Supercell Creative Strategy

Overview

When Supercell asked us to level up the presentation of their Boom Beach collectibles, they were expecting better photography. What they got was an entirely new way of thinking about their products. I led the charge to merge the immersive world of Boom Beach with real-life settings, creating visuals that felt authentic to the game while making the collectibles a must-have for fans. This project not only boosted engagement but also paved the way for a long-standing collaboration with Supercell.

Supercell had a disconnect. Their in-game marketing was vibrant and full of personality, but their collectibles were stuck in the real world, looking uninspired. Simple product shots on a table weren’t cutting it. They needed a fresh approach that made their memorabilia feel as exciting and special as the game itself—something fans would actually want to share and talk about.

Bringing Boom Beach into the real world

I met with Supercell’s marketing team and even one of the original game developers to get the inside scoop on Boom Beach. Realizing that authenticity was key to creative work that resonates, I started playing the game (a lot!) to really understand its vibe, humor, and community. Six years later, I’m still playing daily, so I’d say the research stuck.

The collectibles didn’t just need better photos. They needed to feel like they were part of the Boom Beach world.

People weren't buying this memorabilia because of its innate quality, but rather its connection to a game experience and company they love.

So we had two directions we could go to better connect the collectibles and the game, one was to make game-style visuals of the collectibles and the other was to bring the game into the real world.

We sketched out some wild ideas: What if the Boom Beach rifle towers hung a clothesline with branded T-shirts? What if someone left a t-shirt on the beach when they went for a swim? What if the game characters themselves wore some of the gear?

I presented rough sketches and concepts to Supercell’s team, who quickly saw the potential and got on board.

We built a 3D beach scene, complete with key elements from the game, but made them photorealistic. The goal was to make it look like Boom Beach had jumped into the real world. The team tried a bunch of setups to see what resonated most, everything from playful concepts to more straightforward hero shots.

Supercell’s marketing team was our sounding board, and they loved seeing their game come to life in unexpected ways. We refined and polished the best concepts into final assets, including a photo shoot that integrated the t-shirts into realistic game situations and combined with 3d renders to create an engaging composition.

From campaign images to the store

With our key images drawing more traffic to the Supercell store, it was time to up the production value of the PDP images, and tie the experience together in a cohesive store page. We made hundreds of photographs and our production team retouched them to a level of finish that elevated the products

Hay Day animals on the loose

Our success in boosting visibility and engagement on the Supercell store led to another amazing opportunity to focus on Social strategy and creative for the game Hay Day. It's an awesome, feel-good game that its fans adore.

Our previous strategy of bringing the game to life was working, and we found an opportunity to push this approach a little further in focusing on the game characters themselves. Rather than just place the game animals into a real-world environment, we imagined what would happen if these pesky farm animals got loose! It was a ton of fun to explore a purely photographic world after doing so much creative work in 3d.

This gave a much-needed boost to Hay Day's Instagram page, and one of our images became the most-liked Instagram post for this beloved game.