Project Character

A self-initiated project to boost ad performance by leveraging game characters in mobile app install ads. This exploration led to a 11% CTR increase and a pivot to a scalable, automated ad format that generated +$42M in revenue.

The Opportunity & Inspiration

Sometimes, the most impactful ideas come from simple observations. During a visit to a top app developer in Shanghai, I was struck by the vibrant character art covering their studio walls. It was a powerful reminder of the deep emotional connection players form with these characters.

This contrasted sharply with our own app install ads, which often used generic screenshots. It sparked a moment of inspiration and a simple question: what if we could bring that same character-driven energy to our ads? Humbled by the potential, I felt compelled to explore this idea, and initiated a project to see if leveraging characters could create more engaging and effective ads.

Characters

Back in Mountain View, what started as a fun conversation with teammates about our favorite characters from movies and cartoons quickly turned into the foundation for the project. We realized that all memorable characters have distinct personalities that resonate with us.

This was the beginning of the project. I wanted to experiment with using these types of characters from games in our ads to see how it would affect user engagement and, eventually, increase revenue.

Project Goal

Evaluating the impact of game characters on consumer behavior in mobile ads.

Understanding the User

To validate my hypothesis, I partnered with a UX Researcher to interview avid mobile gamers from different backgrounds. Our goal was to understand the role game characters play in their lives. The research confirmed that the connection is incredibly deep and personal.

“While using the wrestler I created in my own image, my partner glanced up at the screen and exclaimed: 'Is that you?'” — Tianpeng, College Student

"Game characters mean a lot to me and many players. Sometimes I feel I immerse myself in these virtual worlds and I turn into the character myself." — Mathilda, Software Engineer

"As a gamer I always wondered what it would be like to be a character in a video game. A character is almost as important as the game itself.” — Tommy, Game Designer

"The importance of a game comes hand in hand with a good character. It is a necessity before you can get started with the rest of the game.” — Sam, Game Developer

Key Research Insights

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Emotion

Consumers develop a strong emotional connection with game characters.

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Brand

Game developers care deeply about their brand and how their ads look.

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Monetization

Game characters play an important role in the financial success of games.

Data-Driven Design & Iteration

With strong qualitative signals, I collaborated with engineering to run a series of A/B tests. We started with simple changes and progressively increased the character's prominence, measuring the impact on performance at each step.

Initial Experiments

Our first set of experiments confirmed our hypothesis: simply including a character resulted in higher engagement. The version focusing on the character saw a 5% increase in Click-Through Rate (CTR) and a 3% increase in conversions.

Design Optimization

The promising initial results secured buy-in from Product Managers to invest in further exploration. We ran a second round of experiments, molding the entire ad experience around the character. The winning variation became our launch candidate, achieving a 7% increase in CTR and a 5% increase in conversion rate.

Designing for Advertisers

A key insight from our research was that advertisers felt they lacked creative control over Google's automated ads. To address this, I designed the new format to be powerful yet simple, giving advertisers control over their brand while minimizing their workload.

Minimal Asset Requirements

The system required only three assets: the character (PNG), game logo, and a brand color. This gave them creative control without requiring a heavy investment from their design teams.

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Final Design

I collaborated with the Google Ads team to integrate this new format into the ad creation tool. The final designs were clean, brand-focused, and highly effective.

The Pivot: A New Challenge Emerges

After launching, we received crucial feedback from smaller game developers. While they loved the character ads, providing even minimal assets created a workflow bottleneck for their small teams. This feedback revealed an opportunity for a more scalable solution. This led to a strategic pivot.

From Characters to Automated Icon Ads

Recalling the promising results of our early icon-only experiments, we developed a new, fully automated solution: Icon Ads. This format eliminated the need for any custom assets from advertisers by dynamically pulling the app icon and metadata directly from the Google Play Store. It created clean, consistent, and effective ads at massive scale, solving the final piece of the puzzle.

Key Benefits of the Final Solution

The final format supported a wide variety of verticals and delivered significant improvements for both users and advertisers.

• Seamless in-app experience with no redirects.
• Higher user engagement through clean, native designs.
• Better performance and conversion rates for advertisers.
• Faster load times, reducing user drop-off.

Final Impact

What began as a simple observation grew into a company-wide initiative. By starting with a user-focused hypothesis, testing it with data, and adapting based on feedback, we delivered a solution that had a massive impact on the business.