MobileGroove

To turn a title into a breakout success, studios must think beyond traditional UA—blending marketing, product, and player experience to drive growth. In this episode of MobileGroove, powered by Verve, Peggy Anne Salz speaks with Luis de la Cámara, VP of Marketing at Rovio, about how Rovio masters this formula and the steps indie studios can take today to stand out.

An industry veteran, Luis shares his advice on diving into powerful IP and in-game collaborations, product-led growth, and engaging players across demographics. He also explains how app store algorithms amplify top-grossing games, trends to watch in 2025, and the UA channels that give studios the best chance of breaking into the market and disrupting the status quo. 

Luis de la Cámara - https://www.linkedin.com/in/luiscamaraking/

Rovio -https://www.rovio.com/

Verve - https://verve.com/

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:30 - Product-led marketing

08:40 - The "Snowball Effect" in mobile gaming

11:48 - Hybridcasual trends

13:42 - Promising alternative targeting techniques

17:02 - Most effective UA channels

20:09 - How demographics shape gaming genres

25:07 - Building publisher-side audiences

26:20 - Bringing brands into games

30:02 - Monetization trends in 2025

Smart. Scalable. Viral. Three words to sum up what3words’ smart marketing strategy that excels on three fronts: an in-house programmatic team that moves fast and optimizes faster, a word-of-mouth flywheel that gets customers to spread the message for them, and big-league brand partnerships that rocket revenue and reach. In this episode of MobileGroove, our host, Peggy Anne Salz, chats with Jane Stephenson, Marketing Director at what3words, and Michelle Dunn, Head of Consumer Marketing, about how they’ve turned a simple but powerful idea—dividing the world into 3x3 meter squares with unique three-word addresses—into an international success. With millions of users across 193 countries, partnerships with brands like Lamborghini, Land Rover, and DHL, and real-world impact through collaborations with emergency services like the LA Fire Department, what3words is more than just another app—it’s a case study in strategic marketing, organic growth, and brand storytelling done right. From TV shows casually featuring them in plotlines to real-life rescue stories that fuel social media buzz, they’ve mastered the art of making their audience do the talking. If you’re into creative, high-impact marketing that gets results (without breaking the bank), you won’t want to miss this one!

00:00 - Intro

02:16 - What is what3words?

04:35 - Making functional feel personal

06:23 - Successful brand partnerships

09:58 - The wild use cases

11:40 - Measuring what works

15:10 - In-house performance marketing

18:58 - Building beyond the app

23:48 - Media equity and alternative ads

29:50 - How what3words makes money

32:32 - A pivotal moment

Marked by a crazy dynamic of fewer downloads and stronger player spending, mobile gaming is gearing up for its climactic finale against the industry's biggest boss in what Gonçalo Martins, VP of Marketing at BoomBit, calls the "mobile gaming trilogy." In this episode of MobileGroove, powered by Verve, Gonçalo releases his director's cut, complete with strategies BoomBit is using to adapt and thrive in 2025. From cross-promotion to get more value out of interested players to new ad mon approaches that make more out of first-party data, he candidly shares the strategies BoomBit will follow to make sure 2025 is a blockbuster success for your studio—so tune in for tips and trend data you can harness to make this a banner year for your game. 

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro 

01:38 - Mobile gaming as a movie genre

03:39 - Spending trends (hypercasual trends)

05:43 - What different demographics want

08:00 - Leveraging cross-promo

13:00 - Alternative targeting strategies

16:16 - First-party data strategies

21:52 - Brand advertising in games

23;52 - Monetization trends

26:08 - BI as a service

27:57 - SSP and DSP partnerships

31:05 - Predictions for 2025

35:00 - 2025 as a movie

Monetization in mobile gaming is a lot like composing a hit song—it’s all about finding the perfect balance between melody (user experience) and rhythm (ad revenue). In this episode of Mobile Groove, powered by Verve, we jam with Andrew Seow, Director of Monetization at Tripledot Studios and music aficionado, to uncover how his studio fine-tunes its monetization strategy to hit all the right notes—without compromising the user experience. Andrew dives into the first-party data dilemma, the balancing act between ad frequency and CPMs, and the shift from waterfalls to bidding—and what it all means for publishers. Whether you’re a monetization maestro or just tuning into ad strategies, this episode will help you keep your 2025 game plan in perfect harmony, from ID-less solutions and new ad formats to evolving monetization models.

00:00 - Intro 

02:10 - Why ad monetization feels like a broken record

06:00 - The music genres of mobile gaming: Groundhog Day vs. Firebird Suite

10:45 - Google’s bidding changes + a new rhythm for publishers

15:30 - How has Tripledot adapted its tune after IDFA

20:55 - Is first-party data a chart-topping hit or a one-hit wonder?

26:20 - Striking the right chord between ad quality and revenue

30:10 - Remixing ad formats

34:50 - Andrew’s wishlist for networks and the industry in 2025

39:20 - Ad monetization in music

Winning in performance marketing in 2025 will require a big step back from the “numbers for numbers’ sake” mindset and force companies to finally embrace smarter, more meaningful strategies that drive sustainable growth. This is the view of Megan Price, Programmatic Supervisor, and Michael Hew, Associate Director of Data & Reporting Ops at M&C Saatchi Performance, who joined Peggy Anne Salz on this episode of In The Groove. 

Megan reveals opportunities to diversify your media spend and adopt an audience-first approach that breaks through the silos that keep valuable customer and contextual data from becoming actionable. At the same time, Michael shares M&C Saatchi's measurement trifecta—an essential toolkit that combines attribution, incremental testing, and marketing mix modeling for marketers looking to balance real-time insights with a long-term vision. Join us as Megan, Michael, and Peggy Anne Salz bust popular programmatic myths and prep your data for success in 2025.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:57 - Most pressing challenges of 2025

05:04 - Practical steps to use data effectively

13:06 - Something surprising

15:50 - The exciting part of old tools

17:51 - Diversification

21:19 - Performance can serve brand marketing too 

26:17 - The right metrics to follow

29:50 - 2025 cheatsheet for brands 

35:58 - The top industry trends

38:34 - Privacy-focused challenges in 2025

40:48 - Rapid-fire insights

Great app growth is like a perfect bike ride: it takes a ride that works (your app), a sustainable pace (steady growth), and quick thinking to pivot when obstacles arise. In this episode of In The Groove with Peggy Anne Salz, Lorenzo Rossi, Co-founder and Head of Growth at REPLUG, takes us on a journey through the parallels between cycling and scaling mobile apps. Just like a high-performance rider needs the right gear and a solid plan to secure a place on the podium, your app requires precision, perseverance, and smart strategy to push past plateaus and win the race for users' attention. Lorenzo shares REPLUG's five-stage framework for transforming small budgets into big wins and offers practical advice on the growth hacks that drive success in and out of the saddle.

Lorenzo Rossi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzorossi1987/

REPLUG - http://www.rplg.io

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:37 - Why cycling is like app growth

08:19 - The 5 Stage Framework

11:41 - Strategic spend

15:01 - When to shift gears

17:45 - The supporting elements

21:19 - The must-track KPIs

24:39 - A big pivot for big results

26:40 - The way to stay responsive

30:07 - Three growth hacks

35:41 - How to enjoy the ride

39:04 - The motivational marketing billboard

40:15 - Best way to connect with Lorenzo

With rising costs and a 30% revenue cut taken by major app stores on every in-app purchase, studios can’t afford to keep placing bets on traditional models or small pockets of growth. Instead, diversification is the new mantra. Done right, it doesn’t just generate revenues; it powers value-driven experiences and optimizes every touchpoint for maximum retention. Glance, (formerly Nostra), an unconsolidated subsidiary of InMobi Group and the largest mobile gaming platform in India and Southeast Asia, and Sunday—a gaming publisher laser-focused on LiveOps and smart monetization—are two companies turning this model into gold. Deepak Venkatramani, GM of Gaming at Glance and Nicholas Bloom, Business Development Manager at Sunday, join Peggy Anne Salz in this episode to share what it takes to get your games in front of new and eager audiences. Nick takes us through Sunday’s sophisticated hybrid-casual model, supported by “game lifecycle ninjas” who understand how to keep players hooked, while Deepak details how Glance utilizes lock screens to eliminate friction, enable game discovery, and grow engagement 2x. 

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:10 - Where is the growth?

05:14 - What's unique about games?

07:54 - Accessibility for the user

09:54 - Break down your game

14:42 - Criteria for choosing opportunities

20:44 - Engagement metric uplifts

24:23 - The game beyond the game

26:15 - Segmentation and personalization

29:17 - What's next for alternatives?

$2 trillion is on the table, and only one thing will determine if your brand can carve out a portion of the pie: personalization. No longer just a buzzword, personalization has become the dividing line between average brands and top performers. As Mark Abraham explains in his latest release, the game has changed—soon, brands won’t be judged by product quality alone but by the custom-tailored experiences they deliver. Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, Co-Author of Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI and strategist for over 100 iconic brands, Mark jumps In The Groove with Peggy Anne Salz to discuss how brands can unlock an estimated $2 trillion in new growth this decade. The key to unlocking this growth is what he and his co-author, David Edelman, call "the Personalization Advantage." It’s the competitive edge he describes in his book, drawing on real-world insights from leading brands like Starbucks and Google, along with practical steps to avoid common pitfalls. With tools like the Personalization Index, the Five Promises, and a focus on AI-driven strategy, Personalized is the playbook for “strategists, not just marketers” and paves a path for success in 2025 and beyond.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

03:08 - The boldest ask from a brand

05:23 - The engagement ladder

07:11 - Dos and Don'ts of AI personalization

09:59 - p=ms

12:21 - You can start small

16:27 - Personalization high-performer 

20:35 - The Five Promises

21:52 - Pandora use case

24:28 - Delight me

27:25 - Spotify + Four Seasons use cases

29:30 - What consumers need to do

30:45 - Building trust

31:54 - Rapid-fire Q&A

34:00 - Connecting with Mark

With mobile game D1 churn rates sitting at an impressive 72%, studios can’t afford to disrupt gameplay with annoying or irrelevant ads. Sahil Modi, Partnership Manager at Audiomob, offers audio ads as an alternative. He explains how Audiomob’s contextually targeted in-game ads rocket ad revenue while reducing gameplay friction. Tune in to this episode as Sahil reveals Audiomob’s newest integration—fully equipped with user-friendly plugins and “SDKs that put the player first.”

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro 

00:58 -  What publishers think of audio ads

02:18 - Creating a cool audio experience

04:55 - CPI campaign with an audio ad

You can’t have a great game without great creatives or craft great creatives without a strong testing strategy. But, testing high volumes of creatives doesn't always translate into valuable creatives and campaign wins. So, what happens when you pause testing altogether? And which networks will let new creatives break through the noise? Spoiler alert 🚨 the answers will rock your world! Ayşen Kıratlı, Lead Growth Manager at Kwalee, dives deep into the process, pitfalls, and surprises of the publisher’s experiment, explaining which creatives are popular by platform, what to factor in when looking at winning ones, and why pressing pause on your testing might be the best strategy for your game. It’s a tactic that rocketed Kwalee’s ROAS, scaling certain campaigns by 150%, and will transform the way your studio takes on testing.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:07 - Why experiment with creatives testing?

05:29 - Difficulties breaking into new creatives

12:20 - The world won't end if you stop testing

17:51 - Creatives popular by platform

20:20 - When to test vs let go?

22:37 - Adapting strategy

25:02 - What to consider for winning creatives

27:25 - How testing shifted strategy at Kwalee

31:50 - The switch to gaming 

34:51 - Failure is one of the best teachers

37:37 - Advice on taking the first step