Case Study: Design and Conjure

The Background

Thermite Games approached us with an urgent request for assistance securing influencer coverage for Steam NextFest. With less than two weeks to organise 3-5 pieces of sponsored content – and a limited budget to work within – we had to move quickly to identify creators, reach out, negotiate, and push content live before the end of the event.

The game in question was a cozy organisation style title called Design and Conjure, which would be releasing a demo as part of the popular Steam event that included two new levels. They wanted to work with influencers who matched the game’s relaxing atmosphere and who had played similar style indies in the past.

The Project

Speed was our priority in this campaign. We didn’t have much time to spend on back-and-forth communications, so we knew we had to be confident with our estimated costs and selected influencers. Our plan was to cast our net wide to increase our chances of timely responses, identifying 15 creators who fit the brief and reaching out with the aim of proceeding with just 4 or 5 influencers.

Another key element of our strategy was clear and concise explanations of our criteria from the start, ensuring that creators were aware of both our limited budget and the quick turnaround before proceeding any further. We wanted to ensure any creator briefs, contract templates and required assets were prepped and ready to go. All of this was in the interest of speeding up the process without sacrificing the quality of the results.

One week prior to Steam Next Fest, we reached out to our list of 15 creators who had played similar titles and/or were known to cover demos and Next Fest content. We moved quickly to share rates and projected results with Thermite Games, providing them with our expert opinion on the best way to proceed.

With limited time to negotiate costs and terms, we carefully considered offers that would appeal to both parties, ensuring the client was still getting the best value for money possible without affecting the delivery timeline. We were then able to provide the creators with all of the information and assets required to produce and share their content before the end of Steam Next Fest.

The Outcomes

We were ultimately able to secure five pieces of content from four of our target creators, each of whom appealed to our primary audience of cozy gamers. Brief but decisive negotiations brought the total cost of this campaign well within the client’s budget while still amassing almost 25,000 views across YouTube and Twitch.

The sponsored content from these four content creators, combined with the organic promotions from Steam NextFest itself, ultimately saw Design & Conjure accrue over 4,000 new wishlist additions by the end of the week.

“Your team quite frankly saved our lives – without them, we’d have been lost!” Thermite Games’ Moira Ding told us at the end of our work together. “During the first video call we had with you, which was scheduled lightning-fast, we understood we were in the right hands. Your team was friendly, professional, and really positioned yourselves from the best possible angle. We’re hoping to work with you again.”

CONTACT

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PARTNERSHIPS

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