In this episode of The Business of Fun podcast, Lucian Cotreanti, Head of Growth Marketing at Outplay Entertainment, joins our own Jonathan Fishman to dive into the integration of the Gordon Ramsay brand, exclusive recipes, and authentic voiceovers as standout features for the Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast game. Lucian also highlights the importance of a performance view wave operation for growth strategies and the success of their destination giveaways, attracting high-quality users.
Chapters
00:00 / Intro
01:09 / Lucian’s career journey
05:50 / What makes Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast special?
10:32 / Balancing marketing performance and growth
14:34 / Outplay’s Gordon Ramsay destination giveaways
20:17 / Optimizing marketing campaigns for greater ROI
23:02 / Giveaways versus standard UA ads
24:35 / Where can you find Lucian?
“One of the major drivers of success is having the right people in the right position doing the right thing. So, in terms of how UA is partnering with the other disciplines within marketing, whether we’re talking about product marketing, community management, or even customer support, we essentially work as one team”.
Lucian Cotreanti, Head of Growth Marketing, Outplay Entertainment
The rundown
- Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast was released by Outplay in January 2021. What differentiates it is the intimate integration of the Gordon Ramsay brand. As players progress through the game, they unlock exclusive recipes specially designed by Chef Ramsay. It also offers a unique decoration feature that allows players to personalize their in-game kitchens and enjoy voiceovers by Chef Ramsay himself, thanks to close collaboration with Studio Rams.
- While the game encompasses core mechanics found in top-tier blast games, such as live events and mini-games, the distinct tie to Gordon Ramsay’s brand and personality is its hallmark. Whether you have 30 seconds or 30 minutes, the game seamlessly fits into a mobile gamer’s lifestyle.
- When it comes to growth strategies, Outplay’s approach mirrors successful methods used by other companies, such as introducing fresh content, refining UI/UX, and optimizing features. From a marketing perspective, the company prioritizes a performance-driven operation as its foundation.
- This synergy between marketing and product development is pivotal for success. Aligning and integrating marketing campaigns into the game and maximizing new features and events makes the collaboration feel like it’s coming from a singular, unified team that’s been together for more than a decade.
- Performance and growth marketing often function as separate entities in many firms. While performance marketing gets sizable budgets and specific metrics, quantifying growth marketing ROI can be challenging. This difference often sparks discussions about standardizing KPIs across all marketing efforts, similar to user acquisition (UA) strategies.
- Lucian’s expertise in product marketing offers a unique advantage. He has a deep understanding of strategies beyond paid acquisition. Outplay’s goal is to maintain steady organic installs while occasionally generating significant spikes. Having the right talent in place is pivotal.
- Outplay’s destination giveaways are not the first of their kind. The company’s unique connection with Gordon Ramsay sets theirs apart. Outplay initiated this marketing strategy with a trip to Las Vegas in Q4 of 2021, where participants had a shot at a luxury stay at Caesars Palace with meals at three Gordon Ramsay restaurants by simply installing the game and reaching a certain level.
- Eventually, the brand expanded its destinations to London, Washington DC, Edinburgh, and Boston. These giveaways have evolved to offer players in-game events, letting them virtually explore cities and decorate their in-game kitchens with themed items.
- When evaluating the effectiveness of its marketing campaigns, Outplay focuses on measuring the profitability of each UA campaign within its target return window. Given that a significant portion of UA operations are automated or robotic, it’s crucial to gauge the spending accurately.
- Outplay runs giveaway campaigns alongside its standard UA campaigns, which feature industry-standard ads. Both campaigns operate on the same networks but differ in targeting. For instance, the company might target based on specific interests, destinations, or restaurant names. This allows it to compare the performance of giveaway campaigns to the standard campaigns across platforms such as Facebook and Google.
