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 Mobile4:00 The evolution of mobile advertising8:55 AI in creative development12:42 Strategies for diversifying ad spend14:39 When to pull the plug on a channel16:55 Mick’s view on retention18:42 A look ahead at 2025Quotes:(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:Mick Rigby’s LinkedInYodel Mobile

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 Ayar8:30 Why you need an MMP13:46 Choosing channels for your UA framework17:17 The metrics that count21:25 Estimating budgets for testing channels23:50 Optimizing and testing creatives for mobile ad campaigns35:00 Considerations for retargetingQuotes:(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:Oğuz Ayar’s LinkedInVoodooApp Promotion Summit - Berlin

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 directors4:21 Popular app verticals and trending topics in EMEA6:01 Popular app verticals and trending topics in Japan and Korea8:03 Popular app verticals and trending topics in INSEA10:30 Retargeting in EMEA13:13 Retargeting in Japan and Korea16:09 Retargeting in INSEA20:13 Mobile privacy in EMEA22:05 Mobile privacy in INSEA24:27 Mobile privacy in Japan and KoreaQuotes:(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:Patrick Eichmann’s LinkedInMaria Latif’s LinkedInHide Cho’s LinkedInKate Taganova’s LinkedInRemerge

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 background3:20 Footage engineering aka AI-generated imagery4:57 Getting started with AI for making ads7:26 Limitations of using AI for advertising9:38 Will AI take our jobs?12:43 The role of humans in AI-generated ads14:58 The value of AI for creating ads16:47 Recommended AI tools18:28 How much should marketers be on top of new AI tools?21:48 BlueStacks23:43 How to rise to the top27:47 What to do in Silicon ValleyQuotes:(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:John Gargiulo’s LinkedInAirpostReady SetSleepless

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 background4:57 What is Varo Bank?7:00 Pivot tables for storytelling8:28 How to present your story12:30 Choosing the right segments to focus on18:12 When data is inconsistent22:16 Drew’s approach to leadershipQuotes:(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:Drew Hampton’s LinkedInVaro Bank

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 BlueThrone4:40 The mobile app M&A marketplace5:47 BlueThrone’s value proposition7:05 What can acquirers do for app developers11:17 How to be discovered by an app acquisition company14:15 What are app acquisition companies looking for in an app17:43 Red flags for app buyersQuotes:(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 LinkedInBlueThroneemail: josh.p@bluethrone.io 

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 DoorDash1:36 DoorDash’s founding story & Toby’s first big win9:09 Building DoorDash’s advertising CPA model18:54 Expanding into non-restaurant categories22:09 DoorDash’s newest ad solutions23:33 DoorDash’s challenge and opportunity29:28 How to invest in the future31:51 Best of San FranciscoQuotes:(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:Toby Espinosa’s LinkedInDoorDashDoorDash unveils new platform for enterprise restaurantsDoorDash adds new capabilities for CPG partners

Kevin Kawai, the Lead Growth Marketer at NewsBreak, brings over a decade of growth marketing expertise to the discussion. He shares insights on no-cost growth strategies, optimizing onboarding processes, and leveraging waitlist campaigns. Kevin emphasizes the importance of user feedback to enhance app features and discusses balancing short-term tactics with long-term growth goals. Plus, he explores the potential of AI in revolutionizing marketing strategies. Perfect for aspiring marketers looking to boost app success!

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 DoorDash4:30 DoorDash’s beginning7:30 Advertising that works for restaurants9:37 Digital tools for your growth inventory13:44 Payment-withholding for advertising vs CPA15:08 Building business for retailers17:40 Mindset to build an ad tech empire21:05 Understanding your value propositionQuotes:(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:Toby Espinosa’s LinkedInDoorDash

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 Growth3:53 Attracting content creators5:48 Identifying growth opportunities15:00 Defining our North Star17:00 How to become a mobile marketer19:20 Trends in growth marketing strategy23:38 What to do in Barcelona & ColombiaQuotes:(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:Michelle Murcia’s LinkedInStorybeat