Axlebolt

The Objective

Reaching TikTok gaming community and generating new installs

Axlebolt is an international mobile game developer and studio founded by gamers for gamers. Their flagship title is the mobile first-person-shooter game Standoff 2. The game was launched in 2017 and the developer has been constantly working to improve it, leveling up the game and making it more and more engaging.

Standoff 2 releases several updates, labeled as new "seasons," throughout the year. These updates bring new maps, characters, and inventory which can be purchased within the app.

To promote the latest major update in their primary markets, Turkey and Brazil, Axlebolt turned to TikTok for its vibrant and extensive gaming community. The aim of the campaign was to create awareness about the Standoff 2 seasonal in-app updates and encourage new installs and in-app purchases.

The Solution

Implementing a full-funnel approach to drive brand awareness and achieve performance goals

To achieve campaign objectives, Axlebolt implemented a full-funnel approach comprising three main stages.

The first stage was the teaser stage, aimed at warming up the gaming community and creating buzz on the platform before the update was released. The teaser provided information about the update and featured gameplay videos, offering a glimpse of what to expect. For this stage, TikTok's Reach & Frequency buying was implemented to target a broad male audience aged 18 and over. This allowed Axlebolt to control which audiences were exposed to the message, and at which frequency.

The next stage was set to broadly announce the update as well as increase awareness of Standoff 2 itself. This was achieved through TopView and Top Feed placements, which captured attention by showing promotional game launch content when users first opened the app.

The third stage was performance-focused. In addition to generating game installs, Axlebolt aimed at driving in-app purchases using App Event Optimization. The user base was divided into several segments based on their engagement with the campaign, so that ads could target the most engaged users, while excluding those that had already installed the game.

This stage relied on creator content that was promoted via Spark Ads. The campaign enlisted more than 20 creators, who each provided their own unique angle on how they were preparing for the update. Creators' content was made up of both gameplay and character-based real-life narrative.

The Results

Meeting performance objectives and strengthening the brand

The campaign succeeded in achieving all of its primary objectives. By combining brand and performance advertising, the cost per unique purchase was reduced by 24%, while the conversion rate for app installs increased by 15%.

The audience engagement with the Spark Ads creator content was also impressive, with 6-second view-through rate being three times higher than for a non-Spark Ads campaign.

Furthermore, the campaign was beneficial for brand building. Brand Lift Study results found that ad recall was 21% higher than the average for these markets.

Overall, the successful outcomes of this campaign show the advantages of using a full-funnel approach in order to achieve outstanding results.