Develop engaging mobile ad creatives that will grow your user base and revenue. Ten core topics are condensed into a practical blueprint with examples from AppAgent’s creative studio. 01 / USER & PLAYER MOTIVATORS 02 / SPYING ON THE COMPETITION 03 / BRAND BUILDING 04 / CREATIVE STRATEGY 05 / MOBILE AD EVOLUTION & IDEATION 06 / STORE CREATIVE BEST PRACTICES 07 / AD CREATIVE BEST PRACTICES 08 / A/B TESTING IN APP & PLAY STORES 09 / HOW TO READ UA DATA 10 / ADS ITERATIONS

1. DESIGNING MOBILE ADS
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
& APP STORE CREATIVES
BY PETER FODOR

2. 01 / USER & PLAYER MOTIVATORS
02 / SPYING ON THE COMPETITION
03 / BRAND BUILDING
04 / CREATIVE STRATEGY
05 / MOBILE AD EVOLUTION & IDEATION
06 / STORE CREATIVE BEST PRACTICES
07 / AD CREATIVE BEST PRACTICES
08 / A/B TESTING IN APP & PLAY STORES
09 / HOW TO READ UA DATA
10 / ADS ITERATIONS
TOPICS COVERED

3. To find success in the
overcrowded mobile market,
publishers have to grab users’
attention and communicate a
message that truly resonates
with them.
You don’t want to push your
ideas onto customers, you
simply want to make what
they want, right?
MOTIVATORS

4. HOW TO CONDUCT
USER ANALYSIS
01 FB AUDIENCE
INSIGHTS
02 APP STORE
REVIEW MINING
INTERVIEWS WITH
CUSTOMERS & STREAMERS
04
03 GAMEREFINERY
05 QUANTIC FOUNDRY

5. Understanding the competitive
landscape you operate is critical
to helping you define a unique
position in the market for your
mobile app or game.
It makes no sense to copy
someone else. Instead, you must
understand how your competitors
position themselves, and use this
to define your own unique selling
proposition.
COMPETITION

6. HOW TO ANALYZE YOUR COMPETITION
USING THE APP & PLAY STORES
Begin by mapping your direct competitors, including those that offer the same
experience or fulfil the same motivators. Your competitors could be games
that offer the same core gameplay, or apps that serve a specific need.
Once you have compiled a list of competitors, focus on how each product
presents itself in the app store as well as in ads. You can use platforms such as
the ad intelligence tool Apptica or Facebook Ads Library to help you with this.

7. As of March 2022, there were more
than 4.3 million apps in the Apple App
Store. A brand serves as a lighthouse
in the myriad of choices, making it
easier for users to navigate through
the thousands of options.
The way you design the product, its
store page, and your adverts define
the brand. Coupled with direct
communication via social media, it
helps to establish a visual and written
identity.
BRAND

8. HOW TO DESIGN YOUR
OWN MOBILE BRAND
Core: Unique selling proposition (USP),
key messages, tone of voice and brand
language.
Story: Brand story and key characters
such as founders, ambassadors or
heroes.
Activities: Awareness building activity
through YouTube series, merchandising,
sponsorships, etc.
There are three layers to brand-building:

9. A creative strategy establishes
clarity about the purpose of an app
or game and how best to position it
for maximum appeal.
The main benefits of having and
using creative strategy are:
STRATEGY
High-converting ads & store listings
Better quality of users
Consistent brand building

10. DEVELOPING A CREATIVE CANVAS
The process of developing a creative canvas starts with defining the messaging.
We distill between 5 to 8 product essentials into a unique selling proposition
(USP). Your USP is one punchy and inspirational sentence that packages and
presents the product.
This USP is then represented by a key visual, which you can imagine as a
“poster” for your app or game.
The audience and their motivational drivers are then reflected in the visual
elements representing your product, which are matched with audience desires.

12. Over time, basic ads will deteriorate
in performance. At this point, we
recommend you move to the next
level and begin adding emotions into
your video ads. Here are some
strategies for this:
IDEATION
Using in-game characters
Creating a surprising mini-story
Showing your users and their emotions
Hitting an aspirational note...
...and many more.

13. At this stage, concepts using 3D graphics, live footage, and those far
removed from the actual app or game experience are the only way to
engage and attract new audiences that have ignored you before.
If you’ve got this far and things still aren’t working, it might be time for
fake ads.
EVOLUTION OF APP VIDEO AD IDEAS

14. Did you know that only 1% of
users read an app’s store
description?
This means one thing: your app
presentation must get to the
point immediately. It must be
clear what your app stands for
from the first impression frame
that users first see once they
land on the store page.
STORE CREATIVES

16. DEFINITION OF PRIORITIES
FOR A/B TESTS
At AppAgent, when analyzing previous
experiments that our clients have
performed we see they often focus too
much on minor things.
To solve this, we use our own guide
called the ‘A/B Testing Loop’.

17. Once you have the general
concept of a video ad in mind or
even sketched out, it’s time to
think about its structure.
AD CREATIVES
First, examine the historical
data of your user acquisition
campaigns. That should help
you to identify which network
and placement drive the highest
traffic.

19. FACEBOOK VIDEO
AD CREATIVES
BEST PRACTICES
01 CAPTURE
ATTENTION
02 SHOWCASE YOUR
BRAND EARLY
03 KEEP THE VIDEO
AD SHORT
04 USE FEED-FRIENDLY
FORMATS
05 DESIGN THE AD
FOR SOUND OFF
06 PLAY MORE WITH
CREATIVES
07 CONNECT THE CALL
TO ACTION WITH
THE MOTIVATOR

20. Store listing optimization is a mid-
funnel strategy that can significantly
improve the performance of your paid
and organic marketing efforts.
Today, there are effectively three A/B
testing options:
A/B TESTING
Look-a-like app store pages –
3rd party, web environment
Google Play Experiments –
Android only, native
App Store Product Pages
Optimization – iOS only, native
1.
2.
3.

22. The creative testing Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) of
every user acquisition manager is
hidden behind the abbreviation
IPM. It stands for installs per mille.
Why is IPM the best metric for
creative evaluation? It combines
the click through rate (CTR) of an
ad with the install rate (IR) in app
stores.
HOW TO READ
UA DATA

23. HOW TO IDENTIFY
THE BEST
PERFORMING
CREATIVE?

24. Experimenting with multiple creative
ideas, rather than investing full
production and media budgets on a
single approach, is part of a mobile
marketers’ DNA.
It helps to reduce risk and increases
the chances that one (or more) ad
creatives will resonate with the
audience.
AD ITERATIONS

25. AD ITERATION STRUCTURE

26. WANT TO LEARN MORE?
You can download the full
Mobile Ad Creatives eBook
for free.
DOWNLOAD HERE