Mass Appeal

What do mobile jigsaw puzzles have to do with tugging on human heartstrings? In this episode, Anastasia Zaiceva, the Chief Communications Officer at ZiMad, a reputable mobile game developer and publisher, reveals how branding can be used as a tool to evoke emotions and build relationships around mobile games. Questions Anastasia answered in this Episode:Why has ZiMad put a big emphasis on communications?Where do you put most of your energy? Is there a particular initiative you’ve been focused on over the last year in communications?With something like a jigsaw puzzle, how do you approach the idea of emotion? And how do you separate it from entertainment?Timestamp:6:21 Anastasia’s background in mobile gaming13:50 About ZiMad15:58 Communications vs user acquisition17:50 Building community around games21:48 Puzzle packs & love stories28:30 In-game features that connect peopleMentioned in this Episode:Anastasia Zaiceva’s LinkedInZiMad

In this episode, Tommy interviews  Diego Kafie, the Co-Founder and CEO of Playbite, an arcade app where players can win real prizes or earn money by creating games. They discuss taking the leap of launching a startup, monetization strategies, and the three-way relationship between app developers, players, and users who can learn how to make games through Playbite’s creator platform. Questions Diego answered in this Episode:Was leaving your job and jumping into venture funding for Playbite scary for you? What was the learning curve like?What is Playbite and how did you get backers to believe in Playbite?What models do you use to monetize Playbite?How do you overcome the obstacle of teaching aspiring creators how to code games?Timestamp:4:54 Diego’s background & origin of Playbite11:17 Launching Playbite12:54 Chuck E Cheese to Playbite17:53 Creator platform: a symbiotic relationship25:00 Monetization models30:30 Coaching aspiring game creatorsMentioned in this Episode:Diego Kafie’s LinkedInPlaybite

Learn the story of Akshay Krishnaiah, the founder and CEO of Beem, an app harnessing the power of AI to improve the financial wellbeing of the world’s working population. Unlike most fintech apps focused on markets that will produce a profit, Beem intentionally serves people regardless of income, immigration status, or credit score. Five million downloads later, find out how Beem has grown organically, thanks in part to their pressroom that cranks 400 to 500 pieces of content every week. Before founding Beem, Akshay was the Global Product Head of Research Labs at PayPal, where he led a team of innovators and filed 75 consumer fintech patent publications in areas such as digital wallets, identity platforms, and hybrid tokens. He is based in San Francisco. Questions Akshay answered in this Episode:What drives you to be an entrepreneur?What were some of the transformative experiences you had on your way to founding Beem?How do you go about educating people about your product?How is AI exemplified in your product?How did you get 5 million downloads organically?Timestamp:2:50 Akshay’s background and first hustle10:20 Akshay’s path to founding Beem15:18 Beem’s origin story22:18 Beem’s approach to financial empowerment27:35 Finding Beem’s market31:07 Bringing good intention to AI36:10 Growing Beem’s millions organicallyMentioned in this Episode:Akshay Krishnaiah’s LinkedInBeem

Do you understand your customer’s needs and how to satisfy them, at the right time? Alex Saul, an expert and consultant with 25 years of experience in customer loyalty, joins the podcast to talk about loyalty. He distills the essence of any effective loyalty program – hint: it centers around the customer – as well as ways that loyalty programs can help brands meet their strategic objectives, including monetization. You’ll learn how variable rewards can increase user engagement, how retail media can generate revenue, and how loyalty programs can help change user behavior, track omnichannel traffic, and bring valuable customer insights.Questions Alex Answered in this Episode:What experience was most important to your career?How do you go about understanding what a customer’s needs are?How have you seen the way loyalty brands view monetization change?What are variable rewards?What monetization strategies do you see work well in addition to variable rewards?Timestamp:2:00 Alex’s background5:43 Challenges in the loyalty industry7:55 Learning the true meaning of loyalty10:05 Understanding the customer12:00 The science behind loyalty14:30 How loyalty can support monetization18:00 Variable rewards23:35 What is retail media?25:23 How loyalty can help brands track omnichannel traffic28:37 Responsible retail media31:45 Consumer insights help monetizationMentioned in this Episode:Alejandro “Alex” Gonzalez Saul’s LinkedIn

In this episode Tommy chats with Bruno Rodrigues, the Regional Digital Marketing Lead at FREENOW, to learn about the European transportation super app’s approach to re-engaging users and measuring the incremental uplift of their campaigns in one of the mobile app industry’s most competitive verticals. Questions Bruno Answered in this Episode:How do you approach engagement and what importance does your business put on engagement as a strategy?How do you develop your audience clusters?How do you communicate with customers to re-engage them with your app?How do you measure incremental uplift? What challenges do you have working with different platforms that have different methodologies for measuring incrementality?Timestamp:2:14 Bruno’s background8:10 Bruno’s approach to engagement 9:45 Developing audience clusters11:38 Re-engagement communication tactics13:30 How FREENOW approaches incrementality19:07 Extensive creative testing is keyMentioned in this Episode:Bruno Romão Rodrigues’s LinkedInFREENOW

In this episode, Tommy interviews Kevin Nemeth, the Chief Digital Officer for Authentic Restaurant Brands, about the evolving landscape of digital loyalty programs for quick-service and casual dining restaurants. You'll learn how Kevin’s team differentiates their loyalty programs by offering value to their customers through special offers, ease of sign-up, and personalized experiences -- without disrupting the established brand's identity. Don’t miss this deep dive into leveraging first-party data to drive customer engagement and create compelling digital strategies for restaurant brands that keep customers coming back.Questions Kevin Answered in this Episode:What staying power did Covid’s effects on restaurants have?Is there a cost benefit to bringing customers to your website or app?How do you translate in-person restaurant experiences into a digital environment that’s useful for customers?How do you drive adoption to your loyalty program?Timestamp:2:58 Covid’s lasting impact: ordering food through apps6:00 Economics of driving customers to first-party platforms10:10 Overview of Authentic Restaurant Brands12:20 Regional Fortress Brands strategy16:33 Translating in-restaurant experiences to digital21:51 Importance of differentiation in loyalty programs22:02 Overcoming barriers to loyalty program sign-ups22:35 The success of PJ Whelihan's loyalty program25:20 The value exchange in modern loyalty programs27:27 Customer data is currency30:59 Gamification and brand recall strategies37:10 Building digital capabilities for restaurant brands40:17 What's aheadMentioned in this Episode:Kevin Nemeth’s LinkedInAuthentic Restaurant Brands

Tobi Lüder is the Head of CRM at Delivery Hero, a food and grocery delivery app operating in over 70 countries. In this episode, Tommy and Tobi talk about how to keep customers engaged with your app and converted into subscribers. You’ll learn how to win the loyalty of your customers, the difference between heavy users and loyal users, how to measure the incremental lift of your marketing efforts, and more!Questions Tobi Answered in this Episode:Does CRM strategy change significantly from one country to another?How do you keep customers engaged with the Delivery Hero brand?What is the process for identifying your heavy users that require less incentives?How are you measuring the incremental lift of your marketing efforts?Are your customers actively engaged in your loyalty program? Is that an important tool for them?How do you determine who to heavily market your subscription to and articulate the value proposition?Is frequency the most important metric when segmenting your audiences?Timestamp:2:40 Tobi’s background5:16 Changes to CRM strategies in different countries6:40 About Delivery Hero9:38 How to win the loyalty of your cusomters14:40 Heavy users vs loyal users18:12 Measuring results with control groups20:48 Attracting customers to our loyalty program15:25 Acquiring subscribers in the app28:09 Importance of frequency as a metricMentioned in this Episode:Tobi Lüder’s LinkedInDelivery Hero

Janos Perei is the Head of Growth at SYBO Games, the makers of Subway Surfers, one of the most downloaded mobile games in the world. Janos and his team have been working on migrating users across the various games in SYBO’s portfolio in a meaningful way, which he calls “cross-promotion.” He discusses the merits of this growth strategy, the experience of cross-promotion for the user, and the challenges. Questions Janos answered in this Episode:Are you a gamer?Outside of Subway Surfers, are there any mobile games in the marketplace that impress you in terms of growth?Why has Subway Surfers been so successful?How do you define “cross-promotion”?How does the experience of cross-promotion manifest for your users?Do more active users get different in-app messaging?What stops game studios from trying to do this? What are the challenges of trying to build a cross-promotion mechanism?Timestamp:1:25 Janos Perei’s background and role at SYBO5:34 Mobile games moving the needle7:24 The secret behind Subway Surfers success10:00 What is cross-promotion?12:32 SYBO’s pillars of privacy controls15:38 The user experience of cross-promotion17:45 Mitigating “cannibalization” within game portfolios22:00 Segmenting cross-promotions23:00 Can smaller game studios do cross-promotion?25:50 The challenges of cross-promotionMentioned in this Episode:Janos Perei’s LinkedInSYBO Games

Why do app users spend more time on Temu’s app than Walmart’s or Amazon’s? In short: gamification. In this episode, Tara Kirkpatrick, the Director of App Marketing at Apptopia, explains why apps using gamification are crushing their categories. Apptopia is a platform providing brands with mobile app performance data and mobile usage insights. Prior to Apptopia, Tara was the manager of product content and communications at Insight Timer.Questions Tara Answered in this Episode:What attracted you to Apptopia when you joined?What is Apptopia’s core focus in the market?Why does Temu see higher engagement in the app than Amazon?Why is Duolingo a leader in its category?Timestamp:5:19 Tara’s background7:58 Measuring scalable impacts for B2C10:45 What does Apptopia do?14:00 Why does Temu see higher engagement than Amazon?18:00 Why Duolingo kills the app monetization game23:07 Gaming runs upstream of all consumer tech25:41 Community as a driver for app engagement31:14 Diverging app monetization strategiesMentioned in this Episode:Tara Kirkpatrick’s LinkedInApptopia

Marc Bearman, the General Manager of Fetch Play, chats with Tommy about the potential of rewarded experiences in gaming, particularly at the intersection of reward platforms like Fetch and game studios, and how it can lead to innovations and new opportunities for engagement, loyalty, partnerships, and revenue streams. They cover the evolution of rewarded video as a monetization strategy, how gaming studios might benefit from designing games with rewarded experiences in mind, and what the future holds for this exciting new intersection. Questions Marc Answered in this Episode:Tell us about your background and what you're doing today at Fetch.What do you think makes Fetch special?Why do you think it makes sense for Fetch to integrate gaming into its rewards platform?What about the Fetch audience makes them attracted to games?What’s got you stoked about 2024?Timestamp:1:27 Marc’s role at Fetch and background in ad tech5:04 The evolution of rewarded video7:51 Integrating gaming into a rewards program12:31 Navigating user feedback and the importance of data-driven decisions16:24 Fetch’s unique position as a rewards and loyalty app22:23 Exploring user engagement and data accuracy23:54 The Fetch Play Initiative26:15 Win-win-win: Fetch-game studios-consumers34:47 How fetch appeals to gamers and non-gamers39:46 Looking ahead: the future of gaming and rewards with FetchMentioned in this Episode:Marc Bearman’s LinkedInFetch