PocketWhale

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Japanese mobile game developer.

For what projects/services did your company hire PocketWhale?

We work with PocketWhale to arrange semi-regular influencer campaigns for France, Italy, Spain, and South America.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to partner with larger channels specializing in mobile gaming, such as Let’s Play videos, to increase consumer awareness and develop a broader, more dedicated player base outside Japan, specifically in Europe and the Americas.

How did you select this vendor?

We met them at a major gaming convention, where they presented us with an impressive portfolio of successful Europe-centric campaigns they conducted with other Japanese developers.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

PocketWhale first gathered our specific goals and requirements for influencer channels we would be willing to work with, then provided us with a wide variety of proposals from which we could choose our ideal candidates. They also suggested additional advertising platforms and helped us implement targeted and affordable test campaigns.

What was the team composition?

Although we worked closely with one specific team member throughout the entire project, other team members were involved in arranging individual campaigns.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

PocketWhale and their selected influencers have helped us develop a solid core player base for our flagship game in France, Italy, and across multiple Spanish-speaking countries, producing hundreds of thousands of new installations.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Despite the time difference between our two countries, PocketWhale is responsive, quick, and detail-oriented, all while considering customary Japanese business practices. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The PocketWhale team has always understood our needs, providing thorough proposals and planning and frank advice when recommending an alternative plan to achieve our goals. They also fostered incredibly cost-effective partnerships with some of the larger YouTube channels.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Although we initially rejected some of their suggested partners, we had confidence in their experience and ultimately used those partners for later campaigns. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Vivid Games is a mobile game development studio and publisher based in Poland. I am the business development manager.

What challenge were you trying to address with PocketWhale?

We didn’t have much background at that time with free-to-play games, and we wanted to get the game prepared before the release. We hired PocketWhale to help with the soft launch of one of our mobile games.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We decided to run a soft launch for a couple of months. They helped us organize the structure of the soft launch, which included marketing, user acquisition, and A/B testing to the extent that we find out what to test and how to evaluate the feedback.

What is the team composition?

We had two specific advisors.

How did you come to work with PocketWhale?

We met them at a technology conference, but I cannot recall which one.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2015, and we have ongoing projects.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They helped us bring the game to market. We have found that our UA actions have performed well, and our Facebook marketing has been an effective strategy. We believe we have spent much less money than if we had used another firm.

How did PocketWhaleperform from a project management standpoint?

Our communication has gone well. We have had very few problems discussing difficult issues. They are open and straightforward. They spent a lot of time with us at our headquarters. We worked a lot on Skype, but we met face-to-face quite frequently. They worked very efficiently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were dedicated to every aspect of our project. They were always available when we needed them. They were always in the right place.

Any advice for potential customers?

We found it valuable to meet face-to-face. When you speak with them, you find out that they can help with many other tasks. They’re not only doing UA. They are skilled in game design and marketing, and they’re very willing to share their knowledge.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of PR and influencer relationships at a mobile gaming publisher based in Germany. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Pocket Whale?

Pocket Whale is our partner consultancy since we have quite a small PR team internally. They have the resources we need to conduct an international campaign that covers many markets globally for the launch of our products on the App Store and Google Play

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had several product launches that were quickly approaching. They rapidly coordinated with us to compile all the assets like video materials, messages and press releases we needed to gain the best possible press for our products. They then approached hundreds of journalists and secured great coverage for our launches across multiple markets. 

They supported us in answering user requests about features like how to play our products around the launch of these games. Mainly, they functioned as our agency of choice to amplify messaging we produced in-house. They worked on a traditional agency model which executes on client's materials and campaign vision and then goes away and gets the media coverage we need to drive traffic to the App Store and Google Play for our newly launched game. 

What is the team composition? 

Our main point of contact was the CEO of Pocket Whale. 

How did you come to work with Pocket Whale?

We chose them based on a mixture of word of mouth, other testimonies, and a constant level of their skill once we started engaging. The mobile gaming industry includes a vast number of companies and products, but only a few key people when you go to events that remain consistent from one conference to the next. Pocket Whale is renowned in the industry as a great PR team to promote your apps and games online.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May to June of 2016. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Pocket Whale acquired exemplary press for the launch of our product. This media coverage exceeded our expectations and had a significant impact on the number of organic installs that came in during the first three weeks of our product launch, which contributed to several million downloads even within the first couple of days the product was live on the App Store and Google Play. This launch was a big success for us, and Pocket Whale played a big part in that. 

The team thoroughly understands how to sell video games. They're exceptionally knowledgeable about PR best practice in the mobile gaming, industry, which is a massive but very young and rapidly emerging market. Pocket Whale's CEO specifically has a grade-A vision of how to sell mobile products like ours. Thanks to their keen understanding of our products, I have a deep level of trust in the team. 

How did Pocket Whale perform from a project management standpoint?

Pocket Whale's streamlined workflow was helpful for a fairly small team like ours. We worked in a relatively lean, agile way. We corresponded over Skype and email.

It worked well to have one point of contact who I could send all our assets and materials to. They disseminated this content to all the international territories we wanted to sell the product.

 What did you find most impressive about them?

I most appreciated Pocket Whale's passion for our product, which translated into a highly successful PR campaign. Coupled with their already deep knowledge of the market, they could pick up the USPs in our product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since they were growing as a company at the time, we experienced some slower periods. That's just the nature of staffing up, though, and it didn't cause any problems with our campaign. At worst, we just had to wait an hour or two longer for an email response.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice to any future client of Pocket Whale is to go ahead with confidence. I like their work model and have become friends with their team since I started working with them. The mobile gaming market doesn't have very many proper PR agencies, so they are in many ways a saving grace.