When UPC Inc. entered the mobile gaming market, it wanted to break free of preconceived notions of genre and category. The UPC team designed their first game with this principle in mind, disrupting the romance simulator genre with Renka Touitsu: Sengoku Host. Though they crafted the game for broad appeal, genre expectations overwhelmingly favored a limited target audience within a mostly female user base.
UPC’s UA team believed anyone could enjoy Renka Touitsu if they continued to play — even those unfamiliar with romance games — but communicating this message to users proved frustrating. UPC was also keenly aware that allocating most of its budget to Google and Facebook wasn’t meeting acquisition targets. Something needed to change.
Strategy
To address these challenges, UPC partnered with Tapjoy to implement multi-reward cost per engagement advertising that prioritized continuous usage and a deep in-app experience. Multi-Reward CPE ads invite users to complete a series of in-app milestones in exchange for rewards. Meanwhile, UPC would pay only for completed engagements, making the most of its ad budget and driving ROAS by default.
UPC’s initial strategy was to increase the reward for each event progressively while minimizing the time between events. This approach would keep engagement high and decrease the likelihood of player drop-off and churn.
Results
After implementing Multi-Reward CPE offers, UPC saw immediate results. Retention rates grew after a single week, doubled in two weeks, and increased to 5x projected targets by three weeks. Compared to traditional ad networks such as Google and Facebook, Multi-Reward CPE ads drove a 10x higher ROAS within a three-month timeframe.
Along with retention and ROAS, UPC saw other gains within its app. In terms of user acquisition, Renka Touitsu: Sengoku Host doubled its incoming players after the campaign launch. UPC also saw its app increase the number of positive reviews by 50x thanks to the influx of new users. The CPI for each newly acquired and retained user came to $1 — far below industry benchmarks for quality retaining users.
5x
Retention
10x
Increased ROAS
“This was UPC’s first experience with Multi-Reward CPE advertising, and it’s completely different from traditional network offerings. This model absolutely encourages low-cost user acquisition while driving an incredibly high retention rate.”
- Takahashi Tomofumi, General Manager, Entertainment Division, UPC Inc.
