Creatives can make or break your game business
The power of creatives
High IPM, low CPIs01
Shorten the learning curve02
The last lever03
High IPM, low CPIs01
It’s a whole lot easier to lower a campaign’s CPI than a game’s LTV. High IPMs from top-performing creatives give your campaign the ammo it needs to storm the charts.
Shorten the learning curve02
Focusing on creatives early and fine tuning them before you go big in a global launch can save you tons of wasted ad spend down the line.
The last lever03
With so much of UA becoming automated, creatives are the last lever us humans can pull to make a campaign really stand out and scale fast.
PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT.
Playable pioneers
We’re a group of 50+ graphic designers, animators, game designers, programmers, product managers, operation managers, project managers, and analysts whose families are concerned by how many hours we spend playing games.
50+
Playworkers
187
All-time record IPM
12K
Creatives built to date
217
advertiser partners
What we’re all about
We're a creative, analytical bunch of people who believe collaboration is the key to high performance
Squad mode
We operate as small multi-functional squads - letting us scale output and tackle multiple projects at the same time.
Game
designer
Designer
Creative
Developer
Operations
Analyst
Together we've built
0creatives to date
PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT.
Step 4
Playtesting and feedback
Before it’s ready to go, we thoroughly Q&A the mobile ad creative and ask our squadmates, moms, and partners to tell us what they really think.
Step 3
Prototype and rough-cut
Now it’s time to color in the mockups and bring the concept to life.
Step 1
Visual research
First, we get a feel for the game, understand why users love playing it, and get inspired.
Step 1
Visual research
First, we get a feel for the game, understand why users love playing it, and get inspired.
Step 2
Layout and storyboard
Next we put pen to paper and start mapping out each part of the creative mobile ad, exploring what’s going to wow and engage players most.
Step 3
Prototype and rough-cut
Now it’s time to color in the mockups and bring the concept to life.
Step 4
Playtesting and feedback
Before it’s ready to go, we thoroughly Q&A the mobile ad creative and ask our squadmates, moms, and partners to tell us what they really think.
Step 2
Layout and storyboard
Next we put pen to paper and start mapping out each part of the creative mobile ad, exploring what’s going to wow and engage players most.
PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT.
Technology & features
We don’t just develop creatives - we’re constantly developing new technologies to power and scale those creatives so they run at max performance.
Technology and features
Game templates01
Our game mechanic templates and components make development faster and better.
Autoplay 02
If players don’t engage within a certain amount of time, our autoplay playables start playing themselves, encouraging users to opt-in.
Responsive to any screen size03
Our creatives adjust perfectly to any device and screen size, and any orientation, so players always get the best experience.
Auto-localization04
Our deployment processes automatically localize creatives into 23 additional languages.
Fast loading 05
We make sure to build our creatives as light as possible so they load fast for players around the world, in any bandwith.
Our game mechanic templates and components make development faster and better.
If players don’t engage within a certain amount of time, our autoplay playables start playing themselves, encouraging users to opt-in.
Our back-end technology knows how to adjust itself perfectly to any screen size and any rotation so players always get the best experience.
Our tech gets you ready for global launch by automatically localizing creatives into 23 additional languages.
Despite all their interactive elements, we make sure to build our creatives as light as possible so they load fast for players.
Harry Potter
Zynga
Zynga brought us on to build out the creative strategy for Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells’ soft launch. We worked closely with the Zynga team over several months to develop and test innovative creative concepts. Since Harry Potter is such a strong brand already, we chose to make the characters the stars of the creative - focusing on the meta and other elements to hook the users, and balancing it against the core gameplay.
RV
Small Town Murders
Rovio
We teamed up with Rovio to build multiple interactive end cards for their new game Small Town Murders. Having created several versions of each, we learned that darker colors suited the crime theme best, and combining interactive gameplay with the crime plotline was key for increasing IPM, ROAS, and retention. We even converted the highest-performing interactive end card you see here into a playable.
Playable
Call of Duty
Activision
How do you fit a massive franchise like Call of Duty into a 30 second playable? First, we broke the game down into several mini-games, uncovering and creating smaller scenarios to focus the playable - like zombie mode, sniper shooting, and battle royale. We ended up building 35 different playables, running 3 testing cycles, before finding the winner you see here.
IEC
Call of Duty
Activision
How do you fit a massive franchise like Call of Duty into a 30 second playable? First, we broke the game down into several mini-games, uncovering and creating smaller scenarios to focus the playable - like zombie mode, sniper shooting, and battle royale. We ended up building 35 different playables, running 3 testing cycles, before finding the winner you see here.
Small Town Murders
Rovio
We teamed up with Rovio to build multiple interactive end cards for their hit game Small Town Murders. Having created several versions of each, we learned that darker colors suited the crime theme best, and combining interactive gameplay with the crime plotline was key for increasing IPM, ROAS, and retention. We even converted the highest-performing interactive end card you see here into a playable.
Harry Potter
Zynga
Zynga brought us on to build out the creative strategy for Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells’ soft launch. We worked closely with the Zynga team over several months to develop and test innovative creative concepts. Since Harry Potter is such a strong brand already, we chose to make the characters the stars of the creative - focusing on the meta and other elements to hook the users, and balancing it against the core gameplay.
PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT. PLAY.DESIGN.BUILD.REPEAT.
Constant reporting
Once the creative is up and running, we check back in to see how well it performed - analyzing thousands of in-ad data points, including engagement rate, the amount of clicks on the first interaction, user dropoff, completion rate, and more.
8B
monthly in-ad
data events
45
in-ad data metrics
49B
gameplay seconds
63
benchmarked genres
187
all time record IPM
Together we've built
0all-time record IPM
Finding the sweet spot
Time to engage01
Time to complete02
Refreshing regularly 03
Time to engage01
Looking at the creative's time-to-engage rate, we track how many seconds it takes for a player to start engaging. If TTE doesn't meet the benchmark, we know to fix the tutorial. If it’s above, we know to make note and double down.
Time to complete02
The time-to-complete rate, or seeing how many seconds it takes for players to finish the creative, is just as important. Too short, we need to fix the drop off point. Too long, our instructions need to be clearer.
Refreshing regularly 03
Iterating and refreshing creatives can incrementally improve IPM, so we follow the creative cycle and use our in-ad data to regularly develop new creatives.
Inside in-ad data
Playworks’ Dashboard shows unique in-ad data that goes beyond the impression and the click, so you get in-depth insight into how users are interacting with ads.
Rewarded video
Interstitial
Our case studies
Check out our library of success stories to see how we’ve helped advertisers like you develop a creative mobile advertising strategy that breaks the top charts.
