When the team behind Ludus: Merge Arena approached us at mr.Booster, they faced a familiar dilemma for many emerging game developers. Despite having a strong core gameplay loop and a loyal user base, Ludus was struggling to scale their brand beyond performance marketing.
They had limited experience running large-scale brand awareness or display ad campaigns. Without an in-house creative team, they lacked the resources to produce the volume and quality of creatives needed to compete in crowded markets. At the same time, they were eager to explore new traffic channels and innovative strategies to grow sustainably — but needed guidance and support to do so effectively.
Our challenge was to help Ludus overcome these constraints, expand into new markets, and build a brand that resonates with players over the long term.
The Starting Point: New territory, limited resources
At the beginning of our collaboration, Ludus had never run a large-scale display campaign. Their marketing efforts had been focused primarily on user acquisition. This meant they hadn’t yet explored upper-funnel strategies like display, online video, or brand lift — and they didn’t yet have an internal team to create the volume or quality of creatives needed to run such campaigns effectively.
They came to us with clear goals:
- Explore new user acquisition channels
- Strengthen brand presence
- Test creative approaches that go beyond static performance ads
And they needed support not only with media buying, but with creative concepting, production, and strategic testing.
Phase One: Broad campaigns, early lessons
We kicked things off with a wide-reaching campaign that ran across multiple GEOs. To move quickly, we used standard gaming creatives — familiar visuals and formats that mirrored what the target audience had likely seen many times before.
While there were some signs of growth, the results were hard to isolate. Product updates overlapped with the campaign period, and some initial tracking issues blurred attribution. We worked closely with the client to resolve those — but one thing became clear: if we wanted more meaningful, measurable outcomes, we had to change the game.
Phase Two: A focused test in Chile
We decided to pivot. Instead of continuing with a broad approach, we launched a localized test campaign in a single market — Chile.
This allowed us to:
- Control more variables
- Optimize for channel effectiveness
- Refine our creative strategy
- Track post-view performance in a clearer way.
Chile offered the right balance of affordability and user engagement. Online video platforms were particularly effective in this market, and we tailored our media mix accordingly.
We also defined specific goals to guide the test:
- +30% increase in organic sessions
- +20% growth in organic installs
- +20% uplift in retention
- +30% increase in MAU and DAU.
Creative Production: Efficiency meets quality
With no in-house creative team on the client side, we took full ownership of the creative process. We leaned on AI tools to speed up concepting and production — without compromising on quality. The result was a set of premium-looking, bold creatives tailored for Ludus’ unique mechanics and brand.
Instead of just showing gameplay, our ads highlighted the core tension of the game: the merge mechanic, tactical decisions, and the thrill of PvP battles. We created a variety of formats — from video to animated banners — with strong branding and storytelling elements.
The Results: Clear, measurable growth
As soon as the localized campaign went live, we saw measurable improvements across all tracked metrics:
- Organic installs exceeded our target by 9%
- Monthly and daily active users increased by 20%
- Retention and engagement also saw notable growth, especially among users who were exposed to branded creatives
Most importantly, the brand had momentum. Players started recognizing Ludus — not just as another mobile game, but as something worth remembering.
What We Learned
From this collaboration, a few things stood out:
- Display advertising works — when it’s treated as a strategic tool, not just a budget add-on
- Running isolated experiments (like the Chile test) provides the cleanest data and clearest insights
- Creative quality and relevance matter — especially in mobile gaming, where players are bombarded with content every day.
Conclusion
We’re proud of the partnership with Ludus and the results we achieved together. This case highlights how thoughtful display advertising, combined with strong creative and data-driven testing, can unlock new markets and build lasting brand equity.
At mr.Booster, we don’t just run campaigns — we build growth systems that turn player attention into loyalty. If you think your project would benefit from a boost, write to us, and let’s roll.
