APP PROMOTION SUMMIT IN BERLIN – TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY
On November 30th 2017, 300 mobile marketing experts (including our Anne Droesser) met at the App Promotion Summit (APS) in Berlin, which has established itself in the scene as a permanent address for networking and professional exchange. The exclusive location of the Hotel Adlon was filled with international speakers and trade visitors so that the discussions were not confined to the German or European market, but extended to the global scale of our industry. In an article for German industry site mobilbranche.de, guest author Clément Favier, Managing Director Germany of Adikteev, put the spotlight on four topics that are currently keeping the industry occupied, and that we like to mention here as well:
1 Data, Data Sovereignty, and Transparency
Data is currently one of the most important topics in the industry, having been mentioned several times throughout the night. The basic principle was: “validate your strategy with data”. While this is nothing new for the KPI oriented industry, it was, however, discussed how far data can help to validate the success of a campaign.
Here, data sovereignty plays an important role, so naturally, this topic was also widely discussed at the APS. App marketer no longer want to rely on data given to them by platforms and global players like Google, Facebook and Co. They are more and more met with growing scepticism and the wish for higher transparency was raised more than once during the night.
2 The long way to the right marketing mix
The second big topic was the question of the right marketing mix. Of course, the answer to the question is as individual as the apps themselves. One approach was offered by Gessica Bicego, Head of Performance Marketing at Blinkist, who called out for a “marketing symphony”. The focus here lies on the market as a whole and includes channels that have been neglected by many marketers because they are merely seen as branding instruments. The analogy here is quite essential and illustrates the importance of different players to the overall success of the play. Blinkist, for example, uses content marketing, native advertising and influencer relations successfully for user acquisition. Facebook is still the strongest lead source among the social media platforms, but also Snapchat, Pinterest and Podcasts can be used successfully with the right setup. Back on track is Twitter. Several speakers reported success with campaigns executed through Twitter.
3 Multi-touch attribution contributes to better understanding in the customers
Topic number 3 is closely related to the previous one. Several speakers have emphasised the importance of understanding all the factors that contribute to the overall success in a marketing mix. It was said that it is no longer just about understanding which ad network performs most successfully, but about being able to accurately measure the value of each campaign. That is why multi-touch attribution is on a rise. It allows for a thorough understanding of different steps in a user’s journey and therefore the different steps that lead to a successful campaign.
4 Creatives become as individual as the customers
“One creative is not enough anymore to satisfy all the different audiences and platforms”. This was also one of the things that many speakers agreed with. It can be way more lucrative to adapt advertising material to target groups, channels, situations and even markets. A key factor is targeting markets differently and find out what works where etc. “Dynamic Creative Optimization” is a term that will gain more and more importance as it will allow users to see exactly the ad in the design that he is, statistically calculated, most likely to interact with.
However, this also calls for certain standards in the way ads are distributed. Clément Favier suggests that uniform quality standards could help to ensure that the user experience is right and that brands receive a worthy staging moment. It would also diminish the risk of ads that catch the user’s attention not through its creativity, but long buffering times and bad image quality – and with that the rise of adblockers.
The “next big thing” in the industry was something that nobody really dared to foresee among the speakers. However, that is not surprising, considering that new technologies and platforms often emerge along the way in continuous steps, but are honoured with great enthusiasm. As Clément Favier remarked: The summit showed that the industry is developing well and rapidly and that the growth figures are strong, too.
We are happy to be part of this industry and continue to strive in it!
