Game Marketing Case Study - Recyclings Run

The Mission

Recyclings Run is an endless runner game, developed in conjunction with the Recyclings line of toys. Recyclings is a child-friendly universe where characters are made from recycled bottle caps to encourage young users to be mindful of the environment and trash wastage. In Recyclings Run, players collect bottle caps to create new characters and can unlock new accessories for their characters by collecting currency.

Cactus Studios partnered with Game Marketing Genie to launch a digital marketing campaign that gave visibility to and achieved downloads for their new mobile game in collaboration with Headstart International’s Recyclings range of toys. They also aimed increase their ad revenue and number of in-app purchases.

The Process

Capitalizing off the popularity of the Recyclings toy range, the team at Game Marketing Genie analyzed the best possible audiences to develop target groups for which Recyclings Run would get the most conversions. These audiences were based off a variety of factors including the toys' current target audience, parents of children aged between 5 and 12, appropriate, those who have interacted with the brand before, and more. These broader groups were segmented into key target audiences that focused on specific features of the game.

From here, Recyclings Run’s campaign was developed based on these groups which included the development of several targeted ad copy sets and accompanying creatives. These sets were launched across Facebook and Google Ads to drive awareness of the game to mobile users and encourage potential players to download.

A brief summary of what the campaign included:

The analysis of key demographics which were segmented in several target personas, based on information provided by the client and in-house research
The development of targeted ad sets aimed at said persona that were launched across Facebook and Google Ads
The planning, creation and execution of complementary ad creatives customized to each messaging goal and audience
A full optimization process, implemented on the campaign week by week
Continuous updates and reports on the campaign's performance

The Results

The campaign’s average CPI was 0.52 USD, which surpassed the industry average for both Google Play (1.15 USD) and the iOS App Store (4.30 USD) in 2022 by a massive margin.

The campaign’s Google Search ad sets also achieved an average cost per click (CPC) of 0.16 USD, which eclipsed the platform’s standard CPC (0.67 USD).

Overall, GMG’s Recyclings Run campaign delivered better results than the industry average across all platforms.