Acceptable unprofitability? How Paired manages ad spend to hit home runs

It’s the last dance. For the last time on Mobile Heroes Uncensored, John & Peggy are chatting about mobile growth, mobile success, and mobile challenges. In this episode, we chat about our favorite episodes, a few of our favorite guests — there’s no way we could talk about all of them — and the places they come from, and the topics they shared. It’s been 76 shows. Thank you all for the ride, and see you around social media and on many other podcasts that both Peggy and I still on.

Apologies, but we liked Brazil so much we stayed (virtually, of course). In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with Guilherme Braz, Acquisition Senior Director at Mercado Libre, an e-commerce and fintech leader in Latin America. While he’s got great experience in mobile -- having worked at Wildlife Studios previously -- in another life he was a Bain consultant. And Gui, as he likes to be called, brings the kind of intellectual rigor you might expect from Bain to his marketing. We discuss Brazil, mobile marketing today, incrementality and media mix modeling, App Tracking Transparency, and so … much … more! Timestamps 0:00 Guilherme Braz, acquisition at Mercado Libre 7:15 Start with the problem 9:50 Brazil and super apps 13:15 Re-engagement in mobile apps 14:45 Incrementality 19:45 Attribution and incrementality 26:00 Least censored opinion about mobile marketing

If the US Postal Service says “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” we add appendicitis! While one of our guests was having emergency surgery (and is now much better!) We soldiered on with ROAD TRIP BRAZIL. In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with Christian Gaitan, formerly Performance Lead of Lemon about entering the Brazilian mobile market. Christian chats about market demographics and psychographics, as well as the most significant features and challenges of marketing mobile apps in Brazil Timestamps 0:00 Christian Gaitan from Lemon 3:30 The Brazilian mobile market 9:20 Soccer (or football) and marketing in Brazil 12:30 Best ad channels in Brazil 18:10 Trust and marketing for crypto apps 20:20 Creative optimization in Brazil 22:30 Mobile ad targeting 25:00 Least censored opinion about mobile and marketing

How will massive global trends in advertising impact mobile apps and games? In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with GroupM global director Kate Scott-Dawkins. This is not like other MHU sessions. In addition to being a former member of the United States Archery Team, Kate is a big thinker with access to huge amounts of data. She’s currently tracking 62 markets: 31 downgraded, 21 upgraded, and 10 stayed the same. But as the global economic outlook suffers, the digital advertising ecosystem is being impacted, she says. The good news: it’s still growing. The bad news: it’s not growing quite as fast. We chat about retail media, ad spend, mobile economies, and how marketers and app publishers should think about changing opportunities in 2023. Timestamps 0:00 Kate Scott-Dawkins 3:15 Multiple iOS app stores 5:40 6.5% global advertising growth in 2023 8:15 Mobile and CTV are outperforming 10:00 Biggest ad opportunities 13:20 $111 billion in retail media 19:00 TikTok 24:00 Least censored opinion about mobile

How big will streaming TV be for mobile user acquisition in 2023? In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with M&C Saatchi Performance managing partner Jonathan Yantz. Our focus: will streaming TV, connected TV, smart TV be a great place to run ads in 2023? CTV is one of the fastest growing ad markets. But it’s fragmented into multiple platforms and multiple services on each platform. How do you address it? How do you measure it? How do you design for it? We chat about this and many more questions as hosts John Koetsier and Peggy Anne Salz dive into CTV with Jonathan Yantz. Timestamps 0:00 Jonathan Yantz, M&C Saatchi Performance  3:01 Streaming TV and advertising 4:50 Targeting and CTV 9:30 Strategies for a fragmented market 15:05 Adapting ads for streaming media 20:50 CTV to mobile app ads 25:50 Least censored opinion about CTV advertising

Does reverse psychology work in ads? Sure, sometimes. And sometimes, just plain old psychology. In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with Philippa Layburn, UA manager for Trailmix, the games studio that makes games snackable … yet somehow nourishing. Philippa tells hosts John Koetsier and Peggy Anne Salz about her background in psychology and how that impacts her marketing and advertising, as well as her focus on science and math. We chat about creative winners and losers, Super Bowl ads, A/B testing, and how to come up with truly creative ideas for new ad campaigns. Timestamps 0:00 Philippa Layburn, UA manager for Trailmix 3:30 Merge games 4:45 Art and science in advertising 10:30 Quirky ads: yes or no? 13:00 Hook rate 15:30 Winning vs losing ads 26:00 Least censored opinion about mobile marketing

Mobile marketing intelligence can tell you which are the top apps in a category, where your competitors advertise, how they monetize, what ads are working, and which apps that you’re competing with have the highest LTV. It can also reveal emerging trends. In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored hosts Peggy Anne Salz and John Koetsier chat with Stan Minasov, VP of Product for AppMagic. We ask Stan what trend he found first, what trends people have discovered on his platform, and how to use mobile intelligence tools to get an edge on the competition. And, how to avoid what he calls “trap markets.” We also chat about the emerging trend of fake ads. Yes, literally fake ads. Timestamps 0:00 Mobile marketing intelligence 2:00 Stan Minasov, from AppMagic 4:15 Best insight and trap markets 8:40 Ad creative trends 15:20 When you need mobile marketing intelligence 20:15 Fake ads 27:00 Least censored opinion about mobile marketing 28:00 Top three tips for mobile marketers

In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with Gessica Bicego, the CMO of Paired, an app that helps couples feel more connected. We chat about influencer marketing, about hitting singles and the occasional home run, and about whether you can engineer virality or not. We also talk about diversification of ad spend, and how Bicego ensures that she is always able to take advantage of opportunities to go viral. We chat about metrics that she uses to keep on track, and we also talk about taking time out — in her case to have a child — and then coming back stronger than ever. Timestamps 0:00 Gessica Bicego, CMO of Paired 5:45 3 ways to 4X revenue 7:30 User-generated content in ads 11:25 Finding influencers 13:55 How to hit home run ads 16:30 Blended metrics for modern UA 19:20 Taking a year off 24:15 Gimmicky creatives in ads 27:55 Brand marketing for performance marketers 32:00 Most uncensored opinion about mobile marketing

Bootstrapping is great. Especially when you’re getting a suitcase full of awards for your app. In this episode of Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we’re chatting with the founder of Rootd (pronounced “rooted”), Ania Wyshocka. Rootd is an app for people who suffer from anxiety, stress, and panic attacks, and in a classic entrepreneur story, Ania built a product based on her own experiences. In the process, she’s earned a Developer Spotlight by Apple, a “30 Under 30” win, and a selection to "Canadian Woman in Tech you Should Know." Now of course, inevitably, she’s looking to paid acquisition to take her app to the next level. Hosts John Koetsier and Peggy Anne Salz chat with Ania about her journey, her choices, her revenue model, and her approach to personalization and segmentation. Timestamps 0:00 Meet Ania Wyshocka 2:55 The Rootd app 4:45 Bootstrapping to 2M users 10:50 Revenue model: subscription 15:30 Prioritizing features 17:15 Personalizing your app 21:50 Moving to paid acquisition 25:40 Least censored opinion about mobile

What mobile game literally has a tombstone in one of its promo images? A super-successful one, actually: BitLife, which has tens of millions of installs and millions of reviews. In this Mobile Heroes Uncensored, we chat with BitLife maker Candywriter. Specifically, with VP Gabby Bradford Pigott. Our focus: mashup games: what drives success, and what works best for ad-based monetization. We also chat about ad partners, managing waterfalls, and balancing user experience and monetization. Timestamps 0:00 Sim games 2:05 Gabby Bradford, VP at Candywriter 3:55 BitLife 9:00 What would you change? 10:05 Balancing UX and monetization 14:45 Rewarded video ads 18:20 Good old fashioned banner ads 22:20 Tips for picking ad networks 24:00 Waterfall optimization