The holiday season presents a golden opportunity for app marketers to elevate their campaigns, especially when it comes to the dynamic and creative landscape of mobile gaming. Regularly changing seasonal creatives prevents monotony and engages users with new and exciting visuals. This approach not only caters to the evolving preferences of the player base but also demonstrates the app's commitment to staying current and innovative.  

By aligning mobile gaming creatives with the festive spirit during the holiday season, mobile app developers can create a sense of seasonal immersion, fostering a deeper connection between their players and the game. In this blog, we delve into the strategic significance of refreshing mobile gaming creatives during the holidays in order to retain important and loyal users going into the new year. 

Why Update Creatives Inline with the Holiday Season

Consumers in 2023 want creative variety. Over 65% of consumers find creative assets from brands to be repetitive. With in-app ads increasing overall mobile app retention by 4x, app marketers cannot ignore users’ desire for exciting creative content. The introduction of limited-time events during the holidays or exclusive in-game content through creative updates not only incentivizes existing users to continue their journey but also entices lapsed players to return, driving revenue  and building a robust and loyal user base. 

Tips for Changing out Mobile Gaming Creatives 

It’s clear that changing out creatives is a crucial aspect of mobile gaming advertising to keep your audience engaged and to attract new users. Here are some strategies that mobile gaming marketers can employ when updating creatives:

Interactive Creatives

Interactive elements within creatives play a pivotal role in captivating users. Adding interactivity transforms passive viewers into active participants. Unlike traditional static ads, interactive formats and gamified experiences provide users with a hands-on preview of the gaming content. This not only creates a more immersive and dynamic advertising experience but also allows users to directly engage with gameplay mechanics. YouAppi, for example, has experienced over 2x return on ad spend when using MRAIDs versus static ads. By giving users a more dynamic format in order to try out features or make decisions within the ad itself, advertisers can foster a sense of curiosity and excitement. 

Marketers can even start to incorporate seasonal characters or elements within these interactive creatives to get users excited about the upcoming festivities. Instead of using normal game cubes, for example, developers could switch them out for gifts, snowflakes or snowmen to invoke a seasonal flare. This type of engagement not only holds users' attention but also provides a taste of the actual gaming experience, fostering a connection between the advertisement and the user. Interactive elements not only make the ad memorable but also serve as a powerful tool for user acquisition by offering a sneak peek into the entertaining and interactive world that awaits them within the game. 

Seasonal Themes

By aligning advertising content with the current season or relevant holidays, app marketers can create a sense of immediacy and relevance. Seasonal themes evoke a feeling of novelty and excitement, enticing users with the promise of exclusive, time-sensitive content or events within the game. Many brands see that the performance of their holiday campaigns have a 70% better conversion rate than those during the regular season. By sticking to seasonal trends, gaming app marketers can increase their overall conversions and user engagement during the last few months of the year. This approach not only keeps the gaming experience fresh but also encourages users to interact with the creative content on a deeper level. 

Whether it's festive decorations, holiday-inspired characters, or themed in-game events, seasonal elements can trigger a sense of anticipation and community among players. By leveraging the power of seasonal themes, mobile gaming advertisers can forge a stronger connection with their audience, encouraging both existing and potential users to immerse themselves in the game during specific times of the year.

Storytelling

Another way that marketers can refresh their strategy is by incorporating storytelling through new creatives. Storytelling is powerful because it creates an emotional connection between a company, its products and its customers. Effective storytelling increases engagement between a brand and its audience, which helps drive conversions and, ultimately, revenue growth. If consumers love a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in future. Storytelling emerges as a pivotal element in captivating users through mobile gaming creatives, transcending the traditional boundaries of advertising. 

By weaving a narrative within the ad, advertisers can imbue their content with emotion, suspense, and a sense of adventure. A well-crafted storyline not only introduces users to the game's world and characters but also sparks curiosity, making the gaming experience more compelling. Through the art of storytelling, mobile gaming marketers can create an emotional connection between the player and the game, turning a casual viewer into an intrigued participant. The holiday season provides the perfect time to tell a festive story or use seasonal themes within the characters that are featured. This approach not only enhances brand recall but also fosters a deeper engagement as users become invested in the narrative, driving them to explore the game further and experience the story for themselves.

Consistent Refresh Frequency

Over time, users can become fatigued or bored with seeing the same advertisements repeatedly. This can lead to a decline in engagement and a higher likelihood that users will ignore or even actively dislike the ad. For instance, seeing an ad for the first time made viewers 5.7% more prone to purchase versus not seeing it at all. However, people who saw the ad 6-10 times were 4.1% less likely to buy a product than those who saw the ad 2-5 times. By regularly changing creatives, marketers can combat ad fatigue and keep their audience engaged.

App marketers can create a schedule for refreshing creative in order to prevent this ad fatigue. Regularly introducing new and diverse content helps maintain user interest and prevents users from becoming tired of seeing the same ad repeatedly. Frequent strategic refreshes also enable marketers to adapt to changing market trends, seasonal shifts, and user preferences, allowing campaigns to stay agile and responsive. Users are often more engaged during the holiday season, with increased leisure time and a willingness to explore new content. Updating creatives to align with the holidays can capture this heightened engagement and encourage users to try out or spend more time on a gaming app. 

A well-thought-out schedule for switching out creatives is a proactive strategy that not only mitigates audience fatigue but also aligns marketing efforts with the evolving dynamics of the app ecosystem. Since media costs are lower right before and after the traditional holiday shopping season, marketers should get started early if they want to experiment with creative changes.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3!

Whenever marketers are changing strategies, it’s paramount that they test their new theories. A/B testing is a necessary practice for app marketers aiming for success when experimenting with various mobile app creatives. The essence of A/B testing lies in its ability to provide empirical insights into what resonates most effectively with the target audience. By systematically comparing different versions of creatives, marketers can discern which elements yield the highest engagement and conversion rates. Testing out different holiday themes or rewards will help marketers understand what their audience resonates with. 

This data-driven approach allows for the refinement and optimization of advertising strategies, ensuring that marketing efforts are finely tuned to the preferences and behaviors of users. In the dynamic landscape of mobile apps, where user tastes and trends can swiftly evolve, A/B testing serves as an indispensable tool for staying adaptive and competitive. It empowers marketers to make informed decisions, optimize campaign performance, and ultimately drive the success of their app promotions by delivering content that resonates most effectively with their audience.

Takeaways of Sleigh the Game: Holiday Strategies for Dynamic Mobile Creatives

The holiday season presents a golden opportunity for app marketers to elevate their campaigns, especially when it comes to the dynamic and creative landscape of mobile gaming. By aligning mobile gaming creatives with the festive spirit during the holiday season, mobile app developers can create a sense of seasonal immersion, fostering a deeper connection between the players and the game. 

Tips for Changing out Mobile Gaming Creatives:

  • Interactive Creatives: Interactive elements within creatives play a pivotal role in captivating users. By encouraging users to interact, try out features, or make decisions within the ad itself, advertisers can foster a sense of curiosity and excitement. 
  • Seasonal Themes: By aligning advertising content with the current season or relevant holidays, app marketers can create a sense of immediacy and relevance. Whether it's festive decorations, holiday-inspired characters, or themed in-game events, seasonal elements can trigger a sense of anticipation and community among players. 
  • Storytelling: Storytelling is powerful because it creates an emotional connection between a company, its products and its customers. By weaving a narrative within the ad, advertisers can imbue their content with emotion, suspense, and a sense of adventure. 
  • Consistent Refresh Frequency: Over time, users can become fatigued or bored with seeing the same advertisements repeatedly. By regularly changing creatives, marketers can combat ad fatigue and keep their audience engaged.
  • Testing, Testing: A/B testing is a necessary practice for app marketers aiming for success when experimenting with various mobile app creatives. Testing out different holiday themes or rewards will help marketers understand what their audience resonates with.