Bring it In-House Series: Maximising Team Efficiency and Creative Capabilities for BoomBit

This is the second article of our Bring It In-House Series, where we interview different Luna partners and learn how in-house creative operations have been driving incremental growth for their studio.

Last month, we kicked off our Bring It In-House Series, where we interviewed Cemal from Coda and discussed how building an internal creative team has significantly powered their creative testing and increased output.

This time, we sat down with Francis Tinney, Creative Manager at BoomBit, and learned how in-house creative operations have empowered them to maximise team efficiency and creative capabilities.

Hey Francis! Great to be chatting with you today. Tell us a bit about yourself, BoomBit, and BoomHits!

I’m a Creative Manager at BoomBit and currently based in London. I have 7 years of experience in creatives, mobile advertising, UA and games development.

BoomBit is one of the world’s largest mobile game developers and publishers, specialising in free-to-play games. As for BoomHits, this is our latest publishing team focusing on hyper-casual titles.

So, how long has it been since you had an internal team for creative production?

I have been working with predominantly internal teams since late 2016.

That’s quite a while. How have your experiences been with outsourcing compared to having an internal team for creative production?

Well, although outsourcing has helped reduce production load in the past, not having a direct report with a full understanding of the mobile industry and the fast-paced environment we work in has led to a mismatch in delivery versus expectations. In other words, projects have taken too long!

Another challenge I faced with outsourcing is cost, especially if you’re looking for more complex and quality-driven executions. Some of the quotes received for one project alone could be spent on a dedicated in-house resource who could be making multiple projects for the same price.

In some instances, the cost continues to increase when you need to make further iterations to the version you receive, which simultaneously delays production time and the testing period.

What about now? How has your creative workflow been?

Very efficient. Since having an in-house creative team, we’ve had better QA, procedures and feedback loops. This has additionally sparked our creativity, enabling us to come up with more ideas than ever.

That’s great! What would you say your biggest takeaway is since bringing the majority of your creative operations in-house?

It has let us create a smoother working environment. This has also significantly improved the quality and speed of our delivery, saving us time, resources and money at the same time.

In addition to this, and arguably more important, fostering a team spirit and being able to advance the training and careers of my team members is a massive advantage as a creative leader.

Makes sense. How do you see creative production evolving for the rest of 2021 and beyond?

Having an in-house team really forces you to figure out which tools you need to help automate your creative workflow, and particularly, for which areas. I think we will see more automation for repetitive tasks allowing creative teams to focus on what they do best…being creative.

I also predict that more studios will design their creatives according to the motivating behaviours of their users and building creatives with higher production values. This will cut through the noise of, and differentiate themselves from, the multitude of similar-looking creatives currently out there.

What’s one key piece of advice you would give to studios that are hesitant about building their creative operations in-house?

Don’t be hesitant and just do it. You will see the value of having your creative operations in-house straight away.

And last but not least, tell us a bit about the ongoing competition BoomHits is hosting!

So, we just announced our BoomHits Hyper-Casual Game Development Competition that has a prize fund of $2 Million on top of prizes from our sponsors, MoPub, Snap and, of course, yourselves at Luna Labs. It kicked off on June 22nd and developers have until August 3rd to submit their game.

We’re very excited as this would be a great initiative to help find new and innovative ideas in the hypercasual space!

Thanks for the chat, Francis. And, good luck with the competition!

Check out one of the Luna-Powered creatives that BoomBit has built for their title, Shoe Race 👠

If you want to learn more about what we do at Luna Labs, send us an email at biz-team@lunalabs.uk or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or Instagram. We’d love to learn more about you!