9 steps on improving the quality of video ads for mobile games

Hello, my fellow network!

In this short article, I'll try to explain the secrets hidden under the creative table of our leads and reveal how you can improve creative production effectiveness.

Hope to hear your feedback on that!

The production of video ads consists of pre-analytics, production, and posthoc analysis. Through time and experience, our team have come to realize how important each of these components is, and now we’re happy to share this information with you. This tutorial will explain in detail how to make mobile app ads for Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and other platforms.

Here is a step by step creative production walkthrough!

The whole process consists of 9 steps:

1. First input analytics.
2. Brainstorming .
3. Scripting .
4. Choosing a designer .
5. Static iterations .
6. Animation .
7. Quality control .
8. Edits .
9. Posthoc analysis .

More about each of them you can be read on our website. (each link is active).

Analytics

It most often involves using spy tools, such as Social Peta, Sensor Tower, etc., learning the product from the previous experience/stage of the product.?

The goal is to achieve a much better understanding of how to position the game and what is essential to know before the next step - brainstorming.

It’s important to understand that analysis on its own isn’t that good if you don’t combine it with expertise in similar games/projects. Not just as a player, but as a marketer.

A combination of market analysis, experience, and expertise in media buying allows drawing the necessary conclusions.

Once we’ve got the numbers, we move on to brainstorming.

Brainstorming and scripting

What should we know?

• Market trends (competitor's performance);
• The target audience of the product;
• Goals for the entire batch of creatives;
• Product marketing stage;
• Asset availability/other technical limitations;
• And budget. :)

Brainstorming is a creative process, but at the same time, it has a rigid framework. First, we study input data and analytics, then we discuss ideas. After we have 30-40 ideas, we move on to voting. We select the best ideas and lay them out in more detail - this is a collaborative step, so everyone is welcome to contribute.

Once the brainstorming is done, it takes a creative producer to make sure that all that creative mess we left behind, assuming "this is something cool and definitely working," really turns into a list of cool and definitely working scenarios.

When it's ready - it's time to pick up a hero for this work!

Choosing a designer

Well, there is nothing new and unusual.

One of the advantages of having a large team is the ability to choose whom we want to work on a project.

Here is what we expect from a motion designer when we give them a task.

• This person is familiar with the product or prepared to get familiar with it.
• This person has experience in creating videos for similar products;
• The designer is available and free from other tasks;
• The designer is able to meet deadlines.

Also, it should be taken into consideration that the designers are split into?junior, middle, and senior ranks.?

Keeping that in mind we understand that some tasks we assign only to senior designers as the complexity tells us to do so.

This approach allows us to manage quality and at the same time stay within the budget of the project.

Statics and animation

At these stages, the project begins to take shape.

This is an example of a scene for a survival game called Dawn of Zombies. And it's one of my favourite locations/scenes because it's so close to the theme of my childhood!

I love post-apocalyptic :)?

The static stage is where we determine if there are any issues with the source materials. We place all the necessary objects and characters in the location, adjust the light and camera positions, and see if everything matches our vision. ?Next comes the animation.?

This phase includes.?

• Animation of the characters and environment;
• Pointer (hand) animation
• Operation of UI elements;
• Transitions between scenes - effective transitions increase viewer retention;
• Camera movement, accent placement, and visual effects creation.

This is done to clearly present the story and try to capture the viewer's attention even more;

Quality control and edits

Do you think it's over? Nope :)

Now we need to make sure that the main idea is conveyed correctly and that our control group of uninvolved designers and executives can consider the main idea is made clear.

Then the resizing is coming!

Posthoc analysis

Last but not least important point in a vendor's creative production lifetime of a video - is posthoc analysis.

Here we study the numbers from the test results.?Based on the numbers, we can see which creatives worked and which didn’t.?We analyze the data and try to understand what we can improve in the next pack.

We summarize all the conclusions of the work and share this analysis in a research doc. This becomes the basis for the next stage of cooperation.

Well, I hope you got to this part of my long article after all. If you did, you deserve a cookie.?

Here it is ??

I'd be happy to discuss your comments, so feel free to dm me if you have any questions/wishes.?

And have a great day!