Appi Camper is an interview series that shines a spotlight on today's mobile elite, showcasing their expertise and knowledge. Growth leaders share trends, strategies to navigate the current market, tips to overcome present challenges, and how they approach these impacts to successfully emerge as an Appi Camper.

Spotlight with Sean Koger

Sean Koger has been working in the AdTech industry since 2011. During this time his experience has covered the gamut of advertising channels: from social media/influencer marketing, SEM/SEO, display, retargeting, to mobile ads, and now mobile measurement, automation, fraud prevention, and OTT. He's worked for industry staples such as AdRoll and Vungle (acquired by Blackstone) and currently manages the US Partnerships team at Adjust in San Francisco, where he is focusing on key technologies partnerships and business development.

When he's not focusing on deepening his relationships with Adjust partners, you can find Sean surfing at Ocean Beach (or in Laguna Beach, his hometown), hiking with his lovely wife and dog (Jerry Garcia), or playing guitar and recording music with his friends.

 

What are the trends you are seeing during this time? Any notable effects or strategies you can share?

Adjust's most recent Mobile App Trends Report suggests mobile apps experienced a sharp rise in usage in the first quarter of 2020, with new installs of apps rising as high as 132% over the same time last year. While the app economy has proven to be resilient throughout the COVID-19 crisis, some verticals like travel and e-commerce have not been immune to the uncertainty of widespread social distancing and lockdown.

We are also seeing that app marketers are looking to a broader range of networks to find new audiences. Our findings show that across the board, there is more experimentation with networks. So our suggestion would be to open the aperture of your view, but don’t go all in — the more you succeed, the more you have to handle. Alongside fraud prevention, marketing automation promises to unlock this potential, giving marketers more time to manage even more campaigns.

 

What are some of the challenges of mobile marketing during this time?

With COVID-19 throwing a wrench in our everyday life and most of us now working from home, we are seeing a true merger of the work-life and home life. With WFH comes distractions, causing many of us to greatly alter our normal work routines. With all this, automation really comes to mind. More and more we are seeing industries moving toward automation as a solution to offload the more tedious and mundane tasks.

We've seen this same trend play out in our mobile industry, where more and more marketers are looking to areas they can automate in daily routines. According to our findings, 81% of marketers surveyed said their company was planning to increase its marketing or advertising automation budget in 2020. Whether it's having the ability to optimize cross-channel campaigns in a single interface or setting up auto-bidding or AI-based scripts, like most of the modern world, mobile is moving into the era of automation, and I believe automation is a truly viable tool for the "new normal".

 

How are you adjusting to working as a remote team? Are there any tips you can share about how to make it work?

Initially, like most, adjusting to remote work was most definitely a challenge. My dog was a MAJOR fan of it and eventually, I came around too. Adjust has done an amazing job of making everyone feel connected and comfortable, by providing WFH budgets and hosting weekly "in this together" sessions where co-workers are able to connect and openly chat through their feelings and concerns during the time of COVID-19 and equality protests currently raging in the US and globally.

Here are a few personal tips for staying productive while working remotely:

  • Set up a proper desk if you can, to mimic your in-office setup. Two monitors, for instance, is imperative for me.
  • Video on in all Zoom calls. It seems cheesy, but when you are stuck in your house, it helps to speak to partners and colleagues in a virtual face to face environment. Also, plenty of internal Zoom happy hours never hurts to help the team feel connected and lower stress.
  • Try and mimic your normal workday. Even if it's tempting to wake up straight out of bed and roll into your first call, staying in a routine helps me stay sane while socially distancing.

 

What are you doing to stay positive and balanced while working remotely?

Making sure to stay active physically, mentally, and socially are key for me. Putting an emphasis on spending a few hours outside per day and doing something physical (if only taking a short walk) always helps the body and mind stay sharp. Activities like surfing, walks with my wife and dog, watching new documentaries or listening to a good podcast, and playing Zoom poker with buddies have really helped me stay in a positive state of mind during these crazy times.

I’d also like to mention that my mind and heart are fully with those fighting for equality in the US and around the world. The social justice movement is of huge importance to me personally and for Adjust. We all can and need to do better as an industry to help acknowledge where we can grow and learn and push harder for concrete changes.