Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

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 games5:40 Dad’s influence on Jayne’s career in gaming8:08 The light from dark times in following her passions14:22 Jayne’s mentors along the way16:18 Words of wisdom for women in mobile gaming20:05 Worst and best advice Jayne ever received27:07 Developing a culture of embracing failure and learning30:30 Work-life balance33:05 Jayne’s advice to women starting their careersQuotes:(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:Jayne Pimentel’s LinkedInElectronic Arts Inc.Machine Zone

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 background3:53 Being discouraged to speak up earlier in her career6:08 Dispelling impostor syndrome7:30 Having mentors, being a mentor13:56 Perfectionism & failure19:34 How running helped her build confidence22:18 Setting expectations 25:40 Career advice for women in mobileQuotes:(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:Michelle Lerner’s LinkedInBranch

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 background6:47 How Trivago created an inclusive workplace environment12:02 Trivago’s mentorship program15:08 Inviting men to understand women’s perspective21:11 What’s holding women back24:45 On building confidence32:50 Surround yourself with inspiring peopleQuotes:(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:Fanny Jacoby’s LinkedInTrivago

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 gaming8:30 Authentic connection in a male-dominated industry12:35 Women supporters, not saboteurs15:40 Calling out unconscious bias in work meetings18:24 Getting peer feedback on your approach20:55 Paying it forward and asking for help26:34 How Riot Games has taken accountability for sexism criticism 35:40 Going beyond the superficial in coworker relationships40:35 Managing work-life balance and your career44:36 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:Jen Donahoe’s LinkedInRiot GamesKotaku article: “Inside the Culture of Sexism at Riot Games”

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 background4:45 Why Delivery Hero trusts A/B tests7:54 Plans for marketing campaign testing without device IDs11:29 KPIs for evaluating offline campaigns15:10 Measuring uplift from offline campaigns with time series21:39 Calculating accuracy with baseline models24:30 Using geo as a proxy for user-level data31:34 Looking ahead at testing solutionsQuotes: (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:Yue Meng’s LinkedInDelivery Hero

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 marketing8:28 What is the Marketing Master Map14:32 Benefits of the new digital marketing framework17:18 Breaking down the 11 steps of the customer journey24:07 What Christian’s learn about mobile marketing in the creation of the map30:28 The making of the Marketing Master Map33:28 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:Christian Eckhardt’s LinkedInCustomlyticsMarketing Master Map & Tutorial Videos

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 background10:15 What is Ibotta? Getting brands on board with the product15:07 Tracking uplift of being an NBA Sponsor of the New Orlean Pelicans17:38 The 70/20/10 philosophy20:30 Measuring uplift, calculating testing risks27:56 Where we’re investing to grow our business31:47 Surprising growth marketing results with TVQuotes:(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:Cody Ryan’s LinkedInIbotta

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 Summit10:45 Deciding on the max number of attendees for an event14:31 What Louis hears too much of in mobile marketing16:51 Curating content for App Growth Summit22:48 Reducing virtual event fatigue30:48 Overlooked challenges in putting on eventsQuotes:(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:Louis Tanguay’s LinkedInApp Growth Summit

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 20145:29 Simon’s background & 3 reasons coders make good marketers9:08 Quick history of automation in marketing evolution since 201511:00 What is kitchn.io?14:48 Entry use cases for marketing automation: quality assurance and creative testing20:44 Commitment is key for automation tools and processes21:53 The future performance marketerQuotes:(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:Simon Kreienbaum’s LinkedInGet in touch with Simon: simon@kitchn.io Kitchn.ioKitchn’s YouTube tutorials channelApptivate Ep70 with Matt Pate - How to Implement Rapid Experimentation (Finimize)

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 background6:17 Entering into performance marketing7:57 The media buying team at M&C Saatchi Performance11:09 Distinctive and engaging creative12:38 Avoiding creative fatigue15:58 The future of creative strategy18:58 End-of-year wrap-ups for brandsQuotes:(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:Megan Price’s LinkedinM&C Saatchi Performance