Ask the experts - Top app marketing insights of 2025
Apptivate: App Marketing Explained
Experimenting onboarding to boost retention
Luca Stefanutti shares an experiment pushing core activity completion that improved retention more than complex nudges.
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:
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