"Every new partnership teaches us something": How ZiMAD brought Om Nom to Magic Jigsaw Puzzles

• ZiMAD and ZeptoLab aim to tap into early 2010s mobile games nostalgia with its collaboration.
• The crossover highlights the growing use and importance of IP-based partnerships to engage both new players and long-time ones.
• ZiMAD has had various past collaborations with the likes of Disney, Marvel and National Geographic.

Magic Jigsaw Puzzles has had quite the journey over the past 14 years, launching when much of the mobile games industry was still finding its place. The game has gone on to amass over 100 million downloads and has built a loyal community. 

Over the years, ZiMAD has had to keep the game fresh and engaging with new content and part of that is formed in partnerships with others. Its latest collaboration with ZeptoLab saw the star character from Cut the Rope, Om Nom, enter the puzzler game in a limited-time event called Nomstalgia, which will run through until the end of 2025. 

For ZiMAD’s chief business development officer, Elizaveta Savenkova, the partnership feels like it was always on the cards.

“Now looking back, I honestly don’t know why we didn’t do it earlier - it just feels like such a natural fit. ZiMAD and ZeptoLab entered the industry around the same time, and both built strong brands around our iconic titles,” she says. 

Savenkova goes on to explain that with the collaboration, the team wanted to bring users back to the 2010s and that feeling of nostalgia, something that she feels the partnership has achieved with various people reaching out to her to tell her that Cut the Rope was one of the first games they ever played on their iPhone. 

Power of partnerships

ZiMAD has long relied on collaborations to bring new value to its audience, having previously worked with the likes of National Geographic, Disney and Marvel. 

“What’s exciting is that every new partnership teaches us something. You’d think after so many there would be nothing left to learn, but there always is,” says Savenkova, noting that partnerships not only help marketing strategies but also open doors to growth, user acquisition and engagement.

Success metrics for such collaborations can have a broad scope and vary depending on the type of partnership, be it looking at new ways the community engages, how many new players join or simply if puzzle completion rate rises.

"My analytics team probably isn’t too happy with me, because we track a lot when it comes to partnerships from which creatives or visuals grab the most attention, to user flow from IP-driven campaigns, to puzzle pack completions and engagement levels,” Savenkova notes. 

She goes on to explain that each collaboration comes with a huge amount of data, but ultimately each partnership also has its own specific business goals. Sometimes those goals can be about reaching new audiences, other times it's to boost engagement or better retention. The team always ensures to define clear success metrics and evaluate how each collaboration contributes to the overall growth and user acquisition strategy. 

When it comes to partnerships, a big part of the appeal is also about standing out. The mobile games market is incredibly crowded and competitive when it comes to engaging with players, so the partnerships within a game can really help it stand apart from other titles on the market. 

“Let’s be honest, how many similar creatives do we all see in ad reports or even while playing other games? We’ve become almost blind to them. But from both a personal and professional perspective, when you see something fresh and unexpected, you instantly want to try it.

“That’s why I view partnerships like this as essential, they bring something exclusive and unique, both for players and for the classic puzzle game experience."

As for the execution of making a partnership such as this work, Savenkova shares that since the two IPs are within the same industry, and there’s an understanding of how casual mobile games operate, this helped to prepare for the launch. Both teams had a clear sense of what would work best and how the collaboration would look, with Savenkova saying it “was one of the smoothest discussions and preparation processes I’ve ever been part of.”

Looking ahead, Savenkova explains how, for long-running titles, these types of collaborations have become a strategic tool and are "absolutely key", and ZiMAD isn’t slowing down. With the holiday season approaching and Magic Jigsaw Puzzles on its way to its 15th anniversary, Savenkova says that there will be plenty more projects on the way.