Brutally Honest #52 by Matej Lancaric
Brutally Honest #52 by Matej Lancaric
No 💩 BS newsletter with useful stuff about UA in the post IDFA world
Hello FAM!
🥃 Drink talk
It’s been a year since I started writing this brutally honest™ newsletter. What a ride! I always wanted to start doing it, but always had an excuse why not to start. Then one day I just started and kept going. It wasn’t perfect, it still isn't. But guess what?! I don’t care. Enjoy & give me some love. Or hate. Or nothing.
🕺🏻 Tip of the week
Where to get creative inspiration? That is always the hard question. Maybe the hardest one! Lets dig a little bit deeper:
competitors (no shit sherlock)
but don’t copy their ads 1:1, use them as an inspiration and try to add +1 in the concept
on the other hand, if you are a small studio with not a lot of resources. You can copy 1:1, it’s okay!
non-direct competitors A.K.A different genres
you can go two different directions in here:
look at your target audience interests overlap/affinity and look into the other genres your players play (E.g. Match3 vs Merge, shooters vs strategy)
you can look outside of your genre for inspiration
hypercasual mechanics
yes, I know I know. I am talking about this for ages already. Still works like a charm. Some game started even adding whole (hypercasual) GAMES into their games
Youtube vs TikTok trends
ASMR (eating), save the dog, chest opening, dancing, etc.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Memes & hype (+AI shit)
this category is endless inspiration. Use it wisely!
💀 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!
“While we all eagerly wait the final results of the big clash between Microsoft and worlds regulators over the right to keep Call of Duty (literally the biggest game of the world) and other ActiBlizz games behind Microsoft Gamepass, Netflix Games (the origin of the idea - Netflix of games) is also making its move by announcing new entrants into it's ecosystem such as Monument Valley 1 & 2 and and teasing Monument Valley 3. I am sure that will even the stakes now"- Sincerely Dr. Doom (https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/81110/netflix-games-one-year-on/)
🎮 two & a half gamers #56
Breaking down the Ad revenue potential of Frozen city & looking under the hood of the new 4X strategy game Whiteout survival dressed up as an Idle game. Pure genius? Oh yes! Tune in:
🎧 Listen on Spotify
📺 Watch on Youtube
Oh also, we changed the visual style a little bit. Give us some kudos (or fuck you). Both will do the trick!
🦄 Diary of a Dancing Unicorn
Today was a good day.
Yeah, this game is growing. Let’s add Unity as a new UA channel.
Perfect, this game will do very well on Unity. Starting with iOS campaign in US.
Tracking setup is solid. Best performing creatives added, bidding $3 for CPI. Okay, all good. Let’s go!
Next day …
Maybe too soon to check the numbers, but let’s have a peak.
campaign spent 30k in 1 day ..
OMG. WHAT THE FUCK?!
ojojooooj, campaign had unlimited budget instead of $250/day.
well, alright. Let’s call a meeting and talk about this right away.
… confessed what happened …
thanks for bringing this up right away, we really appreciate it. People make mistakes. It’s all about the ownership and being honest.
Today was a good day.
PS: now I check the daily budget 5 times until I press launch
🤺 Quote of the week
“this scarf = whatever the opposite of "mice nuts" is” Jeff, LinkedIn comment
Super smooth transition from idle to 4X?
🧞 Level up yourself
I launched a YouTube Channel. I'm putting a ton of energy into creating valuable content I think you'll like. Check out the latest stuff, and give me a like and subscribe.
👾 Nostalgia games
Do you remember this game? What did you play when you were young?
Teenagent!
Play here: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_468-DOS.php?language=EN
🥦 Before you go
Making $5 million (+15-20% Ads) a month after 2 months since global launch? In the post-IDFA UA era? Check out the whole story in the latest article!
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!
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