped into. Therefore, gaming companies need to make the most out of their marketing efforts by capitalizing upon every marketing avenue just like these three gaming brands did with their Snapchat campaigns.
1. Tamatem
Tamatem is a Jordanian mobile game developer, which localizes globally published mobile games and develops its own games for Arabic speakers.
Their Objective
Tamatem wanted to unlock growth and drive its ROI in the MENA market.
Solution & Approach
To promote its game, Clash Of Empire: Global War, Tamatem dug into the best practices, creative recommendations, and different campaign structures through a test and learn strategy. The Tamatem team utilized the different tools in the Snapchat toolkit with a multi-product approach that included both Snap and Story Ads.
Tamatem took on a smart approach to ensure the richest ad level reporting that was possible on the SKAdNetwork. By experimenting with different creative concepts in separate ad sets, the Tamatem team got insights that they needed for the right ad selection.
The Result
The Snapchat campaign performed remarkably well for Tamatem and led to a 20% lower cost per purchase than other platforms. Also, it saw a 54% lower cost per install than other platforms.
2. Voodoo
Voodoo is a Paris-based video game developer and publisher, which was founded in 2013.
Their Objective
Voodoo sought to scale up its output by testing new game concepts with over 293 million DAUs on Snapchat.
Solution & Approach
The game developer teamed up with Snapchat, which provided it with ongoing specialist solutions and engineer support and customized its API capabilities specifically for the Voodoo Publishing platform. This custom integration allowed Voodoo to plug in prototype games and test them on Snapchat without leaving the Voodoo ecosystem.
Voodoo connected automatically to the Snapchat Ads ecosystem through the Snapchat Marketing API integration to create and configure the campaign. The results were reported on Voodoo’s Publishing Platform dashboard multiple times in a day, thereby helping it gain multi-platform insights to identify the games with the highest potential.
The Result
The Snapchat campaign played a key role in helping Voodoo acquire almost 45 million players for its Aquapark IO on the Snap Games platform.
3. FTY
FTY is a Japan-based hyper-casual game developer that has been highly effective in adapting its ad campaigns for SKAdNetwork (or SKAN for short).
Their Objective
FTY wanted to configure a SKAN campaign to drive installs for its latest game, Stop The Flow, at the lowest possible CPI.
Solution & Approach
FTY created multiple ad sets optimized for the specific goals of each market. It worked closely with the Snapchat team and applied several creative best practices to fine-tune its campaign and drive outstanding results.
FTY employed messaging such as ‘if you can clear this, your IQ is 180’ to generate intrigue and engage Snapchatters. It also leveraged longer-form Snap Ads also to help users understand the gameplay for Stop The Flow! It configured all activity for a Snap Ads SKAN campaign at speed to ensure that there was no delay in reaching users who had upgraded to iOS14.5. It closely tracked and optimized the performance of each ad set.
The Result
The Snapchat campaign performed outstandingly well for FTY and led to a 25% lower CPI than the SKAN campaigns of other platforms. Also, it resulted in a 20% lower CPI than FTY’s internal benchmark.
Bottom Line
Snapchat has proved that your content doesn’t always have to be evergreen to be engaging. If your content appeals to your target audience, then it single-handedly enhances the chances of a long-lasting engagement. With Snapchat users frequenting the app 18 times a day on an average and spending at least 30 minutes on it, brands across different verticals have a great opportunity to penetrate a young audience. All you need is quality content and a solid strategy to push it out.
The success of Tamatem, Voodoo, and FTY highlights the importance of innovative marketing strategies in the gaming industry. By leveraging Snapchat’s unique features, these brands demonstrated how a game development studio can effectively tap into new audiences and drive impressive results. Tailored solutions and creative ad formats allowed these studios to achieve lower costs and higher engagement, showcasing the platform’s potential for game promotion. This approach underlines the necessity of adapting to evolving marketing tools to stay competitive in the gaming market.