Could you briefly describe the history and services of UGC Ninja?
It’s been a great journey that taught us many things that helped us succeed as UGC Ninja. You’re not going to believe it, but we started about 10 years ago as a hardware company. We’ve been producing and distributing a baby soothing toy. The main marketing channel for us back then was influencer marketing. We invested about half a million dollars a month and worked closely with a variety of influencers. The next step was when we decided to create our own app: a baby sleep tracker, that looks quite natural, doesn’t it? We invested the money we earned with a toy. At that point, besides all the production chaos, we started learning how performance marketing works as our influencer experience wasn’t truly applicable for a new product. We’d set up an in-house team to work with the talents to keep all production and UA processes in full control. As usually happens with the apps, at some point, we needed more investment, and we failed. We weren’t really experienced in getting investments, but when we had to pivot… We were really experienced in creating content! So UGC Ninja started helping our friends from the mobile app industry and rocket launched! By the end of the first year, we already had over 80 clients. In 2024, we worked with 448 clients, produced almost 7,000 videos, and generated over 2 billion impressions with our ads. And we won the App Growth Awards 2024!
What are UGC ads and how can this modality boost the communication and marketing strategies of the gambling companies?
User generated content (UGC)-like ads are the type of content that imitates organic reviews from real users. In general, it has more trust than classic brand ads and can boost the metrics, especially when we talk about conversion rates and final return on ad spend. Specifically for gambling, it’s much better when you see a real person talking about their personal experience with a brand than a platform promoting itself, isn’t it? What I see across industries is that UGC ads can not only be a major content for marketing teams but also nurturing and keeping high metrics for other types such as motion graphic ads or even banners. It’s always about a specific marketing strategy a team has.
What would you recommend to a gaming operator that wants to attract more players with innovative and differentiating content?
Definitely, keep an eye on organic trends! It’s a great source of inspiration for creating your brand ads. The ways a brand communicates with its users have changed a lot in recent years. When you start speaking the same language your audience does, it’s always a good thing for your metrics.
Your firm has recently won the App Growth Awards for ‘The Best Entertainment App Campaign.’ What does this recognition represent to the team?
The team was celebrating it the whole weekend! Honestly, it was a great sign that we’re doing the right things. Our approach of considering ads and production as a kind of creative math turned out to be truly rewarding for us and our partners.
Which goals and ambitions do UGC Ninja have for 2025?
Besides doubling all the business metrics? We’re about to launch a course for creative producers to teach them the framework that works for us. We’d love to spread our approach to creating ad content for UA across our current and future partners. We believe that our approach to creative production will ease the process of finding top performing concepts and messages, regardless of whether it’s going to be used by alumni in-house or at work with external partners. Keep an eye on our LinkedIn and website so you don’t miss the official launch!