Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

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 background5:25 Culture: The impetus for Remerge9:20 Modeling openness and transparency12:40 Adapting to SKAdNetwork15:42 The opportunity of iOS15 for marketers21:03 Why retargeting will stick around24:53 The drivers of the app market consolidation29:20 Strengths in staying independent34:08 Why Pan’s excited about the future of RemergeQuotes:(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:Pan Katsukis’s LinkedInRemerge’s openly available dashboard for app marketersRemerge Careers

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 science2:14 A physicist’s view of complex systems in mobile data science5:03 The granularity of incrementality and uplift modeling6:05 Sure things, persuadables, lost causes, and sleeping dogs11:31 Uplift modeling when there is no baseline13:31 Uplift vs causal vs attribution models16:48 What people get wrong with multi-touch attribution25:44 Dealing with the challenge of the iOS14 update27:50 The role of marketing mix modeling33:51 Validation: Engaging customers after conversionQuotes:(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 LinkedInBeat (Psst Beat is hiring)

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 background7:05 A day working around the world8:40 Preventing agency burnout12:41 The gift of feedback16:30 Shooting for jobs we think we’re “unqualified” for19:44 Advice for others beginning their careers23:28 Sources of inspirationQuotes:(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 LinkedInM&C Saatchi PerformanceBook: The Making of a Manager by Julie ZhuoFilm: This Changes Everything

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 background6:50 Rocket internet strategy defined10:20 The beginning of Fondeadora14:30 Abdala’s concept of growth17:00 Abdala’s launch into performance marketing22:12 Fondeadora’s hyper growth26:50 How to build an event tracking plan for growth29:30 Criteria for an event worthy of tracking34:24 Mexico’s first metal debit cardQuotes:(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:Abdala Pineda’s LinkedInFondeadora

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 scene9:42 Lexi’s background12:10 What sets App Annie apart (psst… they’re hiring!)17:32 How the pandemic affected mobile habits20:31 Dating app user behavior during Covid23:37 Mobile gaming user behavior during Covid25:32 The rise of in-app subscriptions25:52 What apps counter-balanced the dip in travel apps28:25 A deeper dive on mobile gaming users and behavior now33:50 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 LinkedInApp AnnieApp Annie CareersNote (min. 8:30) - Warby Parker and Bailey Nelson are two different brands that both sell eyeglasses.

Alicia Horsch, Data Scientist at Social Point, discusses the use of Causal Impact in measuring offline campaigns. She explains how the package works, the importance of control groups, and evaluating prediction accuracy. The podcast also covers the challenges in selecting models and the importance of considering additional information for decision-making.

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 background5:38 Adapting to Apple’s privacy changes7:42 Voodoo and casual games9:46 Voodoo’s vision for entertaining the world13:25 Managing UA for hyper-casual games15:34 What Voodoo looks for when hiring UA managers and marketers24:45 How the role of UA managers has changed over the yearsQuotes:(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:Janos Perei’s LinkedInVoodoo

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 background8:17 From finance to gaming 12:40 Learnings from internal retargeting operations15:25 Moving to a third party vendor for retargeting18:27 Maximizing the value of your core customers 23:35 Top pillar underestimated with retargeting integrationsQuotes:(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:Pablo Bereskyj’s LinkedInEtermax

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 background7:37 From gaming to all verticals13:24 Unlimited creatives for UA clients19:23 Addict’s “rules” for creative25:30 How Addict guarantees profitability29:45 Expansion in the USQuotes:(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:Grégoire Mercier’s LinkedInAddict Mobile

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 background5:04 Making lateral progress11:41 When considering a new opportunity15:35 Georgie’s success-forming habits20:43 Managing junior teammates25:24 Different types of decisions30:35 Speaking upQuotes:(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 LinkedInHelloFreshEducated: A Memoir by Tara Westover (Book)How I Built This (Podcast): https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this?t=1624260883464