Lily’s Backyard stole the highlight with their quirky and humorous video advertisements. The puzzle recreation grew steadily in direction of success due to their spunky artistic property. We’re diving into their advertising and marketing technique and the explanations behind their rise to cell gaming promoting fame.
About Lily’s Backyard
Lily’s Backyard is a match-3 blast recreation developed by Copenhagen-based studio Tactile Video games. It was launched in January 2019 and has since been downloaded over 70 million instances (with nearly all of downloads coming from India and the US) and earned $350 million.
The sport is called after its predominant character Lily, who discovers she inherited her great-aunt’s home. Lily’s Backyard meta-layer is all about serving to Lily get her new backyard again in form, recover from her ex-boyfriend and flirt along with her new neighbor.
The sport’s description on Tactile Video games’ web site begins off with a joke, which is fairly on-brand with Lily’s Backyard advertising and marketing technique.
Shops property and ASO technique
Lily’s Backyard static retailer visible property are comparable in each shops, even on the Amazon App Retailer. Each the icon and the screenshots are very comparable however they differ across the preview video.
The icon
For his or her icon, Lily’s Backyard wager on a artistic pattern that exhibits a feminine character caring for a kid in a really chilly and hostile setting. This isn’t in any respect the theme of the sport (which is to revive a backyard by successful stars). Nevertheless it could seem like a seasonal icon by showcasing winter components (the snow, the obvious coldness skilled by the characters, the empty branches of the tree).
It combines the seasonal facet and the trending facet. There are numerous advertisements proper now that present a redheaded younger mom attempting to outlive in a chilly decrepit home with a toddler. And although Lily doesn’t have a toddler within the recreation, there’s a child on the forefront of this icon. Clearly, Lily’s Backyard is betting on promoting traits and isn’t scared to deliver the pretend advert approach to its icon.
The screenshots
For screenshots, the primary concepts and execution may be very comparable with solely a slight variation. Above Lily is contained in the room on the App Retailer model (left) whereas she’s exterior on the Play Retailer (proper). The App Retailer model additionally consists of extra in-game components with the life, cash and star depend, and the speech bubbles from the sport.
That is the primary screenshot that seems on each the App Retailer and the Play Retailer and it focuses on the dishonest trope that’s typically utilized in video advertisements (the Household Island recreation is an professional on this trope).
The opposite screenshots are additionally placing the primary character in dire conditions, and remind the person of quite a few advertisements the place the viewer sees a participant make horrible decisions to attempt to save a personality. These screenshots are a transparent reminder of that, it helps construct familiarity and set off an emphatic response from the person who will need to assist.
The precise gameplay solely exhibits up additional down on one screenshot on each shops. Storytelling is clearly a greater converter.
The preview video
As per App Retailer guidelines, the App Retailer preview video relies on precise gameplay with the primary a part of the video showcasing the renovation a part of the sport the place you may select which type you need to use for decorations. Then the match 3 facet comes into play with display screen captures.
The Play Retailer video focuses extra on storytelling. Exhibiting a day within the lifetime of Lily the place every part goes incorrect, from being late for work to being fired, then witnessing her home burning down (in an odd reminder of a Merge Mansion advert). Then, 16 seconds in it turns right into a pretend gameplay advert the place the participant is making horrible choices whereas Lily is attempting to restore a part of the home and makes every part worse.
The fail facet is an effective way to push the viewers to motion, it has been used for fairly a while in promoting to push conversion and interplay. The frustration helps viewers really feel like they’ll do higher than what’s proven on display screen.
Making creatives enjoyable
From the beginning, Lily’s Backyard gained an viewers with snarky and humorous promoting with dramatic plot twists and soiled jokes. The video games’ advertisements are targeted on one of many recreation’s meta-layer: the story and its character. Not one of the advertisements truly present the story within the recreation, however they arrange personas for the characters and drive consideration with innuendos and racy jokes.
On this advert for instance, we’re empathizing with the primary character Lily when her boyfriend runs away on the sight of a constructive being pregnant take a look at. It makes Lily relatable, and coping with reasonable points (a being pregnant, a break-up) Nevertheless, a second plot twist adjustments it up and makes the advert unforgettable: it seems the being pregnant take a look at was pretend and Lily manipulated it to eliminate her boyfriend.
Each advert exhibits a brand new twist on a typical trope: a being pregnant scare however Lily faked it, her boyfriend cheated however with Lily’s mom, and many others. Even their seasonal property have a naughty undertone.
This deal with the characters and their lives enable Tactile Video games to have some enjoyable with their property and produce authentic advertisements, stacking them with as a lot innuendo as they’ll to focus on a extra grownup viewers. Probably the most well-known advertisements for Lily’s Backyard truly exhibits the primary character having fun with herself on a washer. Even the advertisements titles on YouTube are phrased as wordplays or jokes.
These jokes appeal to numerous consideration and interactions from customers, they’re typically commented on and actually enhance the visibility of the sport by setting it aside from its opponents with a powerful model picture. One which’s laid again and breeds pleasant interactions.
And now that Tactile Video games has launched a brand new cell recreation Penny & Flo, characters from each universes are interacting with one another within the newest advertisements.
Maintaining with Lily
What makes this recreation so related is the way it stays within the public eye as properly by a powerful social media presence. There’s a YouTube account known as “Lily’s Backyard Complicated Universe”, displaying advertisements for each Lily’s Backyard and Penny & Flo. There’s additionally a devoted Instagram account that showcases Lily and the opposite characters in several conditions.
Not solely does it assist create and cater to a neighborhood, making a stronger relationship with the gamers and making certain their consideration and attachment to the sport, but it surely additionally retains the sport related. Their final Instagram submit is a nod to the Oscars’ ceremony which occurred Sunday night.
They reply feedback from avid gamers and produce extraordinarily seasonal content material in a well timed method, which exhibits that the sport remains to be very a lot current and updated. It retains customers and even drives them again to the app with freebies linked to seasonal occasions.
And with virtually 900k followers on Instagram, it appears to be working simply advantageous.
Hello there, I am Marine (she/her), I am a Content material Supervisor at Apptamin. Apptamin is a artistic company specialised in app movies (video advertisements, app retailer movies, and many others.).
