OTHERLEVELS BUILDS ON HALFBRICK STUDIOS ALLIANCE

MOBILE marketing specialist OtherLevels (ASX:OLV) has bolstered its partnership with Halfbrick Studios, after signing the Fruit Ninja developer to its FastStart program.

The 12-week consultancy program evaluates performance and optimises marketing strategies to enhance communication with customers.

The Brisbane-based business already provides a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to Halfbrick Studios.

OtherLevels managing director Brendan O'Kane says the program shares knowledge and leadership skills developed from working in markets including the US, UK and Australia.

"We began offering FastStart managed services because we recognised that it is becoming essential for a business' competitive advantage to understand who its customers are, and how to maximise engagement with them," O'Kane says.

"Our clients in the gaming space especially, are finding it increasingly important to have one-to-one conversations with their players, because expanding and extending existing player relationships increase life time value (LTV) and is more cost effective than acquiring new players."

Halfbrick Studios has more than three million active players each day, across its stable of games including Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride, Bear vs. Art and Star Skater.

Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo (pictured) says the program will provide an invaluable insight into the company's consumers, as well as build on an already successful partnership with OtherLevels.

"The mobile gaming market is becoming more saturated, and maintaining relationships with players on a one-to-one level is a critical part of our marketing strategy to continue to be visible and prominent in the space," Deo says.

"OtherLevels has been the technology underpinning our mobile communications with our customers for three years now, but the innovations that it is bringing to the mobile space is giving us deeper insights into how our players interact with us and our games."

Through the OtherLevels platform game companies like Halfbrick have reported a 34 per cent increase in highly active users through improved messaging, with a further 100 per cent increase in revenue relating to retargeting campaigns.

O'Kane says consumers expect games to be free-to-play in the mobile games space, with in-app purchases or advertising the main source of revenue.

He says encouraging players to play the game frequently is vital to its success.

"OtherLevels has the proven ability to help enterprises and publishers do this by being able to help them understand who their users or players are, and then use that data to tailor content and messaging to suit the individual," he says.