Clash of Clans, one of the longest-running mobile games, has a massively loyal player base. But, in recent years, it has struggled to grow that player base.

Unaided awareness of the game had dropped significantly, particularly in the US. The game needed to reach new audiences, specifically those who would be interested in an action-packed yet slightly outrageous strategy game.

So we partnered with an iconic American sports-entertainment franchise with an audience who loves outrageous action: WWE. For years and years, WWE struggled to regain its popularity from the late ‘90s. But now?

It’s having an epic resurgence. Last year alone, WWE closed a $10 billion deal with Netflix, sold out 72 events and set several viewership records.

In this, Clash saw an opportunity, tap into a re-envigorated fan base that was hungry clamoring for more and more of WWE’s iconic character-driven, action-packed spectacles. Exact phrases that happen to perfectly align with what Clash of Clans has to offer.

We set out to connect fans with Clash in a way that felt organic to WWE. So we tapped into what WWE has always been about – the fight between good and bad.

This March, the league’s most iconic ‘good guy’ John Cena turned bad, betraying another beloved ‘good guy’ Cody Rhodes. This gave us the perfect opportunity to write Clash of Clans into that story of good vs. bad while offering Clash as a way to get in on the action.

WWE is all about the storylines, the struggle between good and bad. So this March, when legendary ‘good guy’ John Cena turned bad against Cody Rhodes, fans were shocked. We were mid-development for our campaign, but knew we had to write Clash of Clans into this huge storyline.

We scrapped everything and started over. As fans everywhere asked, ‘Would Cody Rhodes be next to turn bad?’ we answered, ‘Yes … in Clash of Clans.”

WWE is a world of its own, with its own culture and language. So for us to get away with writing Clash of Clans into a WWE storyline, we had to ensure every beat, every line was rooted in WWE lore.

With a robust media mix, we unleashed Cody’s dark side. We launched three spots during live WWE broadcasts. One even triggered a real-time attack on all 7,000,000 U.S. Clash players.

We let fans retaliate with in-game WWE skins and weapons. And other wrestlers tapped in to bring Cody back from darkness. In the end, we generated 4.3 billion impressions and turned 2.7 million WWE fans into new Clash of Clans players. We started with Cody Rhodes, studying his character and backstory to anchor all of his dialogue authentically.

For example, in our first spot, he goes on a tirade saying, “I built my kingdom, all to destroy theirs.” That is not Clash of Clans-style language. That is a direct reference to his theme song titled ‘Kingdom.’ When Cody says ‘Everyone else is going bad these days,’ we’re calling out John Cena indirectly (without having to actually partner with him).

These examples along with many other ‘easter eggs’ within the campaign generated active fan conversations online, heightening overall interest and engagement.

WWE fans can be tough to connect with. They are resistant to brand integrations. They are protective of their culture and lore. And that culture?

It can be difficult just to understand, let alone integrate into creative for a different brand. But WWE fans are also the perfect audience for Clash of Clans. To us, it was worth the extra work it took to pull off this campaign.

And it wasn’t just pulled off, it paid off. Over the one month campaign, we earned 4.3 billion impressions, converted 2.7 million new players, and garnered a 10% increase in re-engaged users.

These were unprecedented numbers for Clash of Clans in such a short amount of time. As for in-game purchases? Thanks to the WWE skins and weapons we released (and fan desire driven by the campaign) Clash of Clans revenue increased by 12%.