VicGames

The objective

Amassing pre-registrations and installations

VicGame Studios is a Korean gaming developer founded in October 2020, and their main focus are trendy RPG games featuring anime characters. They recently launched a new title, Black Clover Mobile, that integrates a popular Japanese anime into its IP. VicGames wanted to utilize the organic presence of the game's IP to get as many pre-registration and installed users as possible to reach the top charts on the app/play store in Korea and Japan.

The solution

Retargeting toward the right audiences to expand their campaign

Getting to the top charts meant striking a balance between sustaining a high budget on the TikTok campaigns as well as avoiding a CPI spike. With that in mind, VicGames worked with our TikTok Measurement Marketing Partner, AppsFlyer to utilize its dashboard for its full campaign lifecycle - from app promotion, pre-registration campaigns, and down to the launch of the campaign.

Firstly, VicGames utilized Smart Performance Campaigns (SPC) in order to sustain a low CPI. SPC allows advertisers like VicGames to activate end-to-end campaign automation on TikTok Ads Manager (TTAM) using powerful AI/ML capabilities to achieve their marketing objectives. VicGames would only need to provide their marketing objective, their budget over a period of time, and necessary creative assets (video, picture, text, CTA, card). By utilizing the SPC, VicGames was able to increase twice the campaign budget, running App Install and SPC campaigns simultaneously while avoiding ad cannibalization.

Secondly, the client utilized the lookalike audiences tool on AppsFlyer's dashboard. Since the campaign sustained throughout the pre-registration and launching phases, VicGames could utilize the pre-registration audiences from its game and create a lookalike audience on TTAM to target these users during the launch of its campaign.

The results

Lowering CPI with the right target audience

By working with AppsFlyer, VicGames was able to measure their mobile app conversions and the engagement of existing app users, driving as many install conversions as possible while avoiding a CPI spike. The new title, Black Clover Mobile, reached 7th place on the revenue top charts within its first week of launch in the Google Play Store, increasing its Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) by 6.8 times. Additionally, by utilizing the lookalike audiences and SPC campaigns, VicGames was also able to see a 30% lower CPI, while reaching a 9.8% Conversion rate and more than 670 'Complete Payment' events.