To kick off their 10th year of SMITE, Hi-Rez created a Personalized Video for each player, recapping individual highlights from their last decade of gameplay. Powered by our Next Generation Video Platform, the campaign was a massive hit, leading to higher revenue, social shares and player reactivation.
Want to go behind the scenes and learn how it all worked — and the amazing results, including a 2x increase in player game time and an astonishing 25x uplift in new users? Here’s the story.
Campaign Idea
Almost every personalized year in review we do is a celebration of the customer. If it’s for an airline, it might be the places they’ve traveled and rewards earned. If it’s for a sports team, it covers matches watched and how they compare with other top fans.
But the video doesn’t have to recap only a year. It can be a month, 5 years or a decade.
In the gaming industry, where Personalized Videos created by Idomoo have seen some of the fastest adoption, the recaps often celebrate past wins while teasing a new game or season. That’s exactly what Hi-Rez did for SMITE Year 10, Season of Monsters. Before looking ahead to the new season, they wanted to honor what players had done before.
“We called the campaign ‘Temple of You’ because it made players feel like true deities whose achievements are celebrated,” said Stephen Hutchins, Hi-Rez Marketing Director.
The opening of the video makes it clear with the epic-sounding voiceover:
Welcome to the Temple of You, the monument to glorify your divine exploits. Allow us to celebrate your greatest accomplishments in the first decade of SMITE — a testament to your trimumps, trials and tenacity.
“Our players have so many amazing stories to tell, and Idomoo’s technology allowed us to bring these to life and celebrate their achievements,” Hutchins said.
Executing on the Vision
Hi-Rez’s in-house studio handled the creative while Idomoo’s platform allowed dynamic personalization in every scene.
SMITE videos included:
- 40 personalized data points
- Alternative scenes based on who receives the video
- Top teammates and in-game rivals to maximize social sharing
Take a look at this example to see it in action.
The square format of the video is another interesting aspect. We’ve done horizontal, vertical and square videos for clients. (With Living Video, our platform can even change the video orientation based on what device it’s viewed on.) One perk of square videos is that they look great on mobile and desktop.
Gaming Campaign Success
The videos looked great, but when it comes down to it, the players determine if the campaign is a success or not. But as we see with year-in-review videos time and again, people love content that makes them the star. Players around the world shared their video, and the campaign even drove revenue through in-game purchases and increased player retention.
“The campaign has been an incredible success, driving positive player sentiment and social discussion, reactivating lapsed players and helping engage them in game,” Hutchins said. “Working with Idomoo’s team made it easy to bring our vision to life.”
Top campaign wins at a glance:
- Those who watched their video spent 2x as long playing the game as those who didn’t
- Half of players who returned to the game after receiving their video continued to play for at least 20 days.
- The campaign led to a 25x uplift in new users compared to other channels without personalized video during the same campaign.
“The campaign has been an incredible success, driving positive player sentiment and social discussion, reactivating lapsed players and helping engage them in game,” Hutchins said. “Working with Idomoo’s team made it easy to bring our vision to life.”
Dotan Ginsbourg, Idomoo GM Gaming, who leads our gaming efforts with some of the world’s biggest brands, was excited to see how effective this campaign was.
“One interesting result of the campaign was seeing how watching the video made both active and returning players more likely to play SMITE with their friends,” he said. “We know Personalized Video increases loyalty, but it was especially great to see how sticky these campaigns are, driving engagement well after customers have stopped watching. Combining that with high ROI and social shares, this campaign was a win all around.”
Tips for Your Recap Campaign
Considering a recap campaign like the one SMITE did? We put together our top seven tips for a personalized year in review to help you get started.
These kinds of campaigns are hot right now, especially in the entertainment sector, and they’re not slowing down. If you need a tech partner to help you personalize your recap videos at scale, get in touch. We have an in-house studio able to handle your creative needs and a fully open platform if you’d rather go the self-serve route.
