Lily’s Backyard stole the highlight with their quirky and humorous video adverts. The puzzle recreation grew steadily in the direction of success due to their spunky artistic property. We’re diving into their advertising technique and the explanations behind their rise to cellular 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 the vast majority of downloads coming from India and the US) and earned $350 million.
The sport is called after its fundamental 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 together 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 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 guess on a artistic pattern that reveals a feminine character caring for a kid in a really chilly and hostile surroundings. This isn’t in any respect the theme of the sport (which is to revive a backyard by profitable stars). Nonetheless it will possibly appear like a seasonal icon by showcasing winter parts (the snow, the obvious coldness skilled by the characters, the empty branches of the tree).
It combines the seasonal side and the trending side. There are plenty of adverts proper now that present a redheaded younger mom making an attempt to outlive in a chilly decrepit home with a baby. And despite the fact that Lily doesn’t have a baby within the recreation, there’s a child on the forefront of this icon. Clearly, Lily’s Backyard is betting on promoting developments and isn’t scared to convey the pretend advert approach to its icon.
The screenshots
For screenshots, the principle concepts and execution could be very comparable with solely a slight variation. Above Lily is contained in the room on the App Retailer model (left) whereas she’s outdoors on the Play Retailer (proper). The App Retailer model additionally consists of extra in-game parts 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 usually utilized in video adverts (the Household Island recreation is an knowledgeable on this trope).
The opposite screenshots are additionally placing the principle character in dire conditions, and remind the consumer of quite a few adverts 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 consumer who will need to assist.
The precise gameplay solely reveals 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 possibly can select which type you need to use for decorations. Then the match 3 side comes into play with display screen captures.
The Play Retailer video focuses extra on storytelling. Displaying a day within the lifetime of Lily the place all the pieces goes unsuitable, from being late for work to being fired, then witnessing her home burning down (in a wierd 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 selections whereas Lily is making an attempt to restore a part of the home and makes all the pieces worse.
The fail side 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’ adverts are targeted on one of many recreation’s meta-layer: the story and its character. Not one of the adverts really 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 principle character Lily when her boyfriend runs away on the sight of a constructive being pregnant check. It makes Lily relatable, and coping with practical points (a being pregnant, a break-up) Nonetheless, a second plot twist adjustments it up and makes the advert unforgettable: it seems the being pregnant check was pretend and Lily manipulated it to do away with her boyfriend.
Each advert reveals a brand new twist on a standard trope: a being pregnant scare however Lily faked it, her boyfriend cheated however with Lily’s mom, and so on. 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 unique adverts, stacking them with as a lot innuendo as they’ll to focus on a extra grownup viewers. One of the crucial well-known adverts for Lily’s Backyard really reveals the principle character having fun with herself on a washer. Even the adverts titles on YouTube are phrased as wordplays or jokes.
These jokes appeal to plenty of consideration and interactions from customers, they’re usually commented on and actually increase the visibility of the sport by setting it other than 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 cellular recreation Penny & Flo, characters from each universes are interacting with one another within the newest adverts.
Maintaining with Lily
What makes this recreation so related is the way it stays within the public eye as properly by way of a powerful social media presence. There’s a YouTube account referred to as “Lily’s Backyard Complicated Universe”, displaying adverts for each Lily’s Backyard and Penny & Flo. There’s additionally a devoted Instagram account that showcases Lily and the opposite characters in numerous 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, however it 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 reveals that the sport continues 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 nearly 900k followers on Instagram, it appears to be working simply high-quality.
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 adverts, app retailer movies, and so on.).
