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Top-performing creative ad production recipe

How to find top-performing creatives to promote a mobile game

Finding top-performing creative is like making a delicious cake – the recipe for which we’re happy to share.

So, what are the ingredients?

1. Foundation. We need a video that’s already performing well - either for a client or for a competitor.
2. Analytics. We try to understand what exactly could work here, regarding the character, the visual, the mechanics, etc.
3. Tests. At each stage, we conduct tests. It’s important to purchase traffic efficiently and economically. Competencies in media buying are an integral part of the production of high-quality creatives.
4. Team. The production chain needs a team of analysts, creative producers, designers, and media buyers.

Let's get cooking!

Here we will consider a real case of promoting a mobile application centered about the popular board game “Domino”.

Step 1 - An existing top-performing creative

We take the basis and divide it into components - we need to find the component in the creative that works to attract the audience. In this work, we’ve identified the following elements: a bridge, a character facing an abyss, a Disney-style hand, colored dominoes, bright light art, and an elf character. Depending on the game, these elements can vary significantly.

When we split the creative into parts, we test the screenshots to find the best part. We test static, as it’s technically easier and cheaper.

The result of this step is to find those specific aspects that hook the target audience of the product.

Step 2 - Making variations

We make variations on the key aspects - repeating the composition, keeping the proportions, but with different characters, a different background, and in a different style. At the same time, we leave the mechanics, composition, and main idea intact.

We then test the variations.

Step 3 - A good result in the tests showed...

Having tested several images in turn, each tested with and without text, we get the same aspect, but in different scenery. In the end, this worked better than the one we relied on. Bingo!

For our study, this was the combination:
- a cartoon style;
- a light background;
- contrasting dominoes.

Step 4 – Video


We make videos based on the banner that showed the best results.

Here’s the video we made.
As expected, it got great results.

The end!
Actually no, it’s not over yet. Let’s continue…

Step 5 – Making more banners

We make more banners in the same “cartoon” style but with different scenery.

These banner variations showed good results in tests:

Step 6 - Making a video

We turn all successful banners into videos.

Video based on this banner showed good results.
This video performed poorly - maybe it's too dark.

So, our dish is finally ready. Through tests of static images, we made a new top creative based on an already working one. This allow for scaling the purchase and attracting new users to the app.

We hope our article was helpful. If you want to discuss the promotion of your product, please contact us in any convenient way.

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©2022, AdSide Media
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