Lily’s Backyard stole the highlight with their quirky and humorous video adverts. The puzzle sport grew steadily in direction of success because of their spunky artistic belongings. 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 sport developed by Copenhagen-based studio Tactile Video games. It was launched in January 2019 and has since been downloaded over 70 million occasions (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 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 technique.
Shops belongings and ASO technique
Lily’s Backyard static retailer visible belongings 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 profitable stars). Nevertheless it might probably seem 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 facet and the trending facet. There are lots of adverts proper now that present a redheaded younger mom making an attempt to outlive in a chilly decrepit home with a baby. And although Lily doesn’t have a baby within the sport, there’s a child on the forefront of this icon. Clearly, Lily’s Backyard is betting on promoting tendencies and isn’t scared to convey the pretend advert method 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 contains 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 typically utilized in video adverts (the Household Island sport is an knowledgeable on this trope).
The opposite screenshots are additionally placing the principle character in dire conditions, and remind the person of various adverts the place the viewer sees a participant make horrible decisions to try 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 wish 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 is predicated 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 model you wish 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 little thing 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 every little thing 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 will 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 sport’s meta-layer: the story and its character. Not one of the adverts really present the story within the sport, 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 optimistic 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 do away with 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 so forth. Even their seasonal belongings have a naughty undertone.
This give attention to the characters and their lives enable Tactile Video games to have some enjoyable with their belongings and produce authentic adverts, stacking them with as a lot innuendo as they will to focus on a extra grownup viewers. Some of the well-known adverts for Lily’s Backyard really exhibits 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 lots of consideration and interactions from customers, they’re typically commented on and actually increase the visibility of the sport by setting it aside from its opponents with a robust model picture. One which’s laid again and breeds pleasant interactions.
And now that Tactile Video games has launched a brand new cellular sport Penny & Flo, characters from each universes are interacting with one another within the newest adverts.
Maintaining with Lily
What makes this sport so related is the way it stays within the public eye as nicely via a robust social media presence. There’s a YouTube account referred to as “Lily’s Backyard Complicated Universe”, exhibiting adverts 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 guaranteeing 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 players 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 effective.
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 forth.).
