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How to Increase User Acquisition
with Mobile Ad Creatives 

Ordinary ads don’t work anymore. In our article, we reveal what ad creatives are, why they have the power, and where they can be applied. 

Introduction

The number of smartphone users according to Statista has already reached 3.5 billion and it will keep on growing. You can reach all the audience advertising your business activity or startup. What you need to do is to select the right form for the ads.

Why not use video ads? Videos are engaging by their nature and can be used on any platform, be it Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok or others.

Let’s dig into details and see how mobile video ads can help you make new customers.

What are ad creatives?

To put it short, creative ads are those that users can see while visiting a webpage, scrolling newsfeeds in social networks or using an app. They can be presented in the form of images, videos, or GIFs.

Main types of ad creatives

Running an effective marketing campaign for your product or service requires a carefully crafted message and the right medium to support it. Thanks to the increased development of digital media there are various types of ad creatives for you to select from.

Mobile ad creatives
Chart about Internet time spent on mobile devices

These creatives are spread by means of mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets. As digital marketing is booming worldwide, the increased number of hand-held devices has propelled mobile ad creatives to the fore of digital advertising.

The IAB Advertising and Revenue report show that nearly three-quarters of all Internet time is spent on mobile devices:

The number of platforms for mobile advertising is growing every year, with more new ones appearing, which gives mobile ad creatives a viable future development. 

Animated ads

These are short videos disclosing information about the products or services. Animated ads usually begin by pointing out a problem and then moving on to providing a solution. 

Animation fits well for many marketing needs, be it product explainer videos, infographics, or release announcements. According to the stat data, 86% of the best product explainer videos are animated:

Gameplay based ads

Mobile games can also contribute to user acquisition as you may use gameplay to place your creative ads. The most common forms of gameplay based ads are:

The results of an annual survey by mobile marketing companies showed that 89% of the highest-paid game publishers use some form of in-game ads.

Misleading сreatives

Misleading creatives are ads that show gameplay footage absolutely unrelated to the games they are meant to illustrate. These ads are used to attract users and to get them to download an app. The main goal of the misleading ads is to make “noticed” an app that in reality has nothing special to offer.

One of the most famous mobile games that follow this strategy is “Homescapes”.

Eye-сatching сreatives

This type of creativity is represented by short catchy visuals, like 3D animations, soap-cutting, or slime-crunching videos. These visuals make the users feel relaxed and serve as a form of micro therapy ‒ that’s why they are often used in mental wellness or health & fitness product ad videos.

Eye-catching creatives inspire the users with the impressions they can have while using the advertised products, even though the relaxing techniques demonstrated in a visual have nothing to do with those provided by the products.

Playable ads

Playable mobile ads are fully interactive advertisements: you suggest the user play a “micro game”, a demo version of an app before installing it.

This type of creative has already gained popularity: a study demonstrates the engagement rates of playable ads, which are almost 6% higher than those of non-gaming ones. When a standard ad reaches a 3.9% click-through rate, a playable one hits 28.8%.

In 2019, Statista studied the mobile advertising formats with the highest retention rates. According to the survey results, 52% of app developers were using playable ads in their products.

The use of playable ads is a great chance to captivate the audience. With this in mind, popular social media have already started working with them:

  1. Facebook playable ads
    To boost your business activities, Facebook provides a full guide on how to create playable ads and to promote them. These ads consist of two parts: a short video and a “Tap to Try” button that leads a user to a demo version of the game (or app). FB playable ads are available on Stories, Newsfeed, Audience Network Interstitial, and Audience Network Rewarded video.
  2. Snapchat playable ads
    Snapchat provides a self-serve ads tool to create Snap Ads, including playable game ads.

UGC ads


These advertisements are represented by all forms of content, like images, videos or texts regarding a particular brand, that were posted by users on social networks and other online platforms.

User-generated content shouldn’t be underestimated, because it is perceived by the users as memorable, authentic, and unique.

UGC may also serve as an approach for ad creation. An ad that looks like “created-by-a-user” but totally staged in fact has an obvious advantage: it shows how an app helps to solve the problem of a real person. 

Why are video creatives important today?

Today’s “digital world” gifts us with new means and tools for UA, but at the same time, the structure and execution of UA campaigns change completely.

Facebook and Google have recently developed smarter and more efficient AI algorithms, and it turned out that humans are no longer the best UA campaign managers. AI systematically automates the driving forces of campaign management, and as advertising platforms’ AI is involved in buying media and dealing with bids, ad creatives (video creatives in particular) are becoming “the Kings of the performance”.

The good news for humans is that AI doesn’t succeed in making ad creatives. Although both Facebook and Google continue their efforts trying to automate creative testing, humans cope better with creative making.

If you want to turn ad creatives into sales drivers for your app, platform, or service, here are 3 key points to consider:

  1. Determine the selling points of your product
    In case your app is not absolutely unique on the market, find out the differentiating factors. Maybe the art style is what makes your app stand out in a crowd—then focus your creatives on it.
  2. Examine the target audience
    You must have done research before launching your solution, but it is now necessary to study every detail, even the cultural peculiarities of the audience. Thus you get an opportunity to add them to your creatives and receive customizable material.
  3. Stay consistent
    First, don’t forget that any ad creative should keep up with the app itself. Inconsistency at this point leads to a negative user experience and lower conversions.

However, you may wish to use misleading or eye-catching creatives to attract attention and drive the number of downloads, but at the same time, you risk receiving negative reviews from the users. Moreover, after being misled, the users may uninstall the app, shattering any probable profit.

Secondly, mind the channel you select for the ad creative distribution. Videos are on top now as they catch attention in a second, but each channel has its pros and cons.

How ad creatives boost marketing campaign performance

With AI algorithms continuously developed and improved to increase the UA, the UA managers have to evolve, too.

We suggest 4 ideas that you can follow to stay in line with the progress.

Study Facebook best practices and adhere to these rules

Facebook is fast developing, and it is important to stay current with its advertising platform. Pass the Facebook Blueprint Certification exam and gain advanced-level proficiency in various aspects of Facebook digital marketing.

Running successful UA campaigns in general requires constant learning. Analyze the audience response, invent, and test—that’s the only way to stand out from your competitors.

Learn from Google’s App Campaigns

As it is advised by a creative studio Consumer Acquisition, split your budget between Facebook and Google. Use Google’s App Campaigns not to miss a lot of potential volumes. And learn with Google for promotion of your mobile apps.

Examine Apple Search Ads

Apple is gaining popularity among UA managers as an ad platform. As Facebook and Google have become super competitive fields for digital marketers, Apple provides an opportunity to earn at least some extra profit as a less concurrent space.

Become an expert in creative testing

Creatives have become your weapon in boosting marketing campaign performance, but you still need systematic testing. Build a sophisticated testing strategy taking the following points into consideration:

How to create video ads for UA in mobile games that convert

When it comes to video ads in mobile games, why not try playable? Statistics show that when playable ads are presented in mobile games, 1 in 5 consumers will choose to engage with them.

We’ve collected a list of playable ad best practices that we’ve discovered in our work. Take a look!

Keep it short

We’ve learned that mobile users won’t spend more than 30 seconds completing the ads. Even if your business activity is too sophisticated, try to keep to the 30-second timeframe to get the best results.

Keep it clear

Show your users what they have to do to complete the playable and provide an enjoyable process. The easiest way to guide the is to use a pointer hand and provide short explanations.

Keep it unique

Playables, like any other ads, aims to drive as many visitors to your exact app as possible, that’s why incorporate some of your unique features into the gameplay.

Keep it “beatable”😊

Although a failure may boost the desire to upload an app and try again, it is better to let your users win: a success, even in playable ads, is a positive motive to be back to your product.

However, video ads are not only playable. When it comes to boosting conversion rates for mobile apps, there are several tools to examine.

Google Play Video Previews

If you want to improve the app campaign reach, consider using short app preview videos.

What is an app preview video? It’s a short video showing the main features, functionality, and UI of your app. Keep in mind that Google Play Store videos do not autoplay, so you have to be super clear with the video to grab the users’ attention from the very first seconds.

App Store Video Previews

App Store videos are visible right after the icon, and they play automatically. You may use several previews to underline specific functions of your app.

Remember to take into consideration the App Store preview requirements:

1. Record an iOS app preview video on an iOS device, and use a Mac running macOS Yosemite or later with QuickTime Player (v.10).

2. Edit the recorded video, and use QuickTime or iMovie (included with every Mac).

3. Timeframe for each preview video should be between 15 and 30 seconds.

4. The video file size should not exceed 500 MB MBnd and should be supported in landscape and portrait orientations.

On the Apple developer’s page, you will also get useful advice on how to create app store preview videos, receive all the necessary guidelines, and study the precise specifications for each iOS device.

TikTok Creatives/Videos Ads

Launched in 2019, this new video streaming and sharing app entered the market with an Audience Network. It is now ranked sixth among apps for consumer spending worldwide, providing an immense amount of potential customers for digital marketing:

SnapChat Creatives/Videos Ads

Advertising on Snapchat is another way to get your products and brand noticed by new audiences and boost sales. Many brands choose Snapchat marketing when developing their social media marketing strategies by using winning combinations of Snapchat ad formats.

AppLovin Creatives/Videos Ads

AppLovin is a mobile marketing company that builds popular mobile apps. Their specialists also provide a full spectrum of services to boost revenue from your apps.

IronSource Creatives/Videos Ads

IronSource is a marketing technologies company. It deals with app monetization and it is GameTech-oriented.

Vungle Creatives/Videos Ads

Vungle is one of the leaders in mobile ads and app monetization. They know everything about app advertising campaigns and will skyrocket your app and your income.

Unity Creatives/Videos Ads

The world’s leading platform for the creation of interactive, real-time 3D content. Unity will empower you with the tools to build innovative experiences despite the industry you work in.

Summing Up

In this article, we have highlighted the basic issues regarding UA with mobile video ads. As the world is becoming more mobile, ad creatives have to follow. New types of creatives appear and become extremely popular with the audience. Automation makes mobile creative ads even more important for the UA increase.

If you want to get your business noticed with ad creatives, Ardormedia guides you through every aspect of high-performing video creatives building. With more than 3000 creatives delivered, we are experts in crafting playable, animated ads, mobile ad creatives, and many more, as well as we know how to make app store previews increase your brand awareness and drive conversions.

Visit our website to enjoy the portfolio of mobile ad creatives, playable ads, and app preview video examples!

These creatives are spread by means of mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets. As digital marketing is booming worldwide, the increased number of hand-held devices has propelled mobile ad creatives to the fore of digital advertising.

The IAB Advertising and Revenue report show that nearly three-quarters of all Internet time is spent on mobile devices:

The number of platforms for mobile advertising is growing every year, with more new ones appearing, which gives mobile ad creatives a viable future development.