Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

How motion data from phones can inform your growth strategy - Dieter Rappold (Context SDK)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Dieter Rappold, co-founder and CEO of Context SDK, joins Apptivate to explore how motion sensor data and on-device AI are reshaping mobile marketing strategies. He explains how contextual signals from accelerometers, gyroscopes, and other device inputs can help marketers identify the right moment to engage users, optimize conversion timing, and improve monetization without relying on personal data or tracking permissions. The conversation covers the evolution from event-based to moment-based optimization, practical implementation considerations, privacy implications, fraud detection use cases, and how contextual intelligence could power the next generation of agentic AI and decision-making in mobile growth.

Questions addressed in this episode:

What types of smartphone sensor signals can marketers use today?
How does Context SDK turn motion data into actionable growth insights?
What is the difference between event-based and moment-based optimization?
Which app categories benefit most from contextual engagement timing?
How does on-device AI change personalization in a privacy-first world?
What implementation effort is required to test contextual optimization?
How can motion signals support fraud detection and ad performance?
Where could contextual intelligence influence agentic AI and future UX?
What strategic priorities should mobile marketers focus on next?

Timestamps

(0:04) — Motion sensor data in mobile marketing
(0:56) — Accelerometer and gyroscope explained
(2:06) — Founding story and origins of Context SDK
(3:10) — Awareness gap among mobile marketers about sensor data
(4:24) — Airbnb example illustrating real-world user intent
(5:44) — Physics-based data vs opinion-driven marketing models
(6:55) — Session duration differences and conversion timing opportunities
(8:22) — Event-based vs moment-based optimization strategy
(10:13) — App verticals and use cases for contextual timing
(11:15) — Additional signals beyond motion sensors
(12:02) — Model training requirements and data scale needed
(14:02) — Privacy compliance, ATT and permissionless personalization
(15:11) — Fraud detection applications using motion behavior
(15:43) — Ad network integration and performance uplift example
(17:28) — Context data as signal layer for agentic AI
(19:18) — Strategic priorities and competitive positioning for marketers
(20:23) — Limits of sociodemographic targeting frameworks
(22:06) — How to connect with Context SDK team
(22:29) — Rapid-fire questions
(24:58) — Episode wrap

Quotes

(4:45) “If you're walking down the street and open Airbnb. You probably look for the key code of the apartment that you have booked. But if you're comfy on the sofa and open Airbnb, you are probably planning your next vacation.”
(5:03) “Humans constantly move in a three dimensional space while they're using their smartphones and the apps on it… we have different needs, different pain points, different session durations and different likelihoods to convert in different actions.”
(8:47) “I do believe that we should not get rid of event based, but we should combine it with moment based because both things can tell us something. Event based gives us behavioral context, meaning the behavior in the app. But the question is, when is the timing right?”
(13:35) “Based on how we built this, our architecture and our approach, we don't need ATT, we don't need any permissions, and we are out of the box GDPR compliant because we don't collect any PII, we don't collect a unique user ID, we don't collect unique device ID.”

Mentioned in this episode:

How to find the leaks in your app’s marketing funnel - Bani Malhotra

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Bani Malhotra, former head of personalization and site experience for Walmart’s e-commerce platform, joins Apptivate to unpack the real drivers of revenue growth in modern digital products. She explores how recommendation systems, search behavior, ratings and reviews can influence conversion rates across the funnel. She also discusses why many teams misdiagnose the cause of revenue leaks, and how behavioral signals increasingly outperform demographic targeting. Bani also discusses the evolving responsibilities of product leaders, including ownership of go-to-market and revenue outcomes, and shares lessons from building AI-native consumer apps where product systems must handle probabilistic outputs, uncertainty, and the balance between automation and user control.

Questions addressed in this episode

Which product levers most reliably drive revenue in e-commerce?
Where do companies actually lose revenue in the funnel?
How should teams think about personalization without creating discovery problems?
What behavioral signals best predict purchase intent?
How is the product leadership role evolving?
What changes when building AI-native consumer products?
How should teams design systems when AI outputs are probabilistic?

Timestamps

(0:03) — Bani Malhotra’s background and experience leading personalization at Walmart
(3:17) — Why revenue growth comes from multiple connected drivers
(4:02) — Recommendation systems and the evolution of personalization
(5:10) — The impact of ratings and reviews on customer confidence
(8:37) — Search behavior as a signal of user intent
(13:35) — Diagnosing revenue leaks across the funnel
(20:03) — When personalization becomes an echo chamber
(27:27) — Why upselling can damage customer trust
(32:35) — Behavioral signals versus demographic targeting
(37:41) — How the product leadership role has evolved
(40:54) — Designing AI-native consumer products
(44:44) — Rapid-fire questions and closing

Quotes

(3:30) “Revenue isn't just working on one level. There are multiple revenue drivers that connect to each other, and when they work together in tandem, it compounds.”
(8:48) “When somebody searches, not only are they starting consideration, they are giving you intent.”
(13:39) “More often than not I have seen the biggest revenue leaks to be mid-funnel and bottom of the funnel.”

Mentioned in this episode

Bani on Linkedin

Common LTV mistakes and how to avoid them - Artsiom Kazimirchyk (Campaignswell)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Artsiom Kazimirchyk, co-founder and CEO of Campaignswell, joins Apptivate to break down predictive LTV modeling, the critical flaws in how teams measure unit economics, and why today's mobile marketers need unified tools that connect profitability analysis across channels. The conversation covers what's broken in traditional LTV reporting, the technical pain points of fragmented data definitions across platforms, and how accurate cohort analysis can unlock smarter budget allocation.

Questions addressed in this episode:

What is Campaignswell, and what problem is it solving for mobile marketers?
What is wrong with traditional LTV reporting?
What exactly is predictive LTV and how far out can you forecast?
Which monetization models are easiest versus hardest to predict LTV?
When teams estimate their own LTV, how accurate are they usually?
What immediate changes can marketers make if their LTV is poorly defined?
How does Campaignswell guide budget allocation across different channels?
What is the elevator pitch for Campaignswell to get teams to adopt it?
Why is cohort analytics misunderstood by most marketing teams?
How should marketers think about payback periods when measuring campaign efficiency?

Timestamps:

(0:26) — What Campaignswell is and what problem it solves for marketers
(1:24) — Building Campaignswell as a single source across all teams
(5:20) — Why speed matters in campaign decisions
(7:50) — The hidden costs in LTV
(9:47) — Predictive LTV and calculating on specific horizons
(11:19) — Why subscription monetization is easiest to predict
(16:19) — Client LTV predictions: When teams' numbers are off by 2x or more
(20:27) — Matching optimization targets to the right LTV metrics across channels
(26:22) — Why cohort analytics is misunderstood by most marketing teams
(28:20) — Lightning round: First thing every morning
(29:49) — Closing: Where Artsiom wants to travel next

Quotes:

(8:07) "Apple takes 30 percent of your revenue by default. It's really huge. It might be all your margin. And if you cannot calculate it, your comparison with customer acquisition cost might be wrong.”
(25:20) “Using Campaignswell, you won't be in a situation where one team says they have a CPA of $20 bucks and another team says it’s $30.”
(29:14) "I noticed that marketing spend was $600,000 per day with really strong performance. ROI was something around 30 percent. So it's a really huge amount of marketing budget. The first thing I thought was there’s probably something wrong."

Mentioned in this episode:

Dissecting app growth - Louis Tanguay (App Growth Summit)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Louis Tanguay, founder of App Growth Summit, returns to dissect why user retention is defining success for mobile in 2026. The conversation ranges from in-person event strategy to hands-on UX tactics, with practical lessons for product teams facing an era of AI, off-app payments, and high user expectations. Louis shares what top apps get wrong about onboarding, how to use gamification without gimmicks, and where the next phase of community is headed.

Questions addressed in this episode:

What does it take to build a real app community in 2026?
Why has retention overtaken acquisition as the key metric?
Where do most onboarding flows lose users?
What old-school tactics still drive engagement in an AI world?
How can product teams bridge the gap between digital and in-person experiences?

Timestamps:

(0:03) — Louis Tanguay: first steps in app growth and events
(2:20) — Building in-person communities and event philosophies
(4:10) — User experience, retention, and the changing funnel
(6:05) — Off-app conversion and new payment strategies
(9:12) — Why retention is the hardest metric
(12:04) — What product teams miss on onboarding
(15:08) — Early wins, gamification, and balancing friction
(19:12) — Testing, analytics, and segmenting users
(21:24) — Human connection, digital convergence, and long-term habits
(25:42) — Lightning round: daily routines, advice, and closing thoughts

Quotes:

(5:34) “You have to do the research and see how much traffic you are actually losing by sending people out of your app or your site.”
(8:22) “Growth is more like a circle than a funnel. I never really liked the funnel term.”
(19:24) "If you're going to gamify, then in the user preferences, allow me to turn off gamification. Some people want those experiences, but always give users control. You can't force everyone into the same play pattern."

Mentioned in this episode:

How AI is reshaping trip discovery at booking.com – Jyoti Pannu (Booking.com)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Jyoti Pannu, Product Manager at Booking.com, shares how AI is transforming the way travelers discover, plan, and book their next adventure. From AI trip planners that surface new possibilities to the integration of GenAI and ChatGPT into the core product, Jyoti explains why travel discovery is moving beyond simple search, how user intent is now mapped through nuanced signals, and what the rise of LLMs means for attribution, retention, and the future of app UX. She also dives into cross-vertical product lessons, balancing novelty and personalization, and offers advice for elevating women in product management.

Questions addressed in this episode:

What is Booking.com, and what does Jyoti’s role cover?
How is AI being used at Booking.com beyond chatbots and content generation?
What does intent-based and natural language discovery look like in practice?
How is the app experience changing with AI-driven trip planners and smart filters?
How does Booking.com balance user personalization and novelty in recommendations?
How do LLM-based discovery channels affect paid UA and retargeting strategies?
What guardrails and metrics are important for launching new AI features?
What lessons cross over from fintech, e-commerce, and travel in app retention?
How should product teams think about post-purchase and post-trip experience?
What advice does Jyoti have for women building a career in product and tech?

Timestamps:

(0:03) – Jyoti’s role at Booking.com and scope of the app
(1:39) – AI trip planners and intent-driven product development
(3:17) – Smart filters and natural language input for hotel discovery
(4:03) – How Booking.com infers trip purpose and personalizes UX
(6:09) – LLMs, ChatGPT, and new search/discovery interfaces
(8:13) – Attribution, channel mix, and UA economics in an AI-first world
(11:01) – Avoiding the filter bubble in travel recommendations
(13:41) – Booking.com plugins and booking via ChatGPT
(15:41) – Cross-vertical product lessons from e-commerce, fintech, and travel
(17:58) – Brand omnipresence, loyalty, and retention
(19:04) – Emotional stakes and UX in travel vs. transactional apps
(21:37) – Post-trip and post-purchase: product touchpoints
(22:50) – Testing AI features for retention and quality
(24:24) – Guardrails, review, and data governance
(25:29) – Elevating women in product and leadership
(27:50) – Rapid-fire: travel, career, life, and favorite places

Quotes:

(3:35) “We have an option for users called smart filters, where they can make searches in the form of natural language, like how you would interact with a human. We map this in our systems to provide personalized results for these users.”
(17:00) “If a user has interacted with our platform and they have made a purchase from two different categories, they are more likely to become a high value customer than someone who has bought multiple times in the same category.”

Mentioned in This Episode:

The new era of rewarded traffic - Lenny Rabin (Brown Boots)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Lenny Rabin, founder of direct advertising group Brown Boots and their reward app platform GoKart, joins Taylor Lobdell to dissect the evolution of rewarded user acquisition, focusing on how direct publisher-advertiser relationships can solve long-standing industry inefficiencies. Rabin, with over a decade in rewarded traffic and ad tech, explains why most publishers dislike third-party monetization platforms, how custom tech stacks like GoKart enable deeper, more transparent deals, and what both advertisers and publishers must do to thrive in an increasingly mainstream and competitive rewards ecosystem. This episode tracks the practical realities of running direct-sold inventory at scale, dives into shifts in audience intent (from GPT sites to fintechs), and breaks down why most campaigns fail. Rabin also shares founder lessons for building in ad tech without an engineering background.

Questions addressed in this episode:

What’s the origin story behind Brown Boots and Go-Kart?
Why do most publishers dislike monetizing via third-party networks?
What core problems do direct publisher-advertiser relationships solve that networks can’t?
What are the unique challenges in building a tech stack for rewarded offers?
How does Go-Kart’s programmatic model differ from legacy platforms?
Who is the ideal client for Brown Boots vs. Go-Kart?
What major changes has Rabin seen in rewarded marketing over 15 years?
How do publisher audiences shape campaign strategy and outcomes?
What retention and LTV signals matter most for performance marketers?
What timeline is realistic for testing new rewarded channels?
Where do most advertisers and publishers fail in UA campaign collaboration?
What’s Rabin’s advice for ad tech founders without a technical background?

Timestamps:

(0:04) – Intro and Lenny’s background
(0:27) – Brown Boots & Go-Kart origin story
(1:55) – Direct publisher-advertiser relationships explained
(3:22) – Building custom tech for publishers
(5:20) – Ideal customer for Brown Boots and Go-Kart
(6:30) – Fintech, UA, and why rewarded offers are growing
(9:00) - What has changed the most in rewarded traffic acquisition
(11:15) – How intent differs between GPT sites and fintech audiences
(13:05) - How does that change the value proposition for app marketers
(13:45) – Advertiser mistakes: not understanding publisher audiences
(15:06) – How long to test new channels; why 90 days matters
(16:46) – The retention metric and why it drives value
(17:46) – Go-Kart’s programmatic disruption
(18:18) – Why last-mile delivery in rewarded UA is broken
(21:00) – The tech stack vision: features, flexibility, and future
(27:00) – Lessons in building ad tech as a non-engineer
(35:00) - Rapid fire round

Quotes:

(1:05) "Publishers wanted less opaqueness in the revenues that they were making and also deeper partnerships with the advertisers."
(5:00) "Rewarded traffic is a medium which continues to grow and is becoming more mainstream."
(6:46) "Any app that has a core product offering not related to rewarded marketing and has a rewarding mechanism is a good target."
(11:29) "On a GPT site, users come to the site specifically to earn rewards... Your quality of your user is inherently low."
(13:55) "Every publisher will have a specific and unique audience and catering the campaign specifically to that audience is a big miss."
(21:55) "Let's not be spending our time dealing with data loss and dealing with small decisions. Let's spend our time talking about how we create custom campaigns."

Mentioned in this episode:

Ask the experts - Top app marketing insights of 2025

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 08:00:00 +0000

This special ‘Best of 2025’ episode compiles standout insights from top mobile marketing leaders who joined Apptivate this year. Across five segments, the show digs into the realities of AI in ad production, growth lessons from global brands, the rise of community-driven retention, loyalty tactics for the holiday season, and the intersection of brand authenticity with performance marketing. Guests include Andre Kempe (Admiral Media), Luca Stefanutti (Adidas Running), Advi Bishnoi (Social Plus), Sue Azari (AppsFlyer), and Shilpa Reddy (Acorns/Down Under School of Yoga). Listen in for actionable solutions for growth, retention, creative production, and privacy-first engagement, plus practical advice on what really works in mobile right now.

Key topics and questions:

Where does AI in ad production create results, and where do humans still win?
How do brands like Adidas Running turn experimentation into meaningful growth?
Why is retention now the core of mobile growth - and how does community drive it?
How can e-commerce brands use ‘Q5’ and loyalty tactics to turn new installs into revenue?
Is performance marketing and brand-building a single story? And what role do podcasts play in establishing trust?

Timestamps:

Segment 1: Andre Kempe, Admiral Media

(1:05) Workflow: AI tools vs. human quality control
(6:20) How much faster is creative production with AI?
(7:40) Where AI makes the biggest impact

Segment 2: Luca Stefanutti, Adidas Running

(8:18) Surprising growth learnings
(10:56) Turning insights into action
(13:03) Creative strategy for user acquisition

Segment 3: Advi Bishnoi, Social Plus

(15:15) Why retention is the real growth lever
(16:38) Marketing silos and who owns retention
(19:45) Organic engagement vs. promos/events
(21:06) First-party data for privacy and insight

Segment 4: Sue Azari, AppsFlyer

(24:11) Defining Q5 and end-of-year cycles
(25:22) Loyalty, remarketing, and channel tactics

Segment 5: Shilpa Reddy, Down Under School of Yoga (formerly Acorns)

(34:10) Marketing flywheel: fit, LTV, brand
(40:28) Brand investments in LTV

Quotes

Andre Kempe

(8:06) “We have a better win rate or success rate with creatives that we are still manually producing, no matter what.”

Luca Stefanutti

(11:40) “I think here that the most important part is to have a key connection with certain people that are constantly, consistently working and have a growth mindset.”

Advi Bishnoi

(16:00) “A lot of times, the actual act of nurturing existing customers is left to, let's say, the business development department or the customer success department.”

Sue Azari

(24:20 ) “Q5 is typically the period that sits towards the end of December into January, where it's that next wave of the increase that we see in shopping app installs and purchases.”
Shilpa Reddy
(40:27) ”LTV almost by definition is long-term. It allows you to justify investments in brand.”

Mentioned in this episode:

From leisure to loyalty: How KashKick pays for downtime - Lisanne Vera (KashKick)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Lisanne Vera, VP of Growth at KashKick, joins Taylor Lobdell to talk about the incentives economy, a marketplace where leisure becomes an asset. From her early affiliate-marketing roots to leading growth at one of the fastest-growing rewards apps, Lisanne unpacks how KashKick designs offers that respect user time, prevent bait-and-switch dynamics, and build long-term trust. She discusses how micro-earnings sustain engagement, why transparency matters more than flashy payouts, and why being relentlessly user-focused, even at the cost of short-term ROAS, can drive the strongest growth stories in mobile today.

Key Topics and Questions

Monetizing leisure time as engagement, how to align offers with user habits.
Micro vs. large payouts: why early small rewards matter more for retention.
Identifying drop-off, how can you spot value mismatches at first action, not D7.
Trust and expectation: showing average, attainable outcomes, not edge cases.
Marketplace curation to add only offers users already want, not random buys.
User and advertiser transparency for clear education, ratings, and funnel data.
Which social platforms are delivering the most reliable new users?
How to design for seasoned rewards users versus newcomers.
What steps help marketers adapt when retargeting and paid attribution get harder?
Why value energy and attitude over traditional credentials when building a team?
Which user-focused investments have delivered the clearest returns in long-term retention or brand strength?

Timestamps

(0:00) – Intro and Lisanne’s background in affiliate marketing
(2:04) – What KashKick is and how the marketplace works
(2:21) – Treating leisure time as a market asset
(3:00) – User-first campaign design and offer selection
(3:37) – Why genuine interest matters more than payout size
(5:29) – Designing offers that respect user time
(5:48) – How micro-rewards sustain engagement
(7:04) – Balancing small wins with big payout motivation
(8:01) – Measuring engagement versus pure volume
(8:58) – How KashKick incentivizes fintech and charity actions
(11:12) – Building trust through transparency and education
(13:03) – Giving partners visibility and fraud prevention
(14:09) – Why affiliates and content creators still work
(15:40) – Push, email, and the next wave of engagement
(16:35) – Playing the long game with user-first growth
(18:09) – What Lisanne looks for in new hires
(19:00) – Advice for junior marketers
(22:16) – Ocala travel tips and hidden springs

Selected quotes

(3:45) – “If the user isn’t genuinely interested, no incentive will change that. You can offer six hundred dollars, but if it’s not relevant, they won’t do it.”
(5:48) – “We give people rewards along the way, micro-earnings that make their time feel valued. Small wins keep users engaged.”
(11:44) – “We tell users exactly how tracking works and why we need it. Transparency builds trust, and that’s what keeps them coming back.”

Mentioned in this episode

Inside Q5 - How shopping apps fight for repeat buyers - Sue Azari (AppsFlyer)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000

It’s often said that for e-commerce brands, the holiday season is the 5th quarter of the year. Sue Azari, e-commerce industry lead at AppsFlyer, joins Taylor Lobdell for a tactical breakdown of how the smartest e-commerce apps move from Q4 user acquisition to Q5 retention and remarketing. From UK and EMEA trends to global shifts in spend, Sue details why remarketing spend surges fivefold at the end of the year, how loyalty and personalization schemes actually drive a second purchase, and what makes non-organic installs disproportionately valuable for real app revenue. Referencing real examples from brands like Zara, H&M, Temu, and Shein, Sue lays out the structural shifts, practical tactics, and emerging risks facing every marketer trying to build durable, app-based revenue in a volatile global market.

Key topics and questions

The in-house consultant role at AppsFlyer and its cross-functional focus
How the UK’s mature e-commerce market shapes global strategies
Why Q5 matters, and how its install/revenue spike emerged
When and why remarketing eclipses UA spend
Tactics for turning a Q4 buyer into a repeat customer in Q5
Personalization, loyalty, and exclusive drops to drive frequency
UGC, influencer content, and AI tools for creative ideation
What e-commerce needs to steal from gaming’s diversified media mix
Why DSPs and Reddit remain underused in e-commerce
Paid–organic uplift: why half of installs deliver three-quarters of revenue
How to respond to high December CPMs and new market entrants
The 70-20-10 rule for channel testing
Global UA patterns: Android vs iOS, tariffs, rapid spend reallocation
QR codes, in-store modes, and the app as a bridge to physical retail
Segmentation: why abandon basket and uninstalled users matter most
Staying current in a market defined by privacy shifts and macro volatility

Timestamps

(0:03) – Intro, Sue’s cross-functional role and background
(1:11) – UK and EMEA, market maturity, lessons, and cross-region strategy
(2:52) – Defining Q5, why end-of-year cycles matter for apps and travel
(4:10) – Black Friday: remarketing spend is five times UA at peak
(5:03) – Tactics: loyalty, personalization, and getting to the second purchase
(6:12) – Creative best practices, UGC, influencers, and new AI tools
(7:02) – Diversifying media, DSPs, app-to-app installs, and what e-commerce misses
(7:55) – Community and AI as emerging channels
(9:13) – Paid–organic uplift, nearly three-quarters of revenue is non-organic
(10:38) – Coping with high CPMs, moving spend, leaning on owned media
(11:43) – Testing new channels; the 70-20-10 rule for risk
(13:47) – Regional differences in UA: China, tariffs, and aggressive spend moves
(17:00) – How Sue tracks trends, privacy changes, and new industry moves
(17:32) – Temu/Shein: billion-dollar UA, loyalty pivots, and physical store expansions
(19:42) – QR codes, attribution, and bridging digital and physical with apps
(20:51) – Retargeting segments: abandon basket and uninstalled users
(21:46) – Lightning round: favorite channels, brands, tactics, and London recommendations

Selected quotes

(4:13) – “When we look at spend, remarketing spend is five times that of UA for e-commerce apps during the end of Q4.”
(10:06) – “Nearly three quarters of purchase revenue comes from non-organic sources. Users are much more likely to buy something if they’ve been driven to the app by a particular marketing campaign.”
(21:01) – “Abandoned baskets are my primary focus for remarketing, because 70% of users who install an e-commerce app will abandon their basket. The other one that I think is not as commonly done, but I think it’s very valuable, is remarketing to uninstalled users.”

Mentioned in this episode

Behavioral signals and the art of ethical targeting - James Dickens (Gamelight)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

James Dickins, Team Lead of Technical Support at Gamelight, joins Taylor Lobdell to discuss how rewarded UA and behavioral targeting shape user acquisition in 2025’s privacy-first landscape. From the company’s laser-eyed cat mascot to the mechanics of lookalike models, James explains how his team balances precision with ethics and how algorithms are trained on aggregated behavior data. He also discusses creative testing and when human intuition should override machine logic. He breaks down the real limits of automation, why model decay demands constant retraining, and how to build campaigns that adapt as fast as user behavior changes.

Questions that James answered in this episode:

What is Gamelight, and how does its rewarded game recommendation model work?
How does the team identify and replicate high-value users?
What causes lookalike model decay, and how do you avoid overfitting?
How can UA teams respect privacy while maintaining performance?
What signals matter most when predicting player retention?
How can creative teams and data teams collaborate more effectively?
What are the most common mistakes UA managers make when scaling campaigns?
How do rewarded ads reshape consent and engagement models?
What role does human judgment play in interpreting algorithmic outputs?
How will privacy and regulation continue to shape UA in the next five years?

Timestamps

(0:00) – Intro: James Dickins and Gamelight overview
(0:54) – The story behind Gamelight’s laser cat mascot
(1:35) – What makes a high-value player, and how to identify them
(2:04) – Using behavior profiles to guide acquisition strategy
(2:55) – Lookalike models and the value of aggregated data
(3:51) – Avoiding overfitting and model decay
(4:50) – The surprise of discovering unexpected audience segments
(5:20) – Privacy-first UA and ethical targeting
(6:24) – Rewarded UA and consent-based engagement
(6:30) – Managing ad fatigue and creative burnout
(7:12) – When human intuition beats the algorithm
(8:25) – Balancing optimization with experimentation
(9:45) – Measuring engagement and long-term retention
(10:17) – Designing for compliance before regulation hits
(10:57) – Treating creative testing as data science
(11:42) – Building the feedback loop between creative and data teams
(12:52) – What keeps UA leaders up at night
(13:07) – Predicting the future of user acquisition
(17:35) – Wrap-up: how to connect with James

Selected quotes

(3:40) – “A strong lookalike model is always learning and changing, predicting not just who might install but who will stick around.”
(4:24) – “Lookalike models are amazing, but they’re not magic. Model decay happens, and what worked last quarter might fail today.”
(5:59) – “Precision targeting and privacy can feel like opposites, but they can work together when you focus on aggregated signals.”

Mentioned in this episode

Authenticity and performance in a privacy-first world – Shilpa Reddy

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Shilpa Reddy, CMO of Down Under School of Yoga and former Marketing VP at Acorns, maps her journey from fintech to wellness and explains why the same principles drive both: make time-tested tools accessible, and build a community that keeps people engaged. She breaks down her three-stage marketing flywheel, and shows why marketers must dismantle the false divide between direct response and brand storytelling. The conversation moves from Acorns’ spare-change investing to Down Under’s community-driven yoga. She interrogates the role of podcasts as the new TV, the measurement gaps left by ATT, and how authenticity risks becoming uniform in an AI-saturated content world.

Questions Shilpa answered in this episode:

What drew Shilpa from Acorns to running a yoga business?
How curiosity and human-centered marketing let her adapt across industries
What is the three-stage marketing flywheel, and how do you know when to move from one stage to the next?
Why brand and performance are one continuum, not opposing forces?
How LTV makes the case for brand investment with a CFO
Why podcasts function as the ‘new TV’ for reach, trust, and ad effectiveness?
How marketers should balance host-read storytelling with direct response calls to action?
How AT&T’s affected mobile marketing measurement
Why authenticity should mean varied storytelling, not uniform brand policing
What advice Shilpa gives to early-stage wellness founders with no marketing budget?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro; Shilpa’s journey from Acorns to Down Under Yoga
(2:00) – Growing up with yoga, curiosity, and career pivots across industries
(3:50) – Acorns’ mission and how it relates to yoga
(8:00) – The three-stage marketing flywheel explained (fit, LTV, brand)
(13:50) – Signs you’re ready to move between stages (NPS, brand love, data)
(15:15) – Making the CFO case for brand investments through LTV
(17:00) – The orchestration problem: aligning funnel mechanics with brand reach
(19:00) – Podcasts as the new TV: hours consumed, trust, and ad-to-content ratio
(24:40) – ATT’s impact: creativity up, measurement lagging
(26:20) – Authenticity vs. uniformity: the danger of AI-generated generic content
(29:30) – Advice to early-stage wellness founders: start with your most loyal clients
(55:00) – Wrap-up: Down Under Yoga, on-demand classes, how to connect

Quotes:

(12:30) – “Stage one is finding who your product is loved by. Stage two is increasing their lifetime value. Stage three is broadcasting your brand story.”
(15:30) – “LTV almost by definition is long-term. It allows you to justify investments in brand.”
(19:10) – “Podcasts are the new TV. Americans average three hours a week, and the trust in the host feels one-to-one, not one-to-many.”
(27:20) – “Authentic does not have to mean uniform. It’s the opposite. It means telling varied, engaging stories rooted in what you stand for.”

Mentioned in this episode:

AI, segmentation, and deep links: How Babbel powers CRM – Alejandro Hernandez (Babbel)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 1 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Alejandro Hernandez, Senior CRM Notifications and Lifecycle Specialist at Babbel, explains how AI and human creativity intersect to drive retention in language learning. He shares how Babbel uses ecosystem segmentation, predictive models, and deep links to re-engage millions of learners worldwide. From predicting churn with behavior signals to ensuring that every push notification feels like a supportive nudge rather than spam, Alejandro shares his thoughts on the CRM strategies that lead to habits -- not hassle.

Questions Alejandro answered in this episode:

What is Babbel, and what role does CRM play in its learning ecosystem?
How does an ecosystem approach to segmentation help map multiple user journeys?
What signals does AI track to predict churn and reactivation opportunities?
How does Babbel blend AI-driven insights with human empathy in its messaging?
What role do deep links play in removing friction between a notification and action?
How does Babbel balance engagement without overwhelming users?
Why is CRM more than marketing, and what role does it play in habit formation?
What advice does Alejandro give to new CRM specialists entering the field?
What’s the most overlooked opportunity in mobile lifecycle marketing?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro; Alejandro’s role and Babbel overview
(3:30) – The ecosystem approach to segmentation: multiple user journeys
(5:48) – How AI predicts churn and identifies user behavior signals
(7:49) – AI vs human in copy: empathy, tone, and realistic learning nudges
(9:10) – Preventing notification fatigue and balancing opt-outs
(11:00) – Removing friction with deep links, and why they matter for busy users
(14:32) – Balancing predictive intelligence with human creativity in messaging
(17:03) – What CRM teams must do to prepare for an AI-driven future
(18:45) – The overlooked role of CRM in mobile marketing strategy
(20:01) – Advice for newcomers to CRM and lifecycle marketing
(29:06) – Wrap-up: where to connect with Alejandro

Quotes:

(6:16) – “AI is helping us detect signals like when a user who was practicing every day shifts to three times a week - that’s when we step in with personalized communication.”
(9:45) – “If a user doesn’t respond to our first or second message, we stop. That silence is also a signal.”
(11:50) – “Deep links are critical. If someone clicks to review yesterday’s lesson, we send them straight to it, not to the home page where they need extra taps.”
(18:54) – “CRM is still underrated in mobile companies. Done well, it’s not a random push, it’s the difference between feeling interrupted and feeling supported.”

Mentioned in this episode:

The power of community and why retention means growth – Advi Bishnoi (Social Plus)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Advi Bishnoi, Head of Consulting at Social Plus, argues that in 2025, retention has overtaken acquisition as the real growth engine for apps. From Ulta Beauty to Harley Davidson, Advi has helped brands turn community features into measurable revenue streams. In this episode, he explains why micro-communities and in-app social layers transform loyalty programs, how first-party data becomes indispensable in a privacy-first world, and why marketers need to stop fixating on CPMs and CAC. The conversation maps out how fitness apps, travel platforms, sports teams, and retailers all harness community differently and why organic engagement often beats promotions or retargeting in driving long-term retention.

Questions Advi answered in this episode:

What is Social Plus, and how do its in-app social features work?
Why is retention ‘the new acquisition’ in 2025?
What mistakes do marketers make when they think about retention?
How do community features increase CLV across verticals like fitness, travel, and retail?
How can first-party data from in-app communities transform marketing and personalization?
Who inside a company should ‘own’ retention marketing, product, or success?
How can loyalty programs be built on organic engagement instead of just promos?
What is the ‘spaces model’ for understanding community ROI?
How should marketers balance personalization with scale across millions of users?
What metrics should marketers stop obsessing over, and which deserve more focus?
What new revenue opportunities do brand partners unlock inside communities?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro; Advi’s background and Social Plus overview
(1:38) – Micro-community examples: surf shops, fitness apps, Nike sneakerheads
(7:03) – Why ‘retention is growth’ in 2025: CAC vs CLV
(9:30) – Marketing silos and the ownership problem in retention
(13:40) – Why promos and events are less effective than organic engagement
(17:21) – First-party data: insights, sentiment analysis, and privacy advantages
(20:00) – Loyalty vs. hypergrowth: why CLV is a long-term play
(22:37) – Signals of churn, and how to intervene before users leave
(25:41) – Balancing personalization and scale with AI-driven sentiment and clusters
(28:20) – Metrics that marketers overvalue (CAC, ad spend) versus those they undervalue (LTV, frequency, order size)
(31:00) – Brand partnerships inside communities: CPM rethink and new revenue models
(33:32) – Rapid fire: food in Thailand vs Italy, habits, dream jobs, favorite brands

Selected quotes:

(12:50) – “Promos and gamified events help, but organic engagement helps more. People join a 30-day fitness challenge not for the discount, but because others are posting daily and they want to participate.”
(21:22) – “Customer acquisition is measurable and fast, which is why VCs love it. Retention is a long-term play, it’s demand gen, brand equity, and profitability over three to five years.”
(28:30) – “Marketers need to stop obsessing over CAC. In my world, it’s 30% CAC, 70% retention and lifetime value.”
(32:23) – “For sponsored posts in-community, we’ve seen brands charge $15 to $60 CPMs, because the audience is hyper-focused and conversion rates are so much higher.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Social Plus (social.plus)
Advi on Linkedin

Behind the scenes of the App Growth Summit – Louis Tanguay (App Growth Summit)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Louis Tanguay, founder and managing director of App Growth Summit, traces his arc from music magazine founder to film marketer to architect of a global mobile industry community now marking its 100th event. Louis explains why mobile marketers keep missing the basics: custom product pages, team silos, overreliance on AI and how AGS forges authentic connection in a field where ‘networking’ usually means sales pitches. Louis argues for true community as a defense against industry fads and reveals practical tactics for getting actual value from events.

Questions Louis answered in this episode:

Why Louis started App Growth Summit
The moment AGS’s ‘community first’ format revealed the gap in existing event culture
What are mobile marketers missing in custom product page strategy?
Where does AI actually help and where does it actively dull critical thinking?
Why do marketers keep separating teams and failing to optimize collaboration?
How can retargeting go beyond surface-level re-engagement to real value?
What separates high-ROI event vendors from the time-wasters?
How does AGS build authentic community, and what’s the actual ROI of belonging?
What advice does Louis give first-time sponsors and networkers who want more than a sales lead?
Why do so many marketers waste the opportunity of an event, and how is AGS structured to avoid this?
Where is the industry headed, and what does Louis see as the next phase?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro, Louis’s journey from music to mobile marketing
(2:45) – First AGS event: origin story, first sponsors, finding the ‘sweet spot’
(4:23) – The ‘community not scale’ thesis: AGS’s unique approach
(7:20) – Venue selection, why environment shapes event outcomes
(9:33) – Industry blindspots: custom product pages, marketing-product silos
(11:00) – Getting CPPs right: landing page principles, offer-matching, creative basics
(14:00) – AI’s role: when it elevates, when it destroys value
(23:00) – Maximizing events: actionable networking, why ‘closing deals’ is a dead-end
(30:35) – AGS global: favorite cities, the meaning of event #100
(36:10) – Rapid fire: first thing at an event, dream speakers, live shows, Austin food, travel recs
(39:40) – Closing: next AGS events, community calls to action

Quotes:

(11:33) – “ If you match your creative and the offer to the campaign, you’re going to get way more conversions.”
(14:15) – “AI is more ‘A’ than ‘I’ right now…It’s a supercharged research tool, but it’s not going to replace real creative strategy anytime soon.”
(24:12) – “If you want ROI from an event, don’t cluster with your coworkers. Talk to people you don’t know, open doors, and don’t expect a deal by Friday.”

Mentioned in this episode:

App Growth Summit (appgrowthsummit.com)
App Growth Snacks newsletter
Louis on Linkedin

Exposing the myth of ‘perfect data’ with Piotr Prędkiewicz (FORMEL SKIN)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Piotr Prędkiewicz, Senior Marketing Analyst at FORMEL SKIN, exposes the myth of ‘perfect data’ and charts the future of privacy-centric analytics in mobile growth. With a career spanning fintech, dating and health tech, Piotr unpacks how to track users legally, ethically, and creatively before they even register. He also discusses why device data is always noisier than you want, and where most marketers go wrong on privacy, attribution, and fraud. The episode blends practical strategies for data-driven marketers with a clear-eyed critique of the industry’s alignment failures, fraud incentives, and the inescapable limitations of tracking in the GDPR era.

Questions Piotr answers in this episode:

What is FORMEL SKIN, and how does it solve dermatology’s bottleneck in Germany?
How did Piotr’s career in analytics develop across multiple verticals?
Why is ‘perfect data’ a myth in mobile marketing?
How do you responsibly track and aggregate users before registration?
What’s the difference between front-end and back-end behavioral data?
How do device/user mismatches and changes create analytics headaches?
What are the new challenges and gray areas in privacy (GDPR, CCPA, device fingerprinting)?
Where does fraud hide in aggregated data, and how do you find it?
Why does fraud persist, and what incentives make it so durable?
How could success in mobile marketing be measured differently to promote collaboration and integrity?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Introducing FORMEL SKIN, Piotr’s role, and Germany’s digital dermatology
(1:18) – Marketing analytics in dating, fintech, health
(2:50) – Why ‘perfect data’ is a myth
(5:00) – Assigning pseudo-user IDs, device-based tracking
(6:00) – Aggregated data, ‘chasing ghosts,’ and its pitfalls
(8:00) – Combining front-end and back-end data; challenges in stitching
(9:36) – Device vs. user: confusion, mismatches, and noise
(11:13) – Balancing privacy vs. marketing needs; legal and business conflicts
(12:30) – Device fingerprinting: what’s legal, what’s risky, and why
(14:22) – The end of one-to-one attribution; rise of aggregated, top-level analysis
(16:05) – Marketing fraud: what’s changed, sneaky affiliate/network tricks
(19:08) – Incentives, alignment failures, and why fraud persists
(21:40) – Filtering fraud: long onboarding, compliance, and technical vigilance
(23:38) – ‘Success’ in mobile marketing and why responsibility must be shared
(32:08) – Wrap up

Quotes:

(2:50) “Don’t expect perfect data – especially in marketing where different data sources are being combined.”
(5:10) “You try to anchor it to the device…within all the data security and the privacy setup and anchor it to this entity and create one entity.”
(15:26) “We can use aggregated data for strategic decisions, like how to shift budgets from channel A to B.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Retention over reach – and what data says about loyalty – Seema Shah (Sensor Tower)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 6 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Seema Shah, VP of Research and Insights at Sensor Tower, dispenses with the industry’s fixation on superficial growth metrics. Her analysis exposes the fundamental asymmetry in e-commerce: scale without retention leads nowhere, and price wars favor only those insulated by infrastructure and sunk-cost bias. Shah parses the machinery of loyalty and why brands that depend on incentives or viral hacks collapse as soon as ad spend falters. She dissects the nature of ‘engagement’ and how most apps can mistake installs for allegiance. She also explores why friction points like returns, shipping, and checkout, aren't a minor feature set, but the primary front in the battle for behavioral lock-in. This challenges the fantasy that small brands can out-spend or out-feature incumbents, insisting instead on granular tactics: how to interrogate user data, how to manufacture urgency without eroding trust, and how event-driven design transforms disposable installs into measurable lifetime value.

Questions Seema answered in this episode:

What is Sensor Tower, and how does it analyze the digital retail economy?
What tactics actually drive engagement and conversion for e-commerce apps?
How are loyalty programs, membership fees, and incentives engineered to retain users?
Why is ‘engagement’ more critical than mere app downloads?
What happens when acquisition ad spend dries up (Temu, Shein) and retention isn’t there?
How do free shipping, fast returns, and frictionless checkout rewire user habits?
What does the data say about the new ‘in-app event’ wars among major retailers?
What are the most common blind spots for mid-sized brands trying to compete with giants?
How can smaller brands leverage data, urgency, and unique value to build sustainable engagement?
What emerging trends should e-commerce marketers prepare for?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro: Sensor Tower, Seema’s role, scope of data and products
(3:00) – Why engagement beats downloads: session length, frequency, retention
(4:00) – The mechanics of loyalty programs: Amazon Prime, Target Circle, Ulta, and more
(8:30) – Tariff threats and the new ad spend math: what happens to MAU when you cut UA?
(11:00) – Small brand playbook: driving downloads, boosting engagement, and using incentives
(23:32) – In-app events: the new engagement arms race (Amazon, Walmart, Target)
(26:00) – The difference between frequency and discretionary shopping
(34:00) – Platform evolution, removing friction, and why smaller features win
(37:00) –Emerging trends in e-commerce apps
(52:15) – Wrap-up: How to connect with Seema, Sensor Tower, and what’s next

Quotes:

(8:50) “Since the removal of the de minimis tax exemption and also the tariffs, we’ve seen a decline in advertising spend and a shift to other countries.”
(13:43) “If you’re a smaller brand and you want to compete, you have to really know who your customer is and what attracted them to you in the first place.”
(24:45) “Frequency seems huge for retention and how much time they’re spending on the app, but how do these top brands keep users coming back without fatiguing them with advertising?”

Mentioned in This Episode:

The future of rewarded user acquisition – Moshe Even-Israel (Scrambly)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Moshe Even-Israel, Head of Business Development at Scrambly, unpacks the real stakes and shifting standards in the rewarded user acquisition ecosystem. From onboarding and fraud, to retention and data transparency, Moshe interrogates both the promise and pitfalls of incentivized platforms. This episode covers vendor selection, long-term retention strategies, KYC (know your customer) challenges, and the real metrics for measuring UA quality. Whether you see rewarded UA as a growth hack or a strategic pillar, this conversation drills into the mechanism that deliver high-intent, loyal users in a market crowded with lookalike vendors.

Questions Moshe answered in this episode:

What is Scrambly, and how does it fit into the rewarded UA landscape?
Why is rewarded user acquisition resurgent in gaming, finance and surveys?
What distinguishes high-intent, high-quality traffic from traffic that’s likely to churn?
How does Scrambly fight ad fraud and guarantee legitimate acquisition
What’s the business impact of knowing your customers, and how does it transform retention and campaign targeting?
What are the new best practices for brands choosing UA partners?
Why is data transparency and long-term communication with vendors crucial for ROAS?
How does Scrambly’s approach to retention and lookalike targeting shape user LTV?
What does Moshe see for the future of rewarded UA and engagement platforms?

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Introduction; why rewarded UA, why now?
(1:20) – Scrambly overview: what, where, and whom they serve
(2:00) – Rise of rewarded UA vendors; market evolution
(2:25) – From high-engagement to high-intent UA: how the space is changing
(2:45) – Scrambly’s difference: user selection, intent, offer-matching
(3:10) – Loyalty, drop-off, and the “churn” problem
(5:00) – Fraud, VPN spoofing, and Scrambly’s KYC protocol
(8:00) – Retention campaign setup, advertiser best practices
(9:45) – Why transparent ROAS data matters
(10:55) – Playtime clock and KYC’s impact on extended retention
(11:40) – Where is rewarded UA headed? What’s next?
(12:14) – Wrap-up

Quotes:

(2:11) “Traffic used to be engagement-focused to get high rankings on the App Store, but this has evolved to more high-intention UA strategies.”
(8:18) “For gaming companies, you should make at least a sixty-day event window for targeting so we can engage the users as much as possible.”
(11:56) “The connection that brands have with users from rewarded traffic is super important for the long run.”

Mentioned in This Episode:

How an airline's app is turning loyalty into currency - Udhara de Silva (Singapore Airlines)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 9 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Udhara de Silva, who leads loyalty marketing for Singapore Airlines in Australia, walks through the launch and rapid growth of Kris+, the digital rewards app that enables members to earn and spend miles in restaurants and retail stores – a first for any airline rewards app outside of Singapore. The discussion tracks why Australia was chosen as the testbed, the challenges of localizing a QR-based payment app in a card-centric market, and the dual work of building merchant trust and user habits from zero. Udhara details what drives engagement, how to “double dip” on points, and why genuine merchant partnerships matter more than technical bells and whistles. Listeners get insight into evolving loyalty marketing tactics, campaign strategies, and the real mechanics of building an airline’s everyday brand.

Questions Udhara answered in this episode:

Why did Singapore Airlines expand Kris+ to Australia first?
What unique challenges come with launching a QR code–based payment app in Australia?
How do you pitch and onboard merchants before an app is live?
What technical features make Kris+ easy for partners to adopt?
What’s different about marketing an airline app versus a retail loyalty app?
What tactics actually drive repeated use and engagement?
What does merchant “densification” mean, and why is it critical?
How does Kris+ expand the loyalty audience beyond high-income credit card holders?
What’s next for Kris+ in Australia and globally?

Timestamp:

2:00 – Scope of KrisFlyer: Australia’s place in the global member base
3:00 – The origins and purpose of Kris+
5:30 – How Kris+ works: earning, spending, “double-dipping” on miles
6:00 – Selecting Australia: market sophistication and loyalty culture
9:00 – Pitching and onboarding merchants, early business development
12:10 – Overcoming the QR code adoption barrier
15:10 – Building merchant trust with low technical overhead
16:00 – Tactics for engagement: push notifications, highlight tiles, gamified challenges
17:00 - Kris+ challenges
18:00 – Advice for marketers launching in new regions
20:00 – The future: merchant densification, market expansion, next steps

Quotes:

(3:30) “It’s a custom-built app. You scan a QR code, enter the amount, and you get to decide whether you want to either spend your miles that you might have earned from a flight, or you can pay with Apple or Google Pay, and then you earn miles on that transaction. You’re double dipping.”

(13:00) “There are certain high-volume merchants where they have started educating and frontliners have started educating partners. But it's a combination of factors, I think. We're very mindful of the fact that QR codes aren't mainstream yet, and so it's a bit of a slow burn.”

(14:10) “Tailoring the message to the Australian voice, the Australian landscape, the whole lack of familiarity with QR codes — that was something we had to really learn from the ground up.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Udhara de Silva’s LinkedIn
Kris+ (Singapore Airlines digital rewards app)
KrisFlyer frequent flyer program
Contact for merchant/partner queries: krisplusau@singaporeair.com.sg
Brunetti (Melbourne café, case study for merchant adoption)

AI in ad production - Hype, hurdles and human touch - Andre Kempe (Admiral Media)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Andre Kempe is the CEO of Admiral Media, a performance marketing agency based in Europe. He returns to Apptivate to discuss the role of AI in creative development for mobile app marketing campaigns. Find out what types of apps can leverage AI in their ads, where the human touch still outperforms the machine, and where AI makes the biggest impact from a mobile marketing standpoint.

Questions Andre answered in this episode:

Tell us about what Admiral Media does and who you serve.
As you’re integrating AI into the creative development process for clients, what were some of the surprising challenges your team encountered?
How do you decide when to use a particular AI tool versus a person?
What quality and branding assurances do you have in place when developing creatives with AI for clients?
Can you quantify how much faster the production of creative variation has become by integrating AI into your workflow?
Are there any changes to your process that have had a meaningful impact on ad campaign performance?
What types of developments in AI are you most eagerly anticipating when it comes to creative development?

Timestamp:

1:20 About Admiral Media
5:36 Challenges working with AI in creative ad development
7:43 Quality control when working with AI tools
11:30 How much faster is creative production with AI, really?
14:00 The greatest AI advantage
15:15 Where AI needs progress in ad production

Quotes:

(9:58-10:04) “AI, from my perspective and what I’ve seen so far, is really not where it should be for big brands.”

(13:19-13:35) “The time saved with AI is good for sure, but it’s not that much that it’s replacing people easily, because having a human touch to a creative, from what we see so far, is still outperforming on the channels.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Data and growth: Reaching new heights with Skyscanner - Daniel Lupu (Skyscanner)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 28 May 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Daniel Lupu is the Senior Marketing Manager at Skyscanner, a search engine for deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals serving 110 million users monthly. In this episode, Daniel shares lessons and results from the tests he’s run. He discusses his team's approach to navigating SKAN, the creative strategies they’ve implemented, and his observations of the relationship between paid and organic search ads on Apple.

Questions Daniel answered in this episode:

What is Skyscanner, and what do you do for them?
How did your background shape your growth at Skyscanner?
What prompted your move into the app marketing space?
Can you walk us through your app growth strategy?
How do you evaluate success in UA campaigns? What are you optimizing for?
What are some tips for getting the best flight?
What’s been your approach to navigating SKAN and ATT on iOS? Have you made any creative or strategic shifts to improve performance there?
How do paid and organic search on Apple Search Ads influence each other?
How do you manage budget allocation and campaign planning for peak travel times?
What recommendations do you have for visiting London?

Timestamp:

0:54 Intro to Skyscanner and Daniel’s role
1:27 Daniel’s background
4:41 Driving user acquisition in the travel industry
8:05 How to find flight deals
9:35 Data points beyond SKAN
12:23 Insights from their ASA test on paid and organic
13:55 Creative testing
17:16 Adjusting for seasonality
18:20 Lessons learned and solid advice
20:50 What to do in London

Quotes:

(18:20-18:41) “I have learned not to make assumptions based on previous learnings. Just because something worked in a certain manner at some point in the past, it doesn’t mean that we’ll see similar behavior from that particular audience or from that particular campaign the next time we run it.”

(19:00-19:30) “Don’t try to have the perfect measurement framework. If you think about it, tracking was different back in the day; now it has a lot of challenges, and I don’t think that’s going to improve anytime soon. So if you want to scale, you have to have some solid, valid assumptions and go ahead without having full visibility of your performance.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Going the distance: Growth lessons from adidas Running - Luca Stefanutti (adidas Running)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 14 May 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we chat with Luca Stefanutti, the Director of Growth at adidas Running, the fitness app formerly known as Runtastic. They touch on the app’s role within the larger brand, key performance metrics, implementing new insights within large teams, and Luca’s point of view on some of today’s hottest app marketing topics, like AI, creatives, and the relationship between incremental and organic traffic.

Questions Luca answered in this episode:

What is Runtastic and what is your role there?
How has your background informed your role today?
What role does adidas Running play in the brand’s larger digital ecosystem?
What key metrics does your team look at when evaluating performance?
Can you tell me about an experiment you ran that had surprising results?
How do you put the insights you gain from experiments into action?
How are you going about personalization in a cookieless, post-IDFA world?
What trends are you watching that you think will shape the future of app marketing?

Timestamp:

0:47 Intro to adidas Running
3:10 Luca’s background
5:20 The role of adidas Running for the larger brand
7:35 Key metrics
10:30 Surprising learnings
13:00 Implementing new insights into action
15:04 Creative strategy for growth & UA
17:30 Personalization in a post-IDFA world
19:48 Thoughts on current app marketing trends
25:58 What to do in Austria for a few days?

Quotes:

(12:30-12:45) “I think the learning here is that you generally have one core value proposition for your app. Don’t forget about it with all the extra features. Just make sure you connect people to the core value.”

(13:45-14:02) “In terms of growth, picking one person from relevant teams to form a cross-functional squad will make sure that all your ideas are developed and spread around.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How Uber unified its marketing strategy - Liam Branaghan (Uber)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of our Apptivate podcast, we chat with Liam Branaghan, the Performance Marketing and Strategy Lead for Uber. Liam’s teams focus on driving growth for Uber Eats across EMEA, while supporting overall brand and business goals. In this episode, you’ll learn about the evolution of Uber’s regional marketing teams and how they merged into a single global team. You’ll also hear about their work to refine their localization strategies and the balancing act between brand and performance marketing goals.

Questions Liam answered in this episode:

How has your team’s strategy evolved over time?
What were some of the challenges your team faced when transitioning from a regional marketing team to a global one?
Do you have any advice for other marketing leaders facing similar challenges?
How does your team work together to ensure they are nailing the intricacies of different geographies?
How do you approach new and innovative technologies while still focusing on the fundamentals of marketing?
How do you balance long-term brand equity with the need for immediate growth?
What predictions do you have for the mobile marketing industry in the next 3 or 4 years?
How do you stay up-to-date within the industry?
How should brands be thinking about scaling in a privacy-first world?

Timestamp:

0:35 Liam’s role at Uber
1:57 Marketing as one global team
7:55 Nailing the basics: Liam’s POV
11:32 Balancing brand and growth
14:00 AI & critical thinking
16:37 Keeping a varied media diet
18:23 Scaling in a privacy-first world
19:48 What to do in Amsterdam

Quotes:

(3:05-3:13) “This scaling of a global approach (away from an EMEA approach) is really how we saw scaled and created impact on a level that we hadn’t before.”

(12:22-12:41) “We know and see firsthand that there is definitely a close relationship between brand and growth. If brand is doing well, it’s no surprise that we see stronger results as well, and conversion rates and impression levels pick up. But understanding exactly what drives one another and how to optimize that is part of the journey we’re on at the moment.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Facebook marketing restrictions and how to navigate them - Kevin Bell (Mochi Health)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:39:15 +0000

There are a lot of data sensitivities when it comes to marketing in the healthcare and wellness space. This week on Apptivate, we speak with Kevin Bell, the Performance Marketing Lead at Mochi Health, about navigating Facebook’s recent changes to events for advertisers in these industries. Kevin gives you the background on the platform’s changes, and how his team adapted their marketing strategy to meet Facebook’s new criteria under HIPAA compliance. You’ll also learn about the limitations of marketing creatives and how they’re leveraging AI to optimize their campaign performance and grow.

Questions Kevin answered in this episode:

Can you share what Mochi Health does and the value it provides to its consumers?
What are some of the challenges you face in your role as Director of Performance Marketing for a platform in the healthcare space?
Can you give us a sense of your media mix?
What’s happening with the change of Facebook events for health and wellness businesses?
How much of a heads-up did Facebook give you?
How did you adapt your marketing strategy?
What’s the impact of this change on the performance of your campaigns?
Can you tell us a little about the limitations of creatives for your platform and how you optimize them for a platform like Facebook?
What predictions do you have for this upcoming year at Mochi Health?

Timestamp:

0:56 What does Mochi Health do?
2:19 Challenges in healthcare marketing
4:08 Facebook’s event changes for health and wellness industry advertisers
6:19 How to adapt your marketing strategy for Facebook events
7:57 How has this impacted campaign performance?
8:43 Constraints on creatives in the healthcare space
9:55 Optimizing creatives with an internal AI tool
13:08 What’s coming up for Mochi Health

Quotes:

(4:34-4:58) “Facebook reached out to a number of companies that were in the health and wellness space and basically told them that we were no longer able to optimize our campaigns off of any type of purchase event, add-to-cart event, customer registration – basically any event that wasn't a ‘page view’. And obviously, that's quite concerning because for all advertisers, if you ever run money on Facebook, you know that optimizing for anything that's not your goal is not going to get you anywhere.”

(6:49-6:58) “The idea is you want to make sure that you’re not sending Facebook any details towards who is a person that has actually made a purchase because by doing so, you’re walking into potential HIPAA compliance issues.”

Mentioned in this episode:

The evolution of rewarded UA networks - Yoni Nijboer (exmox)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 2 Apr 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of Remerge’s Apptivate podcast, we chat with Yoni Nijober, the Director of Partnerships at exmox, a platform that helps mobile gaming companies scale their user base through engagement-driven, rewarded user acquisition. You’ll learn why rewarded UA used to have a bad reputation, how it’s evolved, the benefits of working with a rewarded UA network for certain mobile games, how to pick your rewarded UA partner, and much more.

Questions Yoni answered in this episode:

Can you give us the quick exmox pitch and tell us about what you do there?
What does your day-to-day look like?
What makes exmox different from other rewarded platforms?
Why did rewarded UA have a bad rep five years ago and what’s changed now?
Are there certain kinds of games that see better results with rewarded UA?
What are common mistakes to avoid when getting started with rewarded UA?
Do marketers give you a ROAS target, or are there other data points?
What should advertisers look for when choosing a rewarded platform to work with?
How do you think rewarded UA will change in the coming years?
How do you stay on top of the changes in your industry?
What’s exmox excited about for the coming year?

Timestamp:

0:22 About exmox and Yoni’s role
3:19 What sets exmox apart from other rewarded UA providers
6:15 Why rewarded UA used to have a bad reputation
8:42 What types of games have the best results with rewarded networks
9:48 Common mistakes to avoid getting started with rewarded UA
12:27 Benefits of working with rewarded networks
14:15 What to look for in a rewarded partner
18:46 Working with rewarded networks
21:56 How to spend a weekend in Hamburg

Quotes:

(4:40-4:50) “We found after years of trying and testing that reward flows work the best when you can really engage your users for a long period of time.”

(8:45-9:03) “Most rewarded networks prefer the games that have a higher IP share, mostly because it means you can leverage those reward flows way better. It’s also a matter of how much money a gaming company can pay per user.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Building a successful mobile entertainment company - Joshua Javaheri (Lucky Day)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Joshua Javaheri is the CEO and founder of Lucky Day, the mobile entertainment company behind games like Bingo Stars, Solitaire Royale, and Blackjack Royale. In this episode, Joshua shares his story and the strategies behind Lucky Day’s success – from concept, creation, and the development of their flagship titles, to the hard lessons he’s learned along the way.

Questions Joshua answered in this episode:

What inspired you to create Lucky Day?
How long did it take to create your app?
How do you find high-quality users and how do you keep them engaged?
How do you collect customer feedback?
And how do you work on improving your product?
How are you reaching new audiences globally? Are you anticipating any challenges?
How do you retain customers?
How is Lucky Day leveraging technology to stay ahead of the curve?
Looking back on college, did you think you’d be here now?
What advice would you give kids interested in getting into mobile gaming?
What’s one lesson at Lucky Day that surprised you the most?
Are there any books or people who have influenced you?

Timestamp:

0:57 Lucky Day’s origin story
3:30 Launching Lucky Day
5:43 Presenting your app to keep users engaged
6:51 How Joshua listens to customer feedback
7:56 Keeping content fresh in mobile games
9:24 Retention, retention, retention
11:45 Thinking about the future
15:51 Reflecting on the journey and mistakes
17:00 Advice to aspiring mobile game founders
28:20 Influencers to Joshua
29:43 Offer to mentor

Quotes:

(6:12-6:23) “We try the best we can to give players a glimpse into all the awesome things they can unlock as they progress – but that’s what it’s all about. It’s about continuously evolving the experience as a player progresses through their journey.”

(10:12-10:18) “A player should never have an issue when they launch your product. It should always open as quickly as possible and be issue-free. Retention starts with quality.”

(15:28-15:36) “If you give a customer something they love, people will spend money. It’s not hard. It’s more like building something they love that’s hard.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Secrets to successful mobile game launches - Aaron Diaz (2K)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 5 Mar 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Aaron Diaz is the Manager of Mobile User Acquisition at 2K, the American video game publisher behind NBA 2K, Borderlands 2, and other popular role-playing, sports, and strategy games. In this episode, Taylor quizzes Aaron on his keys to UA success across the big titles he’s worked on over his career, including how he reached 10,000 users in less than 24 hours for the soft launch of a new game.

Questions Aaron answered in this episode:

Can you tell us about the game you recently did a soft launch for and some of its unique challenges for you and your team?
What was your strategy to get 10,000 users within 24 hours?
How would you approach reaching 10K users differently if you had a month?
How do you work with other teams to determine the KPIs of success for any launch?
What works with testing new channels?
How do previous launches help inform future launches for different types of games?
How do you define success in the very early stages of testing?
Are you using AI to do anything at work today?
What’s something you wish someone would have told you about UA earlier in your career?
Are there any new channels that you’re thinking about?
How do you keep up with the industry?

Timestamp:

0:53 Getting 10k users within 24 hours
5:10 Aligning KPIs with other teams
6:04 The key to testing new channels
8:14 The best way to learn from past launches
9:24 Defining success for game launches
10:50 How are you using AI?
12:04 Advice to emerging UA marketers
13:21 Placing bets on CTV
15:39 Staying on top of the mobile industry
17:55 What Aaron predicts for 2025
21:08 What to do in the East San Francisco Bay

Quotes:

(8:51-9:00) “At the end of the day, experience is the best teacher. You’re not really going to learn a lot until you actually get your foot in the door running campaigns.”

(12:09-12:13) “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and don’t be afraid if you don't see results right away.”

(12:31-12:47) "UA is almost like gambling. You make an estimate of what's going to work for you. You don't necessarily have the answers 100% of the time, but using data, you can make the assumption that this campaign is going to work in the long run if you put a little spend on it."

Mentioned in this Episode:

Counsel from a mobile marketing expert - Mick Rigby (Yodel Mobile)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0000

As the founder and CEO of Yodel Mobile, an international app marketing agency based in London, Mick Rigby brings over 20 years of experience in the industry. In this episode, Mick shares his insights on the evolution of mobile marketing and his approach to today’s greatest industry hurdles, from creative development and AI, to testing channels and diversifying your marketing mix. Mick also highlights the key challenges in retaining user engagement in the competitive app market and what he’s looking forward to in 2025.

Questions Mick answered in this episode:

What’s your perspective on the evolution of the mobile marketing industry over the last two decades?
What are you seeing in terms of trends in creative styles?
How is AI positively impacting your customer base?
How do you think about diversifying ad spend for a customer? What portion of it is going to self-attributed networks and programmatic? And where do you see that changing in the future?
How long do you give a channel before you pull the plug?
What’s your opinion on retention tactics?
What predictions do you have for the mobile marketing industry in 2025?

Timestamp:

1:30 About Yodel Mobile
4:00 The evolution of mobile advertising
8:55 AI in creative development
12:42 Strategies for diversifying ad spend
14:39 When to pull the plug on a channel
16:55 Mick’s view on retention
18:42 A look ahead at 2025

Quotes:

(5:05-5:27) “Millennials are opening 30-plus apps a day, and it’s become an essential part of access to digital information and media support, certainly for that particular target audience; and then the older audiences, like myself, rely very heavily on apps now. So they’ve become integral to the way we live.”

(7:34-7:46) “Now, creatives have become as important as perhaps they were 15-20 years ago in the digital environment, where the creative actually drives the compelling message to get people to download.”

(10:49-11:08) “ We're seeing a lot of businesses start using AI to help with keyword metadata management for ASO. Now, I think it's a good way of short-cutting that process. The challenge though, is that a lot of the direction that AI takes us in is very similar for everybody.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Apptivate Live: Building a winning UA framework - Oğuz Ayar (Voodoo), Pan Katsukis (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 5 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Remerge presents Apptivate Live – a podcast filmed on stage at the recent App Promotion Summit in Berlin. This episode features Pan Katsukis, the CEO & co-founder of Remerge, and guest, Oğuz Ayar, who leads growth and user acquisition for Voodoo, a Paris-based developer of world-renowned apps and mobile games. In the chat, they cover how to set up and optimize your mobile ads for both UA and retargeting campaigns.

Questions Oğuz answered in this episode:

Tell us about your background with mobile games and non-gaming apps.
What’s a go-to framework that game and app developers can use to set up a UA strategy?
How easy or difficult is it to get set up with an MMP?
What’s the next step after getting set up with an MMP?
How do you figure out what budget you’ll need for a specific advertising channel?
What’s your approach to optimizing ad campaigns?
How do you integrate retargeting and what are you trying to achieve?

Timestamp:

4:00 Introduction to Oğuz Ayar
8:30 Why you need an MMP
13:46 Choosing channels for your UA framework
17:17 The metrics that count
21:25 Estimating budgets for testing channels
23:50 Optimizing and testing creatives for mobile ad campaigns
35:00 Considerations for retargeting

Quotes:

(8:31-8:47) “The bedrock of the whole operation, from the product to marketing to everything else, is going to be how you set up your data structure and business intelligence structure – and that’s going to fall back down to what’s your MMP.”

(20:00-20:28) “My point is CPI has never been critical, really, especially as a target. As a metric itself, yes, of course, it is something that we need to keep an eye on. But, all that matters in the end is the value you're getting for every dollar you spend. And like I said, this is going to change based on what creatives you're using, campaign type, channel, etc."

Mentioned in this Episode:

Special edition: App advertising trends across the globe - Patrick Eichmann, Maria Latif, Hide Cho, Kate Taganova (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

In this special 200th edition of our Apptivate Podcast, co-host Patrick Eichmann interviews three of Remerge’s regional directors in an insightful discussion about app advertising trends across EMEA, Japan & Korea, and INSEA. You’ll learn about the regional differences and advertising trends across various app verticals. You’ll also get regional insights on retargeting and mobile privacy from all corners of the world. This episode features Hide Cho, Regional Director for Japan and Korea, Kate Taganova, Director of Sales for EMEA, and Maria Latif, Regional Manager for INSEA.

Questions guests answered in this episode:

What app verticals do you mostly work within your region?
What trends are you seeing for app businesses in your region right now?
What have you learned about retargeting in your region?
Is mobile app privacy viewed as an important topic in your region? What are people saying about it?

Timestamp:

1:54 Introductions to Remerge’s regional directors
4:21 Popular app verticals and trending topics in EMEA
6:01 Popular app verticals and trending topics in Japan and Korea
8:03 Popular app verticals and trending topics in INSEA
10:30 Retargeting in EMEA
13:13 Retargeting in Japan and Korea
16:09 Retargeting in INSEA
20:13 Mobile privacy in EMEA
22:05 Mobile privacy in INSEA
24:27 Mobile privacy in Japan and Korea

Quotes:

(4:40-5:19) Kate - EMEA:
“App businesses are constantly pushing boundaries to find cost-effective and efficient ways to re-engage their move valuable users, and there are also different goals for different verticals. For gaming, for instance, it’s important to explore strategies to re-engage users post-install with a focus on maintaining engagement, building loyalty, and also increasing lifetime value.”

(14:16-14:32) Hide - Japan & Korea:
“What we sometimes see is a lot of collaboration. Let’s say a specific game does a collaboration with an anime character, a Disney character, or even specific brands. During these collaborations, game developers want to really push their advertising spend, including retargeting.”

(8.41-9.09) Maria - INSEA:
"We’ve seen finance apps really taking off. One of the reasons for that is there is a big push across SE Asia for cashless payments, but we also see a trend in microloans as well. Micro loans are really cool in the sense that they actually empower underserved communities and businesses where traditional banking has not reached them yet."

7.22-7.45 Hide - Japan & Korea:
"Before, we saw a lot of smaller, independent gaming companies publishing new games, and an app is a great way to access all different markets around the world. You develop a great game, put it on the Google Play Store and you reach users all around the world, but marketing it takes a lot of knowledge and financial muscles – so we’ve started to see this consolidation of gaming companies."

Mentioned in this episode:

AI-generated ads and the future of creative production - John Gargiulo (Ready Set, Sleepless, Airpost)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 8 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Questions John answered in this episode:

If you were a marketing manager focused on creatives at an e-commerce brand, how would you get started using AI to produce ads?
How do you think creative teams are evolving now that AI is here?
Will there still be a need to work with humans in a world where AI can create ads on demand, and in what role?
How is AI democratizing access to high-quality content for small and mid-sized brands?
What AI tools do you recommend for marketers?
How much should marketers be on top of new AI tools?
Tell us about your time at Bluestacks.
What advice would you give to someone trying to break into marketing today?

Timestamp:

0:58 John’s background
3:20 Footage engineering aka AI-generated imagery
4:57 Getting started with AI for making ads
7:26 Limitations of using AI for advertising
9:38 Will AI take our jobs?
12:43 The role of humans in AI-generated ads
14:58 The value of AI for creating ads
16:47 Recommended AI tools
18:28 How much should marketers be on top of new AI tools?
21:48 BlueStacks
23:43 How to rise to the top
27:47 What to do in Silicon Valley

Quotes:

(4:05-4:26) “Yes, the AI orchestrates the script, the voiceover, the performance framework, the footage with the supers, the music – but it needs good ingredients to work with to make the sauce. So, if you can actually engineer footage – particularly with people and products in the frame together (because that’s hard to shoot at scale), it would be a complete game-changer for the marketing industry.”

Mentioned in this episode:

App marketing with data-based storytelling - Drew Hampton (Varo Bank)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Questions Drew answered in this episode:

How do you go about data analysis and storytelling?
Are there data points or topics you like to dig into that are often overlooked?
Sometimes the results of internal models don’t match. What do you do when there are inconsistencies?
What advice would you give to new managers?

Timestamp:

1:30 Drew’s background
4:57 What is Varo Bank?
7:00 Pivot tables for storytelling
8:28 How to present your story
12:30 Choosing the right segments to focus on
18:12 When data is inconsistent
22:16 Drew’s approach to leadership

Quotes:

(14:33-14:44) “The value of retrospectives is you run a whole campaign and then you break apart everything to find out what the clear wins are.”

(22:22-22:26) “Leadership is a privilege – not a right. Employees are your greatest resource.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Expert tips on the art of app acquisitions - Josh Peleg (BlueThrone)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 4 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Questions Josh answered in this episode:

How big is the mergers & acquisitions marketplace for mobile apps?
What advice do you have for app developers at an inflection point with their business where they’re not meeting their goals?
What categories are BlueThrone’s strengths?
What can app developers do to increase their odds of being discovered by an acquisition company?
How do you evaluate an app to determine if you want to acquire it?
What should founders and developers be cautious about when talking to app buyers?

Timestamp:

1:24 Josh’s background and a little about BlueThrone
4:40 The mobile app M&A marketplace
5:47 BlueThrone’s value proposition
7:05 What can acquirers do for app developers
11:17 How to be discovered by an app acquisition company
14:15 What are app acquisition companies looking for in an app
17:43 Red flags for app buyers

Quotes:

(14:20-14:28) “A good litmus test is to see how much of your traffic is organic. If you can sustain the business based on its organic traffic, that really signifies product-market fit.”

(15:32-15:46) “A really good piece of advice I often give founders is don’t be shy about the stuff that’s not working. You can very much tell the potential acquirer about it. But the winning formula is to present a game plan on how you’re going to solve that.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Josh Peleg’s LinkedIn
BlueThrone
email: josh.p@bluethrone.io

The door to more: DoorDash’s advertising journey - Toby Espinosa (DoorDash)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Questions Toby answered in this episode:

Can you tell me about a significant but small win from your early days as a launcher?
When did the advertising component of DoorDash’s business begin?
What role did you play in DoorDash’s transition to including non-restaurant categories in your platform? And how does the advertising strategy differ?
Can you tell us about a key challenge you faced? Or which milestones you’re most proud of?
Are there any trends or new initiatives that you see shaping DoorDash or the DoorDash advertising platform in the next few years?

Timestamp:

0:38 Toby Espinosa’s background at DoorDash
1:36 DoorDash’s founding story & Toby’s first big win
9:09 Building DoorDash’s advertising CPA model
18:54 Expanding into non-restaurant categories
22:09 DoorDash’s newest ad solutions
23:33 DoorDash’s challenge and opportunity
29:28 How to invest in the future
31:51 Best of San Francisco

Quotes:

(9:40-9:56) “So we started by building a discounting platform that allowed any one of our restaurant partners to discount an item and target specific outcomes, whether it’s a first-time user, a lapsed user, etc.”

(20:05 - 20:16) “We want to bring consumers a relevant piece of content, and we might also bring them a promotion or discount to help increase the conversion rate of that sale.”

(23:31 - 23:49) “The way we look at this space is that we were founded on a very simple principle – to help local economies grow. We are probably about two or three percent into that journey.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Early growth marketing tactics to maximize ROI - Kevin Kawai (NewsBreak)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 6 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

With so many factors to consider when bringing an app product to market, where should growth marketers focus their time and attention to maximize return on investment? To answer this question, Remerge host Taylor Lobdell interviews Kevin Kawai, a seasoned growth marketer with over ten years of experience. In this episode, Kevin shares key growth marketing tips on no-cost growth tactics, waitlist campaigns, lifecycle and paid user acquisition, optimizing onboarding, driving virality, paid advertising, performance metrics, and where growth marketing is headed with AI.

Kevin is the Lead Growth Marketer at NewsBreak, a news app for current events, news, and weather alerts for your local community.

Questions Kevin answered in this episode:

What are some universal growth strategies that apply across the board of the different verticals you’ve worked with?
What do your weekly or monthly goals look like for NewsBreak?
You handle B2B and the lifecycle marketing for users. What strategies do you find more effective for managing both sides of the equation?
What are some key tactics you use to make sure people stay with your app?
What tips would you give someone who is trying to break into growth marketing? What background do they need to have?
How do you help boost signups, execute waitlist campaigns, and ultimately, conversion rates?
How are you marketing to get B2B advertisers on NewsBreak?
What’s your favorite go-to growth strategy?
How do you think growth marketing is going to change in the near future with all these AI tools?
How do you gauge the interest of users with a new feature?
How do you encourage someone who uninstalls your app to complete a survey?
Can you talk about balancing short-term tactics with the long-term view of unit economics when scaling an app?

Timestamp:

0:53 Kevin’s background
2:58 Kevin’s role at NewsBreak
5:18 Tips for successful onboarding
7:04 Breaking into growth marketing
8:59 Implementing “waitlist” tactics
10:53 B2B marketing for NewsBreak’s ad platform
11:57 Tools and resources for go-to-market strategies
14:18 How AI will impact growth marketing
17:38 Where to focus your attention
19:30 Success with user surveys
21:40 Balancing short- and long-term goals for scaling
23:53 Where to go in the South Bay of SF

Quotes:

(2:17-2:33) “I think one of the bigger misconceptions with early-stage organizations is that they try to achieve results in an immediate fashion, but a lot of these growth tactics tend to be more long-term projects.”

(12:05-12:19) “I’ve seen a lot of go-to-market strategies come from AI these days. And I think from the AI perspective, it probably gets you about 50 percent of where you need to be for a full strategy.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Apptivate Live: App Growth Summit in SF - Toby Espinosa (DoorDash) & Pan Katsukis (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0000

In this live edition of the Apptivate podcast, Remerge CEO and co-founder, Pan Katsukis, interviews the Vice President of DoorDash Ads, Toby Espinosa, about the company’s advertising journey – live on stage at the App Growth Summit in San Francisco. DoorDash is now one of the largest marketplaces in the world for delivering food, goods, and more, generating over 80 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Hear about their humble beginnings in Palo Alto, how they flipped the paradigm for helping restaurants and small businesses to grow through their advertising platform, and where they are today with their retail media network.

Questions answered in this episode:

Can you describe your role at DoorDash and how it evolved?
Do you provide tools outside your platform?
How do restaurants budget for advertising on social media with DoorDash?
How do retailers tap into DoorDash’s ad tech?
How was the process of building your advertising technology?
What’s a trend in mobile you see working well?

Timestamp:

1:37 The evolution of Toby’s role at DoorDash
4:30 DoorDash’s beginning
7:30 Advertising that works for restaurants
9:37 Digital tools for your growth inventory
13:44 Payment-withholding for advertising vs CPA
15:08 Building business for retailers
17:40 Mindset to build an ad tech empire
21:05 Understanding your value proposition

Quotes:

(5:40-5:53) “When we started, that was the whole idea: to provide the delivery service so that these restaurants on Main Street and every small business can grow. So our founding principle was growth.”

(9:38-9:51) “We have a perspective within DoorDash that the best businesses are layer cakes, and they’re built over time. And the way you build that layer cake is by basically continuously asking your customer what they need in order to be successful.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Finding Your App’s North Star for Growth - Michelle Murcia (Storybeat)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 2 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0000

How do you know you’re on the best path to growing your app? Michelle Murcia, the Head of Growth at Storybeat (a comprehensive image-editing app for social content), unpacks this question for mobile marketers. Michelle discusses the stages, frameworks, and methodologies that she considers essential for driving growth and revenue on mobile.

Questions Michelle answered in this episode:

Can you tell us about your role as Head of Growth at Storybeat? And what does your typical day look like?
How do you find your target app users (content creators and businesses)?
What’s your approach to managing the lifecycle of each user and identifying growth opportunities?
What is your North Star metric?
What skills do you think are crucial for working in mobile marketing today?
What trends do you see shaping the future of mobile marketing, especially for smaller companies?

Timestamp:

1:00 What is Storybeat?
1:32 Michelle’s role as Head of Growth
3:53 Attracting content creators
5:48 Identifying growth opportunities
15:00 Defining our North Star
17:00 How to become a mobile marketer
19:20 Trends in growth marketing strategy
23:38 What to do in Barcelona & Colombia

Quotes:

(7:20-7:40) “You need to identify the stage of growth that your company is in before you can start to create the [growth] strategy. In terms of growth, there are normally three different stages: the discovery stage of the startup, the optimization, and when it’s more mature, to scale it.”

(15:19-15:39) “A North Star metric is a metric that needs to meet at least three requirements: The first one is that it needs to help show you the value of your product to the user; second is to, of course, measure the happiness of the user; and third, that it brought revenue.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

CTV and the next frontier in app growth marketing - Peter Hamilton (Roku)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:08:14 +0000

Could streaming be the next big channel for mobile marketers? Peter Hamilton, Head of Ad Innovation at Roku believes it will be. In this episode, he chats with Taylor about how action ads work on Roku – where viewers can place orders or download an app directly from their TVs. He also discusses their newest product for advertisers called ‘Roku Ads Manager’. Targeting and measurement with CTV just got a whole lot better. Tune in to the episode and find out how.

Questions Peter answered in this episode:

What does Head of Ad Innovation mean? And what innovations are happening at Roku?
How do you make the ads relevant to the viewer?
How do action ads work? And what impact have you seen from allowing viewers to place orders directly from their tv?
Is there anything besides the action ads that makes streaming such a powerful advertising channel?
Who is your ideal customer to be using this product?
What can’t I miss on a weekend trip to Seattle?

Timestamp:

1:02 Peter’s background
4:35 Solving the ‘discovery’ problem with streaming
6:00 Ad innovation at Roku
7:25 Targeted capabilities with streaming
8:45 Action ads on tv
13:00 Roku Ads Manager
17:07 Who is Roku Ads Manager for?
20:36 Creatives for CTV
27:06 A weekend in Seattle

Quotes:

(17:48-18:12) “Whether you’re trying to drive downloads, gameplay or mobile subscriptions, Roku Ads Manager is valuable from a targeting and measurement standpoint. We want to prove the value and ROAS of CTV.”

(20:36-20:40) “CTV is the next frontier for the growth hacker to solve.”

(22:34-22:47) “The number one thing that impacts CTV is your creative. Does it get someone to lean forward and press ‘okay’ on the remote? Does it get them to pull your website up on their phone or download your app?”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Overcoming marketing signal loss by testing audiences - Alex Song (Proxima)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

When Alex Song had to fold a business due to the signal loss from the post-iOS 14 changes in digital marketing post-iOS 14, he set out to solve this problem. In this episode, Taylor interviews Alex about that solution – an AI-powered data intelligence platform called Proxima. You’ll learn how the platform leverages anonymized first-party data to help digital brands access new customers, lower their acquisition costs, and increase their ROAS. He also shares poignant advice to professionals wondering if they should be taking more risks in their career path.

Alex is the CEO and Founder of Proxima. Before launching Proxima, Alex founded three direct-to-consumer businesses, after working a decade as an investment banking analyst.

Questions Alex answered in this episode:

What is Proxima and why did you start it?
Where are you getting your data? And what are you doing with it to make CPAs lower and ROAS better?
How did you manage to solve the loss of signal post-iOS14?
How do you think the most successful mobile marketers are getting in front of the right customer at the right moment, without a ton of data to rely on?
How do you think about attribution and measurement?
What do you think the future looks like for AI-powered marketing platforms?
Does your platform work with Android, too?

Timestamp:

0:50 What is Proxima?
2:25 Alex’s background
8:00 How does Proxima work?
12:54 How most marketers are solving for signal loss
14:51 Attribution and measurement
16:15 Testing audiences and creative concurrently
17:10 The future of AI-powered marketing tools
19:32 How to test if Proxima would work for you
22:15 Career advice & accelerated learning
28:47 What not to miss in NYC

Quotes:

(13:50-14:16) “What we are really focused on is how people can be empowered to test audiences the same way they feel they can test creatives.”

(27:34-27:49) “I think the main difference in my learning curve really came from the speed at which I was willing to be wrong and then to learn from it.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Alternative ad networks for mobile game marketing - Sylvain Etard (Tilting Point)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 4 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Getting mobile games in front of new users on Google, Meta, and other large advertising networks has become increasingly challenging, with more competition than ever before and the high-cost impact of seasonality. In this episode, Sylvain Etard, the Senior Gaming Growth Manager for Tilting Point (the leader in free-to-play games), shares how he manages this challenge by working with alternative vendors and channels, such as Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs), CTV, and rewarded ad networks.

Questions Sylvain answered in this episode:

What’s your role at Tilting Point?
What’s the problem with solely relying on the big players for app growth?
How do you solve these UA challenges?
Why is CTV the most difficult network to get into?
How do you go about onboarding these new networks?
How do you measure the LTV of these new channels?
What KPIs should we be looking at besides ROAS?
What percentage of the budget do you recommend going to the big players versus testing these other networks?
How do you stay current with these different strategies?
What types of things are you looking for in a new vendor?
When do you decide to stop working with a new vendor?

Timestamp:

0:46 Sylvain’s role at Tilting Point
2:01 Challenges of marketing your games on Google and Meta
3:53 Finding new partners to market with
5:00 Marketing your mobile game with CTV
6:11 Getting started with new networks
6:45 Predicting LTV with new channels
8:47 Distributing your marketing budget
9:46 How Sylvain stays up to speed with the latest trends
11:04 Shopping for a new vendor
12:19 Deciding when to stop with a new vendor
13:02 Tips for getting into the mobile game marketing industry
14:00 Challenges with retargeting
16:29 Rewarded platforms
18:15 Cross-promoting games
21:12 What to do in Barcelona

Quotes:

(7:01-7:16) “A good way to do LTV predictions for a game is to look at Day 7, Day 14, depending on your game, and the LTV and retention you have. If you have really good LTV but lower retention than other games, it should be a red flag.”

(11:04-11:20) “What I’m looking for in a new vendor is reliability. Having a lot of LinkedIn messages, we cannot always rely on whatever the vendor says. So the MMP benchmark and MMP index is a good source of reliability because if competitors are spending there, there’s a reason.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Inside DraftKings: Mobile ad attribution - Richard Eiseman (DraftKings)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Richard Eiseman is the Marketing Tech Operations Specialist at DraftKings, one of the world’s biggest fantasy sports betting companies. Richard focuses on ad tech operations including, tracking, attribution, and driving DraftKings’s privacy attribution strategy. In this episode, Richard shares his perspective on the current landscape of ad attribution. He touches on Apple’s AdAttributionKit, learnings from early tests of SKAN 4, the possible end of fingerprinting on Apple devices, and a whole lot more!

Questions Richard answered in this episode:

What is your role at DraftKings?
How is the current landscape of ad attribution?
How are you staying on top of all the changes with ad attribution?
Why do marketers need to account for the differences between various types of ad attribution?
What are the main differences between Apple’s AdAttributionKit and SKAN?
What high-level learnings can you share about your tests with the early versions of SKAN?
How do you work with your Mobile Measurement Partner?
What’s your take on Apple’s Privacy Manifest announcing it would stop fingerprinting?
Is your job easier on the Google side of attribution with their GIDs?
What do you think ad attribution will look like in five to ten years?

Timestamp:

0:33 Richard’s role at DraftKings
3:03 Current landscape of ad attribution
4:35 Testing incremental attribution at DraftKings
7:42 What is Apple’s AdAttributionKit?
10:30 How is it different from SKAN?
13:30 Learnings from early tests of SKAN 4.0
16:43 How do you work with your MMP?
17:23 Will Apple remove fingerprinting?
19:50 Google’s marketer-friendly approach to attribution
22:02 Advice for staying on top of the latest changes
24:40 What to do in NYC

Quotes:

(5:38-6:03) “We have our own incrementality testing method at DraftKings where we try to weigh the actual output of everything – not from taking SKAN or Android-deterministic data or web data at the base read-out, but by really trying to measure what percent of the initially reported conversions or KPIs occurred based on that advertising alone.”

Mentioned in this episode:

From ATT to AdAttributionKit: The latest in attribution - Roy Yanai (AppsFlyer)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Questions Roy answered in this episode:

What is AppsFlyer and what do you do for them?
Can you define ATT for our listeners?
How can mobile marketers increase user opt-in rates?
Why do you think opt-in rates are increasing?
What have you seen on the ad spend side since these shifts?
Can you talk about Remerge and AppsFlyer’s test of the Protected Audience API (formerly known as Fledge)?
How do you see Apple’s new AdAttributionKit changing marketing, especially with re-engagement?
How do you keep up with everything?
What should product managers be testing?
Can you define media mix modeling and how you’re thinking about it at AppsFlyer?
How does AppsFlyer think about privacy?

Timestamp:

0:38 Intro to AppsFlyer and Roy
1:38 Defining App Tracking Transparency (ATT)
5:20 Opt-in rates since the launch of ATT
6:00 Why is opting-in catching on?
7:30 Effects on ad spend
8:54 Google’s solutions to its depreciation of GAIDs
10:02 How does the Protected Audience API work?
11:28 What does AdAttributionKit change?
12:50 Roy’s secrets to staying on top of the latest changes
13:55 What should you be testing?
15:15 Why AppsFlyer?
17:15 How to break the ceiling in your career
19:49 What is Roy excited about?
21:50 Media mixed modeling defined
27:38 AppsFlyer’s approach to privacy
29:13 How to spend a weekend in Tel Aviv

Quotes:

(5:20) “We’ve seen surprising results. Opt-in rates since ATT started around 20% but have gone up over time. I think this has gone up to around 40% consent across the app ecosystem.”

(10:15-10:46) “In the end, the idea behind the Protected Audiences API is that we can manage cohorts of users that you would want to perhaps re-engage later on the device. So every user can be registered within their own device to different cohorts, which can later be accessed by targeting ad networks on different publishers – and all of it without sharing a single identifier across the web.”

(11:46-12:18) “Apple only took care of measurement, which is SKAN 4.0. AdAttributionKit is just an advancement of the measurement use cases. There is no remarketing solution by iOS. One can only hope. And actually, they did introduce retargeting measurement with AdAttributionKit, which might give us a little bit of hope that retargeting tools are to follow.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Roy Yanai’s LinkedIn
AppsFlyer
Ep183 Pioneering on-device bidding for the Android Privacy Sandbox (Google, Verve Group, Remerge)

The science behind media mix optimization - Paul Kovalski (Self Financial)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 7 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

What is media mix optimization and how do you do it well? Find out as Remerge host Patrick Eichmann chats with an expert on the subject. Paul Kovalski leads growth marketing for Self Financial, a fintech company with a mission to help people build credit. With a multi-channel media mix of TV, paid social, paid search, affiliates, and more, Paul brings useful insights to mobile marketers on maximizing their media mix.

Questions Paul Answered in this Episode:

How do you approach your media mix at Self Financial?
How do you allocate your budget to each channel?
What criteria are you thinking about when considering new sources of traffic?
How do you approach creative optimization?
How do you develop different creatives for different personas and products?
Any other best practices you’d like to share?

Timestamp:

0:46 Paul’s background
1:55 What is Self Financial?
2:53 Targets for optimizing your media mix
4:58 Budget allocations for each channel
7:00 Considerations for new sources of traffic
9:00 Creative testing for optimizing your media mix
13:54 Mindfulness exercise for marketers

Quotes:

(4:13-4:25) “I don’t think there’s any source of truth in data. Some media mix modeling tools would tell you otherwise, but it’s very much an art and science to determine how to spend your budget effectively.”

(8:16-8:34) “When launching a channel, I expect to see some craziness in the first couple of weeks. Once things settle, that’s what I take as the baseline for that channel.”

(9:00-9:12) “Creative production and optimization is one of the most important levers in optimizing media mix, particularly because the job of the media planner has changed so much over time.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Driving Results: Full-Funnel Strategies for Mobile Marketing - Daniela Aschentrupp (DiDi), Diego Salazar (DiDi)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we speak to Diego Salazar, the Paid Media Lead, and Daniela ‘Dani’ Aschentrupp, the Ad Ops & Acquisitions Lead, at DiDi, one of the world’s biggest mobility and food delivery apps. Get a full-funnel perspective with best practices for re-engaging lapsed users and top tips for acquiring new ones. This episode also covers creative strategies and how to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, along with a round-up of what to do in Mexico City!

Questions Diego and Dani answered in this episode:

Dani, what’s one story about mobile marketing you have to share with our listeners from a global giant like DiDi?
How do you measure brand campaigns?
Diego, can you give us some tips on creative strategy for re-engagement?
Do you have any favorite call-to-actions for re-engagement on the creative side?
Dani, what are your tips for UA creative strategies?
What best practices do you have to share about measurement for UA and retargeting?
How do you re-engage dormant users?
What are some of the biggest challenges you face when marketing to your customers?
What predictions do you have for the Google Privacy Sandbox?
What should I see in Mexico City?

Timestamp:

0:53 Intro to DiDi and the guests
2:12 Measuring the effectiveness of brand campaigns
6:03 Creative strategy tips for re-engagement
7:58 Creative strategy tips for UA
9:40 Measurement best practices for retargeting
13:26 Re-engaging lapsed users incrementally
14:51 What problem are you solving for your user?
17:25 Marketing challenges
20:28 Why a full-funnel approach to attribution is better
22:00 Predictions for Google’s Privacy Sandbox
24:17 What is there to do in Mexico City?

Quotes:

(6:40-6:53) - “Regarding creatives, it's very important to keep an updated pipeline with different ideas that you can continuously test to identify the top-performing message.”

(8:11-8:32) “You already know what works [for your creatives]: good incentive, good value proposition, and clear messaging. I would say stick to that. Stick to what works. Once you figure out what works for you, it’s time to test more on the placement side. Compare video versus banner versus rich media, and so on.”

(14:55-15:07) “You have to clearly understand what it is that you are solving for the user. When you come from that mindset, I think everything else falls into place.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Next-level ASO: How AI Is Revolutionizing App Discovery - Thomas Kriebernegg (App Radar)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Apptivate’s newest host, Taylor Lobdell, interviews Thomas Kriebernegg, the co-founder of App Radar, an App Store Optimization (ASO) platform. They talk about how mobile marketers can use generative AI to reduce production time, improve the outcomes of their ASO efforts, and elevate their paid user acquisition (UA) campaigns. Listen now for more details.

Questions Thomas answered in this episode:

What is app store optimization?
How can smaller apps compete with big brands on ASO?
How can mobile marketers use AI for ASO?
What is paid UA?
How are you bringing in AI to help with paid UA?
Where should marketers start with using ChatGTP, or generative AI?
Where do you see AI going in the near or distant future?

Timestamp:

1:08 Thomas’s background
2:21 What is app store optimization? (ASO)
4:18 Fierce competition on the app store
6:50 Using AI for ASO
10:42 Why use paid UA?
12:30 Using AI for paid UA
15:00 Getting started with ChatGTP
16:30 The limitations of AI
17:58 The future of AI

Quotes:

(12:30-12:47) “From my point of view, one of the big underlying topics that AI enables is what I would call ‘mass-customization.’ This means that instead of running one ad and trying to make it perfect for everyone, you can run 10 ads for 10 different target audiences.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Privacy Sandbox for Android: The Protected Audiences API - John Koetsier (Growth Masterminds), Luckey Harpley (Remerge), Omri Gal (Singular)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

This week, we bring you an episode from Singular’s Growth Masterminds Podcast about what targeting and retargeting will look like for mobile marketers on the Android Privacy Sandbox, featuring Luckey Harpley (Remerge’s Principal Product Manager), Omri Gal (Singular’s Head of Privacy), and host John Koetsier. Learn about the initial testing and campaigns that Remerge has run with Singular’s new SDK for the Sandbox’s Protected Audiences API – and find out what to expect when the rollout takes place.

Questions answered in this episode:

What is the Protected Audiences API?
What’s the function of the protected apps signal API?
How is this related to the Topics API?
How will targeting work with the Privacy Sandbox?
How will retargeting work with Privacy Sandbox?
Tell us about Singular’s testing of the Privacy Sandbox
How does retargeting work when user data stays on the device?
How can app marketers prepare for this?

Timestamp:

1:25 What’s new with the Privacy Sandbox?
3:46 What is the Protected Audiences API?
5:15 How does the Protected Apps Signal API work?
6:30 Is it a better Topics API?
10:56 What will targeting look like with the Privacy Sandbox?
12:45 What will retargeting look like with the Privacy Sandbox?
17:20 Testing Singular’s SDK with the Privacy Sandbox
23:00 How retargeting can work with on-device data
24:20 How can mobile marketers prepare for the Privacy Sandbox?

Quotes:

(3:47-4:00) “The Protected Audiences API started off its life as an API focused on solving the retargeting problem, but it’s become a lot more than that. I think remarketing will, in the end, be a small part of it.”

(23:00-23:26) “It’s not that all information lives on the device, but rather, all the information that can track a user across apps lives on the device. So our advertisers will still be able to track with their MMP partners. They just won’t know which users are in app A, B, C – but they’ll still know what users are doing in app A – and what they’re doing in app B and C. They just won’t be able to connect them together.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Pioneering On-device Bidding for the Android Privacy Sandbox - Trenton Starkey (Google), Gaylord Zach (Verve Group), Pan Katsukis (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

How will mobile demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs) bid on and sell ad placements via Google’s Privacy Sandbox for Android? Find out as Remerge’s CEO and Co-founder, Pan Katsukis, interviews Verve Group’s Head of Mobile Product, Gaylord Zach, and Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox’s Product Manager for the Protected Audience API, Trenton Starkey. Mobile advertisers and publishers can learn about the all-new on-device auction system, how it works, and how they can prepare for the rollout of the Android Privacy Sandbox.

Questions Answered in this Episode:

What is Verve Group’s approach to the Privacy Sandbox? And what led you to become one of the first SSPs in the industry to test the auction system?
How is early testing of the Protected Audience API going?
Can you describe the on-device bidding test between Verve and Remerge?
How did the test work? What challenges were there in the implementation and testing? How are you solving these challenges?
How can advertisers and publishers prepare for the rollout of Android’s Privacy Sandbox?

Timestamp:

0:26 Today's Topic: Privacy Sandbox
1:22 Meet the Guests: Trenton Starkey and Gaylord Zach
2:16 Verve Group’s approach to Privacy Sandbox
5:28 Why Google is collaborating with the industry to build the Privacy Sandbox
10:27 The importance of early testing of Android’s Protected API
12:55 Recap of Verve and Remerge’s on-device bidding test
20:09 Next steps: What’s changing for publishers and advertisers?
33.48 Final thoughts

Quotes:

28:26 - Pank Katsukis: ”These milestones for the Privacy Sandbox are the foundations for setting up, running and scaling campaigns in the privacy-first era.”

31:40 - Trenton Starkey: ”Now is the time to work on our privacy-focused solutions. It’s a great opportunity to rethink how advertisers and publishers can keep delivering great experiences.”

34:56 - Gaylord Zach: ”By having powerful technologies at hand, we can really develop advertising products that allow us to reach the right audiences.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Building Your In-App Community - Amadeus Norén (Amity)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 29 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Amadeus Norén is the Director of Product Marketing at Amity. Amity’s platform provides customizable SDKs for every social feature imaginable so that app-based businesses can launch, grow, and monetize their in-app social community. In this episode, you’ll learn how to leverage this community, and why not doing so could be a missed opportunity for your brand.

Questions Amadeus Answered in this Episode:

Why should businesses consider moving away from social media platforms to build their communities within their apps?
Why is it important for apps to own the user data of their social network?
How can apps monetize their in-app communities?
How can you use the customer feedback collected from the conversations of your in-app community?
Does Amity’s platform address the challenges companies are facing right now?
What does your day-to-day look like when marketing Amity’s products?
Can apps track revenue or user engagement generated from within their in-app community?

Timestamp:

0:49 Amadeus’s background
1:27 What is Amity?
4:32 The decline of Facebook group organic reach
5:43 Why build your community within your app?
7:44 How to monetize your in-app community
9:17 Use cases for collected customer feedback
11:40 Amity’s AI tool
14:24 Marketing Amity’s products
17:13 Evaluating the performance of Amity’s platform
19:17 User expectations for social networks
22:23 What’s Amadeus excited about in the future

Quotes:

(4:42-5:01) “Ten years ago, your organic reach for a Facebook page was 20 to 15 percent. Currently, the organic reach for all of the following that you’ve built up on your Facebook page is one percent. So in order to reach your audience, you now need to pay for ads to reach those people.”

(9:37-9:46) “You can take all of the data from conversations that are happening in your in-app community, analyze it with AI, and make smarter decisions for the future.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Inside the Mobile Marketing Industry’s No-ID world - Catherine Perloff (AdWeek)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 15 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Catherine Perloff is the platforms reporter at Adweek, an American publication covering news related to the brand marketing ecosystem. In this episode, Catherine gives us the latest news on what’s happening within the murkiness of cookie depreciation and the advertising industry’s no-ID world. She also discusses emerging trends from AI-powered media buying to retail media and more.

At Adweek, Catherine focuses on how media buyers and brands spend their marketing budgets, what channels are most effective for them, and what struggles they encounter in buying the best media to reach the right audience. She also covers how publishers monetize effectively with digital marketing tools.

Questions Catherine answered in this episode:

What does ‘platforms’ mean from the perspective of a marketing reporter?
What's the feedback from the industry on Meta’s AI-powered Advantage+?
Besides the impacts of privacy, what other trends do you foresee happening this year?
How do you stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the marketing space?

Timestamp:

0:52 Catherine’s background
4:39 Unpacking the platforms
7:33 ATT’s impact on Meta for advertisers
11:00 The scoop on Meta’s AI-powered Advantage+
13:46 What’s happening in the no-ID world
15:45 The future of AI-driven media buying
17:10 Retail media and connected TV
21:25 ID bridging: shady business?
25:44 Resources

Quotes:

(7:39-7:59) “I think that there was a mindset that you could build a whole business on Meta, like that would be your main channel – and after ATT, I think a lot of businesses, especially DTC brands, realized they had to diversify.”

(15:01-15:20) “The purveyors of premium inventory are always going to say that high-quality inventory will be performative. I don’t think that’s true, but it’s definitely harder to prove. It’s often said that if you can’t track it, it’s branding.”

(16:47-17:07) “AI is being used for creativity in the advertising space. Is generative AI going to replace creative agencies? Is it going to replace copywriters? It poses a real existential threat to media agencies if more of the technology is doing the decision-making.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How the Subway Surfers Game Handles User Privacy - Janos Perei (SYBO Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 1 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Janos Perei is the Head of Growth for SYBO Games, the mobile game developer responsible for Subway Surfers, one of the most downloaded mobile games on the planet. In this episode, you’ll learn how SYBO is navigating privacy regulations in the U.S. and Europe and the importance of working cross-functionally with your teams. Before joining SYBO, Janos worked for Voodoo and Socialpoint.

Questions Janos Answered in this Episode:

How is SYBO approaching user data privacy?
What data points do you still rely on in performance marketing related to user privacy?
How do you communicate your privacy policy to your users?
How do you come together internally to discuss the business’s approach to privacy regulations?
How are you using some of that data to inform your decisions without operating in a grey area?

Timestamp:

1:10 Janos Perei’s background
3:28 SYBO’s approach to privacy
5:24 Communicating consent with users
9:22 Setting up our internal teams around privacy
13:08 Short-term pains for long-term gains

Quotes:

(3:42-3:56) “As human beings, we value our privacy – so we also value the chance to safeguard and decide how our users’ data is used. Coming from this mindset has been our guiding principle from the very beginning.”

(6:08-6:25) “We try to put compliance first – so if a user doesn’t consent, we might not even initialize certain SDK systems and certain technical tracking infrastructure, to make sure we can safeguard the privacy of the user from the get-go.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Should Gaming Apps Use Playable Ads in their Marketing Mix? - Gokce Oguz (Playable Factory)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Gokce Oguz is the co-founder of Playable Factory, a Turkey-based company creating playable ads for gaming studios and brands with apps. Patrick interviews Gokce to learn all about playable ads for gaming studios and brands with apps. Find out what types of games or brands playables work best for, which types perform the best, when to iterate on your ads, and what the future of AI holds for creatives in mobile marketing.

Questions Gokce answered in this episode:

What types of gaming studios are using playable ads? And is there a distinction between the types of playables being used and the subcategories of the gaming studios?
What makes a playable ad perform well, or not?
How much should advertisers be iterating on their playable ads?
Is there a difference between gaming studios and non-gaming studios when using these creative assets?
What’s your viewpoint on the future of AI and creatives in mobile marketing?

Timestamp:

1:59 What does Playable Factory do
3:43 Who uses playable ads
6:12 What contributes to a well-performing playable ad
9:07 When to iterate on playables
10:40 Using playable ads for gaming apps vs non-gaming apps
13:01 The future of AI and creatives in mobile marketing

Quotes:

(3:45-4:00) “Mostly casual game publishers and hyper-casual game publishers are using playable ads, but for publishers that have more mid-core games or role-playing type of games, it’s a little bit harder to use them.”

(4:08-4:20) “The brands and apps running campaigns in SDK Networks are the ones mostly using playable ads because they are performing the best in those ad networks.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Using AI to advertise mobile games - Günay Aliyeva (Gamelight)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 3 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Günay is the co-founder of Gamelight, a user acquisition platform for app developers and a game and app recommendation platform for users. Gamelight’s success can be attributed to its powerful AI algorithm. Learn how UA managers are leveraging tech to pair users with mobile games that they’ll love.

Questions Günay Answered in this Episode:

How does Gamelight work?
What technology are you leveraging to run your platform?
Has Gamelight had this technology from the start?
What is your background and how did you come to start Gamelight?
What have you learned from building this AI algorithm?
How does that change the role of a UA manager?
What have you seen that works really well for the games that advertise on your platform?
How do you convince games to advertise on your platform?
How do you acquire users to your recommendation platform?
What do you see coming ahead in the industry?

Timestamp:

1:53 What is Gamelight?
3:27 The AI technology behind Gamelight
6:58 Günay’s story
9:18 What we’ve learned from building our AI algorithm
11:23 The role of the UA manager
15:27 What draws publishers to advertise our platform?
17:23 How our recommendation platform works
21:38 How I become a mobile gamer
24:52 What’s ahead

Quotes:

(5:08-5:27) “We let the algorithm decide because it’s way more granular and can analyze more data points than a human. This is how it brings much better UA results for our advertisers because it can pick every single user that could be the best fit for them instead of taking average gender or age for users.”

(13:04-13:13) “[Humans] are more creative. They can have better ideas on what to do and how to plan UA campaigns in a more strategic way.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Women in Mobile: Boss Ladies Working in AI - Lana Dubinskiy (Women and AI)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

As part of our Women in Mobile series celebrating Women’s History Month, Maria Lannon from Remerge talks to Lana Dubinskiy, an AI product advisor and a co-founder of Women and AI. Women and AI is an initiative highlighting women working in the field of artificial intelligence and providing relevant industry news. It was created so that women could help each other shine within this male-dominated sector of the tech industry.

Questions Lana answered in this episode:

How did you end up in product advertising? Did you have a mentor?
Did you ever feel intimidated to speak up?
How have you been able to get other women to join?
Are there certain resources that you gravitate towards that have helped you?
How do you prioritize your day to stay on top of things? How do you prioritize your “you” time?
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? And what is the worst?

Timestamp:

2:27 Lana’s background
4:02 Getting into male-dominated professions
5:57 Data points: How to speak with confidence
7:18 The creation of Women and AI
9:00 Get involved with Women and AI
11:40 Growing is uncomfortable
14:40 Staying on top of AI news
18:25 Compartmentalizing clients as a consultant
21:46 Work-life balance
24:52 The worst and best advice

Quotes:

(4:26-4:36) “I see a lot of people get to a certain level and they feel like they just want to be on top of the mountain by themselves. I think it’s so important, as women, to give back to our community and mentor other women.”

(8:00-8:23) “We went to conferences and there were only a few women there. We could have spoken at the conference – we had more knowledge than the presenters there. So it was very disheartening. We felt like this is something we can do: We can highlight other women. We can show boss ladies, CEOs, that are working in the AI space, dominating it, and really making an impact.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Women in Mobile: Closing the Tech Industry’s Gender Gap - Laura Schwarz (Airship)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Fri, 8 Mar 2024 08:00:00 +0000

It’s difficult to find female talent in the tech industry, and it’s a real problem. Apptivate’s Women in Mobile series is back this March to celebrate Women’s History Month and to discuss how to close the gender gap in our industry. In this episode, Maria chats with Laura Schwarz, Airship's Senior Director of Sales for EMEA, who joined a handful of other female tech leaders in launching a program that invites young girls and boys to learn about different jobs within tech companies. To date, the NOW+NEXT program has reached over 6,000 young girls throughout the UK with plans to expand to the U.S.

Questions Laura Answered in this Episode:

What led you to where you are in your career today?
How do we encourage women to break into our industry?
What has excited or inspired some of the girls who’ve gone through our internship?
Can you tell us about your career story and also introduce Airship to our listeners?
What makes you excited to be working in your current role?
Do you have any advice for our listeners?

Timestamp:

1:10 Laura’s background
5:10 The effect of “bro culture”
6:50 Women are still underrepresented in tech
8:09 Introducing tech careers to girls
14:30 NOW+NEXT
16:10 We won’t want men “out of the room”
18:12 What helps get young people excited about tech careers?
21:42 About Airship and Laura’s role
26:55 The forefront of innovation
29:28 Career advice for young listeners

Quotes:

(8:40-9:03) “I get 50 applications from male candidates and one female. How is that? Where are the women applying for jobs? This is a real problem, and we have to find a solution to that.”

(15:15-15:30) “I think that’s what a lot of women in different areas of business and research are doing – they’re paving the way and they’re always asking, ‘What’s next?’ We’re not satisfied with the status quo.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Acquisition Strategies to Beat Seasonal Dips - Seif Hassan (Momox)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Sometimes e-commerce apps will notice changes in user behavior that correlate to the time of year. What can app marketers do to incentivize their users to take action during these periods? Find out in this episode of Apptivate’s e-commerce series, featuring Seif Hassan, the Senior Performance Marketing Manager for the inbound unit at Momox.

Momox is a Berlin-based “recommerce” company that buys and resells used books and media. Previous to working at Momox, Seif led user acquisition efforts for apps across global markets, including Phiture, Quandoo, and Wego.com.

Questions Seif Answered in this Episode:

Tell us about Momox.
What’s your role at Momox?
How do you manage acquisition for both the inbound and outbound sides of your marketplace?
How do you incentivize people to sell their belongings on your app?
Where are you looking to expand?
How do you evaluate the media channels that you’re working with to support acquisition or retention as you expand to new countries?
Are you experimenting with AI?
Do you have any predictions for our industry in 2024?

Timestamp:

0:47 About Momox
1:37 Seif’s role at Momox
3:42 Marketplace seasonality
7:15 Incentivizing users with bonuses in their checkout cart
7:51 Expansion as a strategy to overcome seasonality barriers
11:52 Experimenting with tone of voice with AI
13:00 Looking ahead

Quotes:

(8:20-8:34) “Expansion is one of the ways in which we try to conquer this seasonality problem. It also helps with acquiring books in different languages and expanding our inventory, and therefore, our customer base.”

(11.48-12.16) “We have experimented with AI for some of the ad texts for the tone of voice that we are using in order to see how can we try a different communication approach, and AI comes in very handy, especially if you have limited capacity or limited resources to produce as many creatives as possible.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Marketing’s Humble Beginnings and What You Can Learn from Them - David Murphy (Mobile Marketing Magazine)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 7 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Do you remember the original “opt-in” for ads on cell phones? It began over 20 years ago. The mobile marketing industry has been on quite the ride over the past two decades, and covering its twists and turns along the way was David Murphy, the editorial director and co-founder of Mobile Marketing Magazine. Join David alongside Maria Lannon from Remerge for some perspective on mobile marketing’s biggest moments.

David Murphy co-founded Mobile Marketing Magazine in 2005 and has been its editorial director for 18 years until recently. David is also the co-founder of Masterclassing. David now enjoys freelance writing from his home just outside of London.

Questions David Answered in this Episode:

How were you able to stay on top of trends in mobile marketing when you began your career?
What were the big changes you saw in the mobile marketing industry since its beginning?
Do you think we’ll see a change in the willingness of users to opt-in?
When you look back at the last 18 years, what stands out to you?
Where do you see the industry going?

Timestamp:

1:07 David’s background
3:30 Taking the pulse of a new tech
5:03 The early days of mobile marketing
15:32 Mobile’s location-based advertising evolution
17:57 Will app owners value being tracked and opt-in?
22:55 What’s stood out in the last two decades
31:13 Where the industry is going

Quotes:

(31:13-31:14) “I think the privacy juggernaut is unstoppable.”

(34:21-34:45) “As a general commentary on this space, you just don’t know what you don’t know–you never know what’s around the corner. There’s always somebody trying to come up with a new way of leveraging this very personal relationship people have with their phones to a) provide some utility to the owner of that phone, and b) make some money out of it themselves.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Privacy Saga: Apple v Google - Allison Schiff (AdExchanger)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 16:42:53 +0000

Staying on top of Apple and Google’s ongoing policy changes to app tracking and user privacy is a business imperative for advertisers and essential for the future of the mobile marketing industry.

It’s also been Allison Schiff’s job. As a journalist, she has covered privacy topics in the marketing technology field for over a decade. In this episode, Allison shares her views on how the mobile advertising industry received Apple’s ATT framework, what Apple is doing now, and how Google has approached the Android Privacy Sandbox rollout. Catch up on the last few years of mobile privacy, and find out how to prepare for what’s ahead.

Allison Schiff is the managing editor of AdExchanger, a leading source for news, analysis, and events dedicated to the data-driven marketing technology industry. As a journalist in the space, Allison primarily covers privacy topics, measurement, attribution, and retail media. She is also the host of the AdExchanger podcast, AdExchanger Talks.

Questions Allison Answered in this Episode:

How do you stay informed on policy changes with privacy? Why is this shift in privacy happening?
What is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework? And how does it work?
Have you heard any theories about Apple changing the way they are rolling out ATT and doing measurement?
How would you describe Google Privacy Sandbox? And what does it set out to achieve?
What are your recommendations for app marketers to stay up-to-date on all these privacy changes? What should advertisers expect and prepare for?
How would you explain the last ten years of privacy in adtech to a 5-year-old?
What do you think is going to be the buzzword or hottest topic of 2024?

Timestamp:

1:28 Allison’s background
7:20 Staying on top of privacy changes
10:00 ATT & the industry’s adaptive response
13:27 Recap: Apple’s ATT rollout
19:48 Apple begins soliciting feedback from adtech
26:06 Android Privacy Sandbox APIs
30:12 How advertisers can prepare for privacy changes
37:15 The most important buzzword for advertisers in 2024

Quotes:

(5:43-5:58) “Privacy is absolutely essential to our coverage now. It comes up daily. Even stories that I’m writing or that my colleagues are writing that aren’t ostensibly about privacy, you really have to address it anyway.”

(26:46) “The main APIs being worked on [by Android Privacy Sandbox], or maybe incubated is the right word, are topics, protected audience, which used to be Fledge, and there’s an attribution API, and those are all mobile app versions of the APIs that are also in the Chrome Privacy Sandbox. So, topics for basic targeting without cross-app identifiers, protected audience for remarketing, and the attribution APIs are obviously for attribution. And then there’s this other API that’s unique to Android, which is SDK run time.”

(32:56-33:06) “The best question that I ever ask when I’m interviewing someone is to explain whatever it is as if I’m five. Even if I think I know, I learn every time.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Getting Started with AI for eCommerce App Marketers - Lana Dubinskiy

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Lana Dubinskiy is an app product advisor and full-time consultant specializing in helping brands leverage AI and machine learning to optimize their workflows and increase revenue. In this episode, Lana breaks down how e-commerce brands can improve the customers’ shopping experience in their app using AI, and how to get started with the AI journey!

Questions Lana answered in this episode:

What types of organizations have you assisted in the past?
How do e-commerce brands get started with using AI and machine learning to enhance the customer experience?
What are you looking for when reviewing an app’s data to develop target goals for your clients?
How personalized can you get with AI?
How long does it take to start and launch an AI marketing initiative?
How do you advise on measuring the impact of AI on a business?
What eCommerce brands are using AI well?
What are three pieces of advice you have for mobile marketers interested in getting started with their AI journey?

Timestamp:

1:07 Lana’s background
3:08 Getting started with AI and machine learning
4:14 Crafting data-driven goals for improving customer experiences
5:50 Getting personal with AI
8:38 What’s the quality of your data?
10:30 The holy grail of measurement
11:55 Why Amazon kills the AI game
14:52 Three takeaways for starting your AI journey

Quotes:

(4:45-5:08) “We can use AI to personalize a user’s experience before they even search for anything. From the moment they land on the marketplace page, it’s already customized to what you know about the customer. That makes a big difference. You want them to have a certain connection and make them feel like this place will have what they’re looking for the moment they get there.”

(8:49-8:57) “A lot of companies are forced to become data-driven once they start using AI because your output will only be as good as your input.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Marry your customers: Mobile apps for e-commerce brands - Matt Hudson (BildIt)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0000

With so many deals to choose from during the holidays, how do app marketers win the attention of consumers? Patrick Eichmann, General Manager for the Americas at Remerge, kicks off a new series on the Apptivate Podcast, talking to marketing experts from e-commerce brands about strategies and best practices. In this episode, guest Matt Hudson, co-founder of BILDIT, helps eCommerce marketers consider whether they need an app, how to go about building one, and how to improve the customer's experience for those who already have an app.

Matt Hudson is a seasoned app architect with over a decade of experience building mobile apps for consumers. More recently, he became the co-founder of BILDIT, a content management platform that helps e-commerce brands build out their mobile apps.

Winning Mobile Marketing Strategies for TikTok - Pedro Arias (Admiral Media)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0000

TikTok is one of the fastest-paced and most competitive social media ad networks for mobile marketers to keep up with. Are you up to speed on the platform's newest marketing features? In this episode, you’ll learn all about current TikTok trends, winning marketing strategies, and how to leverage its newest features, like TikTok Spark and Shop Ads, to boost your next campaign.

Pedro Arias is the Performance Marketing Manager at Admiral Media, a marketing and advertising agency. Currently, Pedro is enjoying his new home in Porto, Portugal.

Questions Pedro Answered in this Episode:

Have you seen any trends with your clients pick up since you started at Admiral Media?
Where are most of your clients testing out UCG?
What verticals work best for TikTok?
What have you seen eCommerce brands doing to prepare for the holiday season on TikTok or other ad networks?
What recommendations do you have for our listeners on marketing strategies have you seen have success on TikTok?
What’s been the biggest surprise for you that you’ve learned about within the first few months at Admiral?
Does the Meta platform still work well in your opinion?

Timestamp:

4:45 Pedro’s role at Admiral Media
7:30 Hot mobile marketing trends now
8:55 TikTok: The go-to for UGC
13:08 TikTok Shop Ads this holiday season
15:48 Spark Ads on TikTok
18:18 My biggest surprise
21:11 Staying on top of new social media features and trends
24:05 Is Meta still worth it?
25:36 Best platforms to stay updated

Quotes:

(7:49-8:16) “Trends that I’ve seen working for the clients that I’m managing lean towards UGC, or user-generated content, having the ability to humanize the brands and be able to communicate human stories through real people that are actually using the product or the service.”

(16:13-16:31) “The great thing about [TikTok Spark Ads] is that you’re not only promoting your brand but you’re also leveraging all the comments and social proof that the post already has from the creator. So, you’re able to expand the reach and expand the impact of the creative.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Women in Mobile: Speaking Your Truth - Anna Gruzina (InnoGames)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 8 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0000

Remerge host Maria Lannon talks to Anna Gruzina about her career as a Performance Marketing Manager for a mobile gaming developer and publisher. Together, they discuss why speaking up with confidence in the workplace is necessary – and how to do it. You'll also learn the worst and best career advice Anna ever received.

Anna Gruzina works at InnoGames, a German video game developer and publisher based in Hamburg.

Questions Anna Answered in this Episode:

How did you end up in mobile gaming?
What have been some of the biggest challenges transitioning from more traditional app publishers to gaming?
How do you navigate the differences between marketing for mobile web (browser) vs mobile app?
What does a typical day look like in your role?
How do you work with your product team?
As someone new to the field, how have you built confidence in the mobile gaming industry where women are typically a minority?
How have you been able to find your voice and speak up?
What’s the best and worst piece of advice you’ve received in your career?
What resources have helped you?

Timestamp:

2:14 Getting into gaming
7:04 Managing mobile browser users vs app users
8:39 A day as a Performance Marketing Manager
11:18 What I learned from my boss’s lack of feedback
14:45 Double standards for speaking confidently
17:04 How to speak your truth
19:07 The worst advice I’ve ever received
21:33 The best advice I’ve received
25:05 Recommended resources

Quotes:

(17:30-17:48) “You have your truth, your voice, and you have your understanding of the situation. And sometimes, being silent is actually worse. If you feel like, ‘Well, maybe my ideas aren’t important,’ it can make the situation worse.”

(19:24-19:39) “Even Cinderella asked for a dress and a ride to go to the ball. So, even she, hardworking, asked for something, to have an opportunity. If we want something, we should ask for that.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tips on Influencer Marketing for Mobile Apps - Nadia Bubennikova (Famesters)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Are you considering whether to use influencer marketing for your mobile app’s brand or performance strategy? Today’s guest is an expert in influencer marketing for app businesses and shares important considerations for running such campaigns.

Nadia Bubennikova is based in Poland and is the Head of Agency at Famesters, an influencer marketing agency.

Questions Nadia Answered in this Episode:

How did you jump into influencer marketing?
What does a day working in influencer marketing look like?
What types of apps work well for influencer marketing?
What KPIs do you use to measure a campaign’s efficacy?
Do you conduct lift studies before and after the campaign to evaluate how the influencer marketing campaign performed?
How long does a typical campaign run for?
What’s changed the most in the field of influencer marketing in the last 4 years?

Timestamp:

2:16 Nadia’s background
3:50 Jumping into influencer marketing
6:27 A typical work day as an influencer marketer
12:20 Influencers marketing for mobile apps
14:28 Metrics for influencer marketing campaigns
19:13 How to measure an influencer marketing campaign
25:36 Run-time of influencer campaigns
29:42 “Use Guarantee” with TikTok influencers
32:54 How influencer marketing has evolved

Quotes:

(6:58-7:15) “Influencer marketing is like an iceberg because everything that you can imagine as the typical day-to-day work is just the tip of the iceberg. And then there are huge volumes of analytical work and field marketing work that many people don’t give credit to influencer marketers.”

(17:32-17:58) “In influencer marketing, around 50-70 percent of traffic, (depending on the app and the vertical), is generated by organic traffic; and only 30-50 percent of the users will follow the direct link. So it is virtually impossible to accurately track the incoming traffic and to accurately attribute it to the influencer marketing channel if you’re only looking at the direct link results.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why You Should Be A/B Testing Your App Store Pages - Jesse Lempiäinen (Geeklab)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Jesse Lempiäinen’s agency helps apps test their marketing strategies for App Store, Google Play, and Steam pages before their product launches. In this episode, you’ll learn the advantages of a/b testing your app store pages and take away the key metrics to measure.

Jess got his start in mobile marketing at Rovio working on Angry Bird before co-founding Geeklab where he is the CEO today. Jesse is based in Finland.

Questions Jesse Answered in this Episode:

What have you developed at Geeklab
Do apps need to have different strategies for different app stores?
What have you learned since starting the company?
What are app developers A/B testing in the app store with your platform?
Are there specific creatives that you leverage more than others?
How are you leveraging AI at Geeklab?
What quantitative metrics are you looking at when A/B testing?
Have you found that apps need to scrap their advertising strategies when they see high download volumes but Day 1 retention isn’t there?
How have privacy changes affected the testing that you do?

Timestamp:

1:40 How Jesse co-founded Geeklab
3:52 What does Geeklab do?
6:45 App store optimization for Apple vs. Google Play
7:47 Early startup learnings
10:28 What A/B testing app store pages looks like
14:07 Creatives: efficiency vs. performance
15:32 Leveraging AI at Geeklab
19:07 Key metrics to app store page testing
27:27 What we learned from ATT and IDFA
30:26 Surveys vs. user behavior

Quotes:

(4:04-4:32) “The reason why we need a tool like ours is that there are certain limitations that come with the native testing opportunities that Apple or Google provides. Like I mentioned, coming up with a new game idea or new app idea, and wanting to figure out what to call the app itself would be something that you couldn’t test with the actual testing pages because they don’t support any testing unless you actually develop the app already and have it up and running.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Designing Your App’s Creative & Growth Strategy

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

How do you make a mobile game stand out when there are half a million games in the app store today? Today’s guest is an expert in helping apps find their unique position in the market, develop their creative strategies, and grow their revenue. In this episode, he shares his approach to designing app marketing strategies for creatives and revenue growth.

Peter Fodor is the founder and CEO of AppAgent, a mobile marketing agency that helps apps ground their user base and revenue.

ASO Hacks for Increasing App Downloads - Simon Thillay (AppTweak)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Simon Thillay is the Head of ASO at AppTweak, an app store optimization platform. In this episode, he shares how his team helped SoundCloud nearly double the conversion rates of an Apple Search Ad campaign and decrease its CPI by 40 percent. Plus, find out why Simon is excited about Europe’s Digital Markets Act.

Simon is the co-author of the book, Advanced App Store Optimization. He is based in Brussels, Belgium where AppTweak is headquartered.

Questions Simon Answered in this Episode:

What does ASO mean today and what are you doing on a day-to-day basis?
What do custom product pages entail?
How much do you entrench yourself within the app to find key differentiators from competitors?
How do you hold your team accountable for staying on top of emerging trends and developing new tactics?
How do you stay motivated with ASO? Do you see yourself venturing into other parts of mobile marketing?
How do you stay ahead of the curve with user motivation and what is the best strategy for different advertisers?
What changes do you foresee that get you excited?

Timestamp:

1:10 Simon’s background
3:09 Brief History of ASO
4:48 Custom product pages
7:30 SoundCloud case study
11:12 Identifying your app’s differentiator
13:52 ASO community & the ASO bible
18:30 A/B/B testing
25:00 Why ASO is essential
27:05 Staying ahead of the curve
28:00 Europe’s Digital Market Acts

Quotes:

(10:20-10:43) “We were already bidding on the competitor’s branded terms. It’s when we realized that users were telling us what we should basically advertise when going after competitors that we said, ‘Okay, let’s make something new and see how it performs.’ And indeed, when people tell you your app is great at something, it’s usually a good thing to show it at the [App] store.”

(12:20-12:31) “User reviews are a gold mine, but it’s just like searching for gold. Everyone tells you you should do it, but it takes a lot of time to find the actual nuggets.”

(24:59-25:13) “The one thing that makes ASO essential in my opinion is that no matter where you start hearing about an app, today you still have to go to an app store to download the app.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Games: 2023 Data & Trends - Ksenia Yurkina (Apptica)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Can you guess which subcategory of mobile games generated the most revenue in the first half of this year? How about the top three countries for mobile game downloads? Get the scoop on the latest data and trends in the mobile industry’s largest-grossing vertical from our guest Ksenia Yurkina, the Head of Marketing at Apptica.

In this episode, Ksenia reveals the highlights from her report, “Mobile games: state of the market H1, 2023.” Apptica’s ad intelligence tool provides marketing analytics on data from over 11 million apps in Google Play and the Apple Store.

Questions Ksenia Answered in this Episode:

Who is Apptica’s target audience?
What are some of the trends that Apptica has identified from its “Mobile Game: State of the Market Report”?
What is your take on what revenue trends might come from major emerging markets, like India and Brazil, that are leading in downloads?
Have you seen a trend in localizing creatives from app publishers?
What does your day-to-day look like as Head of Marketing at Apptica?
What’s the latest buzzword or hot topic for leaders in our industry?
How has TikTok changed the way app advertisers are thinking about creatives?
Who benefits the most from Apptica’s ad intelligence tool?

Timestamp:

1:00 A little about Apptica
4:38 Mobile games: Data trends in the first half of 2023
10:46 Revenue potential from emerging markets
14:10 Localization in creatives
17:01 Ksenia’s role at Apptica
19:11 Industry buzz
23:18 Advertising trends for TikTok
28:29 Who benefits from ad intelligence

Quotes:

(5:10-5:29) “Gaming is a major player. It’s the main vertical in the mobile industry because gaming covers 51 percent of all the revenue generated in the first half of this year [2023] and around 30 percent of all downloads.”

(6:54-7:03) “Three countries account for 60 percent of all revenue coming from the [mobile] gaming vertical: United States, Japan, and China.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

ChatGPT and the Future of Mobile Marketing - Jenny Pollock (Together Labs / IMVU)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Who is writing your mobile marketing copy: a human or artificial intelligence? Now with ChatGPT, it can be hard to tell the difference. In this episode, we discuss ChatGPT use cases for mobile marketing, the evolution of User-Generated Content platforms, and how AI might be used in the future to express ourselves in virtual worlds.

Jenny Pollock is the Lead Monetization Program Manager at IMVU / Together Labs. IMVU bills itself as the world’s largest Web3 social metaverse platform. It’s a company of Together Labs, which is on a mission to empower people to connect, create, and earn in virtual worlds.

A Product Manager’s POV on Building an App - Reut Lazo (Akili)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 2 Aug 2023 09:47:38 +0000

In this episode, app marketers will learn about a product manager’s perspective on the process of building an app product: how to prioritize various requests for product features, and the keys to fostering excellent collaboration and communication among all stakeholders throughout the journey.

Reut Lazo is the Senior Product Manager at Akili, an app to help kids with ADHD. Akili is the first FDA-authorized prescription video game treatment for ADHD. Reut began her career as a product manager at Meta Co., an augmented reality headset company, before moving on to become a product manager at IMVU.

The Power of Deep Linking in Apps - Amanda Vandiver (Branch)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Amanda Vandiver is the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Branch, a mobile attribution provider. In this episode, Amanda explains the importance of deep linking for user experience, measurement, and attribution in this post-IDFA era. She also discusses retention strategies that mobile marketers can leverage across owned and earned channels.

Shifting the Mobile Marketer’s Mindset on Measurement - John Koetsier (Sparkplug9)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 5 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Today’s guest says IDFA only ever gave mobile marketers the illusion of certainty. In this episode, John Koetsier, the CEO of Sparkplug9, discusses how to use the measurement tools available today, like SKAN, to arrive at what he calls “truthy,” or within the parameters of an accurate perception of reality. John encourages marketers to move on from the past and embrace the reality that’s always existed: Mobile measurement techniques aren’t always perfect.

John Koetsier also writes for Forbes about technology, including mobile, AR/VR/MR, IoT, AI, and robotics, and he hosts the TechFirst Podcast. Sparkplug9 is a business consultancy that helps tech startups win via data, insights, branding, and attention.

The Future of Privacy-Safe Advertising on Android - Amit Varia (Google), Niv Klein (AppsFlyer), Pan Katsukis (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, you’ll hear the latest news about Google’s Privacy Sandbox on Android – straight from the source. Pan Katsukis, the co-founder and CEO of Remerge, sits down with Amit Varia, Director of Product Management at Google, and Niv Klein, Product Team Lead at AppsFlyer, to unpack how the Privacy Sandbox will change the future of mobile advertising on Android.

Find out how attribution, retargeting, and user acquisition can be done with the Protected Audience API, learn how it limits the sharing of user data with third parties, and find out how it operates without cross-app identifiers like advertising IDs. You’ll also get advice on what app businesses can do to prepare for the upcoming changes, why this is happening now, and what opportunities are to be expected from the privacy-safe future of advertising.

Questions Amit and Niv Answered in this Episode:

What is Google’s Privacy Sandbox?
Why is this shift happening now?
Do you see other advantages to the new framework compared to where we are right now?
How will Google advertising IDs change?
How are attribution and retargeting being done in the Protected Audience API environment?
How can we get everyone in the app ecosystem onboard?
Is there anything app developers should be doing right now?
What is the thinking behind the timeline to launch Android Privacy Sandbox?
What is the vision of what app advertising will look like in five years?

Timestamp:

3:05 What is Android Privacy Sandbox?
4:25 Why the shift in advertising privacy
8:15 Current use of Google advertising IDs
11:21 Protected Audience API (formerly Fledge)
14:22 How will attribution be done
17:09 Changes in retargeting mechanisms
18:55 Changes in user acquisition
20:40 TEEs: Trusted Execution Environments
23:02 SDK run time
25:10 Getting the app industry on board
33:34 Steps app developers can take now
36:11 Preparing for the release of Android Privacy Sandbox
38:52 The vision of privacy-safe advertising

Quotes:

(4:00-4:11) Amit Varia: “I’d love for everyone to think of these technologies as building blocks that app developers and ad tech companies can use to build their private advertising solutions.”

(4:52-5:05) Amit Varia: “Users are becoming more aware of how valuable their own data is, how it’s being collected, and how it’s being used. As a result, we’re seeing people demand more transparency and control over their data, especially when it comes to online advertising.”

(14:45-15:23) Niv Klein: “Generally speaking, the main move in attribution is from device-level reporting to aggregated reports. So, a bit similar to what we experienced in iOS, but the difference is that we’ll have a designated attribution API on the Android Privacy Sandbox that will allow for both aggregated reports—according to very flexible aggregation data levels—and event-level reports to communicate events at the click ID to the partner ad networks.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why Are Next Billion User Markets Important for Your App? - Ludovic Thevelin (Google)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 7 Jun 2023 11:42:14 +0000

Ludovic Thevelin advises app advertisers on their international growth strategies at Google. In this episode, host Maria Lannon talks to Ludovic about go-to-market considerations for different verticals, like gaming and fintech, how to make strategic decisions on international growth, today’s most promising untapped markets, and the LTV opportunities of, what Google calls, Next Billion User Markets.

Ludovic started working with Google eight years ago at their European headquarters in Dublin before moving to New York City and joining the international growth team five years ago.

Questions Ludovic Answered in this Episode:

As far as apps that you’re advising, is there a specific vertical that you’re working on?
What types of mobile games expand the best? What’s the most challenging part of localizing apps?
How do KPIs differ for each market?
Can you give an example of when a plan for expansion didn’t work out?
Do you see success in specific verticals?
How do we think differently about LTV in emerging markets?
What market should apps start thinking about?

Timestamp:

1:29 Ludovic’s role at Google
3:55 Scaling gaming apps internationally
8:47 Making strategic decisions on regions
10:11 Considerations for emerging markets
11:01 When international growth strategies don’t work out
14:21 Growing fintech apps
17:03 LTV opportunities in emerging markets
21:22 Untapped markets & verticals
27:30 Creative excellence
32:31 Resources

Quotes:

(5:03-5:21) “A lot of advertisers think they’re restricted by not having a different language outside of English, but we use something called an English Proficiency Index. If you Google that, there are a lot of external tools, free, that you can use to rank or rate markets based on how comfortable users are converting in English, and those are often markets that surprise your advertisers.”

(5:29-5:50) “I think the most challenging part is the culturalization piece. So when we talk about localization, you can think of it as a spectrum. The first step in that translation piece. And yes, now you can address a local audience in a local language; but what we find is U.S. advertisers are copy-pasting what they’re doing in the U.S. when they go to Germany and when they go to Japan and when they go to LATAM, but the users are very different.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Top 5 Mistakes Startups Make When Marketing New Apps - David Jumper (Hyper DP)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 24 May 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Today’s guest is an expert in helping startups successfully launch new mobile apps and web products. In this episode, David Jumper, a managing partner at Hyper Digital Partners, shares the top five most common mistakes he sees startups making in their performance marketing, and offers his advice on what to do instead.

David Jumper is a managing partner at Hyper Digital Partners. He’s a growth expert with over 15 years of experience in scaling apps and web products across the gaming, entertainment, and e-commerce verticals.

Questions David Answered in this Episode:

What does Hyper DP do and do you work with specific verticals?
What are some of the key mistakes startups make when launching and marketing their apps?
What advice would you offer about MMP integration to ensure reliable tracking?
What is your point-of-view on how startups should or shouldn’t be thinking about creatives when it comes to growth marketing?
What advice do you have on optimization and the funnel for new apps?
What do you have to say about budgeting when it comes to running campaigns?

Timestamp:

1:22 David’s background and Hyper DP
8:51 Attribution: sacrificing measurement
12:00 Caution when integrating with MMPs
14:45 Making creative an afterthought
18:30 Optimization errors and bidding down the funnel
22:40 Spreading the budget too thin

Quotes:

(16:27-16:40) “Carve out a budget to make your creatives and set yourself up to make iterations of these in the future. If you don’t make this investment, maybe you’ll get lucky but more often than not, you won’t.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Engagement & Retention Strategies from the Most Downloaded Apps (Part 2)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 10 May 2023 01:00:00 +0000

In the second part of this two-part episode, Tara Kirkpatrick, a Mobile Trends Analyst at Apptopia, breaks down popular engagement and retention strategies used by the most downloaded apps of 2022, according to Apptopia’s report “How App Download Leaders Are Winning” (released Feb. 2023). Learn how apps got ahead of their competitors with loyalty schemes, reward programs, and retention “core loops.”

Apptopia is a performance intelligence platform that generates insights across mobile apps and connected devices. Every year, they put out the app download leader charts for app store categories and sub-categories. This year they took a closer look at the strategies apps are using to increase their downloads and broke them down in a report into three areas: acquisition, engagement, and retention.

Questions Tara Answered in this Episode:

What can apps do once they get users to download their apps to ensure that they remain engaged?
Tell us more about the retention portion of the report.

Timestamp:

28:23 Winning strategies for app loyalty and rewards programs
34:00 Clear progress tracking and custom rewards
37:52 Ushering users into a “Core Loop”

Quotes:

(31:26-31:55) “Earning a reward is actually a rewarding experience for humans because we’re innately geared towards progress. If you can incentivize action and make that experience fun, or use a bit of scarcity so that the experience becomes a little bit more exciting, then that’s where you’re motivating the acquisition and activation piece – and then long-term engagement.”

(47:47-47:55) “Gaming sets this high bar for the mechanisms of mobile that if you are an app in any category you can look to gaming for inspiration.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tara Kirkpatrick’s LinkedIn
Apptopia
Apptopia Report: “How App Download Leaders Are Winning”

Acquisition Strategies from the Most Downloaded Apps (Part 1) - Tara Kirkpatrick (Apptopia)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In the first of this two-part episode, Tara Kirkpatrick, a Mobile Trends Analyst at Apptopia, breaks down popular acquisition strategies used by the most downloaded apps of 2022, according to Apptopia’s report “How App Download Leaders Are Winning” (released Feb. 2023). Learn how apps get ahead of their competitors with app store search ads and curating the right ad network mix.

Apptopia is a performance intelligence platform that generates insights across mobile apps and connected devices. Every year, they put out the app download leader charts for app store categories and sub-categories. This year they took a closer look at the strategies apps are using to increase their downloads and broke them down in a report across three areas: acquisition, engagement, and retention.

Questions Tara Answered in this Episode:

What does it mean when you’re bidding on branded key terms versus non-branded key terms? What would that be from a user experience standpoint?

Timestamp:

1:15 Apptopia & Tara’s role
10:42 How app download leaders are winning
14:08 App store search ads: Home Depot vs Lowes
18:33 Bidding on branded vs non-branded key terms in app store
20:53 Curating the right ad network mix
25:11 Temu case study: DoubleClick over Meta Ad Network

Quotes:

(7:28-7:42) “We joked 10 years ago that there’s an app for that because there were so many apps, but in fact now you need an app for most businesses just to have that need for an environment that you control with your customers and that consistent customer experience.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tara Kirkpatrick’s LinkedIn
Apptopia
Apptopia Report: “How App Download Leaders Are Winning”

How to Market and Grow EdTech App Products - Lomit Patel (Tynker)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Lomit Patel returns to the Apptivate podcast to share his experiences marketing Tynker, an Edtech product that teaches kids how to code. The platform reaches 60 million users in over 150 countries. In his new role as Chief Growth officer, Lomit discusses how the team got kids excited about coding and engaged teachers and parents to use the app.

Lomit Patel has worked in growth at startups for over 20 years. He is the author of Lean AI and a Forbes Business Development Council Member. He’s worked at a number of startups that have gone on to become an IPO, like Roku, or that have been acquired by other companies, like Texture.

Questions Lomit Answered in this Episode:

How is Tynker and what do you do there?
How did Tynker acquire its 60 million users?
Does your approach to growth stay consistent from company to company?
Do you see investing in branding initiatives as a more valuable medium when remarketing isn’t possible?
Where do you see AI going in the near future, specifically as it relates to growth marketing?

Timestamp:

1:37 Lomit’s background
4:00 Tynker & Lomit’s role
7:00 How Tynker reached 60 million users
10:50 Genesis of their Mindcraft angle
14:15 Changing the growth playbook for kid-oriented products
19:29 Marketing to mass audiences
23:40 How we’re evolving with AI

Quotes:

(2:16-2:26) “As I’ve spent more and more time learning about growth, you really come to realize the value of data and how important that is to make different decisions.”

(11:12-11:19) “It’s really hard to market directly to kids, so you have to figure out how you can influence kids to really learn about your product?”

(17:04-17:18) “You can’t really remarket to kids. So the big part comes down to how do you use your data and how do you create better personalized experiences, how do you use in-app messaging to really be contextually relevant to what the user’s looking for?”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Building the Pipeline for More Women Leaders in Tech - Jennie Lewis (Airship)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Jennie Lewis is the Senior Manager of Customer Insights at Airship. In this Women In Mobile episode, Jennie shares her positive approach and experience to navigating male-dominated tech fields, such as solutions architecture. She and the host, Maria Lannon, discuss how to build a more diverse pipeline of executive leadership for the future.

At Airship, Jennie helps brands understand the economic impact and quantitative results of their mobile app strategies. Airship is known for its push notification and in-app messaging solutions and for mastering mobile app experiences to engage customers and win their loyalty. Previously, Jennie worked at Epsilon in custom email development and CrowdTwist in solutions architecture.

Women in Mobile: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome in the Tech Industry - Saadi Muslu (Singular)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Saadi Muslu is the Head of Content and Product Marketing at Singular. She immigrated to the U.S. when she was 6 years old from Turkey and was the first woman in her family to graduate from college. These experiences, among others, taught her how to ask a lot of questions, be resourceful, and build relationships with the right people – ultimately fueling her success in the mobile industry. In this Women in Mobile episode, Saadi shares how to overcome impostor syndrome, what makes a good manager, how to attract and hire top talent, and all the reasons she’s excited to be working in mobile right now.

Singular is a next-gen mobile measurement partner and thought leader in SKAdNetwork. Singular’s intelligent SaaS platform enables mobile marketers to unify, analyze and optimize all of their marketing channels through a single dashboard, without any required SDKs. Prior to her role at Singular, Saadi was the Product Marketing Manager at Kenshoo.

Questions Saadi Answered in this Episode:

How did you get to where you are today?
How did you build the confidence to start asking questions and speaking up?
How did you transition into a management role?
How did you attract top talent and scale your team?
What are you most excited about in our industry?
Any resources you recommend?

Timestamp:

1:31 Saadi’s story
9:00 Overcoming impostor syndrome
15:40 Leaning into being new to the industry
17:27 What makes a good manager?
23:44 Attracting and hiring top talent
34:07 Disruption, competitors, and opportunities
38:46 More women in mobile marketing
43:51 Resources

Quotes:

(8:59-9:17) “I think being a really young immigrant, I learned how to assimilate. The feeling of feeling unfamiliar is familiar to me. I was facing what a lot of young professionals face, which is impostor syndrome.”

(11:38-11:58) “One thing that I learned to [help me] overcome the impostor syndrome or my lack of technical background now that I worked in AdTech was letting myself be comfortable in asking questions and being vulnerable by explaining that I don’t understand this concept – can you explain it to me? That was really life-changing for me.”

(12:48-3:09) “Being comfortable asking questions and being resourceful is a part of being a successful worker and growing professionally. It’s not a sign of weakness. Overcoming that mental misunderstanding or that misperception that, ‘Oh asking a lot of questions means I don't know what I’m talking about.’ Quite the opposite. Asking a lot of questions means I’m trying to become an expert at this.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Thrive in Remote Work Environments - Allie Hitchcock (Houzz)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 1 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to another year celebrating International Women’s Month and the women who work in our mobile marketing industry. In this episode, our host, Maria Lannon, interviews Allie Hitchcock, the Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Houzz. They talk about helping users get the most out of an app product, turning mistakes into positive opportunities, and how to be successful when working remotely.

Houzz is an app for home designs and remodels. Prior to becoming the Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Houzz, Allie was a Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Loom. She is based in Orlando, Florida.

Questions Allie Answered in this Episode:

What channels are you using to retain the pros on Houzz? What does your day-to-day look like?
How are the two groups of users getting connected and are you a part of that cycle?
What brought you to Lifecycle Marketing at Houzz? Where were you before?
What advice do you have for anyone working remotely and by themselves in their role? What’s helped you be successful in a remote work environment?
What are some KPIs that you’re looking at on a day-to-day basis?
Is there anything that you want to work on professionally or personally in 2023?
What are you most excited about regarding the future of mobile marketing?
Do you have any advice for women starting out their careers?
Any resources that have been helpful to you that you’d recommend?

Timestamp:

2:33 Allie’s role as Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Houzz
8:04 Allie’s background
13:16 Tips for success in remote work environments
16:48 The KPIs that matter
18:48 Switching up my remote environment
21:15 Connecting users with their own data
24:00 Words of wisdom for emerging marketers
25:28 Resources

Quotes:

(9:08-9:20) “I learned a lot about understanding the user perspective – making sure that you’re understanding things from their point-of-view and not taking for granted the things that we know working internally.”

(21:16-21:24) “There are more opportunities than ever to help connect users with their own data and their own successes in using an app.”

(22:04-22:10) “I think any opportunity to spark joy and help users be genuinely happy about what they’re doing with your app is a win-win.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Allie Hitchcock’s LinkedIn
Houzz
Book: Build a Brand like Trader Joe's by Mark Gardiner
Book: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
AdWeek
www.askamanager.org

What App Marketers Need to Know About SKAN 4.0 and FLEDGE - Eran Friedman (Singular)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Eran Friedman, Co-Founder and CTO at Singular, joins Apptivate to talk about what the initial postbacks from SKAdNetwork 4.0 mean for mobile marketers. In this episode, he and host Brian Altman discuss the new features of SKAN 4.0 for mobile advertisers, how to leverage these features, and how to transition from SKAN 3.0 to SKAN 4.0. You’ll also learn about FLEDGE and how to prepare for privacy changes with Google’s Privacy Sandbox for Android.

Singular is a next-gen mobile measurement partner and thought leader on SKAdNetwork. Singular’s intelligent SaaS platform enables mobile marketers to unify, analyze and optimize all of their marketing channels through a single dashboard, without any required SDKs. Eran is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Questions Eran Answered in this Episode:

Remind us, what’s new with SKAdNetwork 4.0?
What postback data are you receiving from SKAN 4.0 and how long have you been receiving it? And is there anything that you can pull from that data that’s actionable?
In terms of the changes to SKAN 4.0, what would you say excites you the most based on the initial data that you’ve seen?
If you could name one change that SKAN 4.0 has done that advertisers should focus on first, what would that be?
Are you currently using SKAN 4.0 to build models that prove ROAS for your customers?
What would you advise advertisers on how to best transition to using SKAN 4.0?
Have you experienced any challenges or surprises with the initial data from SKAN 4.0?
What’s your prediction for what to expect in the next versions of SKAdNetwork?
What is FLEDGE, and how does it differ from SKAN?
How is Singular preparing right now for Android’s Privacy Sandbox?
What is the best thing advertisers can do to prepare for the impending changes with Google?

Timestamp:

2:20 What’s new with SKAN 4.0?
4:04 Initial postback data from SKAN 4.0
6:43 Use cases for SKAN 4.0 for small and large advertisers
11:11 Singular solutions for analyzing your ROAS with SKAN 4.0
14:56 Transitioning from SKAN 3.0 to SKAN 4.0
19:10 What advertisers can do to leverage SKAN 4.0 features
22:41 Introducing more randomness in longer-window postbacks
26:19 Eran’s predictions for the future of SKAdNetwork
29:00 Google’s approach to privacy changes with Privacy Sandbox on Android
35:13 Preparing for Andoird Privacy Sandbox

Quotes:

(9:27-9:51) “The feature that’s been most discussed and the most exciting for the large-scale advertisers out there is definitely the longer windows and the multiple postbacks. So, the 35-day window you mentioned is a potential game-changer for working with SKAN, especially for the companies who see more of the signal and value of the user after more than 24 hours.”

(19:40-19:59) “Technically, you don’t need to do anything as an advertiser to start getting SKAN 4.0 postbacks. It’s the network that actually has to make a change. The advantage of updating your MMP SDK to support SKAN 4.0 is that you would leverage the features coming from it.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The 3 Markers of Good Marketing Automation - Joel Debus (Klarna)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 15:12:44 +0000

Joel Debus is the Marketing Automation Manager at Klarna, a “buy now, pay later” shopping app. In this episode, Joel breaks down what good marketing automation looks like and how to implement the best approach. Joel discusses identifying trigger points in the customer journey, scaling automation, personalization based on user behavior, and using a “working backward” methodology.

Questions Joel Answered in this Episode:

What got you into CRM? And what brought you to Klarna?
What does Klarna focus on?
What does marketing automation mean to you? And what does good marketing automation look like?
How do you identify a trigger point and create a marketing automation sequence behind it?
Does the mapping out of the trigger points help determine the personalization strategy?
How do you create easily scalable marketing automation?
Is there anything you do to take qualitative data into account? Have you ever found that something you thought made sense based on the data didn’t work out in the end?
Do you have a framework for A/B testing that uses data science to ensure you’ve reached some degree of statistical significance so you can draw conclusions?
What is the hardest part of your job? What’s the part you love the most about working in CRM?

Timestamp:

3:20 Joel’s background
6:33 What is Klarna
10:07 What is marketing automation?
11:05 What makes good marketing automation?
12:23 Contextual mapping of trigger points
15:24 Scaling marketing automation
17:30 Qualitative data & testing
23:15 Challenges of the job: contamination and cohesion
25:46 What Joel loves about working in CRM

Quotes:

(11:07-11:14) “The best marketing automations are the ones that can scale quickly, meaning it doesn’t require a lot of manual maintenance.”

(12:24-12:48) “A good way to think about what consumers are doing on your app or website is the working backwards methodology. In my case, for example, I look at when a user makes a purchase. With data that I get or with analysts I can see what’s the thing they do right before that, what’s the thing they do right before that, and etcetera.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why Mobile Marketers Should Pay Attention to CTV - Gijsbert Pols (Adjust)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 22:15:12 +0000

Connected TV (CTV) as an advertising channel for apps is exploding onto the mobile marketing scene. How does CTV fit with your other mobile marketing channels and how can you measure its effectiveness? Gijsbert Pols, the Director of Connected TV and New Channels at Adjust, a mobile attribution and analytics company, joins the show to answer these questions and more. Gijsbert led Adjust in developing the first measurement product that allowed app marketers to measure their efforts on CTV devices.

Questions Gijsbert Answered in this Episode:

Have you always been on the product side?
Why do you think we’ve seen Adjust and the industry as a whole emerge into CTV in the past year to two as opposed to prior to this point?
What are some of the challenges you’re able to help marketers with in regard to getting a better understanding of the efficacy of their programs?
Do you find that when people see correlations between CTV and another medium it’s enough for them to invest more in it? Or is it hard for people attached to last-touch attribution to accept CTV Assist as a mechanism that can determine the efficiency of their campaigns?
Are your partners leveraging QR codes and seeing good results? Or are they seeing CTV as a way to get a message out in a more clear way beyond a QR code?
What kind of growth have you seen in the Connected TV space?
What is the biggest channel that CTV faces in the near future?

Timestamp:

3:08 Gijsbert’s background
4:38 Pioneering mobile measurement for Connected TV
8:33 Why Connected TV has blown up in app industry
12:49 Evaluating mobile marketing efforts with CTV
17:12 Delivering those correlations between two different mediums
20:03 Last touch attribution and CTV Assist
22:49 Beyond QR codes
25:45 Growth in the CTV space
28:36 Challenges for CTV

Quotes:

(8:41-8:58) “Due to the pandemic, people fled into entertainment, basically, and started turning their living rooms in unprecedented levels into home cinemas. So, they were investing a lot in Connected TV.”

(9:00-9:33) “Particularly for the U.S., yes, Netflix had been around for a while, Hulu had been around for a while, but we reached critical tipping points when it came to cord-cutting. So there was all of a sudden a critical mass of people who had canceled their expensive cable subscriptions and were streaming only on their CTV devices at home. And advertisers started to realize that if they limit themselves to linear television that they’re going to miss out.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Roundup: Women in Mobile - Maria Lannon (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 18:24:23 +0000

Maria Lannon, your host of Apptivate’s Women in Mobile series, brings listeners a roundup of some of the best bits from interviews with women working in the mobile marketing industry around the world. Find out their biggest leadership lessons in this special compilation episode featuring Sharon Romang, the Vice President of Creative at Headlight; Vicki Goldman, the Director of Marketing at Paramount Streaming under the Media Acquisition and Services Team; Mariana D’Avila, the Head of Growth at Appreach; and Laura Spikermann, the Client Services Lead at Customlytics.

Find links to all the full-length episodes from the Women in Mobile Series here:

Roundup: How to Market a Mobile Game Internationally - Brian Altman (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 21:31:17 +0000

Brian Altman, your host of the Apptivate Podcast’s Mobile Gaming series, brings listeners a roundup of some of the best bits from interviews about how to market your mobile game internationally. In this special compilation episode, you'll hear from Aaron Pietsch, the Senior User Acquisition Specialist at Rec Room; Claire Rozain, a User Acquisition Lead at Rovio; Farhan Haq, Founder of Hyper HQ; and Cordel Robbin-Coker, the Co-Founder and CEO of Carry1st.

Find links to all the full-length episodes from the Gaming Series in the notes.

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Dos and Don’ts of Soft Launching a Mobile Game - Matej Lančarič (Lancaric.me)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 13:46:10 +0000

Matej Lančarič has been in the gaming industry for 10 years. He’s launched 32 mobile games in the last five years as a user acquisition and marketing consultant, and soft launching mobile games is one of his specialties. In this episode, Matej shares some of the biggest mistakes companies make when soft launching their mobile games.

Matej is also one of the hosts of the 2 & a Half Gamers podcast. He and Tommy talk about the show and other mobile marketing industry topics at the top of Matej’s mind.

Questions Matej Answered in this Episode:

What made you want to switch to working as a consultant as opposed to staying with a major publisher?
Do you gravitate towards certain genres or verticals that you seem to have a better grasp of than others or that you enjoy working with more than others?
What are some of the big mistakes companies make when strategizing a soft launch for a mobile game?
What are fake ads?
Why did you launch the 2 & a Half Gamers Podcast? What was the goal? What does it mean to be “no bullshit”?
What’s been top of mind for you in the industry? Who is the “half-gamer”? Will you continue focusing on games in your show?

Timestamp:

2:54 Matej’s background
4:21 Why Matej was drawn to consulting
6:06 Specializing in soft launch strategies
8:00 Mistakes companies make on soft launches
9:20 Misleading gameplay ads taint data
12:32 Countries where everyone tests tech phase
13:31 Building the predictions
16:33 About 2 & a Half Gamers Podcast

Quotes:

(8:01-8:24) “Companies sometimes think they can soft launch a game in one month, and then a global launch, then scale to millions. Well, it’s not how it works. Even if you are in the development of the game for one year, the first build you get out there can have very low numbers in retention, unfortunately, but it’s part of game development.”

(8:25-8:47) “Companies try to skip the technical phase and jump right into running a UA in Tier 1 countries where it’s really expensive. You need to be sure you have your tech stack – not 100% – but 200% correct; because there’s nothing worse than making decisions based on false data.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Matej Lančarič’s LinkedIn
lancaric.me - Matej’s Consultancy
“How to soft launch a mobile game in 2022” Article by Matej
2 & a Half Gamers Podcast

Contextual vs Behavioral Targeting - Pan Katsukis (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 10:08:46 +0000

This week we’re rebroadcasting a Growth Masterminds podcast episode with Pan Katsukis, Remerge’s founder and CEO, who talks about contextual targeting – where it works, where it's strong, and where it is weak. Learn the psychology of contextual versus behaviorally targeted ads, the future of targeting, and how in some cases contextual targets can use up to 100 parameters to get even better than behavioral targeting.

Pan's expertise lies in the display advertising market, in particular the field of mobile advertising and programmatic buying. He is well experienced in building technologies, working closely with developers, and fostering company culture during periods of rapid growth.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Prioritizing Countries for an International App Launch - Mert Çamur (GameGuru)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 8 Nov 2022 16:39:27 +0000

Mert Çamur leads the user acquisition and creative marketing teams at GameGuru, a casual and hyper-casual mobile game publisher based in Istanbul, Turkey. In this episode, Mert shares how he decides which international markets to prioritize and how much of his marketing budget to allocate when launching a casual or hyper-casual mobile game. He also shares his biggest pieces of advice to mobile marketers who are making the switch from working with publishers to self-publishing.

Questions Mert Answered in this Episode:

How do you optimize your app based on user behavior in different countries and regions?
How do you prioritize regions when it comes to games?
How do you decide how to allocate your marketing budget?
What have been the hardest markets to break into?
What advice would you give other marketers who are considering making the switch from working with publishers to self-publishing? What are some things you wish you’d known beforehand?
What are your thoughts on creative strategies for international markets?
Do you have a favorite country to break into? Least favorite?

Timestamp:

1:38 Mert’s career journey
3:04 About GameGuru
5:00 Tracking the right events
6:16 Marketing to different geos
8:07 Deciding what countries to prioritize
9:24 How to allocate your marketing budget
10:35 The hardest market to break into?
12:18 Making the switch to self-publishing
13:45 When to localize your creative strategy
15:46 Favorite countries to break into

Quotes:

(6:20-6:36) “With our campaigns we try to reach users from different cultures, income groups, genders, education levels, and interests. That’s why we differentiate our creative strategy, media planning, and monetization strategy according to countries.”

(9:30-9:43) “The first issue you should pay attention to when you’re allocating your budget between countries is can you allocate a budget that meets the minimum learning threshold in the networks in which you’re working?”

(12:18-12:22) “Be brave – Make mistakes and learn from your mistakes.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Cracking Africa’s Mobile Gaming Market - Cordel Robbin-Coker (Carry1st)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:12:05 +0000

Carry1st is on a mission to be the leading consumer content platform in Africa, focusing on mobile games and fintech companies. In this episode, the co-founder and CEO of Carry1st, Cordel Robbin-Coker, shares his firsthand experience with marketing mobile games to the new, emerging markets of Africa. Learn about African trends, influencer marketing, user behavior, and how the African market compares to the world.

Cordel began his career in finance at Morgan Stanley and then the Carlyle Group, where he led a $700 million private equity fund in sub-Saharan Africa. He started investing in tech startups for fun on the side, which led to Carry1st, a marriage between his childhood passion for gaming and the massive potential he saw for mobile content in Africa. He is based in Capetown, South Africa.

Questions Cordel Answered in this Episode:

How did you get to where you are today? What do you focus on in your role at Carry1st?
What types of partners do you work with?
What trends do you see in the adoption of mobile games in the African market? What kind of games resonate with users in Africa?
How does that demographic affect which gaming titles you choose to support?
Does someone on your team do market research on popular games in different regions?
If you were to compare Africa to the US mobile market, what year would you say Africa is in currently?
How does the access to internet affect the mobile games that you’re putting out on the market?
Can you tell us about your experience with influencer marketing in Africa?
What are the challenges and solutions with payment services in the African region?

Timestamp:

1:36 Cordel’s background & Carry1st
8:30 What mobile games are trending in Africa
10:32 Why Carry1st isn’t depending on performance marketing
12:05 Consumer insight strategy
13:25 Comparing Africa’s mobile gaming industry
17:13 Infrastructure & accessibility
22:06 Influencer marketing in Africa
27:55 Challenges & solutions with payments

Quotes:

(8:45-9:00) “There are 1.4 billion people in Africa but 1.1 of those are under the age of 40. So you have a median age of 19 years old, which compares to something like 42 or 43 in Western Europe.”

(10:49-11:05) “We believe that there is a lot of low-hanging fruit, particularly in a new, emerging region, with organic – finding different ways to drive organic installs, driving community-led growth, influencers, and so on.”

(13:34-13:39) “Africa’s mobile game industry is essentially where Southeast Asia’s was six or seven years ago.”

(30:05-30:26) “I think crypto and Web3 will be more impactful in Africa than anywhere else in the world. The reason is because there are legitimate day-to-day use cases for the majority of folks whereas, in the West, it tends to be, up until now, primarily a tool for speculation.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Reducing Signal Loss with Well-Structured First-Party Data - Joshua Alvernia (Clue)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 15:12:46 +0000

With Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rates at less than 50%, mobile marketers must think outside-of-the-box to decrease signal loss. In this episode, Josh Alvernia, the CEO and co-founder of Clue, shares a novel approach to media campaigns: Rather than launching a campaign, serving ads, measuring, and then optimizing, he suggests working from measurement backward. Josh explains that maximizing the structure of first-party data first makes cookies replaceable, meaning marketers can waste less ad spend.

Clue is a leading data analytics and media solution for insights-driven marketing across search, social, and programmatic channels.

Questions Joshua Answered in this Episode:

How did you get to your current position as CEO and co-founder of Clue?
What are companies getting with Clue that they’re not getting somewhere else?
What specifically are you measuring before you launch a campaign?
How are privacy changes impacting what you do?
Is one of your first steps with clients to augment their first-party data?
What does good first-party data structuring look like?
Does your approach still hold true in a mobile app environment despite more signal loss or are there other strategies that you’ve used to help app businesses?
Was it terrifying to become CEO?

Timestamp:

5:34 Josh’s background and Clue’s journey
9:43 The theory behind Clue’s approach
14:17 The benefits of migrating from pixels
16:26 Augmenting first-party data
17:19 Good first-party data structuring
20:47 Adaptations for mobile
24:28 Taking the leap into CEO role

Quotes:

(8:33-8:46) “Anytime you try to enter a new echelon for your business and try to compete at a new level you have to make decisions that drive 10x value. If not, you probably won’t make it there.”

(9:51-10:03) “Most people and most media plans start first with how you’re going to buy rather than how you’re going to measure–and that’s the problem.”

(15:13-15:32) “If you can figure out a way to structure your first-part data really, really well, there are legitimate replacements right now, today, for cookies. A lot of them have to do with managing customer profiles effectively. A lot of them have to do with augmenting those customer profiles with events that are happening all over the place.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tips for Overcoming SKAdNetwork’s 3 Biggest Issues - Eran Friedman (Singular)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 14:07:23 +0000

Eran Friedman is the Co-Founder and CTO at Singular, a next-gen mobile measurement partner and thought leader on SKAdNetwork. In this episode, Eran discusses the three most common issues marketers have with today’s SKAdNetwork – conversion models, time delay, and privacy thresholds – and what to do about them. He also highlights what to expect with Apple’s improvements in SKAdNetwork 4.0.

Singular’s intelligent SaaS platform enables mobile marketers to unify, analyze and optimize all of their marketing channels through a single dashboard, without any required SDKs. Eran is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Questions Eran Answered in this Episode:

Why do you think Israel is one of the top markets for innovation in the mobile sector?
What makes you all at Singular such a trusted mobile measurement partner?
What are the biggest issues we continue to face as an industry as it relates to SKAdNetwork?
Walk me through SKAN 4.0.

Timestamp:

2:08 Israel & mobile innovation
4:04 Eran’s background
9:43 What makes Singular stand apart as an MMP
15:10 Pulse of SKAdNetwork
19:53 Conversion models with SKAdNetwork
24:40 The timer mechanism challenge
29:17 Privacy threshold issues with SKAN
33:10 Making the most of SKAdNetwork 4.0

Quotes:

(25:13-25:43) “So today in the current version of SKAdNetwork, for the conversion, everyone started only using 24-hour windows. And for many companies, that’s really limiting. For example, in-app purchases for gaming companies: not many users decide to make an in-app purchase in the first 24 hours of the game of course. So again, you’re barely going to get anything from SKAN if you’re trying to understand your performance, and you’re not going to get the Day-7 ROAS that you’re used to. That’s a problem.”

(36:33-36:53) “My guess is for 2023, the industry is going to evolve to look again at D7, maybe D35, ROAS campaigns for SKAdNetwork, which seems hard to imagine at this point. But based on this very limited signal and all the work that we’ve already done around modeling, I think it’s definitely possible.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Is Now the Right Time to Rebrand Your App? - Ariel Cohen

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 5 Oct 2022 14:38:58 +0000

Veteran mobile marketer Ariel Cohen rejoins the Apptivate Podcast to talk about rebranding your app. He tells us why branding matters more than ever, whether it’s the right time to rebrand, deciding how to rebrand, and getting buy-in from your team.

Ariel Cohen is a mobile marketing and brand consultant based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ariel first joined the Apptivate Podcast in 2019 when he was the Head of Mobile User Acquisition at Kape. Most recently, Ariel was the Head of Marketing at Tango.

Questions Ariel Answered in this Episode:

What problem do you see the most in your work as a consultant?
What are some of the biggest takeaways you’ve had in your experiences leading rebranding processes?
What is it that pushes an organization to go down the rebranding route?
What’s the process of coming up with answers to subjective questions like, “Is my brand being perceived the way we want it to be perceived?”

Timestamp:

1:20 Catching up with Ariel Cohen
5:12 Trapped in the “middle position”
7:34 Why branding is critical to mobile marketing
11:12 Indicators for rebranding
13:30 Gauging whether you’re well branded
20:45 Getting your team onboard

Quotes:

(7:53-8:15) “Data is seeping away from our hands as mobile marketers, and we need to try to use other tricks, you could say, in crafting better market. I think as it stands right now, the role of better branding and positioning for each product is going to take a more prominent role.”

(9:13-9:40) “How do you make your choice? I think a lot of people feel that they make their choices very rationally, and I think they’re wrong. It’s not usually the case. There’s a lot of subconscious force that’s driving you into making these decisions. And this is where well-crafted messaging and correct branding can change your bottom-line metrics.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Ariel Cohen
Email: relc242@gmail.com

Debunking Myths About Offer Walls - Solomiya Mykoliv (Digital Turbine)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:12:19 +0000

Offer walls have historically had a reputation for being low quality or associated with fraud in the mobile marketing industry. In this episode, Solomiya Mykoliv, the Global Demand Director at Digital Turbine, debunks these outdated myths about offer walls and explains how their shift to deep, meaningful engagement with users appeals to publishers and advertisers. Also, while offer walls are typically for users who don’t want to spend money, Solomiya reveals when users are willing to open their wallets.

Digital Turbine is a one-stop platform for user acquisition growth and monetization. They recently acquired Fyber, where Solomiya has been working since 2016. She’s based in Berlin.

Questions Solomiya Answered in this Episode:

What’s the experience been going through the Fyber-Digital Turbine acquisition?
What was the impetus for Digital Turbine’s rebrand?
What makes your offer wall value to the performance marketing ecosystem?
Do you find it’s still difficult to get publishers and advertisers to buy into incent as we think about them today is not how we thought about them in 2013-2014?
What changes are we seeing with rewards within offer walls?

Timestamp:

5:15 Solomiya’s background
8:56 Digital Turbine’s rebrand and acquisitions
14:10 Meaningful engagement with offer walls
18:02 Reducing fraud with offer walls
20:46 Have attitudes changed about incent
25:15 Gamification with offer wall
26:19 User behavior with donating on offer walls

Quotes:

(17:01-17:15) “At the end of the day, users are incentivized for completing a particular action [with offer walls]. So the goal here is to make sure that users are spending some quality time with the offer, and it’s not just about a quick action and a quick reward. ”

(18:21-18:36) “When you start focusing on events that take a week-long and you can track user progression within the app, it’s much more difficult to fraud, to pretend to fire an install and to pretend to it’s a real user. So that definitely helps to improve the overall quality.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Marketing Strategies for Launching a Mobile Game - Dmitry Gubanenkov (Space Ape Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 14:41:54 +0000

Dmitry Gubanenkov is a Marketing Manager at Space Ape Games, the London-based mobile game developer. He joins Apptivate’s Gaming Series to share his approach to launching new mobile games and install campaigns. You’ll learn how important your audio choice can be, the best ways to measure the performance of influencer campaigns, and where to launch your new game.

Dmitry leads user acquisition campaigns for Boom Beach: Frontlines, and previously, Beatstar. Before joining Space Ape Games, Dmitry was in a marketing leadership position at Kakao Games Europe B.V., ChimpWorks, and GamePoint. He’s based in the Netherlands.

Questions Dmitry Answered in this Episode:

How would you classify Beatstar as a gaming genre? What factors do you think led to the success of Beatstar?
How does having music licenses affect the way you target users?
How do you leverage community to enhance the ads experience and/or the endgame experience?
How do you figure out the best approach to marketing the new mobile game and its release?
What is your approach to figuring out which markets to initially push your new game?
What are some methods you use to determine media mix? What platforms are working well right now? Not working so well?
What is the primary KPI that you use to see success from influencer campaigns?
How important do you think creative is in the success of install campaigns, and does that importance vary by channel?

Timestamp:

1:29 Dmitry’s background
3:45 Dmitry’s role at Space Ape Games
6:12 Beatstar’s success
7:45 Audio choice in creative
11:11 Marketing a release of a new mobile game
13:33 Launching Boom Beach: Frontlines
18:04 Approach to media mix
20:34 Influencer marketing with gamers
22:47 Creative is king

Quotes:

(9:14-9:28) “We can see a big difference between songs. Even if we’re talking about a gameplay video, if you had two different songs CPI could be 10-20 times different. So it’s enormously important to have the right audio.”

(21:48-21:59) “You can see the organic uplift from the days the influencer released the video, so you can attribute these organic installs to the specific influencers.”

(22:47-22:52) “I would say creative is the king of performance marketing right now.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Monetization Strategies for Mobile Games - Farhan Haq (Hyper HQ)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 12:45:33 +0000

In this episode of Apptivate’s new gaming series, Farhan Haq returns to the podcast to share his expertise on monetizing mobile games. What intel from your user base could be generating a ton of revenue? In-app purchases versus rewarded video ads? Where are the opportunities for game developers in markets around the world? Farhan answers these questions and more.

Farhan is the founder of Hyper HQ, a consultancy for user acquisition and ad monetization for mobile games. Prior to launching Hyper HQ, Farhan was the Head of Growth at SYBO, a mobile game developer in Denmark, the Head of User Acquisition at Nanobit, a mobile game developer in Croatia, and a Product Marketing Manager at Social Point, a mobile game developer in Spain.

Questions Farhan Answered in this Episode:

What inspired you to start your own consultancy?
What are some of the monetization strategies you used with Subway Surfers to convert users that typically play for free?
How did the feedback from the Subway Surfers community inform how you marketed the game?
Is there a way to make sure you’re feeding users age-appropriate content?
Do you have different marketing strategies for different countries and regions?
Have you seen any trends in terms of what games might see better adoption in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions?
Where do you think the mobile gaming space is going and where is creativity going to be coming from in the future?

Timestamp:

1:23 Farhan’s background
4:05 About Hyper HQ
7:34 Monetizing casual games
11:28 Fan-made characters
13:45 Ad setup for users of all ages
17:11 Marketing mobile games around the world
21:13 Mobile game adoption for EMEA
23:15 Why creativity comes from hyper-casual

Quotes:

(7:34-7:55) “The key thing about any game, especially in the casual market, is that you need a user base to want to play and be engaged with the game, and come back and play it often. So we don’t really look at game time, or time played, but more on the retention metrics because that gauges how often you have opportunities to make money out of your customer base.”

(19:46-20:09) “And now, also the big one [to market mobile games] is Africa because of the fact that there are so many people getting mobile devices. It’s got to be a market that’s relevant. Of course, the lifetime value there is tiny at the moment, but if you have so many hundreds of millions of potential customers, if you can get that large base, and as the LTV starts improving, you’re going to be able to make a lot of money.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Gaming: Are Your Creatives Inclusive & Accessible? - Claire Rozain (Rovio)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 8 Sep 2022 08:19:16 +0000

When marketers think about designing creatives for their mobile games, they usually have their users in mind. But how do you learn about your users? How do you include everyone and ensure your ads are accessible, responsible, and diverse? Claire Rozain, a UA lead of Rovio, joins the podcast to dive deeper into this topic. She says marketing isn’t just about click-through rates – marketers have a responsibility to consumers and society.

Rovio is a Finnish game developer famous for its game, Angry Birds. Claire is also the founder and a board member of the Puzzle Society in Helsinki, Finland.

Questions Claire Answered in this Episode:

What do you think are some things that are really important to consider when building out creatives for your user base?
What is the best method for an advertiser to collect feedback on their creatives?
Do you organize focus groups internally or do you use a third party to build out focus groups?
What is the structure of your team that builds out creatives and the functions of each group?
From a creative standpoint, what’s something mobile marketers in the gaming industry should be doing more of in your opinion?
What’s an example of creative ads that are inclusive or not inclusive?
How do you measure that your ads are addressing this idea of inclusivity?
What makes an accessible creative and what should marketers consider?
What is the Puzzle Society?

Timestamp:

1:24 Claire’s background
5:15 How Rovio studies its users
8:48 Focus groups
9:58 Rovio team structure
12:00 We need more accessible, diverse, inclusive, responsible creative
16:55 Tracking how inclusive your ads are
20:00 Accessibility in mobile ads
24:21 Puzzle Society

Quotes:

(13:10-13:14) “It’s important to keep in mind that marketing needs to be done in a responsible way.”

(21:43-21:55) “Design was made to involve everyone in society and to make everyone capable at the end of the day. It’s not only something beautiful.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Is There a Winning Formula for Marketing a Mobile Game? - Aaron Pietsch (Rec Room)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 1 Sep 2022 13:00:00 +0000

The growth and revenue potential of the mobile gaming space continues to explode. Worldwide consumer spending is well into the billions, downloads are reaching record levels, and the time spent in-app has increased. Competition has never been more intense - so how are marketers getting ahead?

Welcome to Apptivate’s newest segment on marketing mobile games. Host Brian Altman will be talking to marketers from gaming apps about strategies, best practices, and industry trends for running campaigns across different regions of the world.

In this episode, Brian talks to Aaron Pietsch, the Senior User Acquisition Specialist at Rec Room about creative strategies, prioritizing different international markets, and theories about the metaverse. Rec Room is a gaming platform with millions of user-generated rooms for people to hang out and play their favorite games.

Questions Aaron Answered in this Episode:

What is Rec Room and how would you describe it?
Could you classify Rec Room as a metaverse?
How does monetization within the app work?
Can you describe the structure of your UA team and your role?
How do you explain what Rec Room offers in a creative ad? What are the elements that help people understand what Rec Room is the most?
How do you prioritize what you’re going to be testing?
How do you prioritize international markets?
In terms of creatives that you’re running internationally, do you have different strategies by market?
Do you see different markets engaging with Rec Room through different platforms, like console versus mobile?
Do you have any advice for marketers trying to track people across different devices?
How in particular do you see this game fitting into the metaverse trend? Do you share the vision that we’re all going to be living in this metaverse?

Timestamp:

1:08 Aaron’s background
3:15 About Rec Room
5:10 Radically cross-platform
6:27 App monetization in Rec Room
7:45 Rec Room UA team
9:18 Creative strategy at Rec Room
14:13 Prioritizing geos
16:64 Is this country better off by itself?
19:57 A word of caution: tracking across devices
23:05 Genuine connection in the metaverse

Quotes:

(11:28-11:38) “You need to be constantly testing. You need to be creating hypotheses, developing some sort of test in order to prove out what you think.”

(14:43-15:01) “There’s always those pockets of interests that you might not have expected, like looking at your organics and seeing what is monetizing well outside of your campaigns. You might be surprised to learn that this country or that country that you would have had no idea about is all of the sudden getting real popular. ”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Authentic Networking for Introverts - Vicki Goldman (Paramount Streaming)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Women In Mobile series, host Maria Lannon speaks with Vicki Goldman, the Marketing Director at Paramount Streaming under the Media Acquisition and Services Team. Vicki says expanding your network is one of the best things you can do for your career, but admittedly, it can be draining and intimidating. She shares why it’s worth the effort, how to overcome the reasons we give ourselves not to do it, and how to show up to networking events authentically – especially if you’re shy.

Outside of her role at Paramount, Vicki co-chairs the women’s division of the nonprofit organization, The Guardians of the Los Angeles Jewish Home. Previous to Paramount, Vicki was a Marketing Manager at Modnique.

Questions Vicki Answered in this Episode:

Can you tell us about your background?
When the company you worked at went out of business, how did you manage moving forward into your next role at CBS?
How do you stay competitive with streaming?
Tell us about your day-to-day. How do you go about prioritizing your day?
How do you go about creating opportunities for others on your team?
What does creating opportunities for networking look like?
How do you retain top talent?
What’s been some of the best leadership lessons that you’ve learned?
What’s the best career advice you’ve received? The worst?
How can we encourage more women to speak up and have a voice?

Timestamp:

1:28 Vicki’s background
4:51 Lessons learned from a company that crashed
9:06 Keys for success as Director of Marketing
11:28 Being a supportive boss
12:22 Networking: Getting out of your comfort zone
15:15 Being clear in the interview process
18:06 Leadership lessons
22:12 Best & worst career advice
24:28 Encouraging women to speak up
27:02 Resources

Quotes:

(9:32-9:49) “One thing I do that I feel is crucial is having one-sheeters for campaigns because we do so many different things that can get confusing. So this is helpful, not only for the onboarding but for helping to present things to vendors so you don’t have to repeat things all the time, and just to have everything laid out for you.”

(20:30-20:35) “Going back to networking: Be authentic. Build that relationship. You never know what will happen.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Finding Ground Truth: Measuring & Testing Incrementality - Brian Krebs (MetricWorks)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:07:16 +0000

For this episode our guest is Brian Krebs, the CEO of MetrickWorks, an expert on incrementality measurement and testing. Brian discusses how the use of incrementality has evolved to its present popularity within the mobile marketing industry and the confluence of issues that make it complex to test incremental lift. Brain says Mixed Media Modeling is the way to fill in the gaps with attribution, but it must be validated and calibrated with geo level ground truth experimentation. Find out why and how this works.

MetricWorks is a third-party solution for measuring incremental lift. Their solution only uses aggregate data points impervious to privacy changes, making it “future proof.” MetricWorks also provides LTV predictions and full UA automation, driven by machine learning.

Questions Brian Answered in this Episode:

What drives your entrepreneurial spirit?
How has MetricWorks changed over the years and what is your focus today?
How have you seen the evolution of incrementality measurement?
What’s the process of working with MetricWorks to conduct an incremental lift study?
Do you have a solution for apps that are only based in one country?
Who stands to gain the most from incrementality measurement? What channels have been undervalued?

Timestamp:

2:45 Brian’s background
7:20 About MetricWorks
13:40 The evolution of incrementality
15:55 Confluence of issues with testing incrementality
19:05 Mixed Media Modeling: strengths and weaknesses
20:05 MetricWorks’s incrementality measurement solution
24:54 Ground truth incrementality testing
28:26 Solutions for apps running in one country only
33:33 What channels are being undervalued

Quotes:

(18:47-19:02) “Ghost bidding is just a magical solution. And not only is it really hurt by losing the device id, but as a marketer you’re finding yourself trusting the vendor. The vendor is necessary to do ghost bidding or ghost ads.”

(19:10-19:36) “[MMM] is complex but it’s simple in fundamental understanding of it, and, completely privacy compatible – doesn’t require any device-level data. And, there’s no need to get rid of incrementality testing. You have to go to a geo level, which is what we do. But, you can still use those signals to calibrate the MMM over time, which is probably MMM’s biggest weakness: not having some truth to ground in.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Keep Your Creative Team Inspired - Sharon Romang (Headlight)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 12:44:26 +0000

Sharon Romang, Vice President of Creative at Headlight, joins Maria Lannon on Apptivate’s Women in Mobile segment for an uplifting conversation about how to keep your creative team engaged with monthly design challenges. Sharon also talks about why dealing with the pain of networking is worth it and how to build an inspiring entourage for your personal and professional growth.

Headlight is a New York-based marketing agency offering full-funnel performance media management, creative services focused on mobile-first, data-driven ads, and integrated analytics built for the privacy-first era. Sharon has a background in digital advertising, branded content, and visual storytelling, and has worked for companies like Smartly.io, New York Magazine, United Virtualities, to name a few. Sharon is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Questions Sharon Answered in this Episode:

Tell us about your transition from Smartly to Headlight. How did you get to where you are today?
Walk me through your day. What do you need to be successful?
Have there been other influences or mentors that helped you get to where you are today?
What advice would you give to anyone having trouble putting themselves out there and networking? Have you always felt comfortable networking?
How do you encourage your team to take time off and rest when they need to? Do you lead by example, take your time off?
What’s some other advice you’d give to women just starting their careers?
Do you have any books or podcasts you recommend to our listeners?

Timestamp:

2:10 Sharon’s background
4:25 Everyone has something to teach
7:08 Her day-to-day
9:12 How to keep a creative team engaged
13:00 Influential mentors
16:36 Networking is painful, but…
20:04 Model taking breaks
27:54 Advice for women starting their careers
35:56 Resources

Quotes:

(4:25-4:38) “I think everyone has something to offer. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been working in your career. Especially because if we look at some of the most successful TikTok campaigns, it’s really Gen Z that’s taking the lead there.”

(17:30-17:38) “In any opportunity you don’t know who you’re going to meet, who’s going to change your life or provide the next career opportunity.”

(28:34-28:44) “Another thing I’m super passionate about is surrounding yourself with women you admire. There’s nothing more beautiful than women supporting women.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How Gaming Apps Are Adapting to SKAdNetwork 4.0 - Alexey Gusev (Goodgame Studios)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 12:40:22 +0000

Alexey Gusev is a lead performance marketer at Goodgame Studios, a mobile and browser game developer and publisher based in Hamburg, Germany. In this episode, Alexey shares his team’s journey to adapt its performance measurement strategies with SKAdNetwork, not only for their range of mobile game titles and genres but for each game. He also gets specific about the differences of working with SKAdNetwork 4.0.

Questions Alexey Answered in this Episode:

What does it feel like when a new game launches?
How long after you launch until you have good KPIs?
Have certain titles been difficult to manage with SKAdNetwork?
Across your titles, have you tried to create a uniform way of measuring conversion values with SKAN? Do you apply the same logic across all your titles?
Is it fair to assume that even if you’ve built out a great infrastructure for SKAN on hardcore titles you still have fewer insights than you used to two years ago?
At what point when you lose that granularity of data do you just look at macro effects and media mix modeling to determine the effectiveness of your overall strategy?
What are a few of the major changes to SKAdNetwork that you’ve recognized?

Timestamp:

2:02 On launching a new game
4:36 Alexey’s background
8:00 About Goodgame Studios
10:28 How Goodgame Studios managed changes with ATT
14:32 Why every game needs its own measurement strategy
18:00 What determines the profitability
19:43 Adapting to SKAdNetwork 4.0

Quotes:

(14:33-14:43) “What we learned during this whole process is that every title, every game–not even every genre–every game needs to be approached very differently.”

(15:12-15:36) “If it’s a hyper-casual genre, within 24 hours you have plenty of events. It gets a bit tricker when we’re stepping into the mid-core, hardcore genres where just the volume of the events is completely different and the user behavior patterns are way more complex in comparison to the rather straightforward casual user flow.

(16:10-16:17) “Given the fact that we don’t get as granular information, we try to look at way more information in general.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

What to Expect When Marketing Mobile Games - Tiffanie Chau (Mistplay)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 13:00:00 +0000

After five years working for retail industries ranging from fashion and beauty to toys, Tiffanie Chau decided to look for opportunities as a marketer in a new vertical. She landed in the mobile gaming industry, first as the Digital Marketing Specialist at Playtika, and more recently as Senior User Acquisition Manager at Mistplay, a loyalty app for mobile gamers. In this episode, Tiffanie talks about making the switch, the skills she transferred, what she had to learn, and differences in marketing strategy.

Questions Tiffanie Answered in this Episode:

Do you prefer working on more established games or launching new titles?
Did you have any games not make it?
Why did you decide to make the shift from the retail industry to gaming?
What was the hardest thing for you to pick up moving into the mobile gaming vertical?
What skills translated into the mobile gaming space?
Do you have to educate your consumer base for Mistplay’s loyalty program?
What has you most excited about your future at Mistplay?

Timestamp:

3:30 Tiffanie’s background
5:11 Big titles vs new titles
7:19 When do you let go?
8:34 Mistplay
11:26 The shift to mobile games
13:05 Challenges coming into the industry
14:46 What skills and knowledge transfers
16:42 Creative strategies for Mistplay
20:26 What Tiffanie’s excited for

Quotes:

(7:25-7:37) “In today’s world with TikTok where things can instantly become viral without you even trying, I think it makes things exciting but it also makes things hard because there is no recipe to follow.”

(13:27-13:49) “If I had any advice for people going into [the mobile gaming industry], it’s don’t be afraid to ask questions and learn. As much as we read up on it and think you should know it, there’s no harm in asking. Everyone works differently and has different definitions of abbreviations. I always just ask. It’s better to clear it out and move on from there.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Measurement: Adapt or Die - Phil Golas (Spark Foundry)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 14:29:52 +0000

Phil Golas is the Vice President of Technology and Activation in Ad Operations at Spark Foundry, a global media agency brand under the Publicis Groupe. He consults some of the world’s largest brands on advertising technology. In this episode, Phil shares an agency’s perspective on big brands and mobile measurement, including education, dispelling fears, shifts in advertising spend, and key growth areas to get excited about for the future.

Questions Phil Answered in this Episode:

What got you to your current VP role at Spark Foundry?
Do you find yourself spending more time on one medium of screen?
How do you stay educated on every media?
Is there a particular subject matter that you really love to talk about these days?
Are there good solutions for brand safety?
When it comes to mobile, tell me about what you’re working on the most these days or maybe some big changes that you’ve seen over the last year?
What’s the hardest thing for brands, like Quick Service Restaurant brands, to understand about mobile measurement? What requires the most education?
How do these brands respond to getting such granular levels of performance metrics?
How do you find your partners’ ability to adapt to Apple’s privacy changes? How do you reduce the fears?
Did a lot of brands shift their advertising funds from iOS to Android when Apple’s privacy changes first hit? And if so, has it changed since?
What are you excited about for the future?

Timestamp:

3:17 Phil’s background
6:07 Ace of the screens
8:55 Brand safety
12:11 Uptick with mobile measurement
16:50 The ah-ha moment with mobile measurement
18:55 Giving clients the bigger picture
22:30 Advertising spend in response to privacy changes
26:01 Key growth area of the future

Quotes:

(9:18-9:29) “With everything going on in the world, everyone wants to have their ad be seen but also not seen against certain content. [Brand safety is] a very touchy subject but one that’s top of mind and always evolving.”

(12:16-12:33) “I think over the past year-and-a-half or two years, a lot of businesses have had to pivot the way that they conduct business. So, we’re seeing a lot more advertisers, brands, and clients thinking about, asking about, and trying to get educated on mobile measurement and how to do that.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Address Disrespectful Co-workers - Mariana D’Avila (Appreach)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 8 Jun 2022 12:30:43 +0000

Mariana D’Avila is a natural at being a leader and confronting inappropriate behaviors towards women in the workplace. In this episode, she shares more than one occasion in which she had to pull a coworker aside to address their disrespectful behavior. She gives her tips on how to address this situation in a productive and compassionate way.

Mariana D’Avila is the Head of Growth at Appreach, which consults app companies on holistic media strategies. She is based in Ceará in Brazil by the beautiful beach of Taiba where she kitesurfs in her free time.

Questions Mariana Answered in this Episode:

Tell us about starting your career in mobile and moving into a management position at a young age?
Managers often feel like they’re supposed to have all the answers. How do you deal with that?
What do you need in your day-to-day to do your best work?
What is a leadership lesson that’s transformed your thinking?
What’s been the most challenging part of your career so far?
Who do women speak up in a situation where male colleagues are being condescending?
How have you been able to build your support net?

Timestamp:

3:44 Appreach & Mariana’s role
9:10 Awareness as a manager
13:41 Must-have for success
17:31 Biggest leadership lessons
22:57 Mariana’s biggest challenge so far
27:35 Speaking up to disrespectful colleagues
33:54 Build your network of women professionals
37:00 Getting your message through

Quotes:

(10:26-10:33) “I think you need to always be able to raise your hand, to be humble, to say, ‘I don’t know.’”

(12:40-12:56) “Self awareness is one of the most important things to have because if you don’t know yourself, if you don’t know your triggers, you’ll find yourself lost. Not just professionally but what you want for your life.”

(17:40-17:48) “Knowledge is the one thing no one can take from you. So be committed to developing it every day.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How Marketers Influence Consumer Habits - Joaquín Flores (Kavak)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 24 May 2022 13:39:33 +0000

Joaquín Flores is the Global Online Vice President at Kavak, a digital ecosystem of services for buying and selling used vehicles in Latin America, including financing, maintenance, and auto insurance. Kavak changed the way people buy and sell cars in Mexico and beyond. Joaquín discusses how consumers can adapt to new purchasing habits and why building an app was integral to Kavak’s marketing strategy.

Joaquín is a mathematician who moved into the world of tech when he realized that individuals have the ability to change consumer behaviors. Before his role at Kavak, he worked in a variety of roles, from search engine marketing for Linio México and strategic planning for Coca-Cola FEMA to Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Business Intelligence for Variv Venture Builder. Joaquín is based in Mexico City.

Questions Joaquín Answered in this Episode:

Why do you think the digital startup industry has been accelerating in Mexico, and when did it become apparent to you that the industry was growing significantly?
Where do your focuses lie today as Global Online VP for Kavak?
What was the reason for building out an app?
How do you see the app playing within the consumer lifecycle?
How do you educate people about a platform like Kavak? And what is their readiness to use a platform like this?
What’s got you really excited about 2022?

Timestamp:

3:18 From mathematician to tech startup
9:41 Joaquin’s background
15:34 Why Kavak exists
18:43 Joaquin’s focus
22:37 Why Kavak built an app
31:20 Showing a new way to buy/sell cars
35:23 What’s to come

Quotes:

(6:34-6:50) “It was interesting to see that users evolve. Our habits evolve. The way we consume evolved, and it’s not fixed. It’s something that you can actually change as an individual, that with an idea you can actually change the mindset.”

(23:57-24:10) “Why build an app? I think because we have to be able to create long-lasting relationships with our users. We need to be able to not only offer services that we create but to actually listen to the user in every step.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

A Mobile Marketing Guide: The Growth Loop – Andre Kempe (Admiral Media)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 17 May 2022 13:00:00 +0000

Andre Kempe, founder of the mobile app and performance marketing agency Admiral Media, returns to Apptivate to discuss The Growth Loop. The e-book covers the processes and details needed to grow apps through marketing campaigns, from planning and setting KPIs to mapping events and optimizing once a campaign is live. The Growth Loop is for CEOs, senior marketers, and junior marketers alike.

Since the last time Andre aired on Apptivate, the size of Admiral Media’s team has quadrupled. Prior to starting the agency, Andre has been the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Performance Marketing at several companies, including LOVOO, Zalando, and Free2Move. Andre currently doubles as a marketing advisor and is living his best life in Marbella, Spain.

Questions Andre Answered in this Episode:

● What has been your biggest challenge in expanding your team so dramatically?
● What made you want to start Admiral Media?
● Where do you find that you help your mobile app clients the most at your agency?
● Why is NFT marketing so different?
● What is “The Growth Loop” and why did your team go through the effort of creating this e-book?
● What is the audience for this e-book?
● Is there a topic that marketers tend to have the most challenges with?
● Have you observed a lot of confusion around how to best implement conversion value mapping?
● Are you seeing the marketers are getting smarter with effectively spending on Facebook campaigns or programmatic?

Timestamp:

● 3:30 Challenges for an agency founder
● 7:40 Andre’s background
● 10:58 Why Andre started Admiral Media
● 13:00 Admiral Media specialties
● 16:23 NFT marketing
● 18:48 The Growth Loop e-book
● 22:33 Who is The Growth Loop for?
● 24:30 What most marketers get wrong
● 29:37 Conversion value mapping

Quotes:

(20:54-21:05) “With The Growth Stack we see a lot of tooling. With The Growth Loop you get all the processes and tiny bits of information that you need to actually execute on some of the pieces seen on The Growth Stack.”

(23:05-23:11) “Maybe the CEO needs to learn how to run a Facebook campaign because later on you can challenge the agency.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

● Andre Kempe’s LinkedIn
● Admiral Media
● The Growth Loop

Building a Brand Cause for Your App - Juliana Biasi (99/DiDi)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 10 May 2022 13:00:00 +0000

When the Marketing Director of Brazil’s leading ride-hailing app, 99, went looking for a brand cause, she discovered a significant disproportion between Brazil's percentage of women versus 99's percentage of women drivers. The more 99 listened to its female users, the more they realized how national domestic abuse, public safety, and financial independence affected them. The app added several features to empower Brazilian women to become drivers and feel safer as passengers using the app - this not only boosted their brand’s popularity, but also significantly impacted the society at large.

Questions Juliana Answered in this Episode:

When you say “mobility,” what is that specifically?
Can you tell us what it’s been like directing the marketing efforts given your industry and restrictions during the pandemic?
How have you been able to differentiate yourself in the female market?
How do you market all the features 99 has created with women in mind?
How can we encourage other organizations to prioritize equitable opportunities for women employees?

Timestamp:

1:11 Juliana’s role at 99
3:45 Built for agility
7:31 Why 99 is focused on women
11:25 Female drivers vs male drivers
13:41 Safety features for female passengers
19:55 SOS feature for women
24:16 Cause for the Brand
25:55 If cities were built by women…
32:48 Ways to support women

Quotes:

(9:01-9:08) “Here in Brazil, one in four women suffered from domestic violence during the pandemic.”

(7:58-8:18) “More than 50% of the population in Brazil are women, but when we look at our base of active drivers, only 5% are women. So this shows a business opportunity. And then we started to listen to them, and we saw that they really didn't recognize driving as an option.”

(11:38-12:00) “When we talked to women drivers for the app, they were super proud. They really choose to drive. When we listen to male drivers, they’re like, ‘I lost my job. I didn’t have options, so I decided to drive.’ For women, it’s the opposite.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Preloads: A Frictionless User Experience - Martijn Lancee (LinkedIn)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 3 May 2022 13:00:00 +0000

Martijn Lancee is the Director of Business Development and Growth at LinkedIn. His team is responsible for the company’s success in getting the app preloaded on 800 million cell phones worldwide. In this episode, Martijn discusses all things mobile preload programs, including tips on how to succeed, how to optimize once campaigns are launched, how to evaluate your program’s performance, and the differences between open market channels and carrier channels.

Prior to his role at LinkedIn, Martijn was the head of the preload program at Google. From shaping surfboards in Barbados to leading strategy and business for Heineken in Rwanda, Martijn has been around the world. Now he hangs his hat in San Francisco with his family where he enjoys surfing and mountain biking.

Questions Martijn Answered in this Episode:

Were you working with preloads before you joined LinkedIn?
What do you think has been the key to LinkedIn’s success with its preload program?
What are the differences between the approaches to getting your app preloaded on a cell phone?
How do you assess the performance of preloads as it compares to other channels?
Once a preload campaign is off the ground, is there anything you can do to the settings to drive strong performance?

Timestamp:

7:00 LinkedIn’s mission
7:54 Martijn’s background
12:00 Keys to success for preload programs
14:06 How to ask for $100 million budget
16:15 Frictionless consumer experience
18:10 Preloads: Open Market Channels vs Carrier Channels
21:23 The complexity of partnerships OEMs
25:00 Performance evaluation for preloads
28:16 Optimization levers for preload campaigns

Quotes:

(13:01-13:17) “I think repetition is key. It’s something I’ve learned throughout the years. Everyone, especially at a big tech company, has their own agenda. They’re definitely really busy. So in order for the preload program to become a part of their agenda and part of their projects’ DNA, it’s all about repetition.”

(17:03-17:16) “For anyone who is not yet bought into the app, how can we provide the value for them to understand it’s worth it to at least check out the app to see what it can do for you? And that’s where retargeting programs come in.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Martijn Lancee’s LinkedIn

Mergers & Acquisitions in App Industry - Satya Vinnakota (Vinted)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 08:00:26 +0000

If you work in the mobile app industry, you may have noticed a mass consolidation of companies taking place across verticals. Today’s guest discusses what factors have accelerated these mergers and acquisitions, how this affects the app ecosystem, and what we might expect to happen next.

Satya Vinnakota is the Director of Ads at Vinted, an app for second-hand fashion. He’s kept a pulse on the app economy since he started his career in Delhi at Startup Tunnel and moved onto business development for the performance advertiser, Applift. He is based in Berlin.

Questions Satya Answered in this Episode:

● Why wasn't it difficult to acquire customers when you started at Applift?
● Tell us about Vinted.
● Is it fair to say that community is a big part of the ethos that drives loyalty to Vinted?
● What are you focused on at Vinted?
● What’s surprised you the most about what’s happened these past two years?
● Would you agree that the Apple privacy changes are a big impetus for the consolidations happening in the industry now?
● What do you expect to happen following the massive consolidation we’re seeing now across the app industry?
● What mergers and acquisitions were a smart move in the last couple of years, in your opinion?

Timestamp:

● 2:37 Satya’s background
● 11:24 About Vinted
● 16:17 Satya’s role as Director of Ads
● 19:00 Post-pandemic consolidation in AdTech industry
● 21:16 How privacy changes accelerated M&A
● 23:00 What will happen next?
● 30:20 Do advertisers truly want transparency?
● 32:00 Smart acquisitions
● 35:10 It’s all about context

Quotes:

(4:03-4:23) “India is really a mobile-first country. I don’t think my grandfather has ever touched a Mac, but he has definitely used an iPhone, for example. I think that really changed everything for us in the sense that we had our own Flipkart, which is like Amazon but in India; we have our own travel apps; everything is app-first basically.”

(19:35-19:45) “What has surprised me in the last couple of years when it comes to mergers and acquisitions in our industry is the scale of it. I’m not just talking about the number of deals, but the sizes of the deals.”

(32:04-32:11) “What I find very, very smart is gaming companies buying AdTech companies, and AdTech companies buying gaming companies.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

● Satya Vinnakota’s LinkedIn
● Vinted

Why the Climate Change Fight Needs an App – Lily Dempster (One Small Step)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 12:29:28 +0000

Lily Dempster is the Founder and CEO of One Small Step, a free app using behavioral science and technology to help people reduce their carbon emissions through personalized carbon reduction plans and lifestyle changes. In this episode of Apptivate’s Women in Mobile segment, Lily takes us on her entrepreneurial journey, pivoting from working as a grassroots environmental campaigner to becoming an app founder in Australia. Listeners will learn why Lily decided an app would be the best way to address the gap she saw in the environmental movement to address climate change. You’ll find out how she brought her app idea to fruition and the biggest lessons she learned along the way.

Questions Lily Answered in this Episode:

Can you tell us about your company and what you do there?
What made you want to start an app to address climate change?
What was it like pivoting your career to start One Small Step? What advice would you give to someone thinking about pivoting their career?
How do you structure your day? And how has that changed over time?
How did you break out of the mindset of feeling like you haven’t done enough?
How did you go about choosing an executive coach?
What is some of the best advice you’ve received? The worst?
How have you grown One Small Step’s user base?
How have your habits changed since creating the app?

Timestamp:

1:18 About One Small Step
5:58 Why create an app to address climate change
7:32 Empowering users to set their own notification prompts
8:40 Getting started building the app
12:00 Advice on pivoting your career
17:11 Managing energy, not time
22:46 Executive coaching
26:04 The worst advice Lily’s received, and the best
28:42 The impact and growth of One Small Step
35:00 A word to climate change empathizers
38:05 Lily’s habit changes since the app
43:20 A reason for hope

Quotes:

(15:45-15:51) “If you make mistakes, they’re your mistakes. You’ll learn more quickly than if you’re making mistakes because someone else told you what to do and you did what they told you.”

(21:48-22:12) “I think that when you look at human cognition—what you can get done, how intensely you can work on something, problem-solving, and knowledge work, and how do you that in an effective way and sustain peak performance for as long as possible—you need to build in rest. It’s really critical for your brain function. And so once I understood that intellectually and built systems to support that, it started to sync in emotionally as well.”

(36:00-36:23) “It’s not just about the kilograms or pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent emission reductions. It’s actually about ‘I feel more connected to myself and my community and I’m caring for my family and I’m also caring for the environment around me.’ There’s a spiritual or psychological wellbeing that comes from sustainability. And I think once people tap into that then it’s pretty self-sustaining.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Lily Dempster’s LinkedIn
One Small Step
Book: Principles by Ray Dalio
Film: Tomorrow (French film “Demain”)

Surpass Your Job Title with Personal Branding - Jeff Perkins (ParkMobile)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 14:50:09 +0000

Jeff Perkins, CEO of ParkMobile, helped grow America’s most popular parking app from 8 million users to 31 million, and counting. Of all the marketing strategies to throw money at, listeners will be surprised to learn what tactic had the greatest impact. Jeff also shares what he’s learned about engaging with users in a way that’s helpful and not, well, annoying.

Jeff is the author of How Not to Suck at Marketing. In this episode, he touches on what he calls the three fundamentals for modern marketers: focus, flexibility, and resiliency. He also discusses how he repositioned himself through personal branding to move past the limitations of his Marketing Manager title to become a Chief Marketing Officer.

Questions Jeff Answered in this Episode:

Was it always a career aspiration to become a CEO?
What’s the biggest jump you’ve made in your career?
What will people learn from your book?
What’s the biggest problem you’re currently facing at ParkMobile, and can marketing solve it?
What’s one of the most impactful marketing strategies you’ve applied at ParkMobile to grow to 31 million users?
How do you retain and engage your users?

Timestamp:

2:44 Jeff’s background
5:06 Breaking out of the “Marketing Manager” title
10:15 Advice on LinkedIn profiles
12:46 How Not to Suck at Marketing
19:31 A ParkMobile example of focus
23:00 Their most important UA strategy
26:40 Retention & engagement
28:54 Lesson learned in appropriate messaging

Quotes:

(2:11-2:20) “Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve probably had points in my career I could never imagine being a CEO either, but like anything, you don’t know what you can do until you try.”

(7:38-7:46) “The big step for me was redefining my brand because if you don’t define yourself someone else will.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Marketing Leaders Should Be a Voice for Minorities - Renato Camargo (RecargaPay)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 6 Apr 2022 13:06:23 +0000

Renato Camargo is the Country Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of RecargaPay, one of the biggest fintech companies in Brazil. He left retail to work for the financial services app for two reasons: He saw a business opportunity in democratizing banking in Brazil where over 60 million people can’t access banks; and, the mobile marketing industry provided a space for Renato to be himself and use his voice. He is passionate about leveraging his corporate power to create more inclusive opportunities for the LGBTQ community and other minorities.

Renato was nominated as one of the Outstanding Top 100 Executives of 2021 by Yahoo Finance. He is based in São Paulo.

Questions Renato Answered in this Episode:

Coming from a retail background, why were you interested in fintech?
What is RecargaPay?
How have you worked towards inclusively in your business?
How are your messages about inclusivity generally received in the fintech space ?

Timestamp:

3:30 Mobile tech boom in LATAM
5:22 Renato’s journey to CMO
10:33 The fintech opportunity in Brazil
15:25 What is RecargaPay
19:18 Being a voice for LGBTQ
24:01 Black Voices Matter - Taking over LinkedIn
28:12 Hiring for diversity

Quotes:

(11:21-11:33) “About 44% of the population in Brazil does not use banks nor have access to financial services. They pay in cash, so they store cash at home.”

(22:32-22:54) “I need to understand my privilege, recognize them, and to use my voice, my corporate power, to be more inclusive with the people. It’s almost an obligation for me to give back to the world all the things I had the privilege to receive throughout my career.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Springing into Mobile Marketing Leadership - Laura Spikermann (Customlytics)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 13:04:17 +0000

Laura Spikermann began her career in mobile marketing from the ground up at Customlytics, a full-stack app marketing agency based in Berlin. Today she is responsible for managing the company’s six service departments as the Client Services Lead. In this episode, Laura shares what she’s learned about stepping into a leadership role—from setting boundaries with friends at work and discovering her leadership style, to restoring her energy through yoga and mental health services.

Questions Laura Answered in this Episode:

What does Customlytics do and what’s your role there?
Can you tell us about your transition into a leadership position at Customlytics?
What was it like making the case to the CEOs that they should hire you before you had any mobile marketing experience?
How have you been able to discover your leadership style?
What do you need in your routine to be successful in such a demanding role?
Do you have any advice for women starting their careers in mobile marketing?

Timestamp:

1:13 Customlytics & Laura’s role
2:58 Laura’s transition to Client Services Lead
9:14 Challenges of stepping into leadership
11:22 Not always being prepared
12:40 Growing into your leadership style
14:27 Managing your time
17:24 Adjusting to working remotely
19:18 Keeping your balance
21:13 Career advice for younger women
24:43 Recommended resources

Quotes:

(11:27-11:36) “As a manager, you always have to be adapting to new situations because in the end people come to you with new problems, things that have never been there before, and conflicts that are boiling up.”

(22:14-22:24) “Don’t be afraid to get into a room and start a conversation. It’s fine. You’re worthy of being there. And most people will be open and happy to speak to you.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Experience the Uplift of Work-Life Boundaries - Liia Palipea (Bolt)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 20:12:27 +0000

Liia Palipea, Global Head of Food Marketing at Bolt, joins Apptivate’s Women in Mobile series to talk about working smarter, not harder. Liia brought the ride hailing app’s new food delivery feature to market in over 20 countries and 70 cities in Europe and Africa during the pandemic. This experience taught her how to evaluate what’s important and how to cope with stress when nothing can be cut from the to-do list.

That’s not all. Liia encourages marketing managers to model work-life boundaries and to take long vacations. She also brings a refreshing perspective to women in the mobile tech industry who fear they will be penalized for what they’ve missed while on maternity leave.

Liia is based in Estonia. Prior to Bolt, she worked at an agency as a freelance strategic marketing consultant.

Questions Liia Answered in this Episode:

How do you deal with the stress of such a demanding role?
How did the pandemic transform what you do as the global lead for marketing Bolt’s food delivery services?
What does your day-to-day look like? And, what have you learned about prioritization?
How have you encouraged your employees to take care of their wellbeing?
As a manager, how do you balance being available but respecting your offline boundaries?
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
How can we help women leave the ever-changing mobile tech industry on maternity leave without penalizing them for what they've missed while they were out?
What advice would you give to women just starting out in their careers?

Timestamp:

1:29 Bolt & Liia’s role
3:52 When food delivery exploded
8:11 A culture of supporting mental health
10:19 Modeling work boundaries for employees
15:45 The value of a project
17:21 Fixable vs objectively tough moments
21:40 Taking a proper vacation
25:10 The state of maternity leave policy
29:44 You will bounce back from time away
32:00 Advice to women beginning their careers
39:28 Resource recommendations

Quotes:

(22:22-22:39) “I took a month off and it helped a lot. It helps give the perspective you need to better understand the value you’re bringing to the table. And, it helps my team, and hopefully other teams, to resolve certain bottlenecks—things they think are on my table but actually aren’t.”

(30:40-30:53) “At a high level nothing changes with mobile marketing, so in that sense people shouldn’t be scared to take some time off—be it traveling around the world, having kids, or doing whatever else they want to do, save penguins or turtles.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Liia Palipea’s LinkedIn
Bolt
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Christopher Voss and Tahl Raz_
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

When Women In Mobile Speak Up and Unite - Camila Carneiro (AppsFlyer)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 8 Mar 2022 21:01:48 +0000

When this mobile marketer realized she was the first and only woman in Latin America to work for her company, she knew there was work to do. She is passionate about speaking up, taking action, and building community for the inclusion and representation of women in the mobile space.

Camila Carneiro is the Team Lead of Partner Development for Brazil and Latin America at AppsFlyer, the world’s leading SaaS mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform.

Questions Camila Answered in this Episode:

Tell us about how you grew into your current position as a leader at AppsFlyer.
How are you so courageous and confident?
What did you rely on to build your confidence when you had to live by yourself abroad?
How have you been able to pass on what you’ve learned from Faith?
How do we disrupt discriminatory social norms in the workplace?
Do you have any male mentors or allies that have helped you?
What advice would you give to women starting their careers?
How do you recharge your energy so you can be the best version of yourself?
What are some resources that you might recommend to others?

Timestamp:

1:20 Camila’s background & AppsFlyer
5:01 Being the first woman at AppsFlyer in LATAM
7:05 What’s made Camila stronger
9:09 The stranger who inspired Camila
12:34 How to encourage other women in mobile
14:00 Refusing to promote events that aren’t inclusive
17:15 Are you represented?
22:12 Exemplary male allies and organizations
25:17 Number one advice to younger women
27:57 Finding your purpose
31:03 Defining who you are beyond your job
37:50 Book recommendations

Quotes:

(5:56-6:25) “Being the only woman, I found myself sometimes having to listen to men say bad things about women while I was in the room. I was like, ‘Guys, I’m here. I’m a woman. Stop saying bullshit.’ And also I’d make them understand that I wasn’t weaker. I had as much potential as they did, so I should be included in higher-level conversations; I should be involved in meaningful projects. Don’t take it easy on me just because I am a woman.”

(12:54-13:05) “When I started to hear things that weren’t making much sense to me, things that I thought were unfair, I tended to speak up even if I wasn’t heard. And most of the time, I was heard.”

(21:18-21:28) “If you feel uncomfortable in whatever situation that you might be in because there are only men in the room or because you are feeling judged for being a woman, you need to build the courage to speak up.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Camila Carneiro’s LinkedIn
AppsFlyer
Email - camila@appsflyer.com
Book - The Servant by James C. Hunter
Book - Becoming by Michelle Obama

Women in Mobile: Your Ideas In Your Voice - Fabiana Ayala (Truebill)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 2 Mar 2022 17:56:35 +0000

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Apptivate’s Women In Mobile series will take over the podcast in March. Maria Lannon, VP Account Management at Remerge, will be our host for the month.

Our guest for this episode is Fabiana Ayala, Growth Marketing Manager at Truebill. Fabiana shares her experiences speaking up in the workplace with English as a second language. She also discusses her work "must-haves" when traveling the country with her fiancé and why she schedules her personal life on her professional calendar.

Truebill is a personal finance app and Fabiana oversees its paid social channels. Before that, Fabiana worked at the advertising agency Bamboo, where she cut her teeth in marketing mobile apps.

Questions Fabiana Answered in this Episode:

Tell us more about how you got into mobile marketing?
Do you feel pressure to do more? How do you manage that?
Walk us through your work day managing six social channels. What are your deal breakers and must-haves when managing your time?
How have you adapted to working remotely while traveling the country?
How have you been able to bring your personal life into your work environment?
What has been the most challenging experience so far in your career? How were you able to turn that into something positive?
What’s a piece of advice you’ve received that’s helped you with your career?
How could the workplace encourage more personal development?
Have you had a female mentor that’s helped you along the way?
What resources would you recommend for other women?

Timestamp:

0:44 Fabiana’s background & Truebill
3:08 Taking on multiple marketing channels
4:50 Big impacts with small marketing budget
7:46 It’s okay to put things on pause
10:29 Fabiana’s must-haves for the work day
13:11 Managing work on the road
15:10 Putting personal life on work calendar
16:47 Patience & self-worth
21:25 Attitude is a choice
24:03 Using your voice

Quotes:

(18:00-18:07) “I think we need to understand our self-worth and be open and vulnerable about our frustrations, especially to our mentors.”

(24:02-24:35) “We need to keep reminding ourselves that we shouldn’t be afraid of using our own voice. We have the right to have our own point-of-view, our own opinion. We’re allowed to disagree, and we shouldn’t be afraid of confrontation. We should always come with an open heart and mind into this communication; and if we still disagree, it’s okay to agree to disagree. I feel like we shouldn’t let anyone diminish our voices because of our gender.”

(24:54-25:09) “With English not being my first language, I sometimes say something and think, ‘That sounded better in Spanish.’ So I need to push myself to just say it. Say it as it comes, and if people don’t understand they’ll ask questions.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Fabiana Ayala
Truebill
Email - fabiana@truebill.com // fabianaayalahopp@gmail.com
Instagram - @fabianaayalah
How I Built This Podcast
The GaryVee Audio Experience

Marketing Automation in the Privacy-First Era - Yury Bolotkin (StarBerry Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 14:00:00 +0000

Yury Bolotkin is the Marketing Director of StarBerry Games, a mobile games publisher and developer based in Berlin. Prior to StarBerry, Yury was a Growth Specialist at Popcore, a UA Manager at Wooga, and a Senior Account Manager at Fyber.

Questions Yury Answered in this Episode:

Why were you interested in making the shift from sales and account management to the media buying side of app marketing?
As Marketing Director, what’s the first strategy you put in place for a new mobile game?
How do you implement automation today versus in your past?
Do you make decisions based on the results of new testing platforms that enter your automation, or is that something that happens once it reaches a certain threshold?
Is there any kind of automation that would apply to a single network to help improve its performance?
Where do you spend your time with creatives?
Have you been able to run the campaigns you mentioned since the IDFA changes?

Timestamp:

2:53 Yury’s background
7:57 What inspired Yury’s marketing career
9:50 The atmosphere at StarBerry Games
11:53 Burning questions for a Marketing Director
13:54 How Yury uses automation now
20:37 When the industry influences automation
27:10 Understanding why certain creatives work
28:52 How IDFA impacted their automated campaigns

Quotes:

(10:05-10:28) “I really love this feeling of having a small, passionate team of people who believe and trust each other. They have this goal of delivering something beautiful to the world. And they just live for this idea, going through challenges every day to deliver this vision, this product, to bigger audiences.”

(14:58-15:02) “Reporting is actually the first block in your automation puzzle.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Optimize Your Website to Drive App Downloads - Hannah Parvaz (Uptime)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 16:12:10 +0000

Questions Hannah Answered in this Episode:

What do you think makes a great app marketer?
What do you mean by “actionable points” in an Uptime summary?
How does the team at Uptime decide where to focus its content development and curation efforts?
What’s your first step as the Head of Marketing to bring a new product to market?
Was there anything you learned from the first 50-60 customers that was surprising?
What’s your creative strategy and process for educating potential consumers?
What role does content play for you as a marketer in acquiring new customers?
What’s the optimal mix of keywords for your web traffic?

Timestamp:

4:06 Hannah’s background
6:23 What it takes to be a great app marketer
8:53 What is Uptime?
12:42 Step 1 for bringing a new app to market
17:04 Uptime’s creative strategy for campaigns
19:31 Step 2: SEO
21:15 Optimal mix of keywords in web traffic
25:10 What Hannah’s excited to focus on in 2022

Quotes:

(8:15-8:22) “[App marketers] have to be very comfortable with failing. Somebody once said to me that it’s never failing–it’s learning in a different way.”

(13:24-13:26) “Your customers are the blood within your company’s body.”

(19:31-19:39) “I don’t think you can begin to think about marketing without thinking about content. They’re kind of one in the same. Your content is your marketing, and your marketing is your content.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Omnichannel Marketing in the Privacy-First Era - Alexander Savelyev (Verve Group)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 19:09:36 +0000

Alexander Savelyev is the Vice President of Product at Verve Group. Verve is a privacy-first omnichannel ad platform. It offers programmatic solutions that connect advertisers and publishers to people in real time. Alexander lives and works in Berlin.

Questions Alexander Answered in this Episode:

What is your team looking to achieve at Verve?
As a VP of Product, is it difficult overseeing 5-6 teams focused on different goals? How do you direct where the teams focus their time?
How do you see the perspective of advertisers and publishers as it relates to omnichannel marketing? How different are they?
Is a publisher missing something by not having an omnichannel presence?
How do we achieve omnichannel marketing in a privacy-first world? If you cannot identify a specific user on a mobile device, how do you deliver a relevant message to them on another platform or from a single advertiser?
Is part of the safety net for user privacy the size of the cohort or audience? Is there a minimum threshold for how large or small it must be to preserve that privacy?
What’s needed and crucial for the market?

Timestamp:

3:48 Alexander’s background
8:00 Verve, for advertisers and publishers
11:46 On managing a team of teams
15:12 Omnichannel for advertisers vs publishers
25:48 How to do privacy-first omnichannel
30:11 Size minimums for proxies to protect user privacy
32:24 Not possible but needed and crucial

Quotes:

(8:48-9:08) “By having the ecosystem, meaning by having an SSP, an ad exchange, an SDK, and a DSP, we think that we can make advertising cheaper through the economies of scale and through the efficiencies between the components that would normally be different companies with completely different sets of goals.”

(32:43-33:00) “What advertisers need to be able to do is execute different campaigns on individuals within a minimized group and a/b test different, sequential multi-device storytelling strategies in real time.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Four Growth Marketing Strategies for Cryptocurrency Apps - Tarik Amzil (Binance)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 1 Feb 2022 14:59:48 +0000

Tarik Amzil is the Marketing Growth Manager for EMEA at Binance, the cryptocurrency platform. Prior to joining Binance, Tarik was a growth marketing manager at ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, focusing on growing TikTok within the Arab community.

Questions Tarik Answered in this Episode:

Why did you decide to leave TikTok and shift from a social media platform to Binance, a fintech platform?
How did you train yourself to be a growth marketing manager in the financial space when you didn’t necessarily have that background?
What makes Binance special? What’s made it one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world, if not the largest?
What’s your approach to acquiring more customers? And more specifically, how do you go about acquiring customers who are newer to the industry?
Given that your consumers range from 18 to 55+, is there a core demographic where you focus your marketing efforts? Is there a primary media platform that you use to get in front of those consumers?
What’s got you excited about the future of the bitcoin space?

Timestamp:

1:53 Tarik’s background
7:24 Shifting verticals–from TikTok to Binance
9:46 What makes Binance unique
15:36 Getting listed on Binance
18:45 Growing the bitcoin app consumer segment
24:04 New age tools for media buying
25:55 Metaverse trends

Quotes:

(19:32-19:44) “Binance makes sure it’s localized in most spoken languages worldwide.”

(24:55-25:03) “Part of being in a rapidly evolving industry is having to keep up with the trends. So anything that’s going to make us accessible and reachable to our users, you’re going to find us there.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tarik's Twitter - @tarik4game
Tarik's Instagram - @tarikamzil
Binance

Rebroadcast: Making the Leap to a Third Party Retargeting Partner - Pablo Bereskyj (Etermax)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:12:24 +0000

Pablo Bereskyj is the Marketing Operations Manager for Etermax, an international gaming company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Previously, Pablo worked in business intelligence and financial analysis at Acuris, The Mergermarket Group, and Debtwire.

Questions Pablo Answered in this Episode:

Did you have any fear or reservation about jumping into the gaming industry coming from a financial services company?
What do you think held you back from moving to a third party retargeting vendor?
When you look at retargeting in retrospect, what was one of the things you found most challenging in getting it off the ground or maybe one thing you would have done differently?

Timestamp:

4:26 Pablo’s professional background
8:17 From finance to gaming
12:40 Learnings from internal retargeting operations
15:25 Moving to a third party vendor for retargeting
18:27 Maximizing the value of your core customers
23:35 Top pillar underestimated with retargeting integrations

Quotes:

(17:30-17:45) “You have to derive an internal ecosystem of tools; you need to be looking at all these variables; and if you want to run this constantly, it means that you have to have a really hands-on exercise with that.”

(17:59-18:09) “The discovery of payers as a potential target, that was the other thing that drove a lot of the decision behind us using a third party vendor essentially.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

What the Data Shows About App Retargeting’s Viability – Patrick Eichmann (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 6 Jan 2022 17:55:19 +0000

Patrick Eichmann is responsible for all revenue operations, including sales, account management and ad operations, in North and South America for Remerge. He is based in New York City.

Questions Patrick Answered in this Episode:

What is Remerge? And what is app retargeting in general?
How is app retargeting still possible with iOS 14 and iOS15?
What’s the business case for advertisers to still run app retargeting campaigns?
Can you give some examples of verticals and companies that are using app retargeting right now?
Android or iOS?
What features would you miss most?
What’s missing from mobile app tech?

Timestamp:

2:27 Patrick’s background
4:05 Remerge & app retargeting
6:05 What the data is showing
9:05 The case for app retargeting today
11:24 Who’s using app retargeting right now?
15:13 What’s ahead for Remerge
17:25 Get to know Patrick

Quotes:

(6:29-6:48) “We’ve developed a dashboard that provided a view into what was happening from an operating system adoption rate perspective. And then also a view into what was happening with the inventory itself. Meaning, how many impressions were out there that had IDs—the IDFA appended to it, how many didn’t?”

(8:40-8:54) “That’s roughly 30 billion requests a day that are coming through that have an ID associated with it. So, it may not be what it once was, but that’s still a pretty sizable chunk of inventory that you can still extract value from.”

(9:14-9:22) “With Android, it’s still intact. There may be changes that happen in the future but that makes up the lion share of available inventories now.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Future of Micro-Influencers in Mobile App Growth- Ludie Veloso (AirBrush)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 04:46:17 +0000

Ludie Veloso is the VP of operations for the AirBrush app at Pixocial, a subsidiary of Meitu. Before her current role at AirBrush, Ludie was their Global Growth Lead, managing teams around the world. Prior to AirBrush, she was the content director for Naranya Market Brazil. She is based out of Spain and has a background in economics.

Questions Ludie Answered in this Episode:

What are some keys to your success merging people from different cultures around the world into a unified team?
What’s the rationale and advantage of having a team of 35 people spread out across the world?
What had the most impactful effect on your app’s growth besides the people who make up your team?
How do you categorize a micro-influencer?
Are influencers at this stage getting paid like an affiliate would?
What’s your strategy for managing so many micro-influencers?
How do you safeguard against influencers not being a good fit for your brand?
What are you excited about for the future of influencer marketing?

Timestamp:

1:55 Ludie’s background
5:02 What brings a team together
9:57 Localization
12:30 Growth with micro-influencer marketing
16:39 The campaign that proved a point
20:31 Paying micro-influencers
22:47 The different uses of micro- vs enterprise-level influencers
25:00 Influencer managers
28:56 Quality control with influencers
31:21 The future of social influencers

Quotes:

(5:17-5:29) “The first challenge was you’re going to die unless you do this, this, and this. So we kind of had to come together as a team in the very beginning with a shared sense of, ‘We need to make this [app] happen.’”

(26:08-26:15) “It made a lot of sense to us to actually bring influencers to help influencers succeed because they share the same problems.”

(31:46-32:08) “For a long time we would have influencers who this was just their side, their job hustle. Now it’s actually their lives. They grew so much. So I think what’s exciting to see is how much more professional this is and how much more we can actually achieve because now we’re getting into campaigns and partnerships with our eyes open.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Monetizing Mobile App Games with NFTs - Eva Juretić (Pocket Worlds)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 7 Dec 2021 19:25:13 +0000

Eva Juretić is the Growth Marketing Manager for Pocket Worlds, a metaverse mobile game developer company pioneering social-first gaming. Eva is also the Senior UA and Growth Manager of her consulting company, ClickBite Consulting. Previously, she was the lead of the Growth Team at Misplay and a user acquisition specialist at Social Point.

Questions Eva Juretić Answered in this Episode:

Have you always identified this game as a metaverse platform? Have you seen a rise in user growth that you can correlate to the explosion of “meta” and “metaverse” as a concept?
What does it mean to integrate blockchain into High Rise? What’s changing from a consumer perspective?
How do you educate your users on NFT, if at all?
Will it cost cryptocurrency to acquire an NFT?
How do these advancements and changes related to blockchain technologies affect your role and how do you think about driving growth?

Timestamp:

4:30 Eva’s professional background
14:04 About Pocketworlds and social-first gaming
16:10 The explosion of “metaverse” in branding
17:22 Play and earn: Introducing blockchain technology
18:48 Cashing game currency - the first NFT drop
21:33 Educating users on NFTs
23:00 Buying NFTs with cryptocurrencies
24:15 Giving users ownership with blockchain
25:22 How will blockchain tech affect how marketers drive growth

Quotes:

(14:15-14:49) “Pocket Worlds is pioneering in social-first gaming, which means the social part of the game is the core part and the game is built around it. Unlike, for example, if you have an RPG game, they test the idea, the concept, the product; they see it’s working, and then eventually they add some social components like chat or whatever it is. In Pocket Worlds, in High Rise, the main app we’re talking about, this is the core of the game. The game wouldn’t exist without that social component.”

(17:59-18:15) “Us entering that space and introducing blockchain technology into everything, it’s not only making the now popular ‘play to earn’ but a ‘play and earn’ concept, and this is what we’re most excited about.”

(24:16-24:40) “So we have the economy, but we don’t want to be the owner of that. We want our users to have ownership of whatever property they have. So if you have any items, outfits, rooms, whatever you have in High Rise, like we know that because we have it written in our database. But we really want our users to own it, and a way to do it is translating that on blockchain.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Customer Experience: The Key Ingredient to App Growth - Bryce Boothby (McDonald’s)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 20:26:04 +0000

Bryce Boothby is the Director of Global Tech at McDonald’s. He’s responsible for aligning the 150+ markets McDonald’s serves. Previously, Bryce oversaw the growth of McDonald’s digital marketing in the U.S., including its rewards app and mcdonalds.com. Before McDonald’s, he was the Sr. Operational Cost Analyst at Ford.

Questions Bryce Answered in this Episode:

What piqued your interest in digital marketing when you were at Ford?
How challenging was it to evolve McDonald’s digital ecosystem when you first joined the company?
Can you tell us about the evolution of the MyMcDonald’s Reward program? What components of your strategy do you think really made a big difference?
When you’re doing customer research for a brand of your size, do you have to meet a pretty high minimum threshold of consumers that you’ve engaged with before you can make any sort of determinations, and do you have to do that across multiple geographies?
When you ran the test pilots in Phoenix and New England, did you have any unexpected results that drove changes within the loyalty program?
What’s next for the mobile loyalty program?

Timestamp:

2:38 Bryce’s background
7:25 Selling McDonald’s on the need for digital
10:20 Massive growth of their loyalty rewards app
13:10 3 key strategies to growing the app
15:35 Innovative integration with Twitter
16:35 Audience research at McDonald’s
17:37 Surprising results from test pilots
19:26 Why the McDonald’s workforce was key
21:21 What’s next

Quotes:

(11:47-12:04) “Just as a point of reference, granted McDonald’s scale is pretty significant compared to some of our competitors, but we essentially have 21 million members over the course of four months. Starbucks I believe had about 25 million members over the course of seven or eight years.”

(16:40-17:03) “I think one of the statistics that really astounded me when I joined McDonald’s is, I think it’s something like 80 or 90 percent of the entire U.S. population visits McDonald’s at least once a year. So if you take that scale, that’s massive. So how do you understand what drives all our different types of customers? What’s compelling to them? Because they all have different need-states, different demographics. So, it is challenging.”

(19:59-20:04) “In the world we live in, it’s really about connecting both the digital to the in-person experience.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Lessons from the Loss of Third-Party Cookies on the Web - Sarah Polli (Hearts & Science)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 21:59:08 +0000

Sarah Polli is the Senior Director of Marketing Technology at Hearts & Science, a global marketing agency. Sarah began her career in digital media 10 years ago at the Washington Post.

Questions Sarah Answered in this Episode:

What’s it been like to experience the growth at Heart & Science over the last 5-6 years firsthand and what would you attribute it to?
What got you into marketing technology and what do you still find interesting about it?
Tell us what’s going on with Chrome.
When these changes happened with Safari and Mozilla around 2018, did marketers shift their spend to Chrome or have you seen marketers actively working towards solutions since 2018 to present?
Was it possible to measure the impact of those campaigns? Or were you using proxies to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns?
How do you guide your partners through what’s going to happen? What are smart marketers doing today?
What does it mean to be open and agile to you?

Timestamp:

7:08 Sarah’s background
9:36 The growth of Hearts & Science
11:30 What keeps MarTech interesting
13:09 Changes with Google Chrome
15:30 The loss of third-party cookies since 2018
18:55 First-party data: the new gold
19:58 How Hearts & Science is preparing its partners
28:11 On being open and agile

Quotes:

(14:30-14:53) “[Google] Chrome is actively building these APIs and we should start to see them being released toward the end of next year. So really 2023 for advertisers will be the big year of understanding these APIs--what do they look like, what are the ones for targeting, what is for retargeting, what is for measurement, and testing to see what they look like against what it is we have today, and determining how we want to proceed in the future.”

(16:46-17:14) “The CPMs for Safari drastically went down. So smart advertisers, and we did this with our clients, you could take what was happening in Chrome, understand your audiences and use that to then go and target Safari by similar audiences, take advantage of that CPM decrease and still reach these users instead of just completely ignoring those people. Similar to what’s happening today with iOS apps and Android.”

(19:16-19:24) “It’s really important for brands to focus on the data they collect on their site and on their apps because that is the new gold.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why It’s the Right Time to Consider Investing in a DSP - Alexa Wieczorek (Electronic Arts)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 22:43:58 +0000

Alexa Wieczorek is the Growth Marketing Manager for Electronic Arts (EA). Previous to EA, Alexa was the Growth Marketing Analyst at DraftKings, and a Data Analyst at Glu Mobile. She is based in San Francisco.

Questions Alexa Answered in this Episode:

Do you have any thoughts on why EA, one of the largest game developers in the world, had not made any significant investments in DSP as part of their strategy until you joined?
Why do you think it is important to be investing in the programmatic landscape? What are some of the advantages?
What more data do you get from a DSP?
What do you find yourself gravitating more towards: the self-service or the Bidder-as-a-Service as a managed service?
You mentioned that DSPs that offer creative services can be more appealing. Is there anything else when you’re looking at DSPs that really matters? When you’re vetting DSPs, what are you looking out for?
Have you found that most programmatic partners have been ready for the challenges presented by the ATT prompt and the lack of access to the IDFA? Are you confident that DSPs are doing the right thing?

Timestamp:

6:17 Alexa’s professional background
9:46 Barriers to investing in DSP
11:05 Advantages of a DSP
11:56 The data you get from a DSP
13:21 What you’re in for with managing DSPs
15:05 Self-service or Bidder-as-a-Service
19:15 Vetting managed DSPs
21:41 Shifts in what DSPs are offering
22:45 Tackling ATT and IDFA changes

Quotes:

(13:34-13:45) “I think it comes down to two things: a lack of understanding and I think it’s a lack of resourcing because going through a managed DSP is a lot more hands-on than a lot of Facebook or Google campaign management is.”

(15:15-15:34) “The self-service option can be a little more cost-effective. The fees are a lot lower and they’re transparent. Whereas depending on the manager service partner, the fees aren’t always transparent. So I think that when you’re spending at a certain level of scale it makes sense. But if you don’t have the internal support, or you’re a smaller company, I think managed services are a great option.”

(21:59-22:18) “I think that’s why a lot of people are moving toward a self-service or an in-house approach. I think also just being transparent about the data is important. All the DSPs don’t share exchange and publisher-level reporting, just to some degree. So I think working with a DSP that will share that level of data with you is also super important.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Lead with Confidence and Vulnerability - Erin Webster-Shaller (Lose It!)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 20:55:00 +0000

Questions Erin Answered in this Episode:

What was the transition like from director to VP?
How did you become comfortable with not having all the answers and being a little vulnerable?
What is it that you’re doing every day for yourself so you can be the person and leader you need to be? What are some of those non-negotiables for you?
Tell us about your career journey.
What’s the worst advice you’ve received in your career?
How do we encourage women to feel more confident in speaking up?
What do you go to for inspiration?

Timestamp:

1:14 About Lose It! and Erin
4:25 Stepping into the VP role during Covid
7:38 Not having the answers
9:15 Perspective from peers
12:00 Working with an executive coach
14:00 Non-negotiable self-care habits
18:11 Erin’s career journey
26:45 The worst advice Erin’s gotten
29:02 Hacks for speaking up
32:30 Sources of inspiration

Quotes:

(8:27-8:45) “Getting really inquisitive. Trying to be more of a coach and not a manager, and create space for the team to do their job. I realized over the last year, that’s what I should have been focused on instead of trying to understand everything that I needed to know as part of this job.”

(11:03-11:20) “That notion of confidence and uncertainty, I think of it as, ‘I’m confident that we’ll find the answers. I’m confident that we’ll be able to solve this problem. I don’t know how we’re going to get there, but I believe in the team or I believe in my ability or whoever to get us to the place that we need to go.’”

(13:02-13:25) “The whole mindset of this coaching program is that people will become better leaders when they’re more in tune with themselves, essentially. When you know who you are as your person, your authentic self with a capital ‘S,’ you’re more likely to show up in a way that’s authentic to you and to be a leader that people can believe in and follow and they want to work for.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why Performance Marketers Need to Revisit the Olden Days - Diane Le (Curtsy)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 16:21:28 +0000

Diane Le is the Senior Growth Marketer at Curtsy, a thrifting app for buying and selling women’s clothing. Diane’s specialty is scaling emerging channels like TikTok and Snapchat. Previous to Curtsy, Diane was a growth marketing consultant at Right Side Up.

Questions Diane Answered in this Episode:

What job experience do you think was most influential to your career?
Are you still in performance marketing today? How have you felt during this period of privacy changes?
You mentioned reverting back to old strategies. What does that look like for your team at Curtsy?
Do you still buy media on a platform like Facebook and Instagram? Have you seen your media mix within these social channels change dramatically as a result of the privacy changes?
Has it been challenging for you as a performance marketer to shift to this new mentality of mobile marketing, or has it been eye-opening or refreshing to you?
Does this make you more meticulous in where you decide to spend your ad dollars?
What do you spend your day focusing on?

Timestamp:

4:34 Diane’s background
10:07 What is performance marketing today?
12:06 Diane’s revamped strategy for app marketing
15:42 Measuring aggregate performance over time
19:22 Investing ad dollars in the right channels
23:28 Tapping into existing, loyal users for content
25:56 Cracking emerging social channels

Quotes:

(11:20-11:42) “I think at this stage we’re kind of in the Wild Wild West of growth marketing. We’ve kind of reverted back to the olden days where we really just need to take a step back and get all of the learnings just because the historical data doesn’t count anymore. You can look back at your yearly metrics, but what are we going to learn from that at this point? So this is like year-one and then we’ve got to continue learning and move on from that.”

(17:12-17:33) “Look at the holistic growth numbers, like where are we trending? Because we don’t have granular data anymore, we can’t afford to just get in the weeds like that and optimize based on A, B, CTA, things like that. We really have to take a step back. But I think integrating brand campaigns with performance, you should effectively see that growth.”

(22:20-22:32) “Now advertisers need to really get creative. Can you incorporate your brand message in a TikTok dance? Can you leverage a trending song? Are you picking the right influencers?”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Tell the Story of Your App’s Data - Anna Yukhtenko (Hutch)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 15:46:25 +0000

Anna Yukhtenko is the Senior Games Analyst at Hutch, a mobile gaming developer and publisher known for its racing games. Previous to Hutch, Anna was a marketing analyst at Next Games. She is based in London.

Questions Anna Answered in this Episode:

When you were in university did you have an idea of what you wanted to do?
Were you a gamer prior to joining Next Games?
Why do you find game analytics more interesting than marketing analytics?
Where do you find yourself spending the most time as it’s related to gameplay or game analytics?
Is intuition a part of your strategy or is it really all data-driven?
How do you make data and your explanations of data accessible to those who are not necessarily data savvy?
What tools do you use for data analysis most often?

Timestamp:

4:03 Anna’s background
7:20 The advantage of being a non-gamer
8:41 Why Anna loves game analytics
10:50 What to analyze
14:45 Making data analysis accessible to team members
16:45 How to make data easy to understand
21:53 The best data presentations
23:03 Memes
27:26 Data analysis tools and applications

Quotes:

(15:15-15:28) “When it comes to presenting the numbers and the data to people who are not analysts or who are not working in the data, I would say that it’s part of an analyst’s job to make your analysis accessible, to make your analysis readable.”

(19:21-19:24) “The job of an analyst and the point of data is to tell a story.”

(10:52-11:03) “As a game analyst, quite frankly I feel the most efficient way is for game analysts to work in sprints with the game team. So basically, you’re there with them and you’re following the development of the game.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Nail Humor in Your Mobile Ad Creatives - Arthur Cordier-Lassalle (Voodoo)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 18:27:43 +0000

Arthur Cordier-Lassalle is the Creative Lead at Voodoo, a mobile gaming studio specializing in hyper-casual games. Previous to Voodoo, Arthur was a UI/Motion designer for Emissive. He is based in Paris.

Questions Arthur Cordier-Lassalle Answered in this Episode:

What does your day-to-day look like creating ads for Voodoo? How big is your team?
What is the underlying theme that drives your creative approach?
What’s weird is relative. Talk to me about how you arrive at these creative concepts.
What was a successful ad you had achieving humor?
What’s the life expectancy for a successful creative ad, like the one you described?
When you’re iterating, how are the concepts that you’re focusing on?
What has you excited about the future of creatives within Voodoo?

Timestamp:

1:29 A little about Voodoo
3:08 Arthur’s background
5:57 Creating ads for Voodoo games
7:53 Balancing what works with the unusual
9:33 Why “shock” isn’t a great strategy
10:02 How humor can work
17:25 Shelf life of creatives
18:04 Identifying what to iterate on
19:00 What’s to come

Quotes:

(7:53-8:15) “What we like to do is first, keeping the balance between what we know is performing well and what new stuff we can do. My shtick with this is trying to find a daring creative, something that is going to stop the user in his track and have a moment of ‘What the fuck am I looking at?’”

(15:55-16:07) “We kind of have a saying that is ‘we don’t know what works, so we just test.’ We don’t have anybody that says, ‘Okay, this is not going to work, don’t do it.’ We ultimately just rely on data.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Power of Podcasts and Audio Ads for Mobile Marketers - Josh Brooks (M&C Saatchi Performance)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 02:19:56 +0000

Josh joined M&C Saatchi Performance in early 2021 to head up their Client Services and Planning teams. Josh has over 12+ years in media working both in London and in New York specializing in Media Strategy and Planning. Outside of work, Josh is an avid fitness enthusiast and even launched a workout happy hour program during his time at Group M. Josh is also planning on running the NYC Marathon this year.

Questions Josh Answered in this Episode:

What podcasts do you listen to?
What is the perception your partners have about podcasts as a performance strategy?
When is appropriate for a marketer to consider podcast advertising?
How do you figure out if a podcast has your audience or not?
How are podcasts priced?
How is measurement executed? Is it sufficient in its current form, or where do you think it’s going?
Do you see a future in which marketers across the board will start leveraging podcasts?

Timestamp:

6:30 Josh’s background
10:40 Planning and Client Services
16:10 Client attitudes on podcasts
18:45 When are podcast ads the right fit
21:42 Deciphering the audience of a podcast
26:01 Leveraging audio creative
29:39 Performance metrics for podcast ads
34:22 Josh’s forecast of audio ads

Quotes:

(11:50-12:06) “You can read and read data over and over, but if you can't then turn that into a strategy or go, ‘How am I going to use that to execute my media plan,’ that can be a really big challenge. And I think that’s what we pride ourselves on at this agency, is being able to combine those two to tell compelling stories for our clients.”

(35:57-36:12) “Smart speakers are going to grow this podcast industry in the next few years because people’s behaviors are now changing. People feel more comfortable saying to Alexa, ‘Alexa, buy me this,’ or, ‘Alexa, can you find me this?’ And so as that becomes more the norm, this is where audio is going to play a really strong position in that.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The State of Retargeting in the Privacy-First Era - Pan Katsukis (Remerge)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 16:23:15 +0000

Pan Katsukis is a Berlin-based serial entrepreneur serving as CEO and Co-Founder of Remerge, a leading programmatic app marketing platform. Before starting Remerge in 2014, Pan co-founded a European mobile ad network, madvertise in 2008.

Questions Pan Answered in this Episode:

Why did you launch Remerge? When did you become aware of the retention problem and the opportunity to provide a solution?
Typically, CEOs have to have a lot of conversations that they’re not willing to share with their employees. Are you saying that everything that you know about you’re willing to share with your team?
What change do you think marketers will have the hardest time adapting to as it’s related to the privacy era?
Why is iOS an opportunity for marketers today?
When do you expect the market to stabilize as it’s related to no-id marketing? When do you expect marketers to feel more comfortable buying that 60% cheaper traffic to the point where it starts shifting to more expensive rates?
Is retargeting still a strategy that marketers are leveraging?
Is there a future in which the available inventory of IDs on iOS decreases, or do you think we’re at a point where it’s become saturated?
The market is changing as a result of privacy changes. Why do you think we’re seeing a lot of businesses consolidate? What’s your take on what’s going on?
What does consolidation do to open bidding? Is there an advantage to staying independent?
What are you excited about for the future?

Timestamp:

3:16 Pan’s background
5:25 Culture: The impetus for Remerge
9:20 Modeling openness and transparency
12:40 Adapting to SKAdNetwork
15:42 The opportunity of iOS15 for marketers
21:03 Why retargeting will stick around
24:53 The drivers of the app market consolidation
29:20 Strengths in staying independent
34:08 Why Pan’s excited about the future of Remerge

Quotes:

(13:57-14:12) “I think the opportunity is big. Even if you have this inventory, this audience which is very valuable of iOS users who are using the newest version, you can’t simply stop spending on iOS. You want to tap into the audiences and address them.”

(29:28-29:54) “Whether you’re independent or not independent, I think it doesn’t matter so much. It all comes to the mission and why you’re in the market. What’s the purpose? What do you want to solve? What do you want to achieve? What kind of mission are you on? Being independent and having a very clear mission and focused perspective on how to address market needs helps you obviously to execute towards that goal.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Data Science: Advanced Modeling for Mobile - Suresh Pillai

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:37:13 +0000

Suresh Pillai is a theoretical physicist by training and the Vice President of Data at Beat. Beat is an information and technology services company that created a ride-hailing and taxi mobile app. Beat claims to be the fastest growing app in Latin America (p.s. they’re hiring).

Questions Suresh Answered in this Episode:

How do you approach mobile data science from your theoretical physics perspective?
How have you used uplift modeling or incrementality?
Define propensity in the context of uplift modeling.
Can you explain in more detail the marketing settings you never turn off?
What is the difference between how people use uplift modeling, incrementally, and other causal machine learning?
Do you have any tips for people to make sense of attribution in the complex setting of multi-touch marketing?
We’re losing unique identifiers for users with the change to iOS14. What does this change for you? Has it been a problem? And do you think there’s a role for marketing mix models here?
What are the most interesting insights you’ve seen from incrementality models? What really surprised you? What changed your view on how customers are acting?

Timestamp:

0:41 Suresh’s background & complexity science
2:14 A physicist’s view of complex systems in mobile data science
5:03 The granularity of incrementality and uplift modeling
6:05 Sure things, persuadables, lost causes, and sleeping dogs
11:31 Uplift modeling when there is no baseline
13:31 Uplift vs causal vs attribution models
16:48 What people get wrong with multi-touch attribution
25:44 Dealing with the challenge of the iOS14 update
27:50 The role of marketing mix modeling
33:51 Validation: Engaging customers after conversion

Quotes:

(2:25-2:52) “When you’re thinking about any system, especially a complex system, and you’re given a problem, you need to decide which level of granularity you choose to model and understand that system. So different levels enable different insights, but it’s also a practical thing. If it’s a really complex system it may be too much to understand at the atomic level. What I say is you can’t predict anything at the atomic level because there’s too much going on. And we know this in physics, too.”

(24:23-24:35) “When I come to a website, I don’t care what channel I came through. I don’t think about it consciously. There’s no reason to organize how you measure incrementality based on channels. Channels don’t exist. Customers exist.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Suresh Pillai’s LinkedIn
Beat (Psst Beat is hiring)

Women in Mobile: Maybe You’re Not “Unqualified” - Adrienne Rice

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 13:29:01 +0000

Adrienne Rice is an Associate Director at the performance marketing agency, M&C Saatchi Performance. She manages user acquisition and re-engagement campaigns for multiple Amazon-owned apps, including Amazon Shopping, Zappos, and Amazon Kids+.

Questions Adrienne Answered in this Episode:

What are some deal-breakers or tactics that have helped your work-life balance and prevented burnout?
What’s the first thing you do when you close your computer? Do you have some sort of routine?
How do you help others on your team that you are leading avoid burnout?
What is a leadership lesson that you’ve learned through your career that you’ve been able to go back to time and time again?
How have you been able to turn a challenging career experience into a positive?
What advice would you give to women who are just starting their careers in mobile?
How do you encourage others to stay involved in meetings?

Timestamp:

1:14 Adrienne’s background
7:05 A day working around the world
8:40 Preventing agency burnout
12:41 The gift of feedback
16:30 Shooting for jobs we think we’re “unqualified” for
19:44 Advice for others beginning their careers
23:28 Sources of inspiration

Quotes:

(12:41-13:02) “I think one of my most valuable lessons is that feedback is a gift. And to me that means that anytime someone’s giving you feedback, whether that’s criticism or positive feedback, that’s really valuable and that’s really something you should want to get.”

(19:52-20:16) “Take it all in, work really hard, learn everything you possibly can, and have a positive attitude because that really does take you far. People want to work with people that are pleasant and positive and enthusiastic. Even if you don’t have the best set of skills or you’re struggling in some things, if you just stay positive, people will want to help you and want to keep working with you.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Adrienne Rice’s LinkedIn
M&C Saatchi Performance
Book: The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
Film: This Changes Everything

Growth Marketing and the Secret to Tracking Events - Abdala Pineda (Fondeadora)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 14:21:14 +0000

Abdala Pineda is the Chief Growth Officer at Fondeadora. Fondeadora is a digital banking services company based in Mexico City that aims to eliminate the inefficiencies related to the traditional banking system.

Questions Abdala Answered in this Episode:

What is Mexico City’s tech scene like?
When did your realization about growth come to you in your career trajectory?
Tell me about Fondeadora. What are you working on today and what’s that experience been like?
What’s the importance of tracking and how do you go about it in the context of a fintech app?

Timestamp:

5:17 Abdala’s background
6:50 Rocket internet strategy defined
10:20 The beginning of Fondeadora
14:30 Abdala’s concept of growth
17:00 Abdala’s launch into performance marketing
22:12 Fondeadora’s hyper growth
26:50 How to build an event tracking plan for growth
29:30 Criteria for an event worthy of tracking
34:24 Mexico’s first metal debit card

Quotes:

(14:41-15:25) “At least for me, growth is essentially the understanding of the business’s equation. Every single business, regardless of whatever it is that you’re selling, you’re doing, you’re delivering, every single business has a business equation. Has an equation on which on the left side you’ve got the variable that you want to maximize, that you essentially want to grow; and on the right side you’ve got all the other variables that describe your company. Some of those variables are in turn made of sub-variables. And the job of the growth team, at least in my eyes, is essentially to try and understand as many of those variables and how is it that you can, not only affect them per se, but also how is it that each of those variables is correlated with each other. Because for growth, the only way is not only up per se.”

(23:05-23:20) “From my point-of-view, we should not be thinking about what the next campaign is going to say. We should be thinking as to what are the user behaviors that we’re seeing in our user base, and which of those behaviors can actually turn into habits.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How Covid Affected Mobile Habits Globally - Lexi Sydow (App Annie)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 5 Aug 2021 15:33:07 +0000

Lexi Sydow is the Head of Insights for App Annie, a leading platform for app analytics and app market data. She is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Questions Lexi Answered in this Episode:

What’s the tech scene like in Australia?
In your opinion, what do you think makes App Annie stand apart from other data analytics companies?
How did the pandemic affect mobile habits?
What was surprising or interesting to you about mobile habits during Covid, something you didn’t expect?
What does gaming usage look like now that parts of the world are re-emerging after Covid?
Have you seen any changes in mobile user behavior that might be correlated to the current news on the Delta variant?

Timestamp:

4:47 Australia’s tech scene
9:42 Lexi’s background
12:10 What sets App Annie apart (psst… they’re hiring!)
17:32 How the pandemic affected mobile habits
20:31 Dating app user behavior during Covid
23:37 Mobile gaming user behavior during Covid
25:32 The rise of in-app subscriptions
25:52 What apps counter-balanced the dip in travel apps
28:25 A deeper dive on mobile gaming users and behavior now
33:50 Is the Delta variant affecting mobile user behavior?

Quotes:

(10:50-11:00) “I think with mobile what’s cool is that basically you start to see how the macroeconomy is shifting. Your early indicators are in mobile, so you can see a lot of trends coming up.”

(18:57-19:12) “One of the biggest takeaways for me was Covid, at the macro app level, didn’t change anything in terms of how much we rely on mobile and use it. If anything it was sort of the catalyst that pushed our habits further.”

(25:36-25:44) “We saw $34 billion dollars in Q2 spent on in-app purchases and in-app subscriptions globally across iOS and GooglePlay.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Lexi Sydow’s LinkedIn
App Annie
App Annie Careers
Note (min. 8:30) - Warby Parker and Bailey Nelson are two different brands that both sell eyeglasses.

Data Science: Measuring No-ID Campaigns with Causal Impact (Social Point)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 15:42:00 +0000

Alicia Horsch is a Data Scientist in the Marketing and Analytics teams at Social Point, a mobile game developer based in Barcelona. She is also an ambassador for Women in Data, a nonprofit organization that focuses on increasing diversity in data careers.

Questions Alicia Answered in this Episode:

What is Causal Impact and why do you want to use it?
What’s so special about using offline campaigns as far as Causal Impact?
How does Causal Impact work?
How do you split traffic into the treatment group and the control group?
Would you like to elaborate on the math behind it and how the model is built?
How do you know if the predictions are good?
What are the shortcomings of the Causal Impact package?
What are the most important things that you look for in a dimension to split the events on?
What resources can you recommend to our listeners who want to learn more about Causal Impact?

Timestamp:

1:25 What is Causal Impact?
2:22 Causal Impact for when you can’t track the user
3:47 How does Causal Impact work?
5:45 Control group and uplift
7:05 How does the BSTS model work?
10:24 What is a prior in bayesian statistics?
11:25 Evaluating prediction accuracy
14:28 Shortcomings of Causal Impact
21:18 Causal Impact resources and background

Quotes:

(3:49 - 4:04) "Causal impact works by using some information to make a prediction on what would've happened if there wouldn't have been a marketing campaign, which is also often called the counterfactual."

Mentioned in this Episode:

What Managers Want from User Acquisition Marketers - Janos Perei (Voodoo)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 08:06:00 +0000

Janos Perei is the User Acquisition Lead for Casual Gaming at Voodoo, a hyper-casual gaming developer and publisher based in Paris, France. Previous to Voodoo, Janos worked as a mobile marketer at Mercury Black. (P.S. Voodoo is hiring!)

Questions Janos Answered in this Episode:

What is the general sentiment at Voodoo about Apple’s privacy changes?
Tell us about what Voodoo does and its newer casual gaming division.
How do you envision Voodoo evolving the types of games it develops and publishes?
Why is Voodoo the largest hyper-casual games developer in the world?
Talk to me about the role of UA manager within a hyper-casual game studio. What are some of the challenges here that you might not see in other studios?
What do you look for when hiring a UA manager or marketer?
How have you seen the role of a UA manager change in the time you’ve been in mobile marketing?

Timestamp:

1:48 Janos’s background
5:38 Adapting to Apple’s privacy changes
7:42 Voodoo and casual games
9:46 Voodoo’s vision for entertaining the world
13:25 Managing UA for hyper-casual games
15:34 What Voodoo looks for when hiring UA managers and marketers
24:45 How the role of UA managers has changed over the years

Quotes:

(6:15-6:31) “Every single big change that destroys the equilibrium only inspires innovation. I think this is something that we’re really interested in seeing, how the industry will evolve [to Apple’s privacy changes] in the next six to 12 months and what will be essential--the new technologies, the new systems that will be able to go forward.”

(27:35-27:48) “I think user acquisition five years ago and ten years from now will massively be about experimental testing because this is the one and only way; since the market evolves so fast--you wouldn’t be able to make it otherwise.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Making the Leap to a Third Party Retargeting Partner - Pablo Bereskyj (Etermax)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 6 Jul 2021 13:37:00 +0000

Questions Pablo Answered in this Episode:

Did you have any fear or reservation about jumping into the gaming industry coming from a financial services company?
What do you think held you back from moving to a third party retargeting vendor?
When you look at retargeting in retrospect, what was one of the things you found most challenging in getting it off the ground or maybe one thing you would have done differently?

Timestamp:

4:26 Pablo’s professional background
8:17 From finance to gaming
12:40 Learnings from internal retargeting operations
15:25 Moving to a third party vendor for retargeting
18:27 Maximizing the value of your core customers
23:35 Top pillar underestimated with retargeting integrations

Quotes:

(17:59-18:09) “The discovery of payers as a potential target, that was the other thing that drove a lot of the decision behind us using a third party vendor essentially.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Guaranteeing Profitability through testing and analysis Grégoire Mercier (Addict Mobile)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 20:13:48 +0000

Grégoire Mercier is the CEO and founder of Addict Mobile, a leading marketing company for mobile apps based in Paris, France with offices in over 20 countries. Grégoire has been in the mobile app industry for 10 years, getting his start at Gameloft and eventually starting his own mobile games studio.

Questions Grégoire Answered in this Episode:

What enabled you to be able to do marketing for games to broaden your scope to service any vertical?
How do you approach creatives across verticals to increase efficiency?
Has your team discovered any best practices when it comes to what works with creatives?
Do you feel confident in your ability to always drive profitability for your clients?
What are you looking forward to this year as it relates to Addict Mobile?

Timestamp:

1:43 Grégoire’s background
7:37 From gaming to all verticals
13:24 Unlimited creatives for UA clients
19:23 Addict’s “rules” for creative
25:30 How Addict guarantees profitability
29:45 Expansion in the US

Quotes:

(10:11-10:45) “Many gaming studios can be good clients for us for one game, but at some point, this game becomes less profitable and then budgets decrease a lot. And, sometimes mobile games studios just die because it’s a very tough market and you can’t only rely on one game. So, they have a very volatile kind of client. Whereas other verticals, like e-commerce companies for example, which is very basic but same for VTC companies, companies like Uber or others, they spend forever until their ad business works.”

(13:35-14:18) “Very early in our development we decided to really focus on [creatives], managing all the production of creatives internally, giving them for free to our clients so they don’t pay for it when we do user acquisition for them. And we are open to do an unlimited number of creatives for them all along the projects for free. We decided to do it very early at the very beginning of the company because for me it was of use--without it can’t do good UA. So if we don’t do good UA for clients, if the apps are not profitable because our clients don’t have the capacity to make enough creatives, the campaigns will just not work, and then we won’t be profitable, and then we just won’t scale, and at the end of the day, the clients just leave.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Seizing New Opportunities for Women in Mobile - Georgiana Ciobotaru (HelloFresh)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 22:07:47 +0000

Today’s guest is Georgiana Ciobotaru, the Associate Director of Product at the meal-kit company HelloFresh. She started as an operations analyst and moved into product management before joining the digital product team at HelloFresh.

Questions Georgiana Answered in this Episode:

Can you speak a little bit about the lateral moves in your career and how that’s helped you to progress?
What recommendations would you give to our listeners who are trying in advance in their careers but don’t necessarily have an available opportunity?
How do you decipher what you can take on and what you can’t at work? How do you find that balance and how do you know when it’s okay to say “no”?
Can you walk us through your day and share what habits help you be successful?
As a manager, how do you help others develop their careers? How do you manage delegating tasks?
What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve received?
What advice would you give to coworkers who feel less represented at a company to feel more confident in speaking up?

Timestamp:

1:40 Georgie’s background
5:04 Making lateral progress
11:41 When considering a new opportunity
15:35 Georgie’s success-forming habits
20:43 Managing junior teammates
25:24 Different types of decisions
30:35 Speaking up

Quotes:

(12:23-12:41) “What I’ve realized across the years that excites me the most is definitely to have a great challenge, something that’s hard to solve. But also, something that I’m going to be able to learn from and to do it together with a team that I know cares about it as well.”

(21:35-21:45) “For the person reporting to me, I think it was very important for us to make sure we had a plan. So I tend to say, ‘Love the planning, not the plan.’”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Georgiana Ciobotaru’s LinkedIn
HelloFresh
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover (Book)
How I Built This (Podcast): https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this?t=1624260883464

Adopting the Pareto Rule in Performance Marketing - Fiona Lauredi (Gameloft)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:29:26 +0000

Fiona Lauredi is the Lead User Acquisition Manager at Gameloft, an established and leading mobile video games developer worldwide. She is based in Paris.

Questions Fiona Answered in this Episode:

What’s the biggest takeaway that you’ve gained in your experience working across gaming genres?
What have you learned to put less emphasis on in your role as a performance marketer and what are the things you place the most emphasis on to strive towards the Pareto Rule?
Was it a big learning curve for your team to adopt the Pareto Rule?
What’s the process of how you determine a concept for a particular creative?
What have the results been from executing this kind of a strategy? Have you found that you drive better performance for your titles?

Timestamp:

3:08 Fiona’s background
8:29 Biggest learning for marketing across gaming genres
10:06 Applying and adopting the Pareto Rule in performance marketing
16:09 Benchmark! Benchmark! Benchmark!
18:30 The results Fiona’s seen from her team

Quotes:

(8:58-9:25) “One of the big things I’ve learned and taken away with me is Pareto Rule. So for everyone that is not familiar with that rule, it’s essentially saying that 20% of your actions will make 80% of the value. It’s cutting down on a lot of things that aren’t value based, you stop doing these things. It doesn’t matter that you’re 100% perfect. It matters that you can do 5 times as many things as what you could do before.”

(10:20-10:43) “My belief is that the human race is not intelligent enough that you can make decisions on more than two metrics, three at most. If you look at more things than this, you’re probably not going to be making any decision at all. So I would say that one thing that can be used anywhere is looking at a lot less metrics but the ones that count.”

(19:03-19:27) “In my opinion, creatives are 50-60% of our performance, and I’m talking hardcore data, ROAS, scale, all that--it’s all for me on creatives. So obviously, being able to produce more, to produce better, to produce smarter, and to have more people involved in this process has definitely shown results on the bottom line.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Arming Your Retargeting Playbook - Stephen Siegel (Scopely)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 9 Jun 2021 12:16:49 +0000

Stephen Siegel is a User Acquisition Manager at Scopely, an interactive entertainment company and a leading mobile games publisher. He cut his teeth in the mobile gaming sphere at Machine Zone and hails from a background in math and economics.

Questions Stephen Answered in this Episode:

You’ve been in the mobile gaming space for 4 years, how many different platforms and networks do you think you’ve tested in your career? And how often does someone reach out to you to pitch a new product?
Where do you spend the majority of your time as a UA manager?
Is there anything that really interests you about retargeting or that you find fascinating about these campaigns?
What are some of the most successful ways that you’ve found to message users when it comes to retargeting?
Most people that come to us in the mobile gaming industry want to retarget churned users. Would you say that’s the most predominant form of retargeting in the industry or do you see other game studios or yourself testing additional audiences outside of the lapsed players?
How do you see game studios effectively retargeting churned users from a messaging perspective?
Do you have any experience or have you heard of studios leveraging promos to drive engagement?
Why do you think having a retargeting strategy is not yet ubiquitous among performance marketers or gaming studios?
Do you think that the industry is doing a good enough job of leveraging incrementality for acquisition campaigns as well?
How is retargeting being affected by what’s happening with iOS14.5 and the ATT prompt? Have you heard of any solutions that will allow you to keep retargeting or are you exploring them?

Timestamp:

4:06 Stephen’s background & current professional focus
7:58 Retargeting messaging - knowing your audience
10:18 Figuring out why users lapse
12:00 Using promos in retargeting
14:40 Industry barriers to owning retargeting strategies
17:16 Leveraging incrementality in acquisition campaigns
19:30 Solutions to retargeting on iOS

Quotes:

(7:33-7:50) “With new UA, you don’t have quite the same ability to meet users where they’re at. And then with retargeting, you know so much about these users and about their past behavior, so we have more opportunity to message them in ways that we think will be more successful.”

(19:34-20:10) “I think it’s going to get harder to retarget on iOS; that you’re going to lose IDFA access to some percentage of users, which will be some percentage of the audience that you want to retarget. You also need the opt-in on the publisher side, which you have no control over. So, it’s an uphill battle but it’s not going to eliminate retargeting on iOS entirely. It’s a run-what-you-can and then try to find creative ways to continue to reach users you can’t retarget through the traditional IDFA method.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Is the App World Shifting from Ads to Subscriptions? - Jean-François Grang (Purchasely)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Fri, 28 May 2021 15:52:16 +0000

Jean-François is the co-founder of Purchasely, a company based in Paris that helps apps grow their revenues by streamlining In-App Purchase integration. He is also the CEO and founder of 2 App à Z, a consulting firm specialized on mobile technologies. Jean-François was one of the first 500 developers of the iPhone developer beta program. He’s helped many companies build their first apps, and in 2020 was awarded the worldwide App of the Year.

Questions Jean-François Answered in this Episode:

Is there a product that you’re most proud of having played a role in developing?
What does Purchasely do and why did you start the company?
As a developer, when you’re trying to build out the in-app purchases that are involved with an app, how much time does that process take up?
Is this a problem that most startups see or does this solve problems for apps of any size?
Are you seeing more apps shift to subscriptions? And if so, what kind of apps are you seeing make this move?
How does that impact the overall app economy if everything shifts to subscriptions? What might be the limit to how many apps consumers would be willing to subscribe to?

Timestamp:

2:57 Jean-François’s background
6:07 What is Purchasely and why was it created
8:12 Why in-app purchases are a pain in the apps
10:42 The movement from advertising to subscriptions
15:44 Who is shifting to subscriptions and why
19:42 Is there a consumer threshold for subscriptions vs ads

Quotes:

(10:42-10:57) “The world is moving very fast on subscription. Two years ago, the advertising was so high, very few people were considering subscriptions. But, as you’ve seen, there is a drop in the volume and value of advertising. There is also the ATT that is coming in. So, the world of advertising is in trouble right now.”

(17:25-17:38) “We had a lot of apps that were ads-oriented and that were playing on the frustration of the users to get money. But the game of subscription is very different. The game of subscription is more a seduction than a frustration.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How Wellness Apps Are Changing Healthcare - Taylor Gobar (Bloom)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 19 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Taylor Gobar is the Head of Growth at Bloom. Bloom is an app that provides you with tools to help you experience better sleep, reduced stress levels and a more relaxed lifestyle with our guided meditations, relaxing music, activities and mindful experiences.

Questions Taylor Answered in this Episode:

Was there something inside of you that made you want to move more in the direction of healthcare and wellness?
Do you find that because Bloom is a company focused on mental health that wellness permeates the environment or there is greater awareness of it in general?
What is the central goal and mission of Bloom?
How does cognitive behavioral therapy manifest in the app?
How has the app world changed our awareness of mental health in your opinion?
What are some measures organizations can take to elevate the diversity of their brands?
How do you create repetition of behavior and engagement with a product like yours when the cost is low?
What is the evolution here and how do we improve?

Timestamp:

2:13 Taylor’s background
5:35 Mission-driven, wellness work culture
9:48 Bloom’s central goal
14:07 Cognitive behavioral therapy
17:30 Accessing healthcare and wellness via apps
20:05 Injustices in accessing healthcare in the U.S. today
23:33 Steps to greater equity in the workforce
28:02 Engaging users
33:00 The evolution of mental health content

Quotes:

(9:22-9:27) “The cultural piece is not just who do I want to grab a beer with, it’s who do I want to save the world with.”

(20:03-20:25) “Access in this country is first and foremost dictated by your financial situation, and in that sense I think the apps create more access. The price point is lower and it is not tied to things like your insured status or your employment status. In the United States, your chance of accessing any healthcare when you’re not employed is really rough.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Taylor Gobar
Bloom
Book: Utopia for Realist by Rutger Bregman
Instagram @enjoybloom

Managing Burnout in Mobile Marketing - Jocelyn Paz (Reebok)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 11 May 2021 15:34:29 +0000

Today’s guest opens up about her first professional work experience as a mobile marketer working for a gaming company. At the time, she didn’t realize the level of stress she was experiencing was not “normal.” Now, as the Associate Manager of Digital Marketing at Reebok, Jocelyn Paz reflects on how Rebook is doing a good job creating open lines of communication for employees to have honest conversations about mental health.

Questions Jocelyn Answered in this Episode:

What made you want to go in a different direction with your marketing career?
How did you approach the experience of burnout? What helped you cope or reduce burnout?
Did you find yourself accepting and normalizing having mental breakdowns once a week or was there a point where you said ‘this is not normal’?
How did you create boundaries you set in place in order to take care of yourself?
How can organizations be doing to improve communication at work around stress and breaking down its stigma?
How has working from home played a role in burnout at work?

Timestamp:

4:23 Joceyln’s background
5:56 Working for a product and brand you believe in
9:00 An excessive workload?
11:45 Justifying burnout, blurring boundaries
12:30 Perfectionism and compassion
15:55 Open lines of communication
18:23 The blurred line when working remotely
21:12 What “productivity” really means

Quotes:

(10:32-10:44) “To put it simply it’s like you’re getting pressure from two sides. You’re getting pressure from one thing that you can’t control, which is the company. And, you’re getting pressure from yourself internally.”

(11:45-12:18) “At first I tried to justify it but saying, ‘You don’t know as much as you should, you’re not handling it well.’ I started making excuses saying, ‘This will pass, as soon as you learn more you’ll be able to handle it better.’ But as time went on, I realized that saying that to myself was sort of just making excuses and what I was really doing was just blurring those boundaries. I had a complete lack of boundaries between me and the work that I was doing, and what I’d say ‘yes’ to.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Jocelyn Paz’s LinkedIn

Data Science: Designing an Experimentation Platform - Shan Huang (Zalando)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 21:37:54 +0000

Today’s guest is Shan Huang, the Senior Applied Scientist at Zalando, a multinational e-commerce platform for shoes and fashion. Shan is also the co-founder of the German-Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, a nonprofit advancing the exchange of education, research, and public resources between Germany and China in the field of AI.

Questions Shan Answered in this Episode:

Can you give me an explanation of what an experimentation platform is? What is an example of how it’s used?
How do you set the limitations? How do you define what can be experimented?
What are the biggest challenges to building such a platform?
If you could go back in time and could give yourself one hint or remove one obstacle in building this platform, what would that be?
Are you running automated optimization a/b tests?
Are there any tricks to increase the efficiency or decrease the runtime of the experimentation?
How do you support people knowing what experiments to run, what’s interesting, possible to test, etc?
What was the reason for creating the experimentation platform?

Timestamp:

2:53 The many use cases of Zalando’s experimentation platform
6:45 Putting together the right team
10:19 What’s important in the beginning
11:27 Hypothesis testing methodology
13:14 Adaptive experimentation
15:03 Methods for improving experimentation efficiency
18:44 Setting up a process for running a/b tests
23:04 Power to the product team

Quotes:

(6:50-6:57) “I think one of the biggest challenges is that building this kind of platform requires a team of different experts in different domains.”

(10:31-10:56) “In the beginning it’s about providing infrastructure and also helping our stakeholders with other teams learn a/b testing, understand a/b testing, because statistics is sometimes a very confusing thing--confidence interval, significance--it’s not so easy to explain. And I think it might be helpful to get a solid groundwork on this stuff.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Nail User-Generated Content – Yoann Pavy (Diem)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:08:39 +0000

Yoann Pavy has started a new role as Vice President of Marketing at Diem. Previously, he was the Head of Digital Marketing at Depop. He’s recently launched his own podcast, Digital Marketing Finesse. Yoann is based in London.

Questions Yoann Answered in this Episode:

How do you source sneakers to consumers?
How was the marketing strategy at Depop developed and the level of success you saw from it?
How did Depop’s UGC perform across channels? Were some better than others?
What was your process for going to get more of this kind of content? How do you identify who’s a good candidate, and what was the process from there?
What are some of the risks or challenges when going through this process?
Can you tell us what is “Digital Marketing Finesse”?

Timestamp:

2:51 Yoann’s background: from engineering to marketing
14:15 What does Laced do?
18:00 Depop’s street filming creative strategy
24:04 Bad UGC vs Good UGC
25:19 Making it native for each channel
28:40 Depop’s process for developing its UGC
29:58 Challenges
33:01 Digital Marketing Finesse

Quotes:

(21:57-22:26) “Going back to the marketing strategy side, it’s like the marketing 101 that says testimonials are the key. Now you’re in b2b, you want testimonials. You’re in b2c, you want testimonials. Everyone talks about testimonials like the bread and butter of marketing to sell your product. So, we kind of made Gen Z testimonials, the new version of them—they were very raw, they were very real, and completely unscripted.”

(24:32-24:50) “So it’s like really keeping the truth of [user-generated content] is I think the key ingredient. And I do think that it almost doesn’t matter what the market base is about; it could be about anything. As long as you put the people using it at the forefront, it’s going to be real.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Proactive Mobile Marketing Strategies for Apple’s Data Privacy Changes – Liz Emery (Tinuiti)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 12:34:54 +0000

Liz Emery is the Senior Director of Mobile and Ad Tech Solutions at Tinuiti, the largest independent performance marketing agency across Google, Amazon, Facebook, and beyond. She oversees their mobile executions on strategy, ASO, including A/B testing through all of their user acquisition channels as well as lifecycle email marketing.

Questions Liz Answered in this Episode:

When Apple announced the data privacy changes that were coming with iOS14, what was your reaction to that?
In your opinion, what are the forces driving these changes?
How are your clients feeling about this, and are you see a large disparity in how clients are dealing with these changes?
Is there any advantage to the “waiting and seeing” approach?
What are the proactive marketers doing to set themselves up for success in this new paradigm?
Why do you feel that SkAdNetwork won’t be enough to give you the attribution that you’re looking for?
What is a conversion value schema? How are smart marketers putting up their conversion value schema?

Timestamp:

2:35 Liz’s background
5:18 What is Tinuiti?
7:29 Why Liz enjoys the agency life
10:07 The reaction to Apple’s announcement
12:45 The fear is real
14:50 Proactive strategies to be prepared
20:23 SkAdNetwork & data privacy changes
22:09 Conversion value schema
28:00 Our role as marketers with the new normal

Quotes:

(12:07-12:15) “I think the four forces at work are people, regulations, and browser and device-level changes, all driven by government and big tech.”

(16:58-17:15) “I don’t think you have to be like, ‘Oh, my core media strategy is wrong. Everything I’ve been doing for the last couple of years is wrong. I need to stop spending x, y, z.’ That’s not what I’m saying. You do need to keep spending with those consistent channels, but just be cognizant that the kind of targeting and the results you’re going to get are going to shift.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Build Social Validation for a Mobile App - Jon Lau (Weee!)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 7 Apr 2021 01:58:01 +0000

Jon Lau is the Senior Director of Growth at Weee!, a company delivering Asian & Hispanic groceries with zero service fees and free delivery. Previous to the e-grocer app, Jon hailed from a background in banking and then mobile marketing for gaming companies, like DraftKings, Smule, and Playsonic.

Questions Jon Answered in this Episode:

Can you tell us about what Weee! does and who you serve?
What would you attribute the company’s jump from being valued at $600 million last year to $2.8 billion now? What do you attribute that growth to?
Have you found that the general consumer is now using Weee! or is it predominantly people from the cultures you serve?
What is your creative strategy? Is it mostly focused on educating a consumer base? Celebrating heritage?
How do you establish social validation for your brand?
How do you go about telling a story about your brand on platforms like Facebook and display?

Timestamp:

3:06 Jon’s background: gaming to e-grocer
10:46 What’s is Weee!
12:27 Weee!’s explosive growth
14:45 Growing the second-generation Asian and Hispanic user base
16:19 Creative strategy: cultural heritage, food discovery, education
18:00 Establishing social validation for a brand
21:51 Telling your brand story

Quotes:

(12:31-12:55) “It goes to show the grocery potential of different ethnicities in the U.S. So, specifically here, we’re talking about the Asian and Hispanic population in the U.S., which by and large I would say, depending on where you live, can be relatively underserved. And these are populations that have the wallet share that can actually make the purchases, they just don’t have something nearby.”

(18:29-18:55) “There’s this conception that it’s ‘too good to be true’ type feeling. And so, we realized this was an issue. And at the same time, we actually found out that the most common search phrase for Weee! was, ‘Is Weee! legit?’ And then we were like, ‘Okay, this is a completely different challenge we have to tackle because it’s no longer about reaching the audience--we’re reaching them--but people are skeptical about whether this service is real.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Building Resilience for Women in Mobile Gaming - Jayne Peressini (Electronic Arts)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 15:19:00 +0000

Jayne Pimentel is the Senior Director of Marketing and Growth at Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts develops and delivers games, content, and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices, and personal computers. EA has more than 300 million registered players around the world.

Questions Jayne Answered in this Episode:

How did you get started in gaming?
Your dad was a big influence on your affinity for gaming and the decisions you’ve made in your career. Can you talk a little bit about that?
How did you grow from your experience getting laid off?
Did you have any mentors who helped you along the way in your career?
Is there a common theme in the advice women come to you for?
What is the worst piece of advice that you’ve ever received? The best advice?
How do you help develop a culture that embraces failure and learning for your team?
How do you manage your work-life balance?

Timestamp:

1:43 Jayne’s history and love of video games
5:40 Dad’s influence on Jayne’s career in gaming
8:08 The light from dark times in following her passions
14:22 Jayne’s mentors along the way
16:18 Words of wisdom for women in mobile gaming
20:05 Worst and best advice Jayne ever received
27:07 Developing a culture of embracing failure and learning
30:30 Work-life balance
33:05 Jayne’s advice to women starting their careers

Quotes:

(10:25-10:42) “I fell into my own in terms of mobile games. I went to Machine Zone and I fell back in love with mobile games. I fell back in love with the work as well. Performance marketing, all that comes with, really, is my passion and my skillset. So it’s nice I can combine those things.”

(12:13-12:42) “I want power. That’s a big thing for me, the ability to influence and the ability to support women in our industry. And so, that is what my passion has morphed into. It’s not just mobile games as a category but the people within mobile games, and specifically the women because I’ve seen the shit that we have to deal with and I’ve been part of that. I show up every day as if it was the person I wish I had when I started my career.”

(17:47-18:21) “For women, I feel like we hold ourselves to such a high standard in terms of we let bad days define us and we let bad moments define us. Even feedback. I ask for feedback all the time and I take everyone’s feedback as truth to me as a person and I never question feedback. I’m always like, ‘yep, that’s right, I was an asshole. Yep, I should do that.’ And in fact, you don’t have to. You don’t have to agree with all of the feedback. You can listen to it, but you don’t have to wear it.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Overcoming “Impostor Syndrome” as a Woman in Tech - Michelle Lerner (Branch)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 13:53:20 +0000

Michelle Lerner is the Director of Business Development at Branch. Branch provides cross-platform linking and attribution solutions to the world's leading digital brands.

Questions Michelle Answered in this Episode:

How has the role of men and women in the mobile tech space evolved since you started your career?
Do you feel more confident and comfortable vocalizing yourself now because you’re in a more senior position or because of the work environment?
Did you have a mentor that helped you to feel this way or was it something else?
As a manager, how do you empower your direct reports?
What do you think we can be doing more in the workplace to empower women?
What in your personal life has helped you build your confidence at work?
How do you set boundaries at work, in your personal life, with men?
What advice would you give to women when it comes to defining career goals?

Timestamp:

1:19 Michelle’s background
3:53 Being discouraged to speak up earlier in her career
6:08 Dispelling impostor syndrome
7:30 Having mentors, being a mentor
13:56 Perfectionism & failure
19:34 How running helped her build confidence
22:18 Setting expectations
25:40 Career advice for women in mobile

Quotes:

(4:55-5:09) “I think as a woman, we’re always told to be put in this little box of like, ‘Okay, well, behave.’ But, I don’t think the opposite of that being having a voice and making sure you’re heard is misbehaving.”

(16:38-16:58) “I think as managers and as leaders, we’re always being like, ‘Hey, why don’t we try it like this?’ instead of being like, ‘What do you think we should do?’ And I think continuing to ask questions will also really help people get their footing and have a voice because then the more questions you ask, the more they’ll feel like they’re able to come forward and bring their opinion and thoughts to the table.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Company Culture that Works for Women in Mobile Marketing - Fanny Jacoby (Trivago)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 14:44:30 +0000

Fanny Jacoby is the Head of Projects for app marketing at trivago, a leading hotel price comparison website.

Questions Fanny Answered in this Episode:

How did you get started with mobile marketing?
What is it like working at Trivago? What does Trivago do to empower and support women at the workplace?
Can you speak a little bit more about Trivago’s mentorship program?
What do you think we can be doing to improve women’s role in the workplace?
What do you think is the biggest challenge for women in marketing?
What are the ways you’ve been able to build up your confidence?
What advice would you give to women who are defining their career goals?

Timestamp:

1:27 Fanny’s background
6:47 How Trivago created an inclusive workplace environment
12:02 Trivago’s mentorship program
15:08 Inviting men to understand women’s perspective
21:11 What’s holding women back
24:45 On building confidence
32:50 Surround yourself with inspiring people

Quotes:

(3:06-3:41) “The content was pretty exciting but the atmosphere at the time was really toxic. And I’m really sad to say it because I’m all for this woman empowerment, we’re great, we’re badass and everything, but I did feel a lot of competition there at the time and sometimes I feel like women can sometimes be mean to each other and tear themselves down. And a lack of diversity also led to this toxic, competitive, mean, gossipy environment I would say.”

(21:11-21:23) “I think one of the biggest problems [for women in marketing], I think I mentioned it before, is this imposter problem. To not always trust yourself and capabilities, and lacking self-confidence in general.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Fight for Women’s Voice in the Gaming Industry – Jen Donahoe (Riot Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 14:45:26 +0000

Our first guest is Jen Donahoe, the Marketing and Growth Lead for Teamfight Tactics at Riot Games. Jen has also held marketing roles at Disney, Hasbro, EA Sports, and Mattel. She shares her thoughts on connecting with male peers, the need for women to support other women, calling out unconscious bias, work-life balance, and more.

Questions Jen Answered in this Episode:

How did you get started in marketing, specifically in gaming? And how have you been able to grow at some of the most influential companies in our industry?
How have you seen the role of women changing in the gaming industry?
What could we be doing more of to allow more opportunities for women in the workplace?
What’s your perspective on the diversity and inclusion issues that were brought to light at Riot Games?
How do you navigate your work-life balance?

Timestamp:

1:50 How Jen got into a marketing career in gaming
8:30 Authentic connection in a male-dominated industry
12:35 Women supporters, not saboteurs
15:40 Calling out unconscious bias in work meetings
18:24 Getting peer feedback on your approach
20:55 Paying it forward and asking for help
26:34 How Riot Games has taken accountability for sexism criticism
35:40 Going beyond the superficial in coworker relationships
40:35 Managing work-life balance and your career
44:36 Jen’s 4 “Ps”

Quotes:

(8:59-9:28) “I think because I had such a connection to sports and to these hobbies that many men actually enjoyed, I was really able to connect with them. And so, I call it ‘authentic connections.’ You have to realize that whether we’re women, we’re human beings and we have to find ways of connecting with other human beings, and I was just really good at figuring out that hey, the authentic way I can connect with these mentors or these people that I need to know was to find a thing that connected us.”

(15:53-16:18) “For us, in today’s day and age, nothing is really that overt anymore. I think that it’s more of the unconscious bias that sometimes happens from our male peers. And one of the things is when you have an idea and you say something in the meeting, it gets glossed over and then a few minutes later a man will repeat the same question and everyone’s like ‘Oh my god, it’s an amazing idea.’”

(29:05-29:12) “Without a diverse workforce, without different perspectives, you’re not going to succeed in today’s innovative and changing environment.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Data Science: Measuring Campaign Uplift Without Device IDs - Yue Meng (Delivery Hero)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Thu, 4 Mar 2021 16:09:55 +0000

Yue Meng is the Senior Data Scientist at Delivery Hero, an on-demand delivery platform. Previously she was a marketing consultant for Ninah Consulting. She has a master’s degree in statistics. She is based in Berlin, Germany.

Questions Yue Answered in this Episode:

What methodologies do you use to evaluate your various campaigns?
What are your plans for A/B testing once device IDs are no longer available with the data privacy changes to iOS14?
Can you give us an example of how you would analyze an offline campaign?
How do you know if your baseline model is accurate enough?
How would you improve your model if it wasn’t accurate enough?
Can you use the control group only to focus testing?

Timestamp:

1:02 Yue’s background
4:45 Why Delivery Hero trusts A/B tests
7:54 Plans for marketing campaign testing without device IDs
11:29 KPIs for evaluating offline campaigns
15:10 Measuring uplift from offline campaigns with time series
21:39 Calculating accuracy with baseline models
24:30 Using geo as a proxy for user-level data
31:34 Looking ahead at testing solutions

Quotes:

(9:21-9:43) “This offline scenario is very similar to an online scenario without the device ID, I would say. So probably some models that we’re using for the offline campaigns estimation can be used on the online campaigns also. That’s what we are currently trying to do.”

(17:07-17:20) “By using the time series analysis, the simplest model you can use, you’re not adding any other factors or any other features. You only focus on the time series by itself.”

(24:30-24:41) “Now the control group on a user level is impossible. What we can try to do as a proxy is to use instead of user-level to use geo-level, for example, the city level.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

A New Map for Marketers Based on the Customer Journey - Christian Eckhardt (Customlytics)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 22:01:23 +0000

Christian Eckhardt is the CEO and co-founder of Customlytics, a Berlin-based app marketing agency. They specialize in consulting and supporting mobile strategy, analytics, and ASO integration.

Questions Christian Answered in this Episode:

What was a component of the mobile marketing landscape that you had to learn the most about or that you found the most challenging when growing Customlytics?
What is the Marketing Master Map?
What are the goals of the Marketing Master Map?
What do you think of the customer journey? How do you break it down?
What surprises came up as you were creating this map?
What was the process of putting this together?

Timestamp:

6:14 Why paid campaigns are the trickiest component of mobile marketing
8:28 What is the Marketing Master Map
14:32 Benefits of the new digital marketing framework
17:18 Breaking down the 11 steps of the customer journey
24:07 What Christian’s learn about mobile marketing in the creation of the map
30:28 The making of the Marketing Master Map
33:28 How to access the map, free prints of the map, and tutorial videos!

Quotes:

(15:53-16:02) “I think the second big benefit of the Marketing Master Map is to point you towards things that you might have been missing out on in terms of which channels to you, in terms of the different technologies to use.”

(28:42-29:12) “For me, this is really just the beginning. I know and I can guarantee you that, for example, the advertising strategy chapter is a very incomplete one because all of the things that are in there--there are the most important things, but a lot of them are exemplary. And there are many, many more sub-advertising strategies that you can adapt to. And this holds true for a lot of chapters in the map. The only thing is if we were to put them the whole thing would be even bigger than it is now.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Calculating the Uplift of Marketing Moonshots - Cody Ryan (Ibotta)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 3 Feb 2021 20:33:06 +0000

Cody Ryan is the Vice President of Growth Marketing at Ibotta, an app that gives users cashback on things they’ve already purchased.

Questions Cody Answered in this Episode:

How valuable is the MBA? Do you find that you’re leveraging in your job responsibilities?
How difficult was it to educate the market on why people should use Ibotta?
As a performance marketer, are you tracking the effects of sponsoring the New Orlean Pelicans?
What does one point of brand awareness mean? How does that manifest on your end?
What systems do you have in place for measurement, or to determine if something is a viable channel for you?
At Ibotta, have you invested more heavily into things like data science and marketing analytics to help power what you’re doing?
What’s something that’s within the 10% that worked much better than you thought it would?

Timestamp:

4:19 Cody’s professional background
10:15 What is Ibotta? Getting brands on board with the product
15:07 Tracking uplift of being an NBA Sponsor of the New Orlean Pelicans
17:38 The 70/20/10 philosophy
20:30 Measuring uplift, calculating testing risks
27:56 Where we’re investing to grow our business
31:47 Surprising growth marketing results with TV

Quotes:

(17:54-18:02) “What we’ve done as an approach as a team is we carve off a certain percentage of our budget to just try things that could be moonshots.”

(20:37-20:58) “We try to do across the business is have our teams understand one percentage point increase in activation rate is worth X million dollars in gross profit or adjusted revenue or whatever your topline metrics are; because it helps ground people in small incremental improvements make big impacts on the business.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Execute a Virtual App Growth Event - Louis Tanguay (AGS)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 17:21:25 +0000

Louis Tanguay is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of App Growth Summit, an invite-only, limited-vendor mobile app conference series and content publisher for app growth professionals.

Questions Louis Answered in this Episode:

App Growth Summit is moving to Austin. Why Austin?
How do you determine where to draw the line with attendees?
What are mobile marketers talking about too much?
Do you deny content? If so, how?
How do you manage content to your standards while appeasing your sponsors?
How have you navigated virtual event fatigue?
What do you think most people overlook in creating events that are challenging for you?

Timestamp:

4:50 Louis’s background and the birth of App Growth Summit
10:45 Deciding on the max number of attendees for an event
14:31 What Louis hears too much of in mobile marketing
16:51 Curating content for App Growth Summit
22:48 Reducing virtual event fatigue
30:48 Overlooked challenges in putting on events

Quotes:

(16:55-17:06) “What I’ll do is talk to each individual speaker, find out what they can and want to speak on; and then we’ll do a little pseudo data science and mix together the people that would make a great conversation.”

(30:56-31:05) “For virtual events, we’re testing the heck out of the platform because my biggest nightmare is that people sign on and it doesn’t work.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Automation and the Future of Performance Marketers - Simon Kreienbaum (kitchn.io)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 20:04:06 +0000

Simon Kreienbaum is the co-founder of kitchn.io, a drag-and-drop visual platform that allows marketers to build their own customized automation tools to replicate their workflows without having to learn code. Previously, Simon was the head of performance marketing at Asana Rebel and rekindled his childhood love for coding as a senior online marketing manager at Junique. Simon is based in the Berlin area.

Questions Simon Answered in this Episode:

How has Berlin’s startup tech seen changed the last 7 years you’ve been there?
Once you joined Asana Rebel, were you able to continue building out automated practices and saving yourself time?
Tell us what kitchn.io does and why people use it?
What are the prevailing use cases for automation that you see from your clients?
Do you think the role of the marketer is changing dramatically, and if so where do you think it’s going?

Timestamp:

2:22 Rocket Internet--Berlin’s startup scene in 2014
5:29 Simon’s background & 3 reasons coders make good marketers
9:08 Quick history of automation in marketing evolution since 2015
11:00 What is kitchn.io?
14:48 Entry use cases for marketing automation: quality assurance and creative testing
20:44 Commitment is key for automation tools and processes
21:53 The future performance marketer

Quotes:

(12:27-12:44) “So we think our name kitchn, or kitchn.io, comes from the fact that we believe in recipes. So, reusing templates, having best practices, and developing systems or processes that you do manually, and then build automated workflows around it.”

(18:13-18:31) “In the age of algorithmic bid optimization on the platforms, without a human doing anything, Facebook is already optimizing my campaigns. The biggest lever that you have is creative. And so that means, if you want to do this professionally, you better develop a system that helps you test as many creatives as possible and at the same time improves your hit rate.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Engaging Consumers with New Creatives in 2021 (M&C Saatchi Performance)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Megan Price is a media buying executive for M&C Saatchi Performance. She is based in the U.K. and graduated from the University of Glasgow with an M.A. in Economics.

Questions Megan Answered in this Episode:

What was your greatest challenge coming into performance marketing?
Have you found that when you think about different verticals your strategies change in regards to creatives, or do you think there are fundamental learnings that apply across the board?
Did your team really dig into having a diversity of creatives because of 2020?
Is there anything more you can do to create active engagement with creatives beyond playables and shopables?

Timestamp:

2:30 Megan’s background
6:17 Entering into performance marketing
7:57 The media buying team at M&C Saatchi Performance
11:09 Distinctive and engaging creative
12:38 Avoiding creative fatigue
15:58 The future of creative strategy
18:58 End-of-year wrap-ups for brands

Quotes:

(5:37-5:55) “[Performance media] isn’t a one-size-fits-all case. And that’s where you have networks, these media owners having fantastic ways of targeting people in a specialist manner. So, that’s actually where it ties in really nicely with understanding that everyone is different and that if you target people in the way that’s best for them you are going to get the best results.”

(13:58-14:09) “[Gen Z/Millennials] grew up with phones, with technology, with all the platforms that we’re using to advertise to them so they can spot an advert and they want something out of it, so something like a value exchange.”

9Mentioned in this Episode:

Achieving Rapid Growth in Fintech By Building Trust (Valiu)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 5 Jan 2021 16:30:00 +0000

Christian Knudsen is the CMO at Valiu, the safest way to send money electronically from Colombia to Venezuela, and soon expanding to other countries in Latin America.

Questions Christian Answered in this Episode:

Is it challenging to educate your users on the cryptocurrency technology that you use?
Are you seeing a growth in fintech startups in Latin America or, more specifically, in Colombia?
How did Valiu get started?
What’re some lessons you’ve learned from your experience driving acquisition in Colombia that would apply to driving acquisition next in Venezuela?
Was Facebook an adequate platform for you to articulate that message of trust in your product? Did you find that their display ads did a good job depicting your value proposition?
Did you make any mistakes that will serve you as you move into Venezuela?
Looking forward to 2021, is there anything that you’re really excited about in terms of expansion or marketing channels?

Timestamp:

4:16 Christian’s background
8:20 About Valiu
10:13 Using cryptocurrency
11:43 Why fintech is exploding in Colombia
15:50 Driving acquisition in a culture new to Christian
23:13 A/B testing value propositions on Facebook
25:42 Learning lessons for 2021

Quotes:

(12:15-12:20) “A great percentage [of Colombians] don’t have accounts because the bank doesn’t let them or doesn’t offer that service.”

(20:02-20:22) “There comes the first barrier to getting into a market, and it’s trust. That was the main issue that I had as I was generating traction. Why would our users trust an app when they’ve been robbed before? Why would they stop using their confidant black market seller and change it for Valiu?”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Implement Rapid Experimentation - Matt Pate (Finimize)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:57:13 +0000

Matt Pate is the Growth Lead at Finimize, giving you a team of finance and investment analysts in your pocket. Previously, Matt started up a VR/AR development studio in London.

Questions Matt Answered in this Episode:

What does the Finimize product do?
What is your theory around testing and what systems do you have in place to do it effectively?
How many iterations of creatives does it take to arrive to a big winner?
How do you find your audience on TikTok as a fintech app?
What are you looking forward to in 2021 in regards to performance marketing or the fintech space?

Timestamp:

5:20 Matt’s background
11:05 What is Finimize?
14:21 Matt’s views on testing
16:21 Building a system for rapid experimentation at scale
22:32 Fintech & TikTok
26:25 What to look for in 2021

Quotes:

(15:45-16:04) “Where we saw our massive improvement was when were testing maybe four or five creatives a week and then we doubled, tripled, quadrupled that and got into the 15 to 20 range - and I can’t say we always test that much because it’s dependent on a lot of variables, but when we got to that, we saw significant decrease in our cost per acquisition, like 50%.”

(20:59-21:26) “Your biggest asset as any startup, as any founder, as anybody in growth marketing, product, sales, whoever you are as a person, is creativity. And, it’s the ability to empathize and to understand somebody else and put the message in front of them. You are never going to do your job as well as my API or a computer, you know? So it’s get rid of those repeatable tasks and have as much time as you possibly can to spend on vision, creativity, and then you’ve got the utmost chance of hitting success. ”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Engage Gen Z Mobile Users - Ngozi Ogbonna (Overtime)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 8 Dec 2020 18:25:16 +0000

Ngozi Ogbonna is the Head of Growth at Overtime, a social-first sports media company serving Gen Z and other millennials. The OT app that Ngozi oversees growth for focuses on giving users scores and stories really quickly.

Questions Ngozi Answered in this Episode:

What are you focused on in your role as head of growth?
What are some of the tactics you put in place to keep your Gen Z users engaged?
Does email marketing or other traditional forms of marketing work with your users?
How has Overtime evolved with its various business lines?
Was there something you learned from your experience at TodayTix that’s transferred to your role today?

Timestamp:

2:58 Ngozi’s background
7:34 An into to Overtime and the OT app
10:13 How Ngozi sees “growth”
12:15 Keeping Gen Z hooked
15:52 The sweat equity of content
17:02 Lessons from TodayTix

Quotes:

(10:141-0:26) “It’s so funny because, traditionally, when people think about growth it’s product-led. And then, on the other side of it, growth is the performance-acquisition side. I think growth it’s the full funnel.”

(16:05-16:19) “If you can find the right formula, I definitely think that you can then utilize content from a marketing perspective to acquire users, to engage users, to ultimately retain users. So, using content to really activate a full customer funnel.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Power of Programmatic for Mobile Gaming Apps - Pau Quevedo (Goodgame Studios)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 1 Dec 2020 20:16:50 +0000

Pau Quevedo is the DSP Lead for Goodgame Studios. He’s based in Hamburg, Germany, the epicenter of gaming companies in Germany.

Questions Pau Answered in this Episode:

What made you want to join a game development studio in the first place?
What made your company decide you needed someone dedicated to programmatic?
How has programmatic DSP changed in the past three years?
What is your outlook of the future of programmatic buying?
What’s the difference between waterfall and header bidding?
When you say contextual targeting, can you give us some examples of some levers that you think will be important for us to pull in our optimizations of programmatic media in the future?

Timestamp:

3:34 Pau’s background
6:24 About Goodgame Studios
9:30 Why you need different skills for programmatic
11:03 Why Goodgame pivoted to programmatic
13:42 The strongest DSP model
19:07 Waterfall vs header bidding
22:00 Optimizing programmatic going forward

Quotes:

(9:41-9:48) “We believe that programmatic is a bit more of a specific channel that requires perhaps a little different kind of skills in order to make it happen.”

(10:49-10:59) “Programmatic DSP is not a big channel for games. If you look at the companies, not many companies outside retargeting are using DSP at a large scale to acquire new users. And, there’s a reason for that.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

[Rebroadcast] Using Incrementality to Drive User Growth

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 23:32:06 +0000

Questions Vincenzo Answered In This Episode:

“Is there a particular area where your team has really focused or has there been any particular experiment that you think will help you guys out-market your competitors?”
“As far as incrementality goes within programmatic in-app advertising, are you applying incrementality measurement to both acquisition campaigns and retargeting campaigns?”
“Do you use a certain methodology to achieve incrementality measurement within UI or maybe using the PSA methodology? Could you shed some light on that? ”
“Is it your team that manages user acquisition that’s doing a lot of data analysis? How do you go about organizing and compiling such large amounts of data?”
“What is your relationship between your third party attribution providers and what you are doing from an incrementality perspective?''
“How often are you testing your creativity? Is this a big part of your business and your iterative process?”
“Do you think other mobile marketers are heavily relying on incrementality as a KPI? Do you see that they are using it to the same extent as your team at DeliveryHero?”

Timestamp:

01:04 Vincenzo’s background
03:11 Vincenzo’s career journey with DeliveryHero
04:01 The one topic that Vincenzo and his team really focused on
05:06 Vincenzo on incrementality measurement and its application to both acquisition campaigns and retargeting campaigns
06:34 How to reconcile different methodologies across different vendors
08:45 What methodology to use for incrementality measurement within UI
09:00 The GeoSplit test
10:22 Vincenzo on running GeoSplit and PSA simultaneously
11:20 Vincenzo on working closely with the customer insight team to organize and compile the large amount of data that they use in their app
12:34 Efficiency and decision making in which boundaries to work with, and which not to work with
14:14 Determining the short-term and long-term effects of campaigns
15:14 Conceptualizing incrementality
17:01 To effectively measure incrementality, you cannot rely on the third party attributors
19:43 Using incrementality test as a first step in identifying whether or not to pursue with a particular vendor
20:04 Testing creative
25:38 Vincenzo’s perspective on incrementality as a metric or a measurement that most mobile marketers are relying on
27:01 Future of Mobile Marketing and incrementality

-----------------------------------------

“Coordination is essential. If you start to do something without this being in place you can’t really action data in the end. You may have some findings, but those are not really actionable in the end. ”

Vincenzo Serricchio

Mentioned:

The Power of TikTok for Mobile App Acquisition - Katie Perry (Public.com)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 16:57:06 +0000

Katie Perry is the Vice President of Marketing at Public.com. Public is an app for investing in stocks with a social twist. It’s on a mission to make the stock market more inclusive, educational, and fun.

Questions Katie Answered in this Episode:

What was the hardest thing for you to pick up or wrap your head around when you came to marketing? And what was the most valuable thing you took out of some of your earlier experiences as related to marketing?
What sets Public apart from other investing platforms out there?
By making the stock market more accessible, does Public.com see itself as responsible for the risks associated with novices investing; and if so, how do you go about educating your users?
Where do you spend the most time of your day as VP of marketing?
Do social platforms play a crucial role in your acquisition of new customers? And are there specific social platforms that you rely on more than others?
How do you find creators that are appropriate for your brand?

Timestamps:

2:43 Katie’s background
6:38 From a journalism education to a marketing career
10:55 What sets Public apart from other investing platforms
17:30 Building safety labels to protect new investors
21:51 Ancillary apps and platforms built to drive growth, build the brand
25:00 TikTok and vetting influencers for acquisition

Quotes:

(5:28-5:41) “The mission really resonated for me for what we’re doing, which is making the stock market inclusive, educational, and fun; removing that inherent culture of it being closed off and competitive and really homogenous; and broadening the text.”

(30:13-30:17) “One principle we have at the company is that we really believe that who we acquire is who we become.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

One-to-One Lifecycle Marketing Tips for Mobile - Jessy Hanley (Intuit)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 16:57:48 +0000

Jessy Hanley is the Director of Ecosystem and Lifecycle Marketing at Intuit. Intuit develops and sells financial, accounting, and tax preparation software and related services for small businesses, accountants, and individuals. Previously, Jessy also worked in marketing at Wag Labs, Uber, Ginger, and GSN Games.

Questions Jessy Answered in this Episode:

How do you bring your startup mentality to larger companies, like Intuit?
As a lifecycle marketer, how do you set yourself up for success in order to reach your end goal of one-to-one customization?
How do you break down the manners in which you decide to communicate with consumers?
How have you incorporated machine learning into your work at Intuit?
When you first started in the lifecycle and retention sphere, did you feel like you had a seat at the table? How has your role changed over time?

Timestamp:

4:30 Jessy’s start in mobile marketing
10:39 One-to-one customization with lifecycle marketing
13:11 The “Happy Path”
15:48 Start with what you want to communicate
19:40 Models & rules with machine learning

Quotes:

(11:03-11:16) “You have to start with one-size-fits-most, one-size-fits-some, one-size-fits-you, and taking that mentality. Because at the end of the day, it’s really important when you’re thinking about lifecycle to make sure you don’t have holes in your lifecycle.”

(16:32-16:47) “So some customers really respond to push, others really respond to email, others will ignore everything you send unless they see it in the product. It doesn’t change the fact that they still need to be communicated with. So what I like to do is, that instead of starting with the channel, start with what it is that you want to communicate.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Marketing with QSR Giant - Kevin Nemeth (Popeyes)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 3 Nov 2020 15:34:00 +0000

Kevin Nemeth is the Head of Digital Marketing for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Previously, he’s worked within digital marketing at TD Bank, L’Oreal, MSLGROUP, HSN, AOL, and others.

Questions Kevin Answered in this Episode:

Do your digital marketing strategies or principles change as you shift from one vertical to another?
What are a few ways that your team develops personalization for your customers?
What’s behind the success of your app?
What’s a mistake you’ve made and what did you learn?
How will IDFA impact the way you look at data? How will you win customer permission?

Timestamp:

4:44 Acting like a startup
8:18 Why marketing transcends verticals
12:21 Personalizing the digital drive-through experience and QSR of the future
15:45 Behind the success of the Popeyes app
21:30 Hiccups along the way
28:25 Adapting to IDFA and the value of value propositions
32:00 Popeyes is hiring marketers and more

Quotes:

(9:08-9:16) “But at the end of the day, you think about the core mediums and what it really comes down to is the customer. Take everything else away from it, and at the central part of it all is the customer.”

(11:20-11:21) “Customer data is a currency.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

5 Tips for Retargeting Mobile Game Users - Ian Masterson (Tilting Point)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:05:54 +0000

Ian Masterson is the Associate Growth Marketing Manager at Tilting Point, a mobile game publishing company.

Questions Ian Answered in this Episode:

What are some of the big changes for Tilting Point this year?
When did you team start delving into retargeting?
What are some tips you’ve learned on your journey into retargeting?
Do you focus on lapsed paying audiences in retargeting or something else?
What’s your process for figuring out the messaging to the users you’re retargeting?

Timestamp:

5:05 Tilting Point’s rebrand & acquired FTX Games
7:38 A hurdle to retargeting for mobile game developers
9:36 Understanding the user journey in retargeting
11:20 Retargeting users in the first few days after install
15:29 The name of your game--Apple vs Android app stores
16:50 When to pause when retargeting static lists
20:10 Developing the right retargeting message

Quotes:

(11:06-11:13) “[Lapsed buyers] have been a major focus of ours. I think it is the jumping off point. These are your most valuable users. These are the ones you want to get back.”

(22:45-22:54) “I just went on [Reddit] recently and you get an idea of where people are getting tripped up early on in the game, where there’s bugs, what they’re looking for. So it’s really insightful.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

APAC’s Mobile Marketing Melting Pot - Kabeer Chaudhary (M&C Saatchi Performance)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 16:08:28 +0000

Kabeer Chaudhary is the APAC managing partner at M&C Saatchi Performance. M&C Saatchi Performance is a global digital media agency that connects brands to people, across all channels. He is based in Singapore.

Questions Kabeer Answered in this Episode:

How valuable was getting an MBA in pursuing your career?
Why has M&C Saatchi Performance set up its headquarters in Singapore?
What other countries do you work in?
What are some of the biggest differences in how you do business, marketing, etc., between these countries, say India and Singapore?
How has mobile been developing from country to country in APAC?
If you had to choose one thing that the performance marketing industry in your region could do better, quickly, what would it be?

Timestamp:

6:00 M&C Saatchi Performance’s strategic expansion in SE Asia
11:23 Cultural differences in doing business: India vs Singapore
13:28 Overview of app development and mobile trends across APAC
16:50 One thing the performance marketing industry should improve

Quotes:

(11:45-12:10) “That’s the great thing about APAC — because if you work in APAC, you can work across India, you work across Southeast Asia where there are more countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines, where people speak indigenous languages and have indigenous cultures; and you’ll be working with people from those markets and collaborating with them. So, it’s quite a melting pot. ”

(14:00-14:20) “Most people [in APAC] who have actually had access to the internet had access to the internet through their phones. They’ve never actually had a desktop or a laptop. So, they have completely skipped the online revolution when the desktops came in or the laptops came in.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Drive App Growth by Building Community - Shana Sumers (HER)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 6 Oct 2020 15:38:44 +0000

Shana Sumers, who is the Head of Community at HER, the largest community and dating app for LGBTQ+ womxn and queer people. She’s also the co-host of the Bad Queers Podcast.

Questions Shana Answered in this Episode:

Talk to me about why the community aspect of your app is so important and how it helps you develop your brand.
How do you build a community within an app? What are the functions of your role?
What growth have you seen over the last 5 years at HER? And how has HER contributed to that growth?
How did you pivot through coronavirus and keep your community engaged?

Timestamp:

3:50 The mission of HER and the Bad Queers Podcast
8:03 Why community is integral to HER and the limitations of spaces for LGBTQ+ people
11:36 Shana’s goal in her role as Head of Community
13:57 The influence of community on HER’s growth
18:12 Pivoting during coronavirus to virtual events, a lot of them
26:19 Storytelling and growth marketing
30:33 Being real about SEO

Quotes (140 characters):

(9:07-9:17) “There are only 16 bars in the U.S. that are catered towards queer womxn like period, and that’s if they survive COVID.”

(11:38-11:45) “The overall goal is that I’m trying to provide a space where people can build valuable relationships with others who have similar interests.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

All about Apple's IDFA changes & future role of MMPs - Susan Kuo (Singular)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 03:52:58 +0000

Today’s guest is Susan Kuo, the COO and Co-Founder of Singular, a key mobile measurement partner. Susan got her start in the industry at Electronic Arts, and from there continued to work in senior mobile marketing and analytics roles at companies throughout Silicon Valley until starting up Singular.

Questions Susan Answered in this Episode:

What changes is Apple making to IDFA with iOS14?
Why do you think Apple is doing this?
Apple delayed these changes. When do you think they’ll happen?
Do you think the industry will be ready by early spring 2021?
What are the attribution solutions that will be available? And the pros and cons?
How does Singular improve or mitigate the experience of working with an SKAdNetwork?

Timestamp:

4:19 Susan’s experience starting up Singular over the last 6 years
5:47 What sets Singular apart from other MMPs
8:51 What’s been happening since Apple announced what it’s changing with IDFA with iOS14
11:36 Primary reason for Apple’s IDFA changes
14:35 Pulse on how ready the industry is
17:15 IDFA-based attribution won’t be dead
22:21 Fingerprinting
24:50 SKAd Network: privacy-first attribution network
29:30 The MMPs’ role with SKAd Network

Quotes (129 characters):

(11:36-11:52) “There’s definitely a primary reason, which is very much focused around user privacy. It’s been such a real core focus, not only across Apple, but all the largest media partners are getting tackled with this question in the last couple years.”

(15:38-15:48) “Right now, in talking to the top 25 media partners, I get a good sense that most of them are going to be ready.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Opportunities of Shifting to In-App Advertising - Patrik Wilkens (Azerion)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:41:01 +0000

Patrik Wilkens is the Vice President of Mobile at Azerion. Azerion is a media and tech company based in Amsterdam that provides safe, reliable, and valuable content on a European scale with local presence.

Questions Patrik Answered in this Episode:

Can you tell us about the organization you work for and what specifically you focus on?
What are the challenges of in-app monetization of games?
Are the organizations that advertise in your games also game development studios?
Why do you think we don’t see more non-game products advertised in mobile games?

Timestamp:

6:39 About Azerion: producing games, powering with in-house advertisement
9:24 Patrik’s role and focus at Azerion
11:25 Pros and cons of in-app purchase for monetization
14:10 Who is a gamer?
16:58 Thinking about what games deliver
21:00 The cultural gap between advertising and gaming industries
28:50 Growth market opportunities for in-app advertising

Quotes (129 characters):

(14:10-14:19) “Who’s a gamer? Honestly, today I think everybody is a gamer. They may not call themselves gamers but they are playing games.”

(19:33-19:39) “Gaming is actually a great space, objectively, for brands to do their marketing, yet they don’t do that.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Marketing Traffic Beyond Facebook & Google - Misha Syrotiuk (Huuuge Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 8 Sep 2020 19:34:37 +0000

Want to learn more about the value and challenges of ad networks outside of Facebook and Google? Today on the Apptivate Podcast, @Misha Syrotiuk, Head of Ad Networks and Programmatic on the user acquisition side for @Huuuge Games, breaks down 6 traffic sources beyond the big two.

Questions Misha Syrotiuk Answered in this Episode:

What’s the mobile tech community like in Warsaw, Poland?
What makes Huuuge Games such a successful developer of social casino game titles?
Are your strategies for acquiring new users similar across titles?
How do you go about breaking down what marketing channels are worthy of investing?
Are incentivized media traffic and offer walls valuable to you, and are there any tricks to leveraging them effectively?
Which of these 6 pillars would you lean on first if Google and Facebook went away tomorrow?

Timestamp:

4:10 The growth of Huuuge Games
5:05 Staying competitive with social casino games
6:29 The Huuuge Games titles you should know
7:45 Strategies for acquiring users across titles and genres
12:33 The 6 pillars of ad networks, beginning with rewarded video
14:21 Leveraging offer walls
19:17 The true cost of advertising with DSPs
21:34 Pre-load traffic on Androids
26:22 Native content advertising
29:38 Direct traffic advertising
32:52 Prioritizing the pillars beyond Facebook and Google

Quotes (129 characters):

(5:05-5:15) “Casino space is very competitive and it’s very hard to get into for different reasons. One of the reasons is the very high cost of user acquisition and a very long payback period.” [178 characters]

(33:00-33:06) “I would go mostly with programmatic DSPs, just because the volume there is massive and they can have any reach.” [110 characters]

Mentioned in this Episode:

Understanding African Markets for Mobile Games - Cordel Robbin-Coker (Carry1st)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 15:19:10 +0000

Cordel Robbin-Coker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Carry1st, the leading mobile games and content apps publisher and developer for African consumers. Cordel is based in Capetown, South Africa.

Questions Cordel Answered in this Episode:

What are some of the differences between investing in businesses in the U.S. and investing in businesses in Africa or is it the same process across continents?
What early-stage tech business investments in Africa stick out to you as successes or failures?
How difficult is it for you to localize your products across different African countries? And what is your approach?
What is it like for consumers to download apps in any of the key African countries you’re focused on?
What does your ideal app partner look like?

Timestamp:

1:43 Cordel’s story from Sierra Leone to investment banking to Carry1st
5:27 Accelerating secular growth across Africa
6:46 How investment opportunities compare between the U.S. and Africa
10:57 What is Carry1st?
14:36 The strategy behind Carry1st Trivia
18:06 Tackling the diversity of African countries
22:48 User experience for African consumers when downloading apps
27:50 Two categories of partners that would be a good fit for us

Quotes:

(5:40-6:07) “[Africa] is the fastest-growing continent in almost any way you can imagine. People are starting to move into the middle class in a way you saw in Asia probably 20-30 years ago. And as that happens, there is an appetite for a really wide range of goods and services. Everything that you have and use day-to-day, people on the continent aspire to or/and are beginning to have. So, it creates a cool opportunity to build businesses and serve people.”

(20:27-20:38) “Kenya has the most advanced mobile money system in the world, called M-Pesa. And, there are statistics that say something like 50% of the GDP of the country flows through M-Pesa on an annual basis.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Building Trust with Mobile App Users During Coronavirus - Alexandra Kleemann (Shpock)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 18:16:13 +0000

Alexandra Kleemann is the Head of Marketing at Shpock, an online marketplace for second-hand goods. She is based in Vienna, Austria.

Questions Alexandra Answered in this Episode:

What was the single greatest challenge of learning performance marketing from the ground up?
What sets Shpock apart from other online marketplaces?
How do you keep the original sense of community now that you’re a nationwide app?
How did adding a delivery feature affect your position as Head of Marketing?
How did you adapt to the challenges that coronavirus presented to your app?
Where did you deliver your messages around coronavirus and changes to the app?
What was the tipping point in which Shpock decided it wasn’t safe for users to be using the app to meet up?
Would you have done anything differently?

Timestamp:

3:30 Alexandra’s start at Shpock
4:50 Single greatest challenge diving into mobile app performance marketing
6:55 What sets Shpock apart
8:27 Evolution of being a local marketplace to nationwide
12:45 The risks and opportunities that came with coronavirus
18:58 Communicating big changes with users
23:30 Uplift here to stay

Quotes:

(16:49-17:16) “It was really successful. We saw a very good uplift in numbers. We even saw a journalist reaching out to us why we did it because they had seen our messages and they had realized that this was a big risk for us. And it actually turned out really well because I think users understand that at this point we weren’t looking out for business, we were actually looking out to make sure it was a safe experience. And I think that was really well received.”

(17:39-17:52) “After all the theoretical discussions that we had around ‘we are becoming the U.K’s must trust marketplace, how do we convince our users of that?’--this was the perfect opportunity to prove it, I would say.”

(19:18-19:32) “We even implemented new touchpoints within the product because one of the learnings that we had was that, even if you use lots of touchpoints already, there’s still people who are going to miss out on the message because users don’t always read what you send them.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Leveraging Dynamic Product Ads to Grow Your App – Christian Eckhardt (Customlytics)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 17:19:43 +0000

Coming back to the Apptivate Podcast is Christian Eckhardt, the CEO and co-founder of Customlytics. Customlytics provides app marketing, analytics, and technology infrastructure consulting and hands-on help.

Questions Christian Answered in this Episode:

Any particular reason why you think Customlytics was able to be successful during the pandemic?
What’s been top of mind for you as a mobile marketer in this space since the last time we talked?
What’s the mobile marketer’s role to effectively leverage DPA to impact their growth initiatives?
Have you found that most of your app partners are technically set up to execute DPA?
When you think of groundbreaking creatives and ads, what does that process look like for you?
What are your thoughts on how Apple’s IDFA announcement will change mobile marketing?

Timestamp:

2:15 Resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic
5:43 Rise in the number of Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)
8:15 The mobile marketer’s new role in the era of automation
12:26 Barriers to building the technical infrastructure needed for DPAs
14:47 The value of DPA and the alternative
17:15 The gold rule to creative success
22:40 Thoughts on Apple’s IDFA announcement

Quotes:

(8:43-9:01) “I think that other stuff will essentially be two main categories of tasks that are left, if you want to put it like this, for the human being. Number one is something that is essentially the oxygen for the machine to then really run with the data, and that is the technical infrastructure.”

(18:00-18:26) “The golden rule is always that small iterations is what you want to do once you’ve found a new concept that works, then you want to iterate that to the point where they’re even better. Then at some point, you want to throw it away again to start with something new. But, it’s definitely not the road to creative success to never start over again and just make endless incremental changes on the tiny, tiny bits and pieces.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Adapting Mobile Marketing Strategies During Coronavirus - Michael Jessen (Socialpoint)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 17:23:36 +0000

Michael Jessen is the Senior User Acquisition Specialist at Socialpoint, a world-renowned mobile gaming developer and publisher. Michael is currently based in Barcelona, Spain.

Questions Michael Answered in this Episode:

What would you attribute the success of Socialpoint to?
What was your approach to acquisition during coronavirus? How were you able to continue with success despite everything happening in the world?
Did particular sources in your UA programs provide more incremental scale than others during this time?
What are some of the things you look for when you’re exploring programmatic traffic as a source?
How did you change your creative strategy during coronavirus?
When selecting the content for your playables, are you generally using content that’s earlier stage funnel in the game or later stage funnel?

Timestamp:

5:56 Socialpoint’s success
8:43 Uplift during coronavirus
14:40 Testing new playables during coronavirus
17:32 Choosing content for playables
23:19 Reasons for building playables in-house

Quotes:

(8:58-9:11) “Before the official lockdown in the U.S., we already had some uplift in terms of performance, working very closely with product, like more than ever before. But the thing was basically the whole performance kept on rising. So we’re like, ‘Okay, let’s ride this wave and keep on pushing.’”

(16:46-16:56) “If you create a concept video and a concept playable, and especially if it’s aligned with the landing page and the app store, the conversion is the best.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why Transparency Matters on an Impression Level - Daniel Lopez (Electronic Arts)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 18:36:53 +0000

Meet Daniel Lopez, Director of Mobile Growth at Electronic Arts (EA), the second-largest gaming company in the Americas and Europe by revenue. Daniel got his start in mobile marketing at Machine Zone and has since worked at DraftKings and GSN Games.

Questions Daniel Answered in this Episode:

During your time at Machine Zone, what do you think made you effective?
What are mobile marketers overlooking?
Oversaturation of consumers: Are you more concerned about it from a cost perspective or user experience?
Is there value in saturating a market to develop the brand and be top-of-mind to consumers?
Have we overvalued Facebook and Google as sources to drive growth?
Why do you think MMPs haven’t built a way for marketers to track impressions and clicks across multiple vendors?
What are you looking forward to or unsure of in regards to the future of mobile marketing?

Timestamp:

3:10 What made Machine Zone team very effective.
4:15 From customer support role to marketing.
10:18 What mobile marketers are overlooking.
12:09 Why managing towards a unique, incremental device universe matters.
16:02 When mass marketing and saturating the market is useful.
19:11 Open exchanges.
20:00 What is Facebook good for?
21:35 Incrementality measurement.
24:30 IDFA as an opportunity to develop more robust measurements.
27:05 EA Future and open Positions.

Quotes:

(10:18-11:07) “I honestly think there’s not enough attention being paid to drivers of unique traffic and managing towards a unique, incremental device universe as opposed to just managing sources, channels, AT apps, and things of that nature. Because the nature of our business is that we need to identify an audience and then we need to figure out how to get to that audience. And then once we actually figure that out, then we try to scale. And then once we start scaling, we start dealing with this thing called saturation. And we start dealing with losses of incrementality, losses of effectiveness, and whatnot. And I think there’s not enough being done within the industry to challenge the lack of transparency on, let’s just single out, impressions counts.”

(25:32-15:58) “The thing that I am most concerned about is--it also goes back to the death of the idea phase--is that that just pushes power more and more into the hands of the big companies, to where it’s going to be like, “Hey, they have all the data. Let’s allow them to do everything.” And then that just kills the spirit of the problem-solving attitude because then everyone can just blame the algo[rithm]. And that’s something that maddens me to no end.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Building Gaming Apps as a Service, Not a Product - Luis de la Cámara (Genera Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 18:19:36 +0000

Luis de la Cámara is the Chief Marketing Officer for Genera Games, a leading developer in mobile games for iOS and Android. Luis previously worked for other gaming companies, such as Outplay Entertainment, King, Gameloft, and 2K.

Questions Luis Answered in this Episode:

Are your soft launches strong determinants of how successful your games are going to be worldwide?
What do you focus on as CMO?
Can you tell us your thoughts on alignment between product and marketing teams?
What’s your opinion on broader marketing where KPIs can’t be as easily tracked?

Timestamp:

13:10 Genera Games’ focus & Tuscany Villa
15:24 Soft launches for testing retention
19:56 What Luis focuses on most as CMO
25:37 Value in the long-game of brand marketing
30:20 Working at Candy Crush: maintaining a service

Quotes:

(21:35-22:14) “That’s one of my focuses from the very beginning is to tear down those walls. Make sure that everyone’s fully aligned. That we all have the same overall objective. Now, we can then break those down into smaller pieces and then things that are more manageable for a specific team. That’s really important. And then also understand that coordination doesn’t only come from a senior level. I think that at every level in the company there needs to be that bridge between the different teams: product, marketing, analytics, finance, art, HR. I think everyone needs to be continuously always working together as much as possible. Everyone’s got their areas of influence but everyone needs to understand everyone else’s area as well.”

(30:58-31:01) “I think that’s the main mentality that people need to have, is that you’re not building a product, you’re building a service”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Growing Your Gaming App Userbase with In-App Surveys - Erik Hegely (Pixel Federation)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 17:34:59 +0000

Meet Erik Hegely, Head of Growth Marketing at Pixel Federation, a mobile gaming developer from Slovakia. Pixel Federation does simulation, puzzle, and RPG mobile app games.

Questions Erik Answered in this Episode:

How do you go about developing a creative strategy for each of these titles?
How do you understand what will motivate a user or what creative will resonate the most for a particular game?
What do you do with the information you get from the third-party userbase survey?
What makes optimizing the onboarding or game start challenging?
How long have you been doing the in-app survey technique and why did you start doing it?

Timestamp:

6:13 Developing a creative strategy for each game
9:37 Learning what motivates a user in a game
13:34 The catalyst for utilizing in-app surveys
15:10 The importance of consistency in user flow

Quotes:

(7:25-7:33) “We certainly took it to the next level after running a psychological survey with our user base and understanding really, truly what motivates them to play.”

(18:41-18:47) “It makes you work at your game as a service. You don’t just play the game for a while. You play the game for years.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why the Mobile App Industry is Hot on Creatives - Adam Lovallo (Grow.co, MAU, & Thesis)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 7 Jul 2020 15:32:50 +0000

Adam Lovallo is co-founder of Grow.co, the MAU Vegas Conference, and Thesis, a conversion rate optimization company. He got his start at growth marketing at Living Social.

Questions Adam Lovallo Answered in this Episode:

What was the greatest experience you took away in growth marketing and acquisition from Living Social?
How much are you curating the topics and speakers at MAU? And, how do you go about balancing the topics?
What do you think might change in the next few years as it relates to creatives?
Can you tell us about what you do at Thesis? What does conversion rate optimization look like as a business?
Do you see the subject of incrementality becoming a bigger focus for us?

Timestamp:

4:42 Understanding payback periods
10:48 On curating MAU’s topics
13:48 Why the mobile app industry is hot on creative
15:50 Performance creative agencies
19:24 What is Thesis
20:16 Conversion rate optimization as a business
21:52 Pulse on incrementality in the industry

Quotes:

(13:48) “You see more discussion around creative. That’s a big variable. It’s a big driver. Probably the most important point of leverage these days.”

(15:50-16:03) “I think the big trend has started to touch the mobile app ecosystem, but really hasn’t yet, but is full bore in the direct-to-consumer e-commerce ecosystem, is performance creative agencies.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Untapped Potential of In-App Messaging for Mobile Marketers - Andy Carvell (Phiture)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 14:47:27 +0000

Andy Carvell is the partner and co-founder of Phiture and editor of Mobile Growth Stack, Phiture’s blog. Phiture is a mobile growth consultancy based in Berlin, helping B2C app publishers tackle their key growth challenges. Previous to Phiture, Andy joined Sound Cloud as a mobile marketer, helping the company transition from being a web-first product to a mobile-first product.

Questions Andy Carvell Answered in this Episode:

Is there a specific component of mobile app growth that you feel Phiture nails?
What are app marketers overlooking the most when it comes to retention and re-engagement?
What is a framework for marketers to do in-app messaging better and measure the results?
How do you prevent overloading a user with in-app messaging?
Do you have baselines for incremental conversation rates?

Timestamp:

4:47 Phiture’s specialization
8:07 In-app messaging is overlooked
9:54 Measuring impact of in-app messaging
17:05 Untapped potential of in-app messaging for surveying users
20:58 How not to overdo it with in-app messaging
26:00 “Scale, iterate, or kill”

Quotes:

(12:56-13:14) “I think some product teams are a bit scared of tapping into the potential of in-app messaging because they are so kind of intrusive, basically. You need to deploy them with care and make sure you’re not overusing them because you’re overriding the user’s normal interaction with the app. Now, that can be very powerful as well. You can direct them to features they’ve never seen before.”

(26:01-26:18) “This is the decision which I’ve written about that I call ‘scale, iterate, or kill.’ It’s like this is the one decision in which a growth marketer and a growth marketing team need to make very regularly; and they’ll only get better at it by making that decision many times, sometimes getting it wrong.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mobile Marketing lessons from LATAM - Mariano Sáenz (Winclap)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 15:04:14 +0000

Mariano Sáenz is the co-founder and CEO of Winclap, a marketing platform providing media services and building mobile marketing tech solutions. Winclap helps its clients grow their businesses by running user acquisition, retargeting, and re-engagement campaigns across multiple channels, with a focus on visualization, AI engines, and capacity building.

Questions Mariano Sáenz Answered in this Episode:

Tell us the story of Winclap. What are your core competencies?
Is there anything you would have done differently when you started your company?
What are some of the advantages of being a business based in Argentina?
In your opinion, what are some of the strengths and challenges of Latin American mobile marketers?
What does the future hold for Winclap?

Timestamp:

6:57 What is Winclap?
8:57 Why Winclap added media services on top of building tech
12:26 What Mariano would have done differently starting his company
16:05 Argentina: Access to amazing, passionate talent & business opportunities
18:35 Strengths: Adaptability to crisis; sophisticated ability to localize
21:25 Weaknesses: Lack of access to international industry conversations in real-time
24:40 What’s on the horizon for Winclap

Quotes:

(12:59-13:17) “Focusing on what’s important is the main lesson we learned. Focusing on what our clients really, really, really need and having that obsession to solve real problems. I think we’re working nowadays with that way of thinking but it was not always this way in the past.”

(20:09-20:58) “Adapting to the information. Adapting in general. We are super dynamic. We are super used to crisis, like we have a crisis here every 5-10 years. So we are always adapting. Actually, for example, I always hear from U.S. advisors, not only U.S. but advisors in general, is ‘failing fast.’ Here in Argentina, we’re very used to failing. And actually, we never fail 100%; we’re always putting another effort to stay alive. I think that ability to always try to stay alive--it’s amazing. And that happens because, since we were born, we’re always living in economic crisis and fighting against the ecosystem, and I think that builds a really tough personality. We’re really able to survive for the long run.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Why Gaming Apps Should Be Talking Directly to Their Users - Amanda Lulewicz (Glu Mobile)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 20:28:02 +0000

Amanda Lulewicz is the director of product marketing for Crowdstar at Glu Mobile, a leader in 3D freemium mobile gaming. Amanda works with the game Covet Fashion. She came to mobile marketing from a background in fashion public relations.

Questions Amanda Lulewicz Answered in this Episode:

How do you interact with your consumer base to empower the decisions you make in your marketing initiatives?
How do you communicate with the users who are not a part of the ambassador program?
What’s been the empirical result on your growth and retention from proactively communicating with your users?
How do you leverage the feedback you get from your ambassador program in your marketing?
What’s your process for sharing feedback with the product team?
How do you focus your time?
What’s the main reason people churn from your app?

Timestamp:

5:40 Crowdstar’s history and relationship to Glu
9:15 The feature flop that got Glu talking directly to its consumers
12:45 Glu’s channels for communicating with users
14:56 Impact on retention
17:13 Getting called out on ads by game ambassadors
23:27 Releasing 6-7 new pieces of content every day
25:36 Celebrating Covet Fashion’s 7th anniversary

Quotes:

(7:00-7:20) “Women often don’t like to take time for themselves. They feel guilty if they’re just kind of off, maybe just playing a game, just doing something purely to relax and enjoy themselves. And they wanted something that actually tied back into their real life. They wanted to feel like they were learning something, like they were accomplishing something. So Covet Fashion was kind of born to meet that need.”

(13:03-13:20) “We realized we needed to be a lot more transparent with our community about the updates we were making, why we made the decisions we made; if something was going wrong in the game, explaining what was going on. And from there, we kind of lifted the veil of this cold, hard tech company and actually showed them who we were as people.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

How to Optimize Your Mobile Marketing Strategies with A/B Testing - Wout Laban (Leanplum)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 2 Jun 2020 21:39:59 +0000

Wout Laban is the senior manager of customer success for Leanplum. Leanplum helps mobile teams orchestrate multi-channel campaigns, from messaging to the in-app experience, all from a single mobile marketing platform.

Questions Wout Laban Answered in this Episode:

What are some of the most fundamental things a mobile marketer should know about A/B testing, and how do I apply that?
What is the difference between optimization and experimentation?
What changes in optimization are worthwhile?
How does an increase in advertising spend or world events affect A/B testing?
What does perfect A/B testing look like for a brand?
What’s a typical challenge you see brands face when starting out with A/B testing?

Timestamp:

8:22 The fundamentals of A/B testing
9:08 Experimentation vs optimization
10:00 Optimization that works across industries
12:20 Defining success metric criteria for testing
16:17 Setting up to excel at A/B testing
18:37 Onboarding and conversion

Quotes:

(8:22-8:42) “It starts and ends with having a very structured strategy or process towards testing. There are so many things that can influence a test that you really want to make sure that you’re setting up a controlled environment that allows you to look at the data correctly and make decisions based on that. Because that’s essentially what you’re doing, right? You’re running an ‘A’ versus a ‘B’ and at the end, you want to make a decision.”

(9:13-9:44) “So experimentation or an experiment is really something that’s totally new out-of-the-box that’s like, ‘Hey, what if we did this in a totally different way?’ And that can be part of the user journey and how you engage with the user. It can be in the user acquisition and how do we reel users in. Optimization is really where we bring out the small, little tweaks, like flipping out a word or flipping out a small part of the image or making the gradient tone a little bit stronger. Is this going to help us further optimize a strategy that’s already working? So, experimentation is finding a strategy, optimization is optimizing the strategy.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

The “Engagement Pyramid” that Keeps Customers Coming Back - Peggy Anne Salz (MobileGroove)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 26 May 2020 19:10:42 +0000

Peggy Anne Salz is the lead analyst and founder of MobileGroove, a resource for mobile marketing content, analysis, and research. She is also a senior contributor to Forbes Magazine, the chief content officer for the mobile marketing association in Germany, and a co-host of the Mobile Presence Podcast.

Questions Peggy Anne Salz Answered in this Episode:

How does a brand show that it cares today?
How has retention changed over the years?
Can you talk about the engagement pyramid framework and how marketers actualize it to improve retention?
Where can people learn more about engagement marketing and retention?

Timestamp:

7:51 How brands can show that they care in these times
9:53 How retention has changed in the mobile industry
13:46 The “engagement pyramid” framework in mobile marketing
17:34 Picking up the signals to actualize the framework
21:43 Evolving with our audiences today
23:54 Knowing when to let go
28:20 Where to learn more about retention and engagement marketing

Quotes:

(7:27-7:43) “Now we talk about brand love. We talk openly about these concepts. You have to show you care, particularly in these times. A brand that doesn’t show it cares right now is not going to be relevant when this all passes. People will remember who cared, who showed it, and how much.”

(12:49-13:`16) “We’ve evolved in marketing. And the next step, I think, is to master the mid-funnel and the deep-funnel. We’ve nailed top-of-funnel. That’s not a problem. That’s why marketers are amazingly data-driven and accomplished. But the next step will be figuring out that journey and, above all, making it specific to individuals--or individualization, not even personalization, but really getting deep into the metrics and really getting deep into the segmentation.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Major Transportation App Applies Incrementality to UA Campaigns - Antoine Lamy (Raive)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 19 May 2020 05:18:21 +0000

Antoine Lamy is the co-founder of Raive, an online donation platform working with influencers and artisans to help charities raise money. Prior to launching Raive, Antoine was a senior performance marketing manager for Uber. He’s also worked for BlaBlaCar and Addict Mobile.

Questions Antoine Answered in this Episode:

What is the mobile marketing community like in France?
How many channels were you managing in a given month at Uber?
How did you measure incrementality on a channel like Facebook?

Timestamp:

1:40 France’s mobile marketing scene
5:12 Testing 20+ channels at Uber
11:11 Moving from paid ads agencies to programmatic in-house
14:15 Measuring incrementality with Facebook
23:00 The creation of Raive

Quotes:

(20:17-20:33) “The first thing we did at Uber, we were the first to do it, was to look at incrementality for acquisition, specifically. That’s where it’s really difficult because how can you look at a control treatment method when you don’t know the users.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Marketing Mobile Social Casino Games - Andrey Kuznetsov (KamaGames)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 12 May 2020 13:12:58 +0000

Welcome Andrey Kuznetsov, the CEO of KamaGames, a social casino game app that claims to be number one in the world by revenue and downloads for roulette, blackjack, Omaha poker, and craps.

Questions Andrey Kuznetsov Answered in this Episode:

What kind of games do you develop and what releases should people know about?
What influenced KamaGames in 2012 to create games outside of social casino?
What are the benefits and challenges of using IP like Hard Rock?
As a CEO, what is your perspective of what effective marketing is for a social casino? What creates effective retargeting?
What kind of changes do you think we can expect to see in the social casino space in the next few years?

Timestamp:

6:22 Investing in Dublin as a headquarters
11:39 The games KamaGames develop
17:25 Lessons from growing a mobile gaming business
19:30 Benefits and challenges of working with IPs
24:48 Effective marketing for a social casino
27:40 Retargeting by the numbers
33:00 Changes to come for mobile games

Quotes:

Number one quality a CEO needs to have to run a social casino app?

(10:40-11:03) “I would say that you need to be able to work with all sorts of people, all types of people. And, you need to mediate them, balance them, look for proper people to join the team, sometimes make hard decisions when you need to split ways with somebody. So I would say number one thing would be working with people. That’s how I see it.”

What kind of changes do you think we can expect to see in the social casino space in the next few years?

(33:00-33:48) “I would say, number one thing, and it sounds like a cliche but that’s inevitable, we will see more consolidation in the space, and this is actually in both social casino and casual games. Then I would say to be successful, down the line there should be more than one game offered to a player to keep this player and to monetize the business efficiently. So I would say companies will expand their offering, one or another way by developing, partnering with somebody, but just introducing more new products within this genre.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Demystifying AI for Mobile Marketers - Jim Calhoun (Nectar9)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 5 May 2020 16:32:36 +0000

Jim Calhoun is the CEO of Nectar 9, a company developing, selling and licensing SaaS software that combines advanced machine intelligence, automation, and human creativity to drive meaningful marketing outcomes in today’s social media environment. Nectar9 makes AI accessible and easy for marketing companies to leverage.

Questions Jim Answered in this Episode:

How does someone leverage AI and how does it improve their marketing stack?
Why has AI been slow to adopt? What have you observed about AI’s adoption over the past 2-5 years?
How do you make AI technologies that make marketers feel comfortable with the lack of control they have?
How do marketers go about adopting this technology?
How are data points, like clicks, lacking for AI? Or, how will the progression of data help AI in the next few years?

Timestamp:

6:35 Who and how Nectar9 works with customers
9:15 The false fear of AI
11:24 Less availability of targeting info will make AI more attractive
13:29 The “Alexa” for marketers
15:52 The flow of the paradigm shift for adopting AI
16:50 Data outlook is choppy
23:00 Marketing departments will be configured differently for tomorrow

Quotes:

(9:37-10:04) “I think there’s some resistance, really natural resistance, for people feeling like, ‘Well this will just take over my job.’ And we get around that, because really what it takes over is kind of the fiddly bits and the math and that stuff that really humans aren’t super well suited towards. Whereas it frees people up, who are taking advantage of it, to think more about strategy, about more creative, about different things to test.”

(10:05-10:23) “You go from a situation where you’re maybe doing a dozen or a half dozen sort of experiments at any given time, where we’ve got customers who are running tens of thousands of experiments constantly learning, just feeding lots of creative, feeding the strategy, observing what’s coming out of the system.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Talking Mobile Partnerships and the Index - Itay Vilenchuk (AppsFlyer)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 03:05:27 +0000

Questions Itay Answered in this Episode:

Do you think the industry is doing a good job as far as partnerships or is there something we could be doing better?
Do prevailing trends in the industry tend to influence the partnerships you focus on?
How do you or AppsFlyer approach fraud?
Does the index influence your perspective on partnerships?
What response do you get from vendors when the index releases?
Looking into the future, what kind of role with partnerships play in the mobile marketing ecosystem?

Timestamp:

5:00 The size and value of AppsFlyer
8:13 Mobile industry partnerships
11:58 Changes in industry trends
14:00 The performance index: holy grail for partners
17:20 AppsFlyer Partner Academy
21:26 Influencing factors on the index for vendors
25:48 The growing importance of partnerships

Quotes:

(8:25-9:14) “Something that’s missing in our space specifically, maybe in the SaaS environment more specifically, to be honest, is collaboration between sales teams. I think when you look internally at a company, sales teams could connect to a partnership team or a product team or the CS team, whatever it is, but if you combine two sales teams from different partners or different ecosystems even, they rarely know how to talk to each other. They know how to maybe assist each other with different accounts, but actually co-pitching together or selling products together--that’s a big pain. That’s what I’ve seen personally as a big pain point. So I think we should probably do a better job of educating teams on how products can talk, products align, and how we can co-pitch together. That’s the ideal story from my perspective at least.”

(27:06-27:18) “I think clients these days need, more than ever, really good, valuable advocates and strong partnerships that actually meet the shared customer needs during this time.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Getting into People-Based Attribution - David Llewellyn (AppsFlyer)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 02:23:58 +0000

Meet David Llewellyn, the marketing director of EMEA at AppsFlyer. AppsFlyer is a leader in mobile advertising attribution and marketing analytics offering people-based attribution solutions.

Questions David Answered in this Episode:

What is AppsFlyer doing in regards to cross-screen attribution and why is it important to marketers?
Is the comprehensive user journey one of the principal challenges with cross-device attribution?
What can advertisers do to get closer to people-based attribution?
Where do you suggest people go to learn more about people-based attribution?

Timestamp:

10:05 Today’s people-based attribution landscape
12:25 The user journey perspective on cross-device
16:54 Lose the retargeting spam
19:00 Avoiding brand fatigue
20:00 Paying attention to assist channels
21:40 Cross-device: the new “teenage sex”
27:28 Tip: Get the user to log-in

Quotes:

(13:47-14:05) “I think everyone is kind of waking up, and hopefully is waking up to the fact that users want to interact however they want to interact with it. They probably want to get all the different services you’ve got on all the different devices, which isn’t always possible, technically, and that’s a challenge. But ultimately, they don’t really care about your conversion rates and stuff like that. They want to be able to use it just however they use it.”

(22:27-22:40) “Pick one or two things that are genuine pain points for you and for your customers and see how the technologies consult those. And then build your confidence from there. Don’t try and build utopia straightaway, particularly not with technology that is evolving and iterating all the time.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Getting Holistic with ROAS - Shay Yosifon (Beach Bum Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 18:53:37 +0000

Shay Yosifon is the vice president of marketing at Beach Bum Games, which focuses on bringing evergreen card and board games to mobile.

Questions Shay Answered in this Episode:

How does working with games people are already familiar with affect your need for interactive game-play creative?
How do you measure performance? Is D7 your “true north”?
When you’re doing your retroactive analysis, do vendors that weren’t hitting your D7 goals actually become really valuable for you?
What are some other benchmarks that you’ve found valuable?
How are you adapting your performance marketing strategy on platforms, like Google and Facebook, that are integrating more automation?
What is your iterative process for developing creative?

Timestamp:

4:04 Creative strategy for nostalgic games
6:45 ROAS curves for different channels
11:57 Determining ROAS with a retroactive perspective
15:23 Benchmarks outside D7 that matter
20:17 How automation opens doors for the creative marketer
22:51 Investing in the creative process

Quotes:

(7:59-8:34) “Not all channels are created equally. And we do see, especially today, that we’ve seen on one hand a lot of consolidation of traffic sources, but on the other hand, you can’t say that your audio campaign should be measured the same way as your influencer campaign, the same way as your rewarded video campaign, the same way as your facebook campaign.”

(28:45-29:00) “Even within creative, it’s always making sure you’re taking a long view approach on things, but also to make sure that you’re not only looking at your early set KPIs but think about other KPIs that might have an effect on it.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Building Trust with Your Product Team - Tommaso Scazzocchio (Freeletics)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 7 Apr 2020 23:23:55 +0000

Tommaso Scazzocchio is a team leader for user acquisition at Freeletics. Freeltics is a subscription training app that creates custom workout plans based on user feedback on the exercises.

Questions Tommaso Answered in this Episode:

Do you find it challenging to market a fitness product in such a highly competitive space? How do you break through that noise and make Freeletics stand out?
What is the importance of working with your product team? And how do you go about working together?
How have you improved collaboration between your performance marketing and product teams?
How do you better understand your product team and why they make the decisions they do? How do you foster trust between teams?
How does customer feedback inform marketing and product teams?
What’s happening this year at Freeletics that you’re excited about?

Timestamp:

8:25 Finding the sweet spot in your competitive market to stand out
11:16 When performance marketing and product team goals are not aligned
16:28 4 tips on building a multi-department taskforce
19:58 Educating each other during taskforce meetings
23:42 Peer research, survey, data, and working out together
26:45 What’s launching this year at Freeletics

Quotes:

(18:32-19:01) “You want to challenge the status quo, right? And it’s really important that you want to change and improve the experience, but it’s also very important that you trust the other teams. So if they say something, I don’t know, if they say that they need to do a full sprint to release a new change, then you need to trust their work; and they should trust your work when you set up the campaign. So, everybody should be trusted in their own specialization, I would say.”

(24:23-24:32) “Sometimes we do the training all together just following the app, so it’s really a good way for us to learn about the usage of the app.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

App Store Optimization: How to Get More Traffic to Your App - Warren Woodward (Upptic)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 23:09:42 +0000

Warren Woodward is the co-founder and chief growth officer at Upptic, a platform for automated app store optimization. Upptic also provides full stack growth services. Warren is a musician, an indie filmmaker, a self-taught mobile marketer, and an ASO expert.

Questions Warren Answered in this Episode:

What makes an app a good one for you to partner with?
What made you want to build an automated ASO platform as one of your core pieces of technology?
How do you measure your results?
If you could automate something tomorrow, what would it be?
Why did you decide to make the leap of starting your own company rather than moving up in the corporate world?

Timestamp:

8:30 What Upptic does
13:04 Selecting app partners that have growth potential
16:08 Evolution of the industry’s first automated ASO platform
19:41 The value to be gained from optimizing your store page
20:50 Measuring conversions from ASO
23:23 Upptic’s philosophy that informs what to build next
25:54 Facing the fear of starting a startup

Quotes:

(6:27-6:49) “A lot of what I’ve learned about building teams and matching personalities and getting the right group in complement of people with skill sets together, all lot of that I learned from the world of bands and being stuck together in a van. Getting people that have something different to bring to the table that add up to a sum greater than the parts. It’s weird the lessons you can learn just from grinding it out on the road doing the music thing.”

(19:43-20:11) “If you’re a developer, you know how hard it is to juice an extra 10% of revenue by changing the economy of your app or something. It can be a lot of work, but, it’s so much easier to just make an ad that converts 10% easier or make your store page convert 10% better. That can be done with a few hours of creative development time and minutes of setting up a test. You run that test, you’ve got that win. Congratulations, you’re now getting 10% more users every time someone comes to the page, making 10% more revenue.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Boosting Organic Growth - Ne Djuric (Coca-Cola)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:24:48 +0000

Ne Djuric is the digital alchemist for Coca-Cola in Central and Eastern Europe, a corporate team focused on transformation. Previously, he was working as Coke’s senior mobile product manager.

Questions Ne Answered in this Episode:

Did you find that ratings had an impact on the organic growth you could drive in the app store?
What was the article about that spiked your organic growth? And why do you think it was successful?
Is it fair to say that because the growth was mostly organic, fraud wasn’t necessarily an issue?
Do your strategies need to change drastically from country to country within a region?
How do you go about choosing influencers to represent your brand?

Timestamp:

4:26 Huge performance spike from an ad article
7:28 Why you should start push marketing in smaller countries
9:11 How to boost your ratings to boost organic growth
12:47 The shelf life of a successful ad article
15:59 Spotting fraud
17:59 Keeping strategies, changing tactics across markets
20:04 Working with influencers

Quotes:

(10:31-10:48) “Whenever you give something to someone, they’re actually feeling psychologically obliged to give something back. And of course, it doesn’t work on 100% of the population, but it does work on 10%, right? So if you, for example, start following people on Instagram, 10% of people will follow you back.”

(15:45-15:52) “If you’re doing mobile app advertising, you’re either being a victim of fraud or you’re being a victim of fraud and you don’t know it.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Ne Djuric - LinkedIn

Converting and Retaining App Subscribers - Haseeb Tariq (Retention App)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 16:59:04 +0000

Meet Haseeb Tariq, founder of Retention App, a marketing company specializing in converting and retaining app users into subscribers. Haseeb has worked in marketing automation with companies such as Disney, Fox, and Guess and is a regular contributor to Forbes.

Questions Haseeb Answered in this Episode:

How do you convince people to stay and stick with you for the long run during a subscription trial?
When you ask users questions, do you then have different automated marketing messages for every answer?
Is the retargeting goal to get as close to a one-on-one conversation as possible?
Why did you start Retention App?

Timestamp:

7:00 The Guess campaign that took 30 mins to create and generated $1.8M
11:23 How Fox Nation hit an 85% trial-to-subscription conversion rate
12:53 Retention: Top 3 things to pay attention to
17:21 Humanistic automation
20:05 Retention goes hand-in-hand with growth

Quotes:

(17:33-17:56) “The idea behind human automation is just a process that establishes a human touch by the means of automated personalized tools focused on building trust and providing value. And that means that you don’t just need to automate tools and resources but at the same time you personalize the message to a specific audience persona; and, they get excited whenever they hear from you because it’s completely optimized and focused on them only.”

(20:05-20:26) “So I’m putting it out there so that all the listeners out there if they’re planning to launch a subscription product out there, I think they should be focused on understanding their customers and focused on retention before they’re focused on growth because when they start thinking about retention it’s too late. Growth and retention should go hand-in-hand together when they’re launching their product, and if they already have a product they should start thinking about retention more.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Haseeb Tariq - LinkedIn
@haseebspeaks - Twitter & Instagram
“Why Marketers Make Good Customer Success Managers” (Forbes)
“Why ‘Humanistic Automation’ Is the Future of Marketing” (Forbes)
Retention App

Optimizing “Brandformance” in Mobile Marketing - Gessica Bicego (Blinkist)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 23:47:36 +0000

Gessica Bicego is the director of performance marketing at Blinkist. Blinkist is a mobile app that provides 15-minute summaries of bestselling nonfiction books so that people can discover the books they want to read next and fit more reading into their lives.

Questions Gessica Answered in this Episode:

How has your computer science background been beneficial to your career?
Can you tell us how your team is structured and what you focus on in your role?
What is the payoff with native advertising on platforms like Outbrain and Taboola?
How do you justify spending on tv advertising if it’s so difficult to track?
How do your brand and performance marketing teams work together?
Do your creatives change with the seasons?

Timestamp:

9:25 Marketing team structure at Blinkist
10:30 The perks of paid content
14:55 TV advertising for mobile apps
18:52 “Brandformance,” the union of branding and performance marketing
26:02 Going deep with evergreen content iterations

Quotes:

(10:32-10:53) “In general the people that we acquire through big content, they have a higher LTV so they stay with us for a longer time. In general, they have a better understanding of the product, because of course, they read an entire article about -- I mean the article isn’t just about us, it’s an interesting piece of content; it’s also an explanation about Blinkist and how it works. So, it’s really, really good to pre-qualify your audience, as you say.”

(21:55-22:04 ) “If you have a brand and a performance team, put them together in the same room. Make sure that they talk the same language. Make sure that they work on the projects together.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Mitigating Marketing Risks when Scaling - André Kempe (Freeletics)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 3 Mar 2020 15:40:51 +0000

André Kempe is the founder of Admiral Media, a performance app marketing agency based outside of Barcelona. Andre also puts on GrowBoat, an exclusive sailing event with decision-makers in the app industry.

Questions André Answered in this Episode:

How do you mitigate the risks of scaling a major campaign with a small team?
What is the tilting point for needing more employees to handle a facebook budget?
Do you prefer more or less control with ad platforms?
What emerging channels outside of TikTok should people be paying attention to?

Timestamp:

9:49 When ad spending explodes, your team doesn’t necessarily have to
12:42 The more channels and iterations of creative, the bigger a team needed
15:57 The black-box of Google and others
19:00 Emerging channels: TikTok & Pinterest

Quotes:

(9:49-10:10) “I think the first mistake many companies are doing is having in their mind very often and then just execute on that is that as soon as they discover, ‘hey, there’s a new channel and we put $20,000 in there we need another pair of hands doing that. And then, if we double that budget because it works, we need another pair of hands because it’s three more countries or something like that.’ But that’s simply not true.”

(19:15-19:40) “Right now, I think TikTok is a very clear leader. And I see myself, I mean I’m almost 40, but I see myself strolling through TikTok more often than through Reddit nowadays. I don’t use Instagram at all, for example, because it’s just not funny; it’s not entertaining for me. I really don’t like it. And TikTok is like a comedy show, and I really like the bite-sized snacks of content that I get there.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

André Kempe - LinkedIn
GrowBoat
Admiral Media
Apptivate Ep#26 with Lorenzo Rossi

Marketing to Emerging Markets - Josh Gosliner (Juvo)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 17:19:04 +0000

Meet Josh Gosliner, senior director of product marketing at Juvo. Currently serving 26 counties (and counting), Juvo enables people who are underbanked to start building a credit history by lending instant loans for phone credit in developing markets via their mobile app.

Questions Josh Answered in this Episode:

Is it challenging to get your product adopted?
How to do you manage the negative connotation of taking a loan in your marketing strategy?
What is the role that mobile plays in these emerging markets? And how might that be different from what we see here in the U.S. or in Europe?
How do you make consumers aware of your financial credit building services?
What is the future for Juvo in 2020 and how will you get there?

Timestamp:

8:58 What is Juvo?
12:02 Leveraging phone carrier data to inform marketing messages
13:32 How to manage consumers’ preconceptions about a product
15:22 The massive role of mobile in emerging markets
16:00 Challenges of mobile app marketing for Juvo
20:54 Give people what they need when they need it, progressively
24:06 Juvo’s goals looking forward

Quotes:

(12:31-13:04) “One of the things we’re really working on optimizing right now is what is the flow or the journey that somebody goes on from once they get that message? Is it a message that then takes them to the app store to download an app to sign up to then take the loan? Or is it something where we can make it as simple as responding to that text message? There’s a number of ways in which people prefer to interact with their mobile operator or services in general. And optimizing that is a really big part of our go-to-market and our growth strategy.”

(15:23-15:48) “I think emerging markets, in general, are mobile-first. There’s a small slice of the population that has access to computers and has had that for some time. But for the vast majority of people, a mobile device is in many instances the first time that people are getting access to the internet. And so, it really is a much more transformative piece of technology.”

(17:38-17:48) “We are constantly doing funnel analysis. And every point of the journey in which we can reduce friction, that’s our number one priority.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Josh Gosliner - LinkedIn
Juvo

Closing the Mobile App “Digital Gap” - Sylvie Vandevelde (itsme)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:00:07 +0000

Sylvie Vandevelde is the Head of Business Development and Marketing Communications for Belgian Mobile ID’s mobile app, itsme. Itsme is a form of official identification for all Beligums (and soon Luxembourgers), similar to a government-issued license or passport but in mobile app form.

Questions Sylvie Answered in this Episode:

Was it challenging for you as a marketer to educate consumers on why they should trust istme as an app for their personal identification? What’s the strategy or media mix you used to educate consumers?
What are some of the lessons you learned while developing the itsme brand that you would pass on to another mobile marketer?
How do you jump from branding to user acquisition?
What is the “digital gap”? And how have you worked to overcome this gap?
What do you see as the future for digital identification?

Timestamp:

5:03 Branding as a tool to educate app users and drive growth
6:15 Developing itsme’s branding strategy
7:37 UA: First, be trustworthy, be easy to use
9:23 Closing the “digital gap”
11:08 Itsme app’s growth story
14:39 The future of digital identification in Europe

Quotes:

(7:51-8:13) “People, when they need to choose between something difficult and something easy, well it’s human to choose the easy way. And we were easy, secure, and respecting privacy, so it was very easy and obvious actually to use itsme. And we had the government also behind us. That mark of trust is very important. When you’re trusted in a market and they said, ‘They will do it the proper way,’ then it’s quite easy.”

(10:05-10:26) “We have a lot of people who are not doing things online. They’re not used to going to the bank online, or they’re a little bit older and it’s new stuff to them. So we are also working with different associations who have an academy where they teach people how to do their banking online, how to do their taxes online, and they also explain how to install the itsme app.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Itsme
Belgium Mobile ID

Staying Agile with Automation - Maria Fossarello (BlaBlaCar)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 08:00:14 +0000

Maria Fossarello, based in Paris, is head of paid channels at BlaBlaCar, a leading long-distance carpooling app with over 18 million users in 23 countries.

Questions Maria Answered in this Episode:

What do you attribute BlaBlaCar’s success in marketing to?
What were the first things you were looking to automate?
How do your core KPIs translate from one platform to another? Do you apply the same acquisition metrics to search and Facebook, or do they have different KPIs associated with each? And if so, does an automated budget allocation tool take that into account?
When weighing the potential value of automation, do you consider the reduced workload and need to hire fewer people?

Timestamp:

9:01 Agility and innovation in marketing
10:17 Innovation at BlaBlaCar
12:40 Automating search engine advertising campaigns
15:14 Automating budget allocation
18:45 An incremental attribution approach of KPIs across channels
20:45 The effect of automation on employee workloads

Quotes:

(9:09-9:22) “I learn everything on the ground because the online marketing framework and practice actually evolves so quickly that there’s not even much to learn in school because everything is going to be updated and outdated in a month’s time.”

(18:45-19:05) “What is really the move that we want to make, which we think is the move that will be more significant, is to actually move to an incrementality type of attribution where you’re able actually to consider what is the incremental contribution of each channel; and that way, you would be able to consider all the channels the same way.”

(20:53-20:59) “Using automation allows you to unleash a huge amount of new strategic tasks.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

BlaBlaCar

Valuing Branding in Mobile Marketing - Scott Tomkins (Digital Turbine)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (remerge, Apptivate, Scott Tomkins) — Wed, 5 Feb 2020 08:00:07 +0000

Scott Tomkins is the sales vice president and general manager for U.S. Digital Turbine, a company that pre-installs apps on newly activated Androids. Digital Turbine claims to deliver more apps to phones in a day than any other company and that there is no other inventory in the world that is as fraud-free.

Questions Scott Answered in this Episode:

Do you deliver more apps to phones than Google or Facebook?
Is it challenging to determine the KPIs for the advertisers that work with you?
Are performance marketers too numbers-driven?
Do you think performance marketers will shift toward brand advertising in 2020?

Timestamp:

7:50 What stands Digital Turbine apart from any company
11:34 An argument for a more holistic view of user acquisition
16:11 Branding 101 and multi-touch attribution
18:00 The change Scott sees in performance marketing
24:43 Why we need a brand approach to app marketing

Quotes:

(12:23-12:26) “I think all ad units can be effective and ultimately perform differently.”

(14:43-15:00) “Would you rather for a small fee get your app on that device so you’re there in front of their eyes when they want to book a trip? Or would you rather take the risk of them going to the Play Store where there are 20 of your competitors who all do the same thing and be lucky that you’re the one of 20 that they pick?”

(24:45-24:52) “I think you’re going to see the bigger brands come in and open the eyes of performance marketers that there is a ‘k factor’ that needs to be looked into.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Digital Turbine

Diversifying Channels Beyond the Big 3 - Krishnan Menon (Fetch Rewards, Inc.)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 08:00:09 +0000

Krishnan Menon is the vice president of growth marketing at Fetch Rewards, Inc., a grocery rewards app that prides itself on being the easiest way to save on groceries.

Questions Krishnan Answered in this Episode:

How much of your growth do you attribute to paid marketing?
Over time, does it become harder to diversify channels? Or does the need to diversify grow more?
Are you willing to be more lenient and take fewer efficiencies with new vendors in order to diversify?
What do you look for in a sales pitch from a new vendor?
Have you had success with the vendors you’ve found in Appsflyer and Singular reports?

Timestamp:

6:40 Fetch Rewards’s growth trajectory and inflection point
9:04 Paid marketing aside, a product still needs to be quality
12:15 Thinking about how you will spend the next million
15:24 Testing the waters with a new channel and the goals that matter
21:57 What I look for in a sales pitch
24:50 Sourcing new vendors from key articles
31:11 The challenge Krishnan gives himself to be successful

Quotes:

“For me, at the end of the day, it’s about how many of these users are going to be active 30 days from now? I keep track of the quality of the user that is brought in.”

“It’s a case of what else can we do outside of the comfort zone of digital?”

“This is a tough industry. You have to be on it and really continue to be hungry in order for successes to be ongoing.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Fetch Rewards, Inc.
Appsflyer
Singular

Retargeting Strategies - Nadav Shalit & Dani Magid (Playtika)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 08:00:08 +0000

Meet Nadav Shalit, retargeting department lead, and Dani Magid, retargeting manager, at Playtika. Playtika has a portfolio of 15 large-scale gales that are run from more than 16 global sites by over 3,000 employees. Previous to Playtika, both Nadav and Shalit worked in marketing for agencies.

Questions Farhan Answered in this Episode:

What is your strategy for launching retargeting campaigns?
How do you source data for segmenting users?
How closely do you have to work with other departments to run retargeting initiatives/treatments?
What else do you focus on when launching retargeting efforts?
Was there a shift that motivated Playtika to start retargeting?

Timestamp:

6:27 Launching retargeting efforts begins with the user experience
7:36 Segmenting users with an internal BI system
12:10 The internal process of offering segments treatments (or incentives)
15:17 Measuring for retargeting
18:04 Playtika’s catalyst to beginning retargeting

Quotes:

“We are literally learning every day. And I think that’s part of the magic in retargeting.”

“The very first thing we look at when we set up a retargeting activity is the user experience. I think that’s the main purpose and that’s the main goal. And that is what the connection between you and the user is all about.”

“For certain activities, we might even show an ad even the say after the install saying, “Hey, did you check out this feature? Did you get a chance to look at this?” So it kind of builds up the connection from day one, literally.

Mentioned In This Episode:

Playtika

Getting Innovative in Mobile Games Marketing - Farhan Haq (SYBO Games)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 08:00:01 +0000

Farhan Haq is the head of performance marketing and mobile growth for SYBO Games where he works on the fully organic, most downloaded title on Android of all time, Subway Surfers.

Questions Farhan Answered in this Episode:

How challenging was it for you to work during the era of Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, and Game of War but not working at one those gaming studios?
How did you stay creative in order to drive downloads in a saturated and competitive market?
Have you had success using Snapchat or Tik Tok for acquisition? What was your strategy?
At Subway Surfers, do you focus on getting more users or engaging current users to drive monetization?
Is Subway Surfers a casual or hyper-casual game?
Where do you see the future of the gaming industry going?

Timestamp:

8:50 Growing game titles in competition with big players
12:47 Creativity in targeting
14:04 Fake ads -- it’s about the feeling
16:17 Testing Snapchat
20:40 Monetizing the user base
22:15 Casual, hyper-casual games, and the future

Quotes:

“The cloning model and doing something a little different from a clone still hugely impactful then; actually can still be now but I guess you have to get a bit more lucky, you’ve got to get something right now because people have cloned things a million times over now.”

“So, a lot of the older developers kind of struggle to be creative enough and adapt, and they just kept thinking, well look, we’re going to do things the old way. And then that’s why all these new players just keep coming out of nowhere because I guess they’re more hungry and more agile. And then that’s why there’s always been this opportunity to, across the last 5 years, to be like, hang on, we can make an impact in this space as long as we try something a bit newer and back ourselves on it.”

“What worked for these narrative games was a combination of three elements that I found, particularly for these story-based games. My trifecta was: 1) pregnancy, 2) cheating, and 3) timelapse.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Social Point, acquired by Take-Two Interactive
Nanobit
SYBO Games

Learning Along the Way - Lorenzo Rossi (Mobile Marketing Italia)

Wed, 8 Jan 2020 08:00:09 +0000

Lorenzo Rossi is the co-founder of Mobile Marketing Italia, a digital magazine and forum with the mission of educating Italians about mobile marketing and growing its culture in Italy. Lorenzo has worked in mobile marketing for 6 years with companies spanning dating, shopping, and ridesharing.

Questions Lorenzo Answered in this Episode:

What are some of the experiences that have made you an effective marketer?
Is it better to market less expensive or expensive products?
As a mobile marketer, did you have the authority to offer discounts on products?
Were you always testing no matter what the goals were?
What is Mobile Marketing Italia?

Timestamp:

8:13 Building experience through a mix of industries
8:48 Experience focusing on scaling
10:17 Lorenzo’s best moment for learning performance marketing
10:37 Experience focusing on ad ROI and targeting consumers
13:30 Benefits of working closely with a product team
17:13 Stepping into a management role
21:00 OOH campaigns
22:22 Mobile Marketing Italia’s mission

Quotes:

“I was very amazed by this performance marketing world because it’s a mix, I believe, of creativity but also data because you see the results immediately. You can measure your requests, actually. You can measure if the text that you propose is better than the other one.”

“I believe that the testing shouldn’t depend on the goal because whatever is your goal you can find a better way of achieving it.”

“I cross off all of them [channels] to see which were the common points to see which were the strong point of one point rather than the other one.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

LOVOO
Zalando
Free2Move
Mobile Marketing Italia
ApperiMobile - Italian meetup for mobile marketing (contact Lorenzo)

Re-broadcast: Getting Creative with Creatives - Thiago Monteiro (Peak Labs)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 1 Jan 2020 08:00:06 +0000

Thiago is currently the Director of Growth team at Peak Labs, and is responsible for acquiring and retaining more than half a million subscribers every month whilst reaching ambitious financial goals.

Questions Thiago Answered In This Episode:

“Going from a booking appointment apps to brain training, did you find that shift kinda daunting and challenging? Was there a lot to learn?”
“What are some of the biggest differences and challenges you found in bringing Quixel Logic and Rise to the market?”
“You guys chose the strategy of high volume low cost, why choose that strategy as opposed to lower volume high cost?”
“How do you go about educating your consumers or your perspective consumers in order to raise a probability that the download would be quality?”
“Do you guys have any process in which you are kinda automating the development of the creatives or automating the deployment, how does that overall process look?”
“When you launch a new title, how long does it take you and how do you go about determining what your KPI should look like?”

Timestamp:

01:10 Introduction of the different products at Peak

02:30 Thiago’s background at a beauty market place (Booking appointment apps)

03:53 Big difference of Thiago’s previous job and current job at Peak

04:47 Basic marketing principles

06:30 Differences and challenges in bringing Quixel Logic and Rise to the market.

07:06 Reason for using the high volume low cost strategy as opposed to lower volume high cost strategy?

07:55 Strategy structure for Peak

08:30 Strategy structure for Rise

09:41 Grabbing the attention of the consumers and then pass the necessary information

12:19 Transformative contents

14:00 Testing approach on the different Peak apps

15:45 Thiago on trying different concepts for the Peak apps

18:28 Peak’s creative cycle

21:32 Two sources of ideas for Peak’s creative team

26:15 Building a product concept and determining its main KPI

28:14 Determining revenue for subscription products

32:00 Thiago’s future expectations

-----------------------------------------

“I’m a big believer that, if you go to the core of marketing like the principles, the funnel of the users, etc. - it applies to any product in the world. In general if you follow the basic principles of marketing, you should be ok.”

Mentioned:

Peak - Brain Training
Rise - Sleep Better
Quixel - Logic Puzzles
Facebook
Google UAC
Voodoo
Aquapark.io

Re-broadcast: Excelling Marketing Strategies - Matthew Sadofsky (Studio)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Apptivate, Remerge, Matthew Sadofsky) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 08:00:02 +0000

Matthew Sadofsky is the chief growth officer and chief marketing officer at Studio, a fitness app providing instructor-led video classes. His experience in the mobile app marketing industry runs the gambit, from dating and gaming to music and fitness.

Questions Matthew Sadofsky Answered In This Episode:

What are some things that mobile marketers are doing wrong or overlooking?
What does your ideal team look like?
Where does over-bloating occur the most in regard to job function?
Is paid media becoming more or less effective for marketers?
How are you measuring incrementality in new user acquisition?

Timestamp:

6:30 Don’t over bloat the size of your marketing team
7:30 The ideal size and makeup for marketing teams
9:28 UA is overstaffed, retention marketing is underserved.
10:38 Usability tests and surveys at Studio for retention
13:00 Today’s value of paid media
16:33 Indicators within incrementality analysis in new user acquisition
17:18 The similarity method
21:51 The importance and barriers to iterating on creative

Quotes:

“Don’t over bloat. You can create a lean marketing machine using technology nowadays.”

“There are ways that you can build these really robust pipelines and even tools that’ll do automation management for you where you don’t need the size of teams that some companies still have in their marketing departments.”

“I think we all strive to balance creativity and analytics, but I think we all skew more slightly toward the analytic side. And very few companies, unless you’re a very large company, have an in-house creative director for their user acquisition program.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Studio
Paltalk
PeerStream (formerly Snap Interactive)
Tilting Point
TIDAL
Her
ClearBrain
Uber
TryMyUI

Setting Up Your Marketing Tech - Christian Eckhardt (Customlytics)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (remerge, Marketing Tech, apptivate, Christian Eckhardt) — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 08:00:29 +0000

Berlin-based marketing tech expert, Christian Eckhardt, is the co-founder and CEO of Customlytics. Customlytics provides app marketing, analytics, and technology infrastructure consulting and hands-on help.

Questions Christian Answered in this Episode:

Why do you think Berlin has seen the growth it has in the tech ecosystem compared to other European cities?
What are some lessons you’ve learned about tech infrastructure?
What’s the first piece of technology marketers should plan for?
How do you go about vetting tech decks?
Do you have to educate your customers?
What changes are you excited about or expecting to come to mobile marketing?

Timestamp:

2:53 Berlin’s exceptional tech growth
10:29 Start thinking about it - marketing infrastructure is a must
12:25 Marketing tech recommendations
12:53 Tech deck: start thinking about it early
15:04 Methodology for matching tech with client needs
18:30 Education and centralized documentation for knowledge transfer
24:08 How campaign bid automation will change the job of the marketer

Quotes:

“The entire topic of marketing technology or even the realization of, ‘I need something in place to enable proper marketing,’ is something that is not a nice-to-have feature or a nice-to-have situation. It’s rather that if you don’t have it then you’re basically completely lost for all things marketing.”

“The earlier you start thinking about your marketing tech deck the better. So ideally, as I said before, definitely before you start any paid advertising, but ideally even before the ad launches.”

“As it stands right now, with the kind of huge standing in the market with that those bigger advertising platforms have, it feels a bit like they can pretty much do whatever they want. And it’s hard to kind of get away from it if you don’t want to lose their inventory.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Customlytics
Mobile Developer Guide to the Galaxy (Free copy)

Refreshing Your UA Gamebook - Ariel Cohen (Kape)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:00:02 +0000

Today’s guest, Ariel Cohen, is the head of mobile UA for the cybersecurity startup Kape, a one-stop-shop for services like data encryption, anonymity, VPNs, and anti-virus products. Previously, Ariel was a marketing manager in the mobile casino game space for Playtika and Aditor.

Questions Ariel Answered in this Episode:

How important is it to understand your audience of users and how do you go about learning the composition of your audience within an app?
What do you mean by profiling users?
What are some techniques you use to find and convert users?
How you’ve found that sponsored content works? Or how do you bring nuanced messages to your users in order to get them to engage with your product?
Do you have to educate consumers about your services after they begin to engage with your product?

Timestamp:

4:33 Profiling users for new startups
6:39 Defining profiling and its application to content strategy
7:30 Browsing where your competitors are marketing
8:56 Using your network to source insights
11:20 Using segmentation for messaging
12:43 Surprising insight on continuing to educate users

Quotes:

“We don’t market with simple messaging as you would to an open audience. We try and come up with much more specific to the points that are crucial in the decision making.”

“What we saw is that when we bring that information or different capabilities that we have up to their awareness from time to time, we see that it substantially increases traction.”

“We figured if the users went through all that process and compared and eventually chose us, they know everything that we bring to the table. But, it turns out, it was just not the case.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Kape
Aditor
Playtika

Integrating AI & Machine Learning - Lomit Patel (IMVU)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 4 Dec 2019 14:16:04 +0000

Lomit Patel, the author of Lean AI, is the vice president of growth at IMVU, the world’s largest avatar-based social network. He is responsible for user acquisition, retention, and monetization. Prior to IMVU, Lomit managed growth at early-stage startups including Roku (IPO), TrustedID (acquired by Equifax), Texture (acquired by Apple), and Earthlink. Lomit is also a public speaker, advisor, and recognized as a “Mobile Hero” by Liftoff.

Questions Lomit Answered In This Episode:

How did you build out and leverage AI at IMVU?
Do you still have a lot of web users? And if so, do you have a way of varying your app data with the data that is non-app focused?
Did you build out technologies that could iterate through creatives quickly?
What makes it challenging for companies to build out this type of infrastructure?

Timestamp:

3:34 Lomit’s new book, Lean AI, and becoming an author
6:55 Why IMVU decided to introduce AI, machine learning, and automation
8:12 Getting started with AI
10:05 Using unique customer IDs for data integration
12:25 Golden moments of opportunity with AI
15:01 The effect of AI on IMVU’s strategy for creative
18:31 The challenges and considerations of using AI

Quotes:

“The easiest way to think of AI is how to get a machine to think like a human but to really do it at scale.”

“We had to figure out a better and more creative way to tackle the problem of how we were going to scale growth and grow the business.”

“At the end of the day, the difference between a great growth team and a good growth team isn’t about the great team really knowing all the answers. It all comes down to who’s able to increase their velocity of experiments.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

IMVU
Lean AI
Lomit’s LinkedIn
Lomit’s blog

Working with Influencers - Kevan O’Brien (LBC Studios)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge, LBC Studios, Kevan O’Brien, Apptivate) — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 08:00:09 +0000

Meet Kevan O’Brien, the Marketing Director at LBC Studios. This Canadian mobile gaming developer is responsible for “Hempire,” the world’s largest mobile cannabis game.

Questions Kevan Answered In This Episode:

How has the legalization of marijuana affected your business?
What are 3 lessons you’ve learned from making mistakes?
What are some dos and don’ts of influencer marketing?

Timestamp:

2:37 How marijuana legalization is affecting LBS Studios
5:48 Kevan’s $17,000 overnight mistake and what he learned
11:02 “20% for Testing” rule
12:18 Google Drive hack for looking smart at events
15:05 The real value of working with influencers

Quotes:

“What we’re really looking for now as we work with influencers is the content that they create for us.”

“If they leave us a review, we want it to be honest and we want it to come from their mouth. And also, we want to be able to use that asset in our own marketing.”

“When you work with an influencer and you’re looking at reaching their network and providing them with some money to plug a product, the cost actually becomes really, really viable because you can use both the distribution as a KPI but also the asset itself as something that adds value.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

LBC Studios
Hempire
Tommy Chong Plays Hempire YouTube video

Starting Your Own Agency - Rebecca Nackson (Notable)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (agency, Rebecca Nackson, apptivate, notable) — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 08:00:01 +0000

Rebecca Nackson is the founder of Notable, an agency focused on engagement retention in the user journey. Rebecca brings over a decade of experience managing acquisition, engagement, and product development for Prolific Interactive, iHeartMedia, Bandsintown Group, Audible, and IBM.

Questions Rebecca Answered In This Episode:

What are 3 things people should know who want to start their own agency?

Timestamp:

3:00 Recipe for engagement retention and reducing customer loss
4:47 Taking notes on being an end-user to build empathy
7:22 Learning which parts to outsource
11:35 The people part of the puzzle
14:17 Identify the one thing you do best

Quotes:

“There has to be this ruthless prioritization about what any of us can bite off in a day.”

“Better to be top-of-mind when someone thinks of one thing, rather than middle-of-mind for a bunch of things.”

“What really hit me is how it’s not about having the best solution or the best deck or the best pitch -- It’s about the human nature and the human side of the relationships, and that’s how you get them to change.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Notable
Justworks

Excelling Marketing Strategies - Matthew Sadofsky (Studio)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Matthew Sadofsky, remerge, apptivate, studio) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 08:00:01 +0000

Questions Matthew Sadofsky Answered In This Episode:

What are some things that mobile marketers are doing wrong or overlooking?
What does your ideal team look like?
Where does over-bloating occur the most in regard to job function?
Is paid media becoming more or less effective for marketers?
How are you measuring incrementality in new user acquisition?

Timestamp:

6:30 Don’t over bloat the size of your marketing team
7:30 The ideal size and makeup for marketing teams
9:28 UA is overstaffed, retention marketing is underserved.
10:38 Usability tests and surveys at Studio for retention
13:00 Today’s value of paid media
16:33 Indicators within incrementality analysis in new user acquisition
17:18 The similarity method
21:51 The importance and barriers to iterating on creative

Quotes:

“Don’t over bloat. You can create a lean marketing machine using technology nowadays.”

Mentioned In This Episode:

Studio

Paltalk

PeerStream (formerly Snap Interactive)

Tracking Incrementality in UA - Moshi Blum (Adjust)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Moshi Blum, adjust, remerge) — Wed, 6 Nov 2019 08:00:10 +0000

Meet Moshi Blum, General Manager, Adjust IL, a third-party mobile measurement and fraud prevention company. He oversees the growth of the company in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Questions Moshi Answered In This Episode:

“What do you attribute to Israel being such a major hub for startups and new tech?”
“How did you become interested in incrementality?”
“What was the progression of your interest in incrementality for re-engagement and user acquisition?”

Timestamp:

1:43 Why Israeli character is complimentary to tech startups
8:17 Moshi’s start to incrementality
14:29 The challenges of incremental user acquisition
17:50 Closing in on UA growth sources with incrementality
22:51 On incrementality being counter-intuitive to performance
24:35 Two caveats to incrementality

Quotes:

“I would say that anyone that searches for Facebook will go and then click on Facebook, right? There is no other solution if you’re searching for Facebook. So by me clicking on the paid ad for Facebook doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve now convinced me to go and use Facebook.”

“I think agencies are the best when you want to learn fast how to progress.”

“In one point, you need to trust your instincts. So the first incrementality test will give you, let’s say, half of the reality. Right? The second will give you another 30%. But, you will never reach to 100% sure that your campaigns are incremental.”

Mentioned:

Adjust
Viber
Moburst
Remerge
eBay
Basecamp

Scaling Niche Marketing - Ryan Watson (onXmaps, Inc.)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (OnXmaps, Ryan Watson, Remerge) — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 12:58:53 +0000

Questions Ryan Answered In This Episode:

“What are two or three things you wish you’d known when you started in this space that would have saved you time, money, or energy?”
“What are the techniques you’ve used to grow your audience at scale?”
“Does your search marketing inform your target marketing on Facebook?”
“Are there any future products or concepts in the marketing space that you’re excited about?

Timestamp:

0:56 Background of onXmaps
4:21 Getting started in mobile marketing
6:18 Lessons for newer mobile companies starting out
8:45 Thinking through variable a/b testing with an onXmaps example
12:30 Why user acquisition growth took off at onXmaps
15:09 How search and Facebook can inform each other
18:34 The prospects of multi-touch attribution

Quotes:

“Engineers and marketers a lot of times think differently. We look at the world differently. And being able to bridge that gap from a communication perspective is really important.”
“A ton of what we do, or try to do, is basically a reciprocity play. It’s like, ‘Hey, this can help you. We will help you become better. Here’s information that you can use while using this product to help you achieve your goals.’”

Mentioned: onXmaps

Improving Your Sales Pitch - Drew Fung (Current)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 12:00:28 +0000

Drew Fung, the senior user acquisition manager at Current, has spent the last five years working in user acquisition, from gaming to eCommerce to finance. In this Quick Hit episode, Drew shares the best and worst examples of sales outreach and how to perfect yours.

Questions Drew Answered In This Episode:

“What are three things that annoy you in terms of salesperson outreach?”
“How many sales emails do you get in a given day or week?”
“What makes a salesperson’s approach worth your time?”

Timestamp:

2:14 The worst way to do sales outreach
3:41 Email no-nos for sales outreach
5:06 The average number of sales pitch emails received in a week
5:53 Sharing sensitive information about competitors when giving a sales pitch
7:20 What works with sales strategy

Quotes:

“I remember this one salesperson immediately handed me her card and was literally trying to scream her pitch about her company. In the middle of the club, over the music, while we’ve already had a couple drinks. I was shocked and mind-blown that she didn’t know coming up to someone in the wrong setting would just not work.”

“If you’re using a template where you copy and pasted my name wrong and you call me something else, I’ll never answer you, forever.”

“A salesperson builds a report first to want to get to know you genuinely, about your company, and then just tell you how they can help you.”

Mentioned:

Current

Effective Automation - Jacques Frisch (Glovo)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 07:00:21 +0000

Jacques Frisch brings 12 years of digital marketing experience to Glovo, a mobile on-demand product delivery service. Jacques is going on two years at the company as the Digital Marketing Director, during which time Glovo has experienced explosive international growth.

Questions Jacques Answered In This Episode:

“What’s something your marketing team has gotten really good at that’s allowed you guys to work efficiently as you’ve scaled so quickly?”
“What do you look to hire for in your growth team? Where do you add a manual touch?”
“What’s the goal of building tool automation in-house?”
“Is there anything that makes the process of automation harder?”
“What does the feedback loop look like between your product and marketing teams?”
“What do you think is coming to the ad-tech space in the future?”

Timestamp:

2:07 Glovo’s rapid growth
3:16 Jacques’s area of expertise at Glovo
3:50 The key to working efficiently when scaling quickly
4:51 Applications of marketing automation
5:20 Philosophy of centralization in digital marketing
6:05 Human resource needs in a rapid-growth environment
7:15 The ideal mix of building automation tools in-house vs third-party providers
9:48 Managing the challenges of building automation processes internally
11:56 The tool Jacques wish he had 10 years ago
13:05 Projections of the future within the ad-tech space

Quotes:

“I believe that most of the big players have clear interest in pushing some of the third-party providers out of the market, especially when it comes to data and ad-tech. You can already see Facebook and Google want you to do all through them directly so that way they can collect more insights into your apps’ performance.”

“So we had to learn to implement one of our team as a project manager. We had to learn to prioritize all the tasks accordingly and not overwhelm him with work and try to do too many things at the same time. So, you learn as you go.”

Mentioned:

Glovo
Amplitude

Marketing Multiple Apps Under One Brand - Megan Silvey & Molly Plaehn (ASICS Digital Inc)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 9 Oct 2019 09:39:16 +0000

Joining the conversation are two fitness app marketers from ASICS Digital, Megan Silvey and Molly Plaehn. Megan focuses on growth and product marketing for both of the ASICS Studio and Runkeeper apps. Molly focuses on engagement with the Runkeeper userbase and connecting app users to the ASICS brand.

Questions Megan & Molly Answered In This Episode:

“How do you go about marketing the Runkeeper App?”
“Do you find it challenging to differentiate against other platforms or do you think that you have a core message that sets you apart?”
“How important is testing to ASICS in terms of acquisition?”
“Are there certain learnings that you take from one app then bring to the other?”

Timestamp:

00:16 Megan and Molly’s introduction
00:56 Megan’s background, where she came from, and her career at ASICS Digital
02:14 Megan’s experience in the agency landscape
03:08 Molly’s background and her career focus at ASICS Digital
05:17 Challenges feature in Runkeeper
07:26 Asics marketing strategy for the Runkeeper App
09:39 What makes Asics stand out
11:45 What does testing look like from an acquisition standpoint
13:37 Budget restriction
15:33 Learnings from Runkeeper and Asics Studio
17:52 Engagement strategy for both Runkeeper and Asics Studio
19:51 Next steps for Runkeeper after the new integrations
24:06 Megan and Molly’s perspective for connecting physical and digital experiences

-----------------------------------------

“We think that the future lies in really connecting these physical and digital experiences.”
-Megan Silvey

“You know the brand because you got hit with them on Instagram about 700 times and you’re like, ‘Wow, this brand is cool, people are talking about it, and now I can see it in real life.’ So, that’s kind of what we’re getting back to is really connecting these experiences. Interpersonal connections aren’t going away any time soon.”
-Megan Silvey

“Taking content that we already have but funneling it a little bit different and bringing in new creative assets from that we have from this line to drive new installs and potentially reach a different kind of ASICS user.”
-Megan Silvey

ASICS Digital Inc (formerly Runkeeper)
Asics Studio
Remerge
Glossier

Fighting Cart Abandonment - Mirela Cialai (ZINIO)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (remerge, zinio, mirela cialai) — Wed, 2 Oct 2019 14:04:43 +0000

Meet Mirela Cialai, the director of mobile marketing at ZINIO. Mirela focuses on engaging mobile magazine readers from around the world in discovering the stories that matter most to them. She has been working as a global digital marketing specialist for ZINIO for 10 years and joins us today from New York City.

Questions Mirela Answered In This Episode:

“What has kept you at Zinio for so long?”
“Is it hard to keep people’s attention?”
“Is shopping cart abandonment something you guys come across in a big way in mobile space?”
“Does Zinio have any strategies in place that help you fight cart abandonment?”
“Outside of Zinio, is there anything that made you excited for the future of mobile space?”

Timestamp:

00:15 Mirela’s introduction
00:45 Mirela Cialai’s background, where she came from, and her career at Zinio
02:16 Factors that led Mirela to stay at Zinio for 10 years
04:14 Audience’s attention span
06:13 Zinio’s business model and cart abandonment
07:34 Different strategies to fight cart abandonment
10:05 Retargeting
10:24 Other ways to engage consumers
11:25 Technology partners that helped Zinio to execute push campaigns
13:43 Growth in marketing messaging
15:21 Best way to reach out to Mirela

“I am a marketer. I’m always excited about all the possibilities, and the creativity of the human mind is fascinating to me. ”

Mirela Cialai

“Test as many channels as possible. Test as many frequencies as possible until you find the right mix because each company has a different target audience, which might react differently to different channels.”

Mirela Cialai

Making Data Driven Decisions - Andy Wong (Jam City)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Andy Wong, Remerge, Jam City, Apptivate) — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 05:09:08 +0000

Questions Andy Answered In This Episode:

“How’s your transition been? Going from the vendor side to now being the client, do you enjoy one more than the other?”
“In working at Jam City, how would you describe the level of insights that you gain? Do you think that you have more knowledge at your disposal or there’s more resources or you’ve gained insights by just broadening up the team in general? ”
“Would you be willing to share your insights at a conference or was there a limit based on whos asking you for insights?”
“Is there a limit to what insight you might end up sharing with an advertiser?”
“What is your determinant of success?”
“At Jam City, do you focus on the programmatic space? Is that part of your specialty?”

Timestamp:

00:18 Andy’s introduction
00:40 Andy Wong’s general background, where he is now, and what is his goal
01:33 Andy’s transition from being the vendor to now being the client
03:16 Sharing of insights, resources and tools
05:46 Creative learning as a conversation starter at conferences
08:13 Andy’s limitations when sharing an insight
10:03 An example of associating things outside the game to the actual creatives itself
11:00 Jam City’s testing process
12:09 Growth performance using ROI metrics
13:25 Importance of quality data visualization
15:11 Making data easy to understand
18:47 How personalization might impact user acquisition
20:45 Andy’s perspective on the possible change of programmatic landscape in the future

“I usually think that the easiest way to start a conversation is to ask people about their creatives. And I think that people are much more willing to share their creative learnings than their bidding strategy.”
Andy Wong

Mentioned:
Periscope Data
Jam City

Identifying Fraud - Rockford Yapp (Tilting Point)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge, Rockford Yapp, Tilting Point) — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 08:55:36 +0000

Questions Rockford Answered In This Episode:

“How much expertise from your UI team at Tilting Point goes into identifying new app opportunities?”
“Is there a common theme that runs through all these years of work where you’ve seen quite a development in one particular area in this industry?”
“What kind of strategies have you learned and applied to identify click fraud?”
“Has the change of KPIs in mobile development made it harder for publishers, network, or whoever to actually get away with fraud?”
“How important is it to market outside Google and Facebook?”
“How do you go about electing where you’re going to invest next?”

Timestamp:

01:01 Rockford’s background
07:33 How Tilting Point functions and how the business runs
10:35 Partnership evaluation process at Tilting Point
12:54 Things that changed dramatically in the mobile development industry
14:39 Strategies to identify a click fraud or a click bot
23:38 How Tilting Point decides where to invest next
26:54 Tools to protect your company against fraud
28:20 Rockford’s perspective on future trends in the industry

“We’re taking on the risk because we’re confident that we are going to be able to run ROI-positive campaigns and help you improve the monetization and metrics of your games while scaling you in a profitable way.”
Rockford Yapp

Mentioned:
Grubhub
AdAction Interactive
Chart Bursting
Facebook
Google

Bridging the gap between in-app and brick-and-mortar experiences

fred.simmons@remerge.io (remerge, gideon toman, apptivate) — Tue, 3 Sep 2019 09:37:39 +0000

Questions Gideon Answered In This Episode:

“Did you always have an affinity for math or data that allowed you to work successfully in the digital marketing space?”
“Getting a comprehensive view of how your digital marketing might impact your retail stores - is that a challenge that you guys face regularly and do you feel like you have built out a marketing stack that allows you to overcome challenges like that?”
“In mobile app marketing, a lot of campaigns are predicated on what is reported by a third-party attribution source. When it comes to mobile apps, is that how you determine success as well?”
“Could you lay out what a delightful experience looks like in your eyes for your customers?”
“Has the mobile app become a more important part of the JO-ANN business over the last 3 years; has this become a focus for you?”

Timestamp:

01:07 Gideon’s background
03:55 JO-ANN’s presence all of the country
04:37 Tying online to offline experiences
08:38 Defining their mobile app success
09:39 Importance of time when running a incrementality test
10:54 Gideon’s perspective on what is a delightful experience for customers
15:04 Gideon’s perspective of the JO-ANN’s app
18:53 Gideon on customer feedback
20:18 Gideon’s future plan as a Digital Marketing Manager at JO-ANN Store

“That’s what we’re shooting for. That’s the last checkmark on any list of whether we should do something or not - Is this going to be an inspiring great experience for the customer?”
Gideon Toman

Using Incrementality to Drive User Growth - Vincenzo Serricchio (Delivery Hero)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:55:34 +0000

Today’s guest, Vincenzo Serricchio, is the Global Team Lead of Mobile Marketing at Delivery Hero. In this episode, he shares how he and his team are measuring incremental uplift to grow their user base.

Questions Vincenzo Answered In This Episode:

“Is there a particular area where your team has really focused, or has there been any particular experiment that you think will help you guys out-market your competitors?”
“As far as incrementality goes within programmatic in-app advertising, are you applying incrementality measurement to both acquisition campaigns and retargeting campaigns?”
“Do you use a certain methodology to achieve incrementality measurement within UI or maybe using the PSA methodology? Could you shed some light on that? ”
“Is it your team that manages user acquisition that’s doing a lot of data analysis? How do you go about organizing and compiling such large amounts of data?”
“What is your relationship between your third party attribution providers and what you are doing from an incrementality perspective?''
“How often are you testing your creative? Is this a big part of your business and your iterative process?”
“Do you think other mobile marketers are heavily relying on incrementality as a KPI? Do you see that they are using it to the same extent as your team at DeliveryHero?”

**Timestamp:
**

01:04 Vincenzo’s background
03:11 Vincenzo’s career journey with DeliveryHero
04:01 The one topic that Vincenzo and his team really focused on
05:06 Vincenzo on incrementality measurement and its application to both acquisition campaigns and retargeting campaigns
06:34 How to reconcile different methodologies across different vendors
08:45 What methodology to use for incrementality measurement within UI
09:00 The GeoSplit test
10:22 Vincenzo on running GeoSplit and PSA simultaneously
11:20 Vincenzo on working closely with the customer insight team to organize and compile the large amount of data that they use in their app
12:34 Efficiency and decision making in which boundaries to work with, and which not to work with
14:14 Determining the short-term and long-term effects of campaigns
15:14 Conceptualizing incrementality
17:01 To effectively measure incrementality, you cannot rely on the third party attributors
19:43 Using incrementality test as a first step in identifying whether or not to pursue with a particular vendor
20:04 Testing creative
25:38 Vincenzo’s perspective on incrementality as a metric or a measurement that most mobile marketers are relying on
27:01 Future of Mobile Marketing and incrementality

“Coordination is essential. If you start to do something without this being in place you can’t really action data in the end. You may have some findings, but those are not really actionable in the end. ”
Vincenzo Serricchio

Mentioned:
Facebook
Delivery Hero
Vincenzo’s LinkedIn profile

Thinking Beyond Revenue - Dora Trostanetsky (SoundCloud)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Dora Trostanestsky, Soundcloud, Remerge) — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 09:54:57 +0000

Today’s guest is Dora Trostanetsky. Dora is a holistic marketing strategist with 8+ years of experience in performance marketing, ranging from mobile growth (B2C) to digital acquisition (B2B).

Her background includes a variety of industries, such as gaming, tech start-ups and urban mobility as part of the smart city vision. Connecting the dots between the creative and empirical part of marketing is her daily life. Dora is constantly exploring new challenges that can bring the business forward.

Questions Dora Answered In This Episode:

“In changing roles, how do you go about learning about the consumer journey and how might that impact your marketing?”
“Because B2B marketing takes long to get someone to make a decision based on your marketing and advertising, do you think that change the way you looked at B2C marketing?”
“Is it required that you take a broader approach in the sense that you enlist the efforts of multiple teams in order to align the strategy to drive users down the funnel?”
“Do you find that each team has their own agenda that arrives them directly at the idea of making more money for the company, thoes agendas are really challenging to get in the same place, is that one of the challenges you might face?”
“Does consumer feedback play into your strategy as a mobile marketer?”
“Is it important that in your retention that you have a unified yet personalized message across different platforms or do you speak to your consumers differently on email?”
“How challenging it is to get someone rate your app? ”

Timestamp

01:04 Dora’s mobile marketing journey
02:29 Introduction to Dora’s current career
04:01 Dora shares her experiences in dealing with three different vertical throughout her career
05:14 Dora’s perspective on B2B and B2C marketing
06:43 Difference of B2B and B2C when it comes to educating its consumers
08:20 Necessary steps after a consumer downloaded the app
08:58 Challenges as a Growth Marketer
10:49 Revenue should not be the only goal
12:34 How customer feedback can be used as a strategy for mobile marketers
13:55 Challenges of anecdotal experiences vs data
14:30 What is a cluster user
15:40 Personalize content for user retention
16:51 Why Dora is more interested in long term strategy when it comes to growth
17:51 Performance based advertising
19:58 How to protect your product against consumers going to different platforms
24:02 App optimization
28:36 Ways on how you can get people to rate your app

“What I noticed is that users are like products that are very easy to use because they have such fast paced life and so everything should be very well thought. So I think that the UI/UX experience is very important. Keeping users I think is the hardest part.”
Dora Trotsanetsky

Mentioned:
Soundcloud
HERE Technologies

Getting Creative with Creatives - Thiago Monteiro (Peak Labs)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (remerge, peak labs, thiago monteiro) — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 09:54:13 +0000

Today’s guest is Thiago Monteiro from Peak Labs. He has been working in Digital and Mobile Marketing for more than eight years now. Thiago is also experienced in multi-disciplines of paid media ranging from Display, Paid Search to Social Paid advertising.

Questions That Thiago Answers In This Episode:

“Going from a booking appointment apps to brain training, did you find that shift kinda daunting and challenging? Was there a lot to learn?”
“What are some of the biggest differences and challenges you found in bringing Quixel Logic and Rise to the market?”
“You guys chose the strategy of high volume low cost, why choose that strategy as opposed to lower volume high cost?”
“How do you go about educating your consumers or your perspective consumers in order to raise a probability that the download would be quality?”
“Do you guys have any process in which you are kinda automating the development of the creatives or automating the deployment, how does that overall process look?”
“When you launch a new title, how long does it take you and how do you go about determining what your KPI should look like?”

Timestamp:

01:10 Introduction of the different products at Peak
02:30 Thiago’s background at a beauty market place (Booking appointment apps)
03:53 Big difference of Thiago’s previous job and current job at Peak
04:47 Basic marketing principles
06:30 Differences and challenges in bringing Quixel Logic and Rise to the market.
07:06 Reason for using the high volume low cost strategy as opposed to lower volume high cost strategy?
07:55 Strategy structure for Peak
08:30 Strategy structure for Rise
09:41 Grabbing the attention of the consumers and then pass the necessary information
12:19 Transformative contents
14:00 Testing approach on the different Peak apps
15:45 Thiago on trying different concepts for the Peak apps
18:28 Peak’s creative cycle
21:32 Two sources of ideas for Peak’s creative team
26:15 Building a product concept and determining its main KPI
28:14 Determining revenue for subscription products
32:00 Thiago’s future expectations

Mentioned:
Peak - Brain Training
Rise - Sleep Better
Quixel - Logic Puzzles
Facebook
Google UAC
Voodoo
Aquapark.io

Finding The Right Users And Matching Your Messaging with Sam McLellan (Yousician)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Yousician, Sam McLellan) — Wed, 7 Aug 2019 11:30:37 +0000

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates words were profound but straightforward. Being able to attract and convert new customers systematically keeps companies healthy and growing - and investors happy - but the unhappy ones can push your product forward.

Today’s guest is Sam McLellan, head of growth at Yousician. Sam is a seasoned mobile gaming expert who has led product and marketing teams responsible for multiple top-grossing free-to-play games.

Sam is currently utilizing his expertise to help his company build its growth team and take their products to the next level. He couples their organic and performance marketing efforts with an optimized monetization strategy to maximize growth.

Questions Sam Answers In This Episode
“Are there any other methodologies you can implement to find interests within a consumer group?”
“After a user installs an app, it can be difficult to get them through the funnel. What can you learn about them to influence their journey?”
“How often do you test out the free trial period? Is that something you are constantly iterating?”
“How does an app like yours fight redundancy?”
"Do the licensing fees factor into your acquisition strategy?"
“Does using licensed content make it easier for you to get people down the funnel initially even? Does that play a role into your actual advertising campaign and getting people through the front door?”
“If there was a single core topic that you would hang your head on in your experience, what would that be?”

Timestamps
00:42 Sam’s background
02:58 How Yousician developed its product
05:48 Facebook targeting groups
07:19 Methodologies for finding interested consumer groups
08:57 Big changes in Google UAC campaigns
10:17 Differences between gaming (app purchasing) and app subscriptions
12:05 How to keep users engaged with the app
13:24 Incurring costs to license a content
14:40 Role of licensed content in Yousician’s advertising campaigns
16:20 Exciting news for Yousician this coming year
22:00 Availability of Yousician in other countries
23:02 Parting thoughts

“You’ll always want to give them enough time to be able to experience the app and you obviously don’t want to give away your product for free at some point.”
Sam McLellan

Building a Strong Marketing Stack with Thomas Petit

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge, Thomas Petit, Tommy Yannopoulos) — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 14:01:28 +0000

Mobile marketing is a mix of creativity and algorithms. You cook with recipes, but those recipes need craftsmanship and constant updating. And there are two major contributors to your creativity and algorithms: software and people.

Thomas is currently working as a consultant and adviser for a number of startup apps and organizations. Thomas has worked during the last 10 years as a specialist in digital marketing, with more than 6 years of experience in different European startups.

Questions Thomas Answers In This Episode:

“What were you initially looking for? Where would you start if you were building out a team from a user acquisition perspective?”
“Looking back on 8fit, what do you think is your biggest take-away or the biggest piece of knowledge that you’ve gained in the work environment?”
“What were you looking to achieve and learn about your consumers by building out your data stack?”
“Are you guys consistently testing out different pricing models to test against your audience in order to determine what is the right free-trial length and what is the right price point for us to maximize the rate at which people going through the free-trial subscription?”
“With any of the companies you worked at that are on competitive landscape, how do you go about differentiating yourselves in the context of performance advertising?”
“Based on your experience at 8fit, is calling out the free trial the best mechanism to get people through the door or was it calling out the ability to help shape their lives and help them lose weight, or was it a mixture of both?”
“Have you found that some of these same strategies that you used at 8fit have worked for you at other companies that you advised or consulted with at all to this point? ”

Timestamp:
00:54 Background info on Thomas
01:42 Thomas’s first role in the mobile space
03:43 Thomas’s perspective on building a team
04:56 Biggest take-away from working at 8fit
06:49 What were Thomas’s goals in building a stack for handling data
08:45 Perspective on subscription based app
11:12 Constant testing different pricing models
13:12 How can you make a company look different than its competition?
15:05 Pointers on building brand messages
17:51 Best mechanism to get people through the door
20:13 How to educate and engage your audience
23:20 Difference between mobile and web app
25:14 Thomas’s insight on using Taboola and Outbrain
27:40 Bringing your learning elsewhere
28:52 Different technologies that Thomas is excited to test
32:00 How quickly a machine can determine which of creative in advertising is better or worse

Key Quote
“I just hired based on mindset more than experience.”
Thomas Petit

Mentioned:
8fit
Amplitude Analytics
Apple
Google UAC
Tinder
Taboola.com: Content Discovery & Native Advertising
Outbrain
@Thomasbcn

Customer Experience with Eric Stein (Branch)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 09:40:00 +0000

This episode of Apptivate focuses on Customer Experience, touching on how it contributes to engagement and retention, the integral role of Deep Links, and what we can expect to see in the future.

Switching Vertical with Patrick Witham (Postmates)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:51:00 +0000

Patrick was Director of User Acquisition at Product Madness when he started to observe the rapidly growing market of on-demand delivery. He then decided to move vertical and took up a position as Director of UA at Postmates. In this podcast, we discuss the process of transitioning from one vertical to another and the exciting challenge of strategizing for a new target market.

Cross Device Media with Eric Kovalkoski (Stitch Fix)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 09:03:00 +0000

Eric Kovalkoski, Growth and Strategy Manager at Stitch Fix, leads us in exploring some of the key differences between attribution on mobile devices and attribution on the web. He also tells us about different tools available to advertisers to determine the user’s journey through multiple devices.

Incrementality with Melissa Lertsmitivanta (Realtor.com)

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 4 Dec 2018 11:47:00 +0000

Senior Mobile Marketing Manager at Realtor, Melissa Lertsmitivanta, explains how understanding user behaviour is key to achieving better user engagement. Melissa started working with Remerge when she was at EA Games and was keen to run retargeting campaigns with us again when she started in her new position at Realtor. In this podcast, she shares her experience of setting up a campaign to allow for ultimate incrementality.

Fraud with Sam Bruns

fred.simmons@remerge.io (Remerge) — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:35:00 +0000

In this podcast, mobile marketing expert, Sam Burns, covers the different types of ad fraud from click injections to bot traffic and offers advice on how to spot it and stop it. He also offers a vision of a future in which fraud could be minimised globally.