When to Run Jestr Campaigns

There's no single point in your game's lifecycle when you're supposed to run a Jestr campaign.

We've run campaigns around practically every major beat a game can have — from initial announcements and early playtests through demos, Steam Next Fest, showcases, launch, major updates, DLC, console releases, sales, and everything in between.

The question isn't:

Is this the right stage of development for Jestr?

It's:

Do creators have something worth talking about right now?

If the answer is yes, there's probably an opportunity for a campaign.

Campaigns can work throughout your game's lifecycle

Different moments naturally give creators different reasons to cover your game.

For example:

Campaign beat	Potential creator angles
Announcement	Introducing the game, development story, concept, trailer reactions
Playtest	First impressions, gameplay moments, reactions, mechanics
Demo	Recommendations, gameplay, "you can try this now"
Steam Next Fest	Demo recommendations, event roundups, list-style content
Showcases & events	Reactions, announcements, games you may have missed, roundups
Launch / Early Access	Full gameplay, reviews, recommendations, launch coverage
Major update	What's new, reasons to return, new mechanics or content
DLC / expansion	New characters, areas, mechanics, story, returning-player content
Sale	Recommendations, value-focused content, "now's the time to play"
Console release	Introducing the game to a new audience, platform availability
Milestone	Sales, player counts, reviews, awards, community reception
Collaboration / event	New content, timely hooks, crossover audiences

These aren't the only opportunities.

Anything that gives creators a new reason to talk about your game can potentially become a campaign beat.

Your first campaign can be different

If your game hasn't had much short-form creator coverage yet, the game itself may be enough of a new story.

Creators haven't introduced it to their audiences yet. Mechanics that seem obvious to your development team may be completely new to them. Your development story, gameplay, characters, art direction, and other existing material can provide plenty of angles for an initial campaign.

After you've already activated creators around the game, however, the equation starts to change.

For subsequent campaigns, you increasingly need to ask:

What's different about this campaign from the last one?

That doesn't necessarily require a massive announcement.

A new build, new footage, a milestone, an interesting community discovery, a sale, a new feature, or simply a meaningful new angle can all give creators fresh material.

Give every campaign a reason to exist

Running another campaign simply because some time has passed isn't necessarily a good reason to run one.

Ideally, a subsequent campaign brings at least one of these:

Something new to talk about.

Something new to show.

Something new for players to do.

Without any of those, creators who have already covered your game may struggle to find another angle.

They may end up repeating the same talking points, reusing the same footage, or making essentially the same video they made during the previous campaign.

Or they may simply skip the campaign until there's something new worth covering.

This is why keeping your Talking Points and Asset Packs fresh becomes increasingly important as you run more campaigns for the same game.

For more information, see Writing Better Talking Points and Building Great Asset Packs.

Think about what creators can actually make

You don't need a playable build to run a Jestr campaign.

Announcement campaigns are a great example. Creators can make content using trailers, gameplay footage, developer stories, screenshots, information about the game, and other provided resources.

But the resources available at a particular stage affect what kinds of content creators can make.

Once creators can actually play the game, entirely new possibilities open up:

• Organic gameplay moments
• Reactions
• Funny clips
• Challenges
• Guides
• Builds
• Tips
• Multiplayer interactions
• Personal impressions

If you're running a campaign without playable access, make sure your assets and talking points are strong enough to give creators something compelling to work with instead.

Events create natural discovery moments

Events like Steam Next Fest, showcases, festivals, and seasonal sales can be particularly strong campaign beats because consumers are already looking for games to discover.

They also give creators natural ways to frame their content.

Instead of simply:

Here's a game you should check out.

a creator can make:

3 demos you need to play during Steam Next Fest.

or:

Games you might have missed from this week's showcase.

or:

My favourite co-op games from the sale.

These moments can be particularly effective for list-style creators, because the event itself gives them a reason to group and recommend multiple games.

For more information on enabling list-style content, see Campaign Guidelines.

Match your campaign to the size of the moment

Not every campaign beat needs the same budget or level of activation.

An early playtest, major showcase, global launch, small content update, and major expansion are very different marketing moments.

Your campaign should reflect that.

The first announcement or a major launch/event may justify a much larger push because there's more attention around the game and a stronger reason to concentrate creator coverage.

A smaller update might warrant something more focused.

Think about how important the moment is, how much new material creators have to work with, and how much creator attention you want to generate around it.

For more guidance on structuring the opportunity itself, see Making Attractive Campaigns.

Campaigns can build on each other

Jestr doesn't have to be a one-off launch channel.

When there are meaningful beats throughout your game's lifecycle, campaigns can build on the awareness created by previous ones.

For example:

Announcement ↓ Introduce the game and its story

Playtest ↓ Let creators experience it themselves

Demo / Steam Next Fest ↓ Give audiences something they can immediately try

Launch ↓ Give creators and their audiences a reason to return

Updates / DLC / Sales ↓ Reactivate attention with something new

You don't need to run a campaign at every stage.

The point is that each campaign can serve a different purpose rather than repeatedly asking creators to make the same content.

Leave space between campaigns

Jestr generally enforces a 3–4 week cooldown between campaigns for the same game.

This helps prevent creator fatigue and gives each campaign room to breathe.

It's particularly important for news, recommendation, and showcase creators. Someone who just introduced your game to their audience may not have a compelling reason to make another video about it a week later.

Gameplay creators may have more opportunities to experiment with different moments, but repeatedly presenting the same creator pool with essentially the same campaign can still reduce interest.

The cooldown also prevents repeatedly launching smaller campaigns as a workaround for the economics of running a larger campaign.

If you already know you want to commit a larger budget to a particular beat, it's generally better to create one attractive opportunity upfront than repeatedly relaunch smaller versions of the same campaign.

For more information, see Making Attractive Campaigns.

Look at campaigns we've run

If you're unsure what a Jestr campaign could look like at a particular stage, one of the easiest ways to get ideas is to look at what other studios have done.

Our case studies cover campaigns across different games, budgets, goals, and points in the game lifecycle — including demos, events, launches, and longer-term creator activations.

Use them as examples rather than formulas. The right approach still depends on your game, resources, goals, and the moment you're trying to support.

→ View Jestr Case Studies

Before running another campaign, ask three questions

If you've already run a campaign for your game, ask:

What's new to talk about?

What's new to show?

Why should a creator who covered us last time want to cover us again?

You don't necessarily need an enormous announcement to have good answers.

But if there's nothing new to say, nothing new to show, and no meaningful reason for creators to revisit the game, it may be better to wait for a stronger beat.

There's no single perfect time to use Jestr

A campaign doesn't have to wait for launch, and you don't need to save creator marketing for the biggest moment in your roadmap.

Jestr can support your game throughout its lifecycle whenever there's a meaningful opportunity for creators to introduce it, experience it, revisit it, or tell a new story about it.

The strongest lifecycle strategies aren't necessarily the ones running campaigns most frequently.

They're the ones where each campaign gives creators another good reason to talk about the game.

That's it for Best Practices

You now have the core principles we recommend using when planning campaigns on Jestr:

Make the opportunity attractive.

Give creators interesting things to say.

Give them useful things to show.

Run campaigns when there's a reason to talk about your game.

These aren't hard rules. Use them as a starting point alongside what you know about your game, audience, roadmap, and goals.

And if you're ever unsure how we'd approach a particular campaign, the Jestr team can help you think through it before it goes live.

Next up: Support

You don't have to figure everything out on your own.

The Support section covers the different ways to get in touch with the Jestr team, where to go for campaign, technical, or billing questions, and how to join the Jestr Studio Discord for easier communication with our team and other studios.

Continue to Support to see where to go whenever you need help.