Brutally Honest #137 by Matej Lancaric
No 💩 BS newsletter with useful stuff about UA in the post IDFA world
Hey, FAM! What’s up?
🥃 Drink talk
Don’t ever copy all my tips. Get inspired, or you might get hurt. I just ran a half marathon in Santa Barbara and hit my personal best without 100% training. Why not?
I am crazy in my personal and professional life. Be careful!
🦩Tip of the week
Days when we could use one creative winner across all the channels are long gone. There are still some overlaps, but what works on Facebook doesn’t necessarily work on SDK networks or even TikTok in some cases. So, what creatives work for me now:
UGC + text
Altered gameplay
hypercasual mechanics
AI (UGC)
AI statics
fail - upgrade - win
trailer(ish)
narrative
High-production value creatives
How to test creatives? There are multiple frameworks for how to test creatives and all “depends”, but these are the most used by me:
Facebook
IPM → MAI - Tier4 country - Winners → BAU
Multistep → MAI - Tier4 country - Winners → Tier1 AEO - Winners →BAU
Value optimized → VO - Tier3-4 country - Winners → BAU
BAU (Business as usual) → add 3-4 new creatives, pause underperformers/low-spending creatives
T1 AEO (engagement event) → Winners → BAU
Unity
Creative testing campaign type (IPM) → MAI - Tier4 country - Winners → BAU
BAU (Business as usual) → add 1-2 new creatives, pause underperformers/low-spending creatives
Google
BAU → add new creatives as a new adgroup into BAU campaigns
Applovin
BAU → add new creatives into BAU campaigns every 1-2 weeks
TikTok
BAU → 2-3x per week new adset with new creatives in BAU campaigns
🐊 Cornelius: The Suspicious Investi-gator
True detective-like exploration of creative trends and historical influences. Delving deep into the world of creatives to uncover hidden patterns and inspirations:
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭? Getting inspired by other games is a key part of creative production. Yet, there's often a fine line between drawing inspiration and outright copying. Why reinvent the wheel, right?
Today, we’re examining two virtually identical creatives for different games. There’s already some drama or controversy brewing around Bus Jam (Rollic) vs. Block Jam 3D (Voodoo) over a “calendar” feature that Block Jam 3D prominently uses, allegedly “borrowed” from Bus Jam’s original concept.
But, the question remains—who launched this creative first?
Yours truly, Cornelius.
💀 Dr. Doom is not amused
One of my industry friends amused me with his direct and honest TL;DRs, so we agreed to share it here, too! My friend remains anonymous as Dr.Doom!
"So after all of that Netflix gaming division "success" (closing down a AAA studio, duh! having no notable mobile games to show for), the streaming giant is doubling down, appointing its previous "successful" head of games to a new position, VP of genAI for games. Because if you can't make games and nobody believes you anymore, you tell them now that the AI will make them, and you pray it can actually do it, as it seems you have no idea what is happening. Outstanding move!" Sincerely, Doom (https://mobilegamer.biz/mike-verdu-is-now-heading-up-genai-at-netflix-games/)
🎉 “Ha-ha” moment
Because life is too short to be serious.
🎮 two & a half gamers - Habby creating a new subgenre
Capybara GO - the new sensation by Habby making $800k/day in revenue still without the US! This is going to be bigger than Survivor.io
Habby did it again! Changing the whole mobile gaming landscape with the recent launch of Capybara GO! The game features a unique blend of gameplay mechanics that encourage passive play. The future of mobile gaming is here. Passive play, you heard it first on two & a half gamers.
Most importantly, Capybara GO draws inspiration from various successful titles in the mobile gaming industry and puts them together piece by piece into perfect compatibility.
This is a very important insight: this game is basically a slot machine dressed up as an RPG. It is positioned as a social casino RPG, blending elements of both genres. Addictive and sticky gameplay? Hmm, where did we see that?
Capybara GO creatives are the blend of every trend out there that works for mid-core. Mass battles, survivor.io gameplay, (UGC) hooks, AI voiceovers, backpack heroes combined with sword survivor.io. Just a big WOW!
This is gonna be HUGE! Well, it kinda is already
📺 Watch on Youtube
🎧 Listen on Spotify
🤑 Paid subs only
Sneak peek at what you get for your support:
🦄 Diary of a Dancing Unicorn
Today was a good day.
Hey man, have you seen this? Remember when we talked about it 2 years ago and I had tech to power this at scale?
hhaha yeah, what can I say? This is basically what I talked about in my newsletter 2-3 weeks ago:
It is beyond funny. I am like. Guys, can you create your own content for once?
They have been doing that forever. I’m pretty sure you are just one of their content sources. They mostly re-report on things when their friends or the industry is talking about it, which is fine; it’s what "news" is mostly these days.
Meh, yeah, but still, you are right. There are lots of things to cover on Margarita Thursday!
Today was a good day
🤺 Quote of the week
"Good job on the capybara go video. that's the real shit” - Miikka, DOF slack
Capybara GO review!
🧞 Level up yourself
I launched a YouTube Channel. I'm putting a ton of energy into creating valuable content that I think you'll like. Check out the latest stuff, and give me a like and subscribe.
👾 Gaming blast from the past
Do you remember this game? What did you play when you were young?
🥦 Before you go
Ask Matej AI a question. It’s actually quite good!
We produced one more episode at 2.5gamers. Check it out now:
🍿 Fun starts in two & a half gamers Slack! Join now
We are opening up a Slack channel for everybody. It is the most inclusive slack for the gaming industry. Female, male, non-binary, juniors, mid-level, seniors, vendors, developers = EVERYBODY! We are waiting for you ♥️
Feel free to join here!
🧙 Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!
Please do me a favor and share this with someone in your network who you think would benefit from the insights and brutal honesty. It would mean a lot to me!
Take care, everyone! See you next Monday!
👇 Reach out for feedback or questions, or say hi!
Give me some love (or hate) & Subscribe everywhere! ♥️
💡 PS: The latest UA & marketing jobs for you prepared by Gamigion:
Director of Product Marketing Scopely
Marketing Manager, LATAM Supercell
Performance Marketing Manager Supercell
Live Operations & Monetization Lead Supercell
Monetization Manager Supercell
ASO Manager Playtika
Social Media Manager Playtika
Social Media Growth Manager Playtika
Junior UA Manager Moon Active
Product Monetization Manager Moon Active
User Acquisition Manager SciPlay
Director, LiveOps & Monetization SciPlay
Head of Monetization & LiveOps SciPlay
Marketing Researcher Plarium
Ad Monetization Specialist Codeway
ASO Manager Tripledot Studios
Monetization Director - Paper.io 2 Voodoo
User Acquisition Specialist Gameloft
Product Marketing Lead Gameloft
Performance Marketing Specialist Agave Games
Junior Product Marketing Manager Kwalee
Senior Ad Monetisation Manager Miniclip
Marketing Analyst X-FLOW
Marketing Video Specialist Rovio
User Acquisition Manager Futureplay Games
Ad Monetization Manager AxesInMotion
User Acquisition Manager Tactile Games
Senior Lifecycle Marketing Specialist Kabam
User Acquisition ABI Game Studio
Client Growth Manager Smadex
Senior Product Marketing Manager AppsFlyer
Senior Data Scientist, User Acquisition Remerge
Senior Client Growth Manager Nativex
Monetization Manager (Remote) TyrAds
Marketing Analyst - Persona.ly
Head of Marketing (NL) iion
Team Lead UA - Remote SOFTGAMES
UA Marketing Producer Playrix
Lead User Acquisition Manager Playrix
Senior Performance Marketing Manager Playrix
Marketing Manager, EMEA Moloco
Senior Growth Manager Moloco
Growth Manager Moloco
VP of UA Appodeal