Supercell, the Finnish game publisher responsible for some of the most beloved mobile titles in the world – including Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, Brawl Stars and others – decided to break a long-standing tradition in Clash of Clans by planning a surprise early release of Town Hall 16 in December 2023.
Town Hall updates in Clash of Clans are typically significant events within the Supercell player community, as they provide a wide set of new features for the game, such as new buildings, troops, items, and even new game mechanics that change how players approach the game. Town Hall updates are generally released around every 1.5 years, so very few in the community expected such a significant update to the game as early as 2023.
As a way to build hype around the (yet announced) event, raise awareness about the game, and use the pending arrival of Town Hall 16 as a reason to onboard new players, Supercell partnered with Wehype to plan a creator collaboration strategy to make this one of the most talked about gaming events of the weeks leading up to the release date, with an emphasis on the English-speaking and German regions.
Campaign Objectives
There were three main objectives considered for this initiative.
As one of the most beloved mobile games in history with more than 10 years of creating great player experiences around the world, Clash of Clans has not only an incredibly robust current player base but a massive amount of gamers that either have played Clash of Clans at some point in the past or have not played it but are aware of the game. With that in mind, objective one was to use this campaign to onboard new and lapsed players.
However, in addition to onboarding new and returning players, Supercell wanted to make sure that through this initiative, we could set all new players up for success: Clash of Clans is a game with mechanics and features that reward those players who look beyond its initial appeal and continue to experience the game with its deeper systems. As such, objective two was clear: provide creative ways to encourage player retention and engagement in the game.
Finally, we wanted to take the creator impact further for this partnership. By going beyond simply communicating about the game’s features, characters, and gameplay, we looked to create a story that could generate positive feelings within the audiences exposed to Clash of Clans through their favorite creators. Something tied to the upcoming release of Town Hall 16 that could rally communities in support of a common cause and provide the feeling of having an impact in real life through actions in the game. Thus, objective three was to build a concept that can break through the noise and simultaneously be meaningful for the community.
Meet Clash for Nature
For Town Hall 16, “Unleash the Force of Nature” was the chosen theme during the planning stage for the new update. The update introduced new troops, characters, mechanics, and animations with nature and wilderness motifs.
With this in mind, the Wehype team came up with the concept of Clash for Nature, the name of creator activation conducted in the lead-up to the release of the new update.
Clash for Nature was a friendly and collaborative competition that prompted all Clash of Clans players to pledge their allegiance to one of two teams: Team Trees or Team Seas, each representing the respective environmental fundraiser initiative led by Mr Beast and Mark Rober. During the Clash for Nature event window, all the gold looted by Clash of Clans players through multiplayer battles would count towards a community gold tracker, which would unlock new rewards for players and donation tiers for both causes once each milestone was hit, with a maximum goal set at a $100,000 total donation.
By selecting a team, players would get access to an in-game decoration representing their choice. Soon enough, we saw the community embracing the competition, taking it to Reddit and other forums to discuss the initiative.
To be a part of Clash for Nature, we connected with some of the biggest creators in the world on Twitch and YouTube, such as Jynxzi (the world’s most subbed streamer of Twitch at the time), Trymacs, Emiru, Jschlatt, Asmongold or PewDiePie, with every assigned creator to one of the two teams.
Aside from the overall team structure, Clash for Nature tracked and ranked the individual contributions from each creator’s community on a leaderboard. This fostered friendly competition among communities during the event. The creator competition had its own set of prizes and rewards, such as exclusive merch packages and even a Tesla car, which led to creators acknowledging the ongoing ranking of their pieces of content and boosting the storyline of a friendly rivalry in the Twitch and YouTube space.
Furthermore, to keep audiences engaged throughout the campaign, every creator provided at least two pieces of content that could remind their audience of the ongoing competition and added context to how they could contribute.
The Results
Conclusion
More than 10 years after first being released, Clash of Clans remains one of the most played games in the world. Through Clash for Nature, the Wehype and Supercell teams were able to leverage the reach of some of the world’s top creators and introduce Clash of Clans to new and returning audiences in a way that would create a solid and compelling story for viewers to feel invested in becoming players.
While Supercell’s journey continues to captivate audiences, Wehype’s all-in-one platform offers multiple ways for games to collaborate with creators through all stages of the game lifecycle. If you are curious to learn more, contact us here.
