On May 3rd - May 7th, 2021 Mobile Apps Unlocked held a virtual version of its mobile-focused conference. MAU CONNECT is invitation-only for Heads of Growth Marketing, Mobile, Apps, and Marketing from consumer-facing brands who have active or planned mobile apps of scale. Exclusively catering to specific challenges companies are faced with, putting them in front of the right solutions providers driving progress in that field. 

Take a look below for the top takeaways from the unique conference organization to content coverage, written by MAU Vegas marketing staff.

Event Set up & Organization

Efficient & Effective  

Our attendees hear straight from mobile growth leaders and how they’re tackling all the opportunities that have come with 2020 and navigating the future of a generation. This is what sets our event apart from other virtual experiences – brands share their challenges, needs & goals, we set up one-on-one meetings based on that information to ensure this is an efficient and effective use of everyone's time.  

Relevance 

All of our content is peer-led, meaning our speakers are people that the industry wants to hear from, sharing actual strategies for the current conditions and moving into the future.  

On-demand 

Aside from one-on-one meetings (for which, attendees hand-select their availability!), there’s no pressure to “attend” the event. Everything is available for to watch at leisure. We deliver virtual meetings with the best solution providers in the market.  All solution providers are thoroughly vetted and matched based on specific challenges and current projects. There is a minimum of 6 meetings, and no maximum so our attendees are in the driver's seat.

Solutions 

Our event is powered by in-depth matching algorithms, refined ranking, scheduling software plus our personal connections with each participant. We arrange guaranteed meetings, that are mutually beneficial, with the best solution providers in the market so you can stick to doing business while we take on the heavy lifting.

It’s Worth It 

Our impressive list of sponsors are happy to put up the investment in return for audience exclusivity. This is why MAU Connect limits invitations to decision-makers with upcoming or ongoing projects, carefully vetted with the help of our Attendee Relations Manager. MAU Connect is completely free to qualified attendees and includes some swag like Apple Watches, Airpods or charitable donations to those who take meetings. 

 

Join In On The Fun

SAVE THE DATE 

MAU Vegas is set to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas from October 14th - 15th, 2021! Pre-register to stay in the loop! Hotel reservations are now available in our discounted block, book now. 

 

MAU Connect Speakers and Sessions 

Learn from the leaders driving mobile innovation in an ever-changing climate. The following are topic discussion coverage, along with their expert speakers.

Sessions include: 

 

The Future of Measurement: How Implementing Predictive Insights Early Within Campaigns Can Help Marketers Double Down on Success:

As the advertising ecosystem prepares for the future of measurement in a post-IDFA world, join Mike Shields, Host of Next in Marketing podcast as he dives into the world of Predictive Analytics with mental fitness app Calm’s Data Scientists, Ben Paul and Evan Baker, and Brian Quinn, President and General Manager, North America at AppsFlyer. 

    • Mike Shields, CEO, Shields Strategic Consulting & Podcast Host, Next in Marketing 
    • Brian Quinn, President & GM, North America, AppsFlyer 
    • Ben Paul, Senior Data Scientist, Calm 
    • Evan Baker, Data Scientist, Calm

 

Navigating an app advertising business through iOS 14: 

The changing tides of platform conflict and privacy will have a profound effect on advertising monetization, beginning with the implementation of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework in iOS 14.5. The disciplines of programmatic monetization, direct sales, and partnerships will all shift drastically based on new scarcities in the marketplace. Learn how WeatherBug, a US-based weather media company that reaches 15 million users each month, is building towards a starkly different advertising landscape than the app ecosystem affords today. 

    • Mike Brooks, SVP of Revenue, WeatherBug

 

What will the Marketing and Growth team of the future look like: 

A discussion of how Next Games, a leading free-to-play developer based in Finland, leverages established IP to drive profitable growth. 

    • Yiannis Alexopoulos, Chief Growth Officer, Next Games 
    • Adam Lovallo, Co-Founder, MAU

 

Optimize Your Organic Traffic: 

 In this 20 minute presentation, Enric Pedró, reviews the best strategy to improve an app mobile store presence. Going beyond the basics of the App Store vs Google Play differences, Enric covers several methodologies and tools to effectively optimize your app visibility and store conversion rate. 

    • Enric Pedró Puig, Head of Social Gaming, Zitro Games

 

Building a Data-driven creative framework: 

Want to learn how to design creatives that bring the highest conversion and LTV? I will discuss the creative process from competitor research to brainstorming and final creative production, creative formats, where to look for inspiration and which tools to use for creative intelligence.  

    • Matej Lančarič, User Acquisition & Marketing Expert, lancaric.me

 

Telling Brand Stories with Performance Media:

Most performance marketers do not explore the different ways that organic and/or brand traffic can amplify your paid performance. By reviewing the various channels your brand engages with your users, it is possible to find new ways to leverage your brand to help increase conversion on our paid campaigns. This presentation focuses on how Weee! utilize brand stories to help increase our social/brand awareness, which led to a direct, positive impact on paid marketing. 

    • Jonathan Lau, Sr. Director of Growth, Weee!

 

 How to unlock TV and OTT as a new performance marketing channel: 

 As app brands grow their marketing, many reach the point of diminishing returns in traditional (digital) channels. For many, both linear TV and OTT are of interest but present a new challenge in what is viewed as an old-school medium. Learn some proven tactics to determine channel/product fit and execute a strategic performance-focused test with true scale potential. 

    • Lomit Patel, VP Growth, Together Lab

 

A Path to a Paid Loop: Balancing Growth and Monetization: 

You gotta spend money to make money! Lingvist, a language learning platform, began monetizing in 2018 but they were nowhere near their target LTV/CAC ratio on paid channels. Get a candid look at Lingvist’s challenge to build a paid growth loop while maintaining free user retention. Learn how user segmentation, paywall, trial and pricing experiments led to breakthroughs (and failures) in their growth metrics. 

    • Scott Dodson, Chief Marketing Officer, Hero Gaming

 

Marketing Instrumentality: Be Confident in Your ROI:

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”. – John Wanamaker This age-old quote is as true today as ever. Facebook will tell you that every other conversion happening on your site is because of their ads. So will Google. So will your TV agency. How can you develop a framework to judge the true incrementality of your marketing spend and based on it, set optimal spend levels for each channel? Based on the case study of Grubhub, the nation’s leading food delivery company that sells $5B worth of food a year and grows the active diner base 67% YOY, we’ll explore practical, no-nonsense means to drive measurable growth. 

    • Alex Weinstein, SVP Growth, GrubHub 
    • An Vu, Chief Marketing Officer, Small Giant Games

 

The Case for Incrementality – Retargeting Edition: 

Have you always wondered if your retargeting campaigns are actually accretive? If so, this is the session for you. Learn from one of the best in the business as he shares different measurement methodologies, pitfalls to avoid and tactics to try. 

    • Eyal Grundstein, Head of Long Tail Marketing, SMB, Facebook

 

The Hopper Ads Engine: How Hopper Automated Their Social Advertising: 

Booking travel online – so yesterday! Booking travel via a mobile app with a prediction algorithm that processes TRILLIONS of data points allowing for personal recommendations – so Today! Hopper has integrated and unified the ad APIs of Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter to create the Hopper Ads Engine and automate all their social media campaign creation and optimization. This feat of engineering takes major effort and efficiencies for the company, specifically for the marketing department, could be a game-changer.

    • Simon Lejeune, Head of User Acquisition, Hopper

 

Beyond Branding: Leveraging Key Performance Channels: 

After years of focus on mobile performance channels, 2018 was the year for many performance marketers to start testing new channels: podcasts, email or influencer marketing. But one channel is clearly demonstrating it can be attributed and scaled to be a top performer when it comes to return-on-ad-spend (ROAS): television. Join Calm and SmartNews, to discover how two mobile-first businesses turned TV into a secret weapon to grow their business faster than their competitors. From assessing if TV is right for your company to picking the right partner or building the best creative, you will learn the do’s and don’t of this key platform for your growth mix, in the US and beyond. 

    • Matt Horiuchi, Startup Growth Advisor, LifeCouple 
    • Fabien-Pierre Nicolas, VP of US Marketing, SmartNews

 

How to Optimize Spend Using Machine Learning and Advanced Analytics: 

The team at Ibotta has shifted how they think about spend optimization and the role technical teams play in increasing the efficiency and yield of their marketing spend. In this session, learn how they leveraged Machine Learning to drive $5M+ in incremental Net Income. 

    • Cody Ryan, VP of Growth Marketing, Ibotta

 

The Engagement Challenges of a Seasonal App: 

‘Tis the season … for apps! What happens when your app usage fluctuates by 50% every 6 months – naturally? For sports apps, including Fishbrain, which focuses on fishing, it means you need to capitalize in-season as well as mitigate the drop in engagement during the offseason. No fish story here just some great bait for external marketing tactics and adjustments to the user experience to correspond to different user needs at different times of the year. 

    • Hana Aljoofri Edlund, Marketing Director, Billhop

 

Building for the Future: How Priceline App Fuels Long-Term Brand Growth: 

    • Lori Bernstein, Sr. Director, Mobile Product, Priceline.com

 

The Path to Incrementality: Lessons from SeatGeek: 

Paid marketing is a huge growth driver and the biggest expense item for most of our companies. Given that, understanding the true incrementality (not just what Facebook and Google are reporting) is critical to effectively scaling your business. But what does that mean? And how do you get there? This session will provide a framework for getting from where you are today to a true understanding of marketing incrementality. And you’ll hear practical lessons from SeatGeek’s current journey along that path. 

    • Shoji Ueki, Head of Marketing and Analytics, Point

 

Podcasts: The Next Big Marketing Channel (You Heard It Here First): 

If video killed the radio star, will podcasts be the death of traditional TV? Podcasts are the future of audio advertising, as brands are moving away from classic radio to tap into this profitable world. Get the secrets behind this audio revolution as we share the basics of podcast advertising and tactics to make this channel a performance-oriented one. 

    • Gessica Bicego, Sr. Director of Growth, Performance Marketing, Blinkist

 

Where the Fun Begins: How Gamification Drives Growth for Duolingo:

How do you say revolutionary in French? Spanish? Hebrew? Not sure – ask Duolingo. With over 300 million total users Duolingo is the most downloaded education app in the world. Its success is largely attributed to the ability to turn learning a language into a game. Duolingo shares how it uses gamification to reinvent language education and drive explosive growth. This is most certainly not Game Over! 

    • Cem Kansu, VP of Product, Duolingo

 

Summary:

  • MAU Connect offers an exclusive opportunity to sponsors and advertisers, bringing together growth leaders directly to solutions they have shown interest in. Sponsors are connected directly with people interested in their solution, for one on one meetings, pre-set by the conference organizers - a high-value commitment.\
  • Speakers range from various industries and verticals and cover a wide range of highly relevant topics, allowing fellow mobile marketers to directly apply learnings to their mobile strategy. This exchange of knowledge is only available to advertiser attendees or specific sponsors, based on sponsorship level.
  • MAU Vegas is back! The in-person conference is a GO and is scheduled for October 2021. Mobile marketers looking for that in person highly valued experience should consider this event as a top priority conference to attend for Q4. Start planning and allocating those travel budgets because live events are back! Apply here to attend.