How Tanghulu Master became Gen Alpha's #1 mobile game through data-driven marketing

Introduction

About Whoyaho Corp.

Whoyaho is a mobile gaming and content company that specifically targets Generation Alpha. They previously achieved top chart rankings with Fidget Town and, more recently, their latest release, Tanghulu Master, quickly reached the #1 popular game on Google Play in South Korea just one week after its launch.

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Overview

Whoyaho recently launched ‘Tanghulu Master’ just before the Chuseok holiday, the Korean Thanksgiving day. Within one week of its launch, Tanghulu Master claimed the #1 Popular game on the Google Play Store and became the #1 simulation game on the Apple App Store. This rapid success was achieved through two key strategies tailored to resonate with Gen Alpha gamers. The first strategy focused on meeting Gen Alpha’s specific preferences: featuring adorable and highly detailed characters, making ASMR, enabling players to become creators and influencers, and incorporating Tanghulu, a beloved snack, into the game. The second strategy capitalized on the timing of the Chuseok holiday, a period known to generate high traffic, leading many game developers to release their titles during or around this holiday season. Tanghulu Master is now experiencing sustained growth, not merely a temporary boost.

In this success story, Airbridge played a crucial role as Whoyaho’s partner, enabling real-time monitoring of key metrics and the optimization of marketing campaigns to acquire as many users as possible. This case study explores in-depth how Whoyaho achieved their remarkable success through data-driven marketing with Airbridge.

Challenges

Real-time monitoring of multiple campaigns at once to maintain a low CPI

Tanghulu Master’s business model relies on in-app ads, necessitating acquiring as many users as possible while minimizing marketing expenses. It means they must maintain a low Cost Per Install (CPI). Achieving this requires constant monitoring of the click-through rate (CTR) to make quick budget reallocations and optimizations across channels and campaigns. This approach is vital for enhancing and monetizing the marketing performance of Tanghulu Master.

Encouraging users to create and share their own gameplay videos to drive organic downloads

Gen Alpha, the primary target audience for Tanghulu Master, not only enjoys playing games but also aspires to be creators by filming, editing, and sharing videos on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. These user-generated videos attract new players, as potential gamers often select their games based on the videos shared by their peers. To cater to this generation's needs and boost organic traffic, creating a game that can be used as video content is imperative. Increased organic acquisition translates to lower marketing costs, making it crucial for Whoyaho to motivate users to create and share their own gameplay videos.

Solutions

Use Airbridge Trend Report charts for easy metric monitoring

To maintain a low CPI, Whoyaho required detailed and rapid monitoring of each campaign’s CPI by various Data segmentations such as channel, creative, OS, and different time intervals. Airbridge’s Trend Report charts proved invaluable for quickly assessing the daily and hourly inflow, enabling them to make instantaneous decisions regarding turning campaigns on or off and budget allocation.

Whoyaho’s real-time monitoring CPI with Airbridge allowed them to respond swiftly to changing marketing budgets. If a specific campaign’s CPI increased, they would reallocate the budget to different days of the week or across various channels. Conversely, they make high-performing receive quick budget increases. Whoyaho recognized that more engaging creatives led to higher click-through rates (CTR), lower cost per click (CPC), and ultimately a reduced CPI. Consequently, they analyzed the creative with the highest CTR and either replicated a similar one or integrated insights from the data directly into the marketing strategy and game development.

One of the most effective campaigns for Tanghulu Master was a TikTok ad campaign titled “Discover the Ultimate Tanghulu Game *Sound bite.”(link) This 35-second ad, launched alongside the game, announced its release, showcased the core gameplay, and encouraged game installations. It efficiently conveyed the essence of Tanghulu Master and delivered outstanding results. They quickly acquired an initial 10,000 users with a CPI of less than $0.08, which was between the initial marketing metrics range for Whoyaho's flagship games, ‘Fidget Town’ and ‘Bad Word Onion.’

By incorporating the game’s unique selling points (USP) into their creative, Tanghulu Master was able to drive popularity on its launch day. The real-time monitoring of the Trend Report ensured maximum budget utilization during peak user times. The outcome was that the game secured the #1 Popular game on the Play Store within a week of its launch and continues to experience growth.

Inspire video creation through the use of adorable characters and measure performance using Airbridge tracking links

Another pivotal factor contributing to the rapid success of Tanghulu Master was the integration of cute and detailed character art. To captivate Gen Alpha, the game’s primary target audience, Whoyaho invested significant efforts in the artistry to make the game itself a compelling subject for user-generated videos. They aimed to make it visually engaging, akin to crafting a scene from an anime. The higher the level of detail in the art and interactions, the better the quality of the videos created, making them more likely to be favored by algorithms. Additionally, Whoyaho sought permission from users who had previously uploaded videos and created content based on those videos. This approach ensured exposure to a large audience and encouraged others to create videos, taking inspiration from the existing content.

This strategy worked well when Whoyaho held a challenge for Fidget Town users, targeting the same audience, to upload a video of themselves playing Tanghulu Master. The challenge encouraged users to download the game through an Airbridge tracking link, which brought in over 5,000 users, many of whom also participated in the video upload challenge, helping Whoyaho to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign quickly.

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Results

Whoyaho predicts that Gen Alpha will play an even more critical role in shaping the world. They want to create new types of games and content that they love. Moreover, they're looking to expand globally. In particular, as they have achieved successful results in the global market based on the Korean marketing strategy of Tanghulu Master, they will continue to discover, apply, develop, and grow success strategies in the future. Ultimately, Whoyaho wants to be the company that introduces games to the global Gen Alpha and creates their favorite content.