Brutally Honest #130 by Matej

Hey, FAM! What’s up?

🥃 Drink talk

Came back from Appfest Barcelona. A great event full of great content. (not because I had a presentation about UA diversification) Going to share the deck next week, stay tuned!

🦩Tip of the week

Manual campaigns & “Lookalikes are dead.” That’s what some UA people want to believe. I have found success with both recently.

You should try to diversify from the Automated Campaign setup that Facebook pushes into your face at every step of the campaign creation. When was the last time you created lookalikes? at least 37826783 years ago, I know! Here is a list I usually create:

ENGAGEMENT events

XY+ quests achieved in the game (in the last XY days/months)
XY+ times App launched in the last XY days/months
engaged with high LVL – e.g. all players with level 100
XYZ+ logins in 1 day – (in last XY days/months)

PAYERS:

top 250 payers (in certain months)
2+ special offers bought (in last XY days/months)
XY soft currency bought (in last XY days/months)
1+/3+/5+ payments in last XY days/months
whales
engaged payers – players with 10/20/30+ logins in the last XY days & made a purchase
top 10% purchasers (in last XY days/months)
single pay over xy UDS (in last XY days/months) – single payment over 20, 30, xy USD

For more UA tips, check out this newsletter:

Stay Ahead in UA for 2024: My Top 43 Tips Revealed

I’ve decided to share all the top learnings from 2023. All those made the most impact on my UA ops! It’s quite a lot of learning so buckle up & enjoy”!

Read full story

💀 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!

“How can you kill something dead already? Easily, there is this secret version of Necromancy, called Cryptomancy, which just happened to our innocent FlappyBird. The original creator has nothing to do with it and is already horrified, as the game is now Telegram only with the addition of, you guessed it, cryptocurrency. Outstanding move, as always with crypto 😅” Sincerely, Doom (https://mobilegamer.biz/flappy-birds-comeback-begins-with-a-telegram-only-game-with-added-f2p-and-crypto)

🎉 “Ha-ha” moment

Because life is too short to be serious.

🎮 two & a half Gamers – Creative Trends August 2024

Latest Creative trends for mobile gaming – August Edition! Yes, that’s it.

📺 Watch on Youtube

🎧 Listen on Spotify

🤑Paid subs only

Sneak peek at what you get for your support:

How to conquer the farming games market? Minigames FTW! Implement or die!

The farming games market presents both significant opportunities and formidable challenges. With a steadily growing audience over the past decade, this genre continues to captivate millions of players worldwide.

Read full story

How to market a merge game? Top 3 UA channels, trends & Winning creatives!

Merge games became the new match-3, full stop! What’s the secret behind this puzzle subgenre’s popularity? Why do players like the merge mechanic? How should merge games be marketed?

Read full story

Match 3D UA playbook – Real data inside!

Here we go again! Another paid newsletter filled with Tips & Tricks! Let’s dive into the Match 3D UA Playbook. While match-3 games have been around for years, Match 3D adds a more recognizable dimension. The game takes the proven match-3 gameplay and pushes it into 3D. The difference is more than superficial, it profoundly affects gameplay and the strategies players need to conquer the gaming table.

Read full story

🦄 Diary of a Dancing Unicorn

Today was a good day.

Hey hey! It was flagged to me that you haven’t replied to the client for a day. Can you follow up with her today/ASAP? I’m sure things are running fine, but she needs some reassurance.

Well, yes, I spent half of the day in the hospital because I cut my finger.

Uff, do I want to know what happened? :O

Yeah, don’t worry. I will answer later today.

Could you share when to expect you to be out of reach for the next month? That will really help with managing client expectations.

Ehm, I didn’t really plan to be in the hospital last week.

Today was a good day.

🤺 Quote of the week

“We’re very lucky they’re so fucking stupid” – Jakub, 2.5gamers chat

🧞 Level up yourself

I launched a YouTube Channel. I’m putting a ton of energy into creating valuable content that I think you’ll like. Check out the latest stuff, and give me a like and subscribe.

🥦 Before you go

Ask Matej AIa a question. It’s actually quite good!

🍿 Fun starts in two & a half gamers Slack! Join now

We are opening up a Slack channel for everybody. It is the most inclusive slack for the gaming industry. Female, male, non-binary, juniors, mid-level, seniors, vendors, developers = EVERYBODY! We are waiting for you ♥️

Feel free to join here!

🧙 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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