It was blowing that out of the water.
Speaker:It was crushing on every single
metric that a marketer looks at.
Speaker:We saw revenue go up, we
saw our MER come down,
Speaker:which are all like your north star
metrics of like, Hey, this is working.
Speaker:This is going well.
Speaker:Hey there. Thanks for tuning into
the E-Commerce Evolution podcast.
Speaker:We're going to take just a minute and
tell you a little bit about my agency OMG
Speaker:Commerce.
Speaker:Now we work with some of your favorite
eight and nine figure D two C and
Speaker:omnichannel brands.
Speaker:And our specialty is profitable scale.
Speaker:We love taking great brands and
amplifying their growth profitably.
Speaker:We've helped a number of brands go from
zero on YouTube to spending as much as a
Speaker:million dollars in 90 days
while hitting a CAC or
Speaker:CPA target.
Speaker:We've also helped multiple brands
launch on Amazon or just add
Speaker:scale to Amazon.
Speaker:We took Boom Beauty from zero to
almost $6 million in sales their
Speaker:first 12 months on Amazon.
Speaker:So if you're not satisfied with
your current level of growth,
Speaker:if you're looking to diversify channels,
Speaker:maybe you're a little too dependent
on meta and you want to add YouTube or
Speaker:you're not pleased with
your Amazon growth,
Speaker:then we need to chat.
So visit
Speaker:us@omgcommerce.com, click
the Let's Talk button.
Speaker:We'd love to schedule a complimentary
strategy session with you.
Speaker:And with that back to the show.
Speaker:Well hello and welcome to another edition
of the E-Commerce Evolution podcast.
Speaker:I'm your host, Brett
Curry, CEO of OMG Commerce.
Speaker:And I am so excited about today's topic.
Speaker:This will be a first,
Speaker:we've never talked about this
topic in the history of the
Speaker:podcast. We're diving into AppLovin.
Speaker:How should you be thinking
about AppLovin how to use it,
Speaker:can you really scale on it? Will it
work for you? Is now the time to scale?
Speaker:And we'll get into all the ins and outs.
Speaker:And so my guest today is Miranda Pinger
Speaker:and she's an OMG client
with Cuddle Clones,
Speaker:gotten to know her and Ryan
and the team at Cuddle Clones,
Speaker:super smart marketers, amazing products.
You'll hear about those in a minute.
Speaker:And get this,
Speaker:she scaled from zero to
$80,000 a day on app 11
Speaker:last holiday,
Speaker:and now it's a staple in their marketing
arsenal and going to scale this holiday
Speaker:as well. She's going to tell you how
she did it and all the ins and outs.
Speaker:And so with that, Miranda, welcome
to the show. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker:And how's it going?
Speaker:Yeah, thanks for having me.
We're almost in the heat of q4.
Speaker:November is knocking on our door somehow.
Speaker:Crazy.
Speaker:It's already here. So yeah,
it's Black Friday time.
Speaker:It's Black Friday time
for sure. And today,
Speaker:who knows when people will
actually be watching this,
Speaker:but today was a big day for you.
Speaker:You were the keynote to a big
presentation with my buddy Taylor Holiday.
Speaker:So tell us about what you did today
because like in presentation mode today.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely. I've got
my presenter's hat on. Yeah,
Speaker:we were talking about the success of
AppLovin and channel diversification,
Speaker:which has been a main topic of this year
that I think a lot of people have been
Speaker:talking about.
Speaker:And it's been a key thing that I've
been trying to unlock for Cuddle clones.
Speaker:We've added App 11 last year. We've
added YouTube and Snapchat this year.
Speaker:So I think a more diversified
brand is a healthier brand.
Speaker:So if you're on Amazon, if you're
on lots of different places,
Speaker:I think you can reach customers in a much
healthier way versus if you're all in
Speaker:on one channel,
Speaker:you're going to have a really hard time
when that one channel is having a down
Speaker:day or is struggling to grow.
Speaker:Totally. There's more stability
with channel diversification.
Speaker:Usually the channels can feed off
of each other at least a little bit.
Speaker:There's not always a
ton of channel overlap.
Speaker:We'll actually talk about that as
it pertains AppLovin. But yeah,
Speaker:love working with you guys
and growing on YouTube.
Speaker:I think get the perfect
product for YouTube as well,
Speaker:but more on another episode
today is all AppLovin and
Speaker:also what was that event and where can
people check out the replays or do you
Speaker:know?
Speaker:Yep, you can find it on the Operator's
podcast, you can find them on LinkedIn,
Speaker:on X and on their website
and they'll have a recording.
Speaker:So if you want to hear even more in depth
from people outside of my voice who've
Speaker:really had success on the platform,
Speaker:and that's kind of where
the place to find it.
Speaker:Check it out. I love it. So
before we dive into AppLovin,
Speaker:we're going to start with that zero to
$80,000 a day scale run that you had
Speaker:last year, which is just phenomenal.
But for those that don't know,
Speaker:what is Cuddle clones?
Speaker:What do you offer and why do
pet lovers go crazy for your
Speaker:products?
Speaker:Yeah, cuddle Clones has a special
place in my heart. Say I have a horse,
Speaker:so I'm all in on the animals. And then
I have always grown up with rescue dogs.
Speaker:Amazing. And I have a rescue dog myself.
Speaker:So love animals have always been
really drawn to 'em and they hold a
Speaker:special place in my heart.
And I love the mutt mixes.
Speaker:I have a Clie cattle dog mix. So.
Speaker:Mutts are generally the best, right?
They, they're not pretentious, right? Yes,
Speaker:they're generally loyal, they're often
cute, their own signature unique looks.
Speaker:So I'm a mud fan as well.
Speaker:So all in on animals. So that's why
working with Cuddle clones is so much fun.
Speaker:And so Cuddle clones,
Speaker:what it was founded on was creating
custom replic because of your pet.
Speaker:So we have custom stuffed animals of your
dog or your cat or your horse or your
Speaker:gerbil. And most often people do buy
them when they pass away. So I think too,
Speaker:having a breed,
Speaker:I can't just go out and buy a stuffed
animal that looks like my dog because he's
Speaker:unique and everyone's dog is unique.
They don't all look the same.
Speaker:So if you go to cuddle clones,
Speaker:you can buy a stuffed animal
that looks exactly like your dog.
Speaker:They're all handmade. There's only one
of a kind. There's only one of your dog,
Speaker:there's only one cuddle clone of your dog.
Speaker:And these are phenomenal. I just want
to underscore when you say custom,
Speaker:and when you say replica of your pet,
Speaker:it's crazy how much this looks like your
pet. My business partner Chris Brewer,
Speaker:has a small dog named Bubbles who
he adores and Pauls is still living,
Speaker:but you did a clone of bubbles
and I'm telling you what,
Speaker:you look at a picture of real bubbles
and clone bubbles and you're like,
Speaker:I'm not really sure. I'm not really
sure because they're not moving,
Speaker:so I'm not really in the picture. I
don't know which is which. It's crazy.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:They're very lifelike and our team
puts so much love and care into every
Speaker:single one they create. And that's
clear when you get the product.
Speaker:And I think that's unique when you buy
something that's a hundred percent custom
Speaker:online, you might be a little
skeptical of like, Hey,
Speaker:I don't know if this is going to
turn out. I don't get to preview it.
Speaker:I'm putting in all my information in
photos and then getting a product.
Speaker:It's really special
brand close to my heart.
Speaker:And in addition to the stuffed animals,
Speaker:we pretty much sell anything you'd like
to put your pet's face on as a gift.
Speaker:We also sell on the site.
Speaker:So our other bestseller that we had a
lot of success with on AppLovin and we're
Speaker:testing on YouTube now is
your pet's face on pajamas.
Speaker:So everyone loves getting
Christmas jammies,
Speaker:so make it even more
special with your pet face.
Speaker:PJ's for grownups, kids and for your pet.
Speaker:So get some PJ's with your pet's face
on it and have your pet wear it and you
Speaker:wear it too. It's a super
fun combo. And yeah,
Speaker:love what you guys are doing
and love how you scaled.
Speaker:You guys are really smart marketers,
like I mentioned. And so let's dive in.
Speaker:So this year, YouTube is new, Snapchat
is new. Last year app 11 was new.
Speaker:What led you to test app 11?
Speaker:And then walk us through that
story of zero to $80,000 a day.
Speaker:Because my guess is that was not
your target or your expectation.
Speaker:I'm assuming that exceeded even some of
your wildest thoughts on scale there.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely. I think onboarding
any new channel is a lot of work.
Speaker:You have to get a pixel,
Speaker:you need to figure out the
ins and out of an ad account,
Speaker:you need to get your ads uploaded.
It's a lot of work regardless of.
Speaker:Panel.
Speaker:And so heading into Black Friday
last year we were a bit behind Target
Speaker:and Meta was underperforming what
we had thought it was going to do,
Speaker:and we were kind of like, this is not
looking great heading into Black Friday,
Speaker:we should be a little
bit more up on revenue.
Speaker:We were crushing all year
and then November was getting
harder as the CPMs were
Speaker:rising on meta.
Speaker:Was that the main issue you think? It
was just the competition in the auction.
Speaker:CPMs rising on meta and that's what kind
of put a damper on what was otherwise a
Speaker:great year up to that point.
Speaker:And I think economic factors too, and
the users on Meta and Meta's algorithm,
Speaker:I think other people were having similar
issues last Q4 with trying to scale
Speaker:past what they had done previously on
Meta and previous years and months.
Speaker:That's kind of where we
were at mentally last Q4.
Speaker:So that's where Sean Frank from
Ridge was tweeting all about
Speaker:AppLovin and dropped Kathy's email into
Speaker:the Twitterverse. And.
Speaker:Kathy's from AppLovin.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah, Kathy's son,
Speaker:she's awesome if you get to
see her give any presentations.
Speaker:And so we emailed her and got
onboarded pretty quickly after that,
Speaker:probably a couple days
we sent over our assets.
Speaker:At the time the platform
was not self-serve,
Speaker:so in order to get into the platform,
Speaker:you had to be spending at least
$30,000 a day on meta, and
Speaker:that was your proof that you
could get into the platform.
Speaker:They just wanted to keep it small because
it wasn't so you couldn't just get in
Speaker:there and work on it yourself yet.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:But they helped us with all of our
assets and getting things uploaded,
Speaker:and then at the time there
was an onboarding credit,
Speaker:so that was also an incentive
of, Hey, if this doesn't work,
Speaker:we'll just not spend our own money.
So that was helpful too of, okay,
Speaker:we're going to onboard with this
credit and if it doesn't work,
Speaker:we'll just turn it off
and no harm, no foul.
Speaker:Yep, totally makes sense.
I love the setup there.
Speaker:Hey, we're not hitting our goals.
We're not hitting our targets.
Speaker:And good entrepreneurs, good marketing
teams, you don't accept that,
Speaker:right? You're like, no, we want to
hit our goal and exceed our goal.
Speaker:And so what else do we have out
there? And also any smart marketer,
Speaker:you're living on D two
C, Twitter or D two CX,
Speaker:so kudos to you following smart people
like Sean Frank. And so you're like, Hey,
Speaker:let's give this app 11 thing a try.
Speaker:And so what did that look like?
Speaker:So obviously you started Zero
because it was brand new.
Speaker:How long did it take
to get to $80,000 a day
Speaker:and what did that look like?
What was that experience like?
Speaker:I'm assuming it was quite a ride.
Speaker:Yes, and so the thing about Cuddle clones
is it does most of its revenue in q4,
Speaker:so because it's a great gift, everyone
wants to buy it for the holidays.
Speaker:So that's where we're a
bit unique compared to an
average G two C brand where we
Speaker:have to work really,
Speaker:really fast in a very short window
of time because we're also custom,
Speaker:so we can't just Amazon prime
you a custom order in a few days.
Speaker:So our shipping cutoffs
are much earlier. Yeah.
Speaker:Totally. That makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker:Because the earlier we have a shorter
window, so you have to act very,
Speaker:very quickly in a short period of time
and make sure you're hitting all your
Speaker:KPIs on a daily basis.
Speaker:Every day does count when 30 days out
of the year you're going to do most of
Speaker:your revenue.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Like every day is a few weeks
or some days are a month
Speaker:to other times year. And
so it totally makes sense.
Speaker:It's nice because you can dial
up the urgency for the buyer.
Speaker:So that's real urgency,
not manufactured urgency,
Speaker:but it means you can't
screw it up every day really
Speaker:matters for driving those
new orders. So yeah.
Speaker:Were you just glued to the app 11
dashboard increasing budgets and bids
Speaker:constantly or what was that journey like?
Speaker:Yeah, you actually couldn't
touch anything at the time. Okay.
Speaker:You got it.
Speaker:There was Nova fiddling
of my fingers. So yeah,
Speaker:the team is the one at the time that
was managing all of our budgets.
Speaker:So we had a Slack channel with them and
they would give recommendations to us,
Speaker:but I genuinely couldn't touch the
platform. I couldn't adjust a budget,
Speaker:I couldn't touch anything,
which sometimes as a marketer,
Speaker:sometimes it's good to have
to ask someone else, Hey,
Speaker:can you do this for me so that
you're not the one touching things.
Speaker:So that's kind of how we started
with them. And obviously now,
Speaker:but at the time you
couldn't touch anything.
Speaker:So they onboarded with our whole
ad account, all of our videos,
Speaker:and essentially we had a $10,000 credit,
Speaker:and if I was the one doing that
with 10 grand, I'd been like, oh,
Speaker:let's spend 300,
Speaker:maybe 400 a day and then we'll go to a
thousand and then maybe we'll go to 2000.
Speaker:In my head,
Speaker:that's probably how I would spend
10 grand for the brand and they
Speaker:spent it over the weekend,
so it was like boom,
Speaker:the 10 grand was out the
door in a couple days.
Speaker:Let's go man. And so how did that
first 10 K perform? Obviously? Well,
Speaker:because you scaled up
dramatically after that, but yeah.
Speaker:What kind of CPAs were you seeing
in comparison to other platforms?
Speaker:What did that look like?
Speaker:It was blowing that out of the water.
Speaker:It was crushing on every single metric
that a marketer looks at click through
Speaker:rate.
Speaker:Validated by Triple whale. Right?
Speaker:So you're using the pixel from App 11,
Speaker:but you were really validating
through Triple Whale.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah. So we had that third party
source that you could really trust.
Speaker:We saw revenue go up, we
saw our MER come down,
Speaker:which are all your North star metrics
of like, Hey, this is working,
Speaker:this is going well.
Speaker:It's working, it's.
Speaker:Working. And so we were like, alright,
cool. Let's put our own money in this.
Speaker:Now we spent through their
$10,000, we have proof of concept.
Speaker:So at that point we were at.
Speaker:A quick question here on the volume,
Speaker:because I've got thoughts on this with
a few other platforms, YouTube namely.
Speaker:But did they recommend condensing that
Speaker:$10,000 spend into a
tight window because the
Speaker:algorithm works better that way
and because they feel like you can
Speaker:learn and grow when you spend that
much money in that tight of a window?
Speaker:Or was it more about they knew what your
goals were and they knew that you had
Speaker:this 30 days to kind of make hay and
so they were trying to hit that target?
Speaker:Yeah, I think we both were
seeing such good results.
Speaker:So early on it was kind of a no-brainer
of we just this thing day over day,
Speaker:will it break, will it hold? And
that was kind of the crazy part of,
Speaker:to sit there and say, okay,
well we spent five grand a day,
Speaker:let's go to 10 grand and then see
the 10 grand keep holding steady
Speaker:roas, keep nothing went down
that scaled crazy, alright,
Speaker:let's do 30 grand today and
then alright, let's do 45,
Speaker:let's do 50.
Speaker:And then it got to the point where within
seven days I was telling them, okay,
Speaker:let's spend $80,000 today on
Black Friday and let's just go.
Speaker:Because again,
Speaker:we have such a short window where most
marketers probably wouldn't go that hard
Speaker:in it, but it's like I've
got three weeks here,
Speaker:we got to make as much
revenue as possible.
Speaker:Totally. But it made sense because
you've got the triple oil click data,
Speaker:so you see click attributed
data from these campaigns,
Speaker:you can see your global sales,
you can see your MER globally,
Speaker:your in new customer, CPA type of thing.
Speaker:And so you knew you were on
it was working and so why not?
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:So you basically gave them your
meta ad account and then they were
Speaker:tweaking some of your top meta creatives
for that initial run or what were the
Speaker:creatives like in that first run?
Speaker:So we had some meta creatives, but
for our bestseller, the Pajamas,
Speaker:we actually didn't have a ton of video.
Speaker:Most of our winning ads
on meta were stills,
Speaker:and that's what had always
worked on meta for us.
Speaker:So we didn't invest into a lot of video
at the time because Meta didn't usually
Speaker:deliver it or spend as much on it compared
to all the stills that we would make
Speaker:of the product.
Speaker:So we actually didn't have a ton of
video when we launched and we kind of
Speaker:scraped some together of, okay,
Speaker:well here's a good voiceover and here's
some good visuals that we have in the
Speaker:drive. It was very much piecing
stuff together on the fly.
Speaker:It wasn't a giant production timeframe.
Speaker:It was working with my
creative strategist, Sydney
and us being like, okay,
Speaker:this is what we think
could work on the platform.
Speaker:Let's make a true ad because we know
someone's watching an ad and kind of see
Speaker:what happens.
Speaker:So we really didn't have a Meadow winning
video that was active in app love,
Speaker:perfectly honest. Got.
Speaker:It crazy.
Speaker:So you pulled it all together for App
11 and I think it'd actually be useful.
Speaker:I know there's been quite a bit of
chatter online and on D two C Twitter and
Speaker:stuff about App 11, but for those
that don't know, what is App 11?
Speaker:So what kind of ads are you running?
Where are these ads showing up?
Speaker:What is App 11 for the uneducated?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:so App Eleven's been around for quite
a while in the mobile app space.
Speaker:So it's a platform that's
existed for a while,
Speaker:but it's new to us e-comm folks because
it wasn't open to e-commerce before.
Speaker:So they have all this
advertising data on mobile game
Speaker:players and typically if you think about
if you've played mobile games on your
Speaker:phone, you would get more
ads for mobile games.
Speaker:And so if you're playing Candy Crush,
Speaker:you're going to get an ad for Clash
Royale or you're going to get ad word
Speaker:scapes, you're a different ad.
Speaker:And they recently then rolled out
this e-comm platform Axon to where
Speaker:now e-comm ad buyers can buy
inventory on a mobile game.
Speaker:Yeah, it's amazing. So
these are all video ads.
Speaker:They show up on mobile apps, mobile games,
Speaker:they're nons skippable, so you
could exit out of the game,
Speaker:but they're nons skippable, right?
Speaker:So if I'm playing Candy Crush and not
the paid version or whatever and the ad
Speaker:pops up, I can either close
or watch it basically.
Speaker:And in most cases, you're
actually entering into an
agreement with the game of,
Speaker:Hey, I want to earn extra coins,
I want another try at this round.
Speaker:And so you're kind of entering in this
agreement with the platform of saying,
Speaker:Hey, it's.
Speaker:A gamification of watching the
ad to earn a little something.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly. So you're entering into
this agreement with your game of saying,
Speaker:Hey, I will give you my time.
Speaker:I'm going to give you 30 seconds
of my time to watch this ad and
Speaker:you're going to give something in my game.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Love it. People go into it
knowing I'm watching an ad,
Speaker:I have voluntarily given the
click to say, I will watch an ad.
Speaker:People are expecting
to see an ad, they're.
Speaker:Expecting to see it, there's
something in it for them.
Speaker:So they're not resenting the ad maybe
like they do in other platforms.
Speaker:And so that's maybe part of why some
of these ads are really accepted and
Speaker:responded to. So super, super
interesting. Now the platform though,
Speaker:so in the early days when you scale from
zero to a hundred or zero to 80 KA day
Speaker:in less than seven days,
Speaker:that was all managed by
the app 11 team now itself
Speaker:serve.
Speaker:What does that look like and how
Speaker:important of a part of your marketing mix
is App 11 today and even when it's not
Speaker:peak season?
Speaker:Yeah, it's remained between 20 and 30%
of our media mix all throughout this
Speaker:year.
Speaker:And at this point I've spent a couple
million dollars on the platform and it's
Speaker:continued to help our brand grow this
year. And because of the seasonality,
Speaker:I'm really expecting it
more growth heading into Q4.
Speaker:And as we sit today in October, it
is our largest spending channel.
Speaker:It is currently surpassed meta by
a lot for the month of October.
Speaker:Crazy in 2025. It's so crazy.
Speaker:And we've never spent in the
month of October ever on app 11.
Speaker:So this is all brand new data and
brand new customers for October.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit about
who is the buyer here, because
Speaker:the buzzword obviously in marketing over
the last year or two is incrementality,
Speaker:meaning can we get net
new customers from this ad
Speaker:endeavor that we wouldn't
have gotten otherwise?
Speaker:Or are we just paying for another ad
that's going to be inserting itself along
Speaker:the buyer journey for people
that we're going to buy anyway?
Speaker:And what's really clear about App
11 is that these are net new buyers.
Speaker:And from your experience,
Speaker:it looks like there's not a lot of
crossover between typical AppLovin buyers
Speaker:and meta buyers. Can you
talk a little bit about that?
Speaker:Who are these buyers
coming from? App Love.
Speaker:Yeah, so we actually
looking in Triple Whale,
Speaker:we saw there was less than a 5% overlap
from our meta customers and our app
Speaker:love, and that was at of
42,000 orders last Q4.
Speaker:So it's a very large data set as well.
Speaker:So out of 42,000 orders, less than
a 5% overlap with Meta's customers.
Speaker:And we did find pretty often that the
app Levin customers were first click
Speaker:buyers. They would click on the
ad, they would go on our website,
Speaker:and they would check out that day
because you gave them 30 seconds of
Speaker:information for them to read versus
you saw still on Pinterest or
Speaker:Meta,
Speaker:or you just saw a graphic
on a Gmail website where you
Speaker:have to go learn more on the site.
Speaker:So your time on site is going to be
longer and you may need to have more
Speaker:questions answered versus if you
watch a 32nd commercial of the
Speaker:product that tells you everything about
it, you're much more ready to buy.
Speaker:Yeah, it totally makes sense. And your
product is pretty straightforward,
Speaker:at least the pajamas are the cuddle clone.
Speaker:Maybe this wasn't going to have a few
more questions and it's more expensive,
Speaker:but do you think part of that where people
were clicking and buying one day was
Speaker:because it was holiday or are
you seeing that now even when
Speaker:you're not running during, I
guess now is almost peak holiday,
Speaker:but when you're running in the off season,
Speaker:is it still kind of that click
and buy day one from map 11?
Speaker:Yeah, we do see that a lot.
Speaker:We see probably one of the highest day
one ROAS out of all our channels on app
Speaker:11 I think just because of the time that
the customer spends with you. I mean,
Speaker:attention's the new currency.
Speaker:So every app and every social media
channel is trying to just capture your
Speaker:attention and that's what you're buying
with app Love is attention for a full 30
Speaker:seconds.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah,
Speaker:it's crazy and attention
that someone has agreed ahead
Speaker:of time to give you. And
so again, I think there's
Speaker:less resistance and probably
less resentment as well,
Speaker:which has got to work in the
advertiser's favor. I would think.
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So let's do this.
Speaker:I want to spend quite a bit of time on
the creative side because as with any ad
Speaker:channel, creative is the biggest lever.
Speaker:Creative is what's really
going to move the needle,
Speaker:that's where you're going to win or lose.
Speaker:But let's talk about targeting
and media buying for a minute.
Speaker:Longtime media buyer did TV back
in the day, of course now Google,
Speaker:YouTube and Beyond and stuff.
Speaker:And so I do like to tinker on occasion
and pick audiences and all these things.
Speaker:Yeah, no, I know you, you guys
geek out about that as well,
Speaker:but what is possible, what
is not possible on app 11?
Speaker:Yeah, so there is no targeting,
Speaker:there's no toys and rules
to tinker with, which.
Speaker:Partially makes me very nervous,
Speaker:but I obviously know Sean Frank really
well and several others and seeing your
Speaker:success, I'm like, okay,
Speaker:I get it that the algorithm's smart but
still makes me a little bit nervous.
Speaker:Yeah, I think the most important part
is your ad creative doing the targeting,
Speaker:which we've talked about. Everyone's
talked about with meta, leave it broad.
Speaker:That's been a topic for the past five
years of don't put target demos on your
Speaker:meta account, leave it broad,
let the ads do the targeting.
Speaker:I think that's kind of the brave new
world that we're going to live in as
Speaker:advertisers of making
really good creative that
Speaker:an algorithm can pick up of
who to serve it to. I mean,
Speaker:I think all the social platforms,
Speaker:platforms have cracked that with organic
content and viral reels, viral tiktoks,
Speaker:they knew who to show it
to based on a few times.
Speaker:So the same thing's going
to happen with advertising.
Speaker:Makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:And so basically the levers you
have to pull mostly creative,
Speaker:we'll talk about that in a minute,
but you've got your budget,
Speaker:it's your daily budget, you've
got bid and that's pretty much it.
Speaker:And how do the bids and budgets work?
Speaker:Yeah, so you'll set either for e-comm,
Speaker:you've got cost per purchase
or you've got a target roas.
Speaker:So whatever works for your business,
you can try both. I've tested both.
Speaker:I have success with both and
whatever works for your business.
Speaker:And then you're going to set a goal.
Speaker:So whether that's your target
goal is to hit a 300% ROAS or a
Speaker:100%, whatever that is,
Speaker:you're going to input your goal there
or your cost per purchase goal and the
Speaker:algorithm's going.
Speaker:To do you start with that goal. So
when you first launch with App 11,
Speaker:do you recommend having a goal or you
recommend having a little more open where
Speaker:they're just like, Hey, get me
as many conversions as you can.
Speaker:I would recommend having a goal that's
closest to your business objectives.
Speaker:The algorithm's pretty smart to know to
put you in the auctions that it thinks
Speaker:it can win on. So that's what I've
discovered is putting the truest business
Speaker:goal that you can into the auction and
that way it can go out and find your
Speaker:ideal customer at a target
that makes sense for you.
Speaker:The other options you have for targeting
are either day zero roas or day seven.
Speaker:So if you want more data,
Speaker:usually I would recommend using day seven
because it's going to just the system
Speaker:more data. I use seven
day on meta as well.
Speaker:So that's just kind of what I found
the most successful for our brand.
Speaker:But you can do whatever fits
your business objectives,
Speaker:but usually day seven is feeding
it the most data as possible.
Speaker:Makes sense. And I think
just like any platform,
Speaker:the more conversion data you feed it
feed the better the algorithm is going to
Speaker:get. And if you have the seven day window,
Speaker:you can rest with some confidence that
there's going to be a lot of day one or
Speaker:day zero conversions. Those
will be captured obviously
in that seven day window.
Speaker:So yeah, that totally makes sense.
Speaker:And so then what kind of data
can you see from this then?
Speaker:Are you seeing things like CPM and
Speaker:CTR and CPCs and things like that?
Speaker:Is it calculating those
and showing those to you,
Speaker:or what does the reporting look like?
Speaker:Yeah, you'll see the same
things you see in meta,
Speaker:I think what makes it different or
again, your interactives, your end cards,
Speaker:those are things separate from your video,
Speaker:but you'll still see your click through
rates, your CPMs, what you're paying,
Speaker:and then you can also still
see day zero, day seven,
Speaker:day 28 row and platforms similar
to how you can measure in meta,
Speaker:especially if you don't have a North
Beam or a triple whale to pull out those
Speaker:attribution windows
longer than seven days.
Speaker:Got it, got it. Makes sense.
Speaker:And then are you actively
going in and pausing
Speaker:creatives,
Speaker:adding new creatives or mostly are you
letting the algorithm do its thing and
Speaker:basically if there's a
creative that's not working,
Speaker:it's going to take that to zero on
its own. What does that look like?
Speaker:I think it all depends on the journey
you're on with app 11 and where you're at.
Speaker:I think you should pause ads after
Speaker:a certain period of time if they
aren't working for your business,
Speaker:especially if you have a lot of them
in there. If you've only got 30 or so,
Speaker:I would just let them all, leave
them all on, let them learn.
Speaker:But we got to the point where we had a
couple hundred in each campaign and then
Speaker:it got to the point where it was
like, okay, we have a lot of data,
Speaker:we're feeding the system, let's
try and concentrate this more.
Speaker:So at that point we did go in and turn
off ads that didn't perform over a 60 day
Speaker:window. So we gave it a lot
of time to see if like, Hey,
Speaker:is this going to be successful?
Then we did turn some ads off,
Speaker:but I think you're perfectly safe to
leave them on for a long period of time,
Speaker:especially as you're starting.
Speaker:Cool, that's great.
Speaker:And then are you doing
one consolidated campaign
Speaker:per product line? So maybe you guys
did one for clones, one for PJ's,
Speaker:or are you doing separate campaigns
maybe by avatar or customer persona?
Speaker:What does that look like?
Speaker:We have just one campaign
per product type.
Speaker:So PJ's have their own campaign clones do.
Speaker:That's how I run everything on Google
and Snapchat and Meta just to keep those
Speaker:personas of that product in one place.
Speaker:The conversion rate is the same and
the A OB is the same per product.
Speaker:So I wouldn't recommend mixing products,
Speaker:but I think keeping them in their
own campaigns, this is fine.
Speaker:You can have a hundred ads on
one product and be healthy.
Speaker:Got it, got it. And the algorithm
is going to decide, okay,
Speaker:I know who going to like this ad and
who's watching, who's responding to it,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:And they won't spend on an ad
that's not successful either.
Speaker:I think that's something important to
note that it's not going to pick up an ad
Speaker:and spend a lot of money
on it at a bad ros,
Speaker:which I think sometimes you'll see
happen in meta if it's not successful and
Speaker:it's not hitting targets, it's not
going to spend very much on it,
Speaker:so it's going to drop to the bottom.
Speaker:So I would not worry about that happening
because I think people worry about the
Speaker:meta of like, oh,
Speaker:it picked up this ad and it's spending
crazy money and it's a 0.2 roas.
Speaker:I don't dunno what Meta's doing with it.
Speaker:That won't happen with Apple and I
have not seen that happen. And again,
Speaker:that's with a couple hundred
creative we've tested,
Speaker:I have never seen that happen.
Speaker:Got it. Totally makes sense. Okay,
Speaker:so let's get into the
creative side of things.
Speaker:This is where the magic really
happens. So these are all video ads,
Speaker:they're all vertical, correct? So
we're not running landscape ads,
Speaker:these are all nine by 16 or four
by five or one by one, correct?
Speaker:Or are they all nine by 16?
Speaker:They all need to be nine
by 16. Yeah, no scores.
Speaker:Got it. So all nine by 16.
Speaker:Talk a little bit about
how long are these ads,
Speaker:what are the requirements of the platform
and where are you finding the most
Speaker:success? At what ad length
are you finding wins?
Speaker:You can upload up to 60 seconds.
Speaker:I would recommend doing at
least 30 at the low end.
Speaker:You can upload shorter than that,
Speaker:but we usually see a lot more
success having longer ads.
Speaker:People go in there expecting
to watch a longer ad.
Speaker:So I think if you only
showed them 15 or 16 seconds,
Speaker:you're just not utilizing the platform
enough and the time that you have with
Speaker:the customer.
Speaker:And I think just to draw a
quick parallel to YouTube,
Speaker:we spent millions a month on
YouTube and we see the same thing.
Speaker:You can run fifteens and people like them
and maybe they get less frustrated or
Speaker:something like that, but
usually people don't respond,
Speaker:they don't click or they
don't convert. And so yeah,
Speaker:I love that 30 to 60 seconds
and just test within that
Speaker:window,
Speaker:but you got a captive audience they've
agreed to watch and so tell them enough
Speaker:to get them excited to
overcome objections,
Speaker:to get them to click and to take
action. So that makes a ton of sense.
Speaker:Now are you running polished ads?
Speaker:Are these like UGC mashups?
Speaker:Do these look like a meta
ad look more like a TV ad?
Speaker:Talk about the style of ad.
Speaker:Yeah, I would say it's kind of
right in the middle of those things.
Speaker:So we've got millions of followers
on TikTok and on Instagram and
Speaker:Facebook and those viral entertaining
videos that everyone's like, oh,
Speaker:just plug it into meta,
it's going to work.
Speaker:That actually doesn't work
great on the platform.
Speaker:Someone's going in there
expecting to see an ad.
Speaker:So I think you can still be entertaining
and you should still be entertaining as
Speaker:a brand, but I don't think
you need to be super polished.
Speaker:And I also don't think you should run
something that's pure entertainment driven
Speaker:because someone's expecting to see an
ad and I think you're not utilizing your
Speaker:time with the customer if you aren't
giving them information about the product
Speaker:and following a story
arc about your product.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:it's such good advice and I think you
could draw a few parallels to TV just more
Speaker:from a call to action standpoint
or a structure this like an
Speaker:ad versus an organic post that you just
want to go viral on TikTok or something
Speaker:where if you look at, and
I come from the TV world,
Speaker:if you run a TV ad that's
just entertaining or just fun,
Speaker:people may watch it and
people may remember it,
Speaker:but they're not going
to take action on it,
Speaker:they're not going to make a purchase.
Speaker:And so you need to structure that ad
where you are telling people where to
Speaker:go, what to do, getting them hyped up
to buy, you got to ask for the sale,
Speaker:things like that. And so totally
makes sense. Make this a commercial,
Speaker:not just a fun viral video.
Speaker:So what are some of the components then
if you look at your winning ads versus
Speaker:ads that did not win,
Speaker:what are some of the components or what
are some of the things that the winning
Speaker:ads have in common?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:the winning ads definitely flow
more like an advertisement than an
Speaker:entertaining video that you
would see on social media.
Speaker:So I think that's something to keep
in mind and I think the more you can
Speaker:overcome objection ahead of time for the
customer when you are telling a story
Speaker:to them is the most important. So
some of our winning videos have,
Speaker:we sell long pajamas,
we sell short pajamas,
Speaker:we sell pajamas for
your kids and your dogs.
Speaker:So those questions are already
out of your head of, oh,
Speaker:well can I get this for my kids?
Speaker:So they have kids sizes already have
overcome that objection. Would highly
Speaker:recommend taking all your meta comments
and questions and putting them in an ad
Speaker:because we would get those all the time.
How can you overcome them before that?
Speaker:They even have to go looking for it.
Speaker:So I think that's a really important
thing to keep in mind when you're running
Speaker:ads there. And also just give them
all of the features and benefits.
Speaker:If you're selling a supplement, what
are the health benefits that you'll see?
Speaker:What is the before and after state? What
is the problem you're trying to solve?
Speaker:And then give them the solution
with your product. So I think.
Speaker:That.
Speaker:Can go very DR style and you are wanting
to get a response and a reaction from
Speaker:these people.
Speaker:So how can you tell your story in that
short window to where there's nothing
Speaker:left they have to question except
putting their credit card in.
Speaker:Totally makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker:it's one of those things where
questions left unanswered
Speaker:objections left unaddressed
will cost someone to not take
Speaker:action,
Speaker:they're not going to click and they're
not going to do what you want them to do.
Speaker:And so yeah, what are the FAQs, what
are the top features and benefits,
Speaker:address those and then ask for the clicks.
Speaker:Are you guys kind of following one of
the YouTube formulas that we use as hook
Speaker:product demo social proof,
Speaker:which we weave some objection busting
in there and then call to action and
Speaker:there's some different layers and
different things we do there as well,
Speaker:but would that kind of be the
flow for AppLovin as well? Right.
Speaker:We still want to think about even
though we get a captive audience,
Speaker:we still want to think about the hook,
Speaker:still need the product demo there still
need some objection busting and social
Speaker:proof and they need a
clear call to action.
Speaker:Any tweaks or nuances
you would share there?
Speaker:No,
Speaker:I would just say that the hook is
important but it is not going to make or
Speaker:break.
Speaker:I think about a YouTube ad if you don't
capture their attention in five seconds.
Speaker:Your host, yeah.
Speaker:Audio, but same thing with meta.
Speaker:If you don't capture your attention in
0.2 seconds, you're scrolling. So I.
Speaker:Think.
Speaker:That's the point where you
don't have to do, I think meta,
Speaker:you have to get a little crazy with your
hooks to get someone to stop scrolling
Speaker:and yeah.
Speaker:That thumb stop rate is huge for YouTube,
Speaker:the skip rate is huge or
the view rate is huge,
Speaker:but here is it maybe more that the
hook is about getting someone in
Speaker:the right frame of mind and getting
them thinking about your product or
Speaker:prepping them for selling
rather than thumb stop or view
Speaker:rate.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:And some of our winning ads
is our pajamas in a state that
Speaker:kind of looks like a fireplace,
Speaker:so you kind of get that
cozy energy from it and.
Speaker:Totally you're.
Speaker:Like, oh, this is cozy, this is warm,
Speaker:this is the emotion
that comes with pajamas,
Speaker:which is important. Same thing if
you're selling a problem solution.
Speaker:If you're selling
something for performance,
Speaker:what is the feeling you're going to
have with that product to start the ad?
Speaker:I love that. Yeah. What emotion
do you need to evoke for this?
Speaker:It's like love and adoration for
your pet and it's just good family
Speaker:vibes and stuff like that.
As we lean into holiday,
Speaker:the fireplace and stuff kind of
feels like Christmas morning.
Speaker:It all just feels right.
Speaker:So it's like getting someone
in the right frame of mind,
Speaker:love that so little nuance on the hook,
Speaker:you're prepping them to sell them,
Speaker:you're not so much worried about
thumb stop rate or view rate.
Speaker:So that's really cool.
Speaker:What other elements in the ad itself,
Speaker:and I want to talk about things like
in card and the DPAs and stuff that are
Speaker:part of this. So I think a lot
of people don't dunno about,
Speaker:so we'll talk about that in a minute,
Speaker:but other elements of the video ad
itself that are critical to have.
Speaker:It's really important to
have an offer in your video.
Speaker:Obviously we know offers
are important in e-commerce,
Speaker:give someone a reason to buy,
Speaker:but I think we've even tested not having
offers and ads to see what's going to
Speaker:change and usually the click-through
rate drops by at least 2% statistically.
Speaker:Whoa. So when you say offer,
Speaker:you're saying specifically
save this much, get this deal,
Speaker:we've got this sale or
this promotion going on.
Speaker:So you're talking about
that kind of offer.
Speaker:Yes, for sure. So what's the offer?
Speaker:And it's easy too to switch out if you
don't have an offer in the video and you
Speaker:want to have it in an end
card or an interactive,
Speaker:you could change those out every weekend
if you've got a different offer every
Speaker:weekend.
Speaker:So that's also a unique thing where you
don't have to go shoot a whole new video
Speaker:or edit into Premiere and edit a video.
Speaker:That's great. That's great. Okay, cool.
So let's actually talk about that.
Speaker:So every video ad then has
an in card and an interactive
Speaker:after it. So talk about what
are those and how do those work?
Speaker:So you'll have images that you can upload
and then you'll also have interactives
Speaker:and the system will feed through in
testing different things. So images,
Speaker:you could take your top stills from
meta and reincorporate them as your end
Speaker:card.
Speaker:You can take product images
of no context at all,
Speaker:just product image and you could also
just go very off or heavy on your end card
Speaker:of like, Hey, black Friday sale
going on now save 50% bogo,
Speaker:whatever that is.
Speaker:You can also put into that image the
interactive end cards are different.
Speaker:So those are more of, it says interactive,
Speaker:so you can scroll on them.
Some of them are quizzes.
Speaker:You could run a quiz and
someone can click on it.
Speaker:So you're trying to get the
user engaged with the ad.
Speaker:I'm sure if you've played a mobile game,
you've played one where it's like, hey,
Speaker:drag this over here in the
ad so that you're touching it
Speaker:and that makes you more
likely to engage with it.
Speaker:So these are the same way with
e-comm where you can ask a quiz.
Speaker:You can also make them scrollable so
there's somewhere you can input a bunch of
Speaker:images and then the user can scroll
through them so they're actually touching
Speaker:the ad and interacting with it.
Speaker:So great.
Speaker:And there's also something psychological
about if you are interacting with the
Speaker:ad, clicking on things
or hovering over things,
Speaker:you're more likely to
take action and purchase.
Speaker:And so what I'm going to do,
Speaker:I'm actually going to share
my screen and we will walk
Speaker:through one of your ads.
I'm going to mute it.
Speaker:I know this is only going to be most
valuable for people that are watching the
Speaker:YouTube video,
Speaker:but I'm going to have you give a
commentary here and I'll chime in as well,
Speaker:Miranda as we go.
Speaker:But this is one of your current winning
ads and you can see if you're watching
Speaker:this, we got, what is this word?
Speaker:Scape is the game that
someone is playing here and so
Speaker:of course they're trying to level up or
whatever got this bonus gift and then
Speaker:here's the ad,
Speaker:and now we're seeing a closeup of the
pajamas with a cute furry dog on there and
Speaker:then someone holding their pet.
There's that family room with
Speaker:the family. Kind of taking a look here,
Speaker:how did you select these? So these videos
that they're showing us rapid fire,
Speaker:it's showing clips of different
styles of pajamas, pajamas on people,
Speaker:pajamas that are folded and kind
of on the bed type of thing.
Speaker:How did you select the
video clips for this?
Speaker:Yeah, we wanted to have a variety and
I think when you have UGC content,
Speaker:mixing it with a voiceover we have
is really effective of keeping
Speaker:attention and then also showing
different use cases of the product.
Speaker:So we don't just have a 20-year-old
influencer wearing pajamas. We have the.
Speaker:Whole.
Speaker:Family around the tree. We
have kids, we have the dogs.
Speaker:There's a lot of content around the tree
in this ad at Christmas time to kind of
Speaker:evoke that feeling of.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:Having Christmas pajamas.
Speaker:Just giving family all that.
Speaker:Yeah, so those are kind of the reasoning
behind having lots of different clips,
Speaker:showing it on the bed really close up
so it's not just on a model. So okay,
Speaker:when you open your package,
what is it going to look like?
Speaker:I think too if you shop for apparel
and in person in a store, it's folded.
Speaker:It's not on your bed, it's on a display
and you're touching it and feeling it.
Speaker:You can't do that with e-commerce.
Speaker:So it's like how can you evoke the
same feeling of going into a store,
Speaker:picking up apparel, feeling it,
Speaker:touching it and opening it visually
in an ad so that you can get that
Speaker:same feeling that you would
get going to the mall?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:it's so good and we run a lot of
mashups for a lot of different brands
Speaker:from popcorn to accessories to skincare,
Speaker:and we did this back
in the day with native,
Speaker:we would always try to find a lot
of diversity with the UGC just like
Speaker:you're talking about
because you want the person,
Speaker:whoever you're trying to get to buy to
either see themselves in the ad or to
Speaker:see the person they're buying
the gift for in the ad.
Speaker:So you've got some clips
here that are just kids,
Speaker:two kids sitting on the fireplace with
the stockings behind them or sitting on
Speaker:the hearth or whatever.
Speaker:You've got a couple of people that
are just slightly older by themselves.
Speaker:You've got some people in their twenties,
Speaker:you got some young families that include
mom and dad, everybody's wearing PJs.
Speaker:So you've got some real diversity there
where someone's going to watch this
Speaker:one.
Speaker:It's fast paced so you're not tempted
to look around the room or check your
Speaker:watch or something like
that you're watching,
Speaker:but then you're also going to see
yourself or your loved one in this ad,
Speaker:which is really, really important.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:I think the most successful ads we've
had on AppLovin two include a lot of
Speaker:different use cases too of
buy it for your grandkids,
Speaker:buy it for your significant other,
Speaker:buy it for your best friend trying
to evoke maybe if they don't
Speaker:like it themselves,
Speaker:but I know someone with a dog who I
need to get a gift for and then if we
Speaker:mention it, that recall is there.
So I think that's important too.
Speaker:If you are trying to not hit a
niche audience and you want to go
Speaker:really broad, you have to
go broaden your ad too.
Speaker:So if you just have a 20-year-old creator
talking about why she bought them for
Speaker:herself,
Speaker:you're going to find 20 year olds who
want to buy it for themselves and that's
Speaker:great,
Speaker:but if you want to get it out to everyone
and everyone who sees it to buy and
Speaker:for that ad to grow in that pocket,
you have to go broader in your ad.
Speaker:Same way that you would go broader in
your targeting if you were to touch all
Speaker:the controls.
Speaker:Totally. And there's a reason if you
watch direct response ads or even mini
Speaker:infomercials where someone will give
all the use cases and you may be
Speaker:tempted to say, well it's obvious it's
pajamas, you can buy it for anybody,
Speaker:why do I have to list it? But sometimes
you seem to be really obvious,
Speaker:people are not thinking deeply about
your product and so saying buy it
Speaker:for your kid or for your grandkid or for
your niece or your nephew or whatever,
Speaker:you kind just need to make the
right suggestions because people,
Speaker:we can't assume that people will be
thinking about that on their own.
Speaker:And you see an ad, you
may not like it yourself.
Speaker:I mean there's a lot of things here. Yeah.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:Especially in the holidays, I'll
see an ad for something, I'm like,
Speaker:I don't like that, but I'm like, oh,
but my husband might like that but.
Speaker:I got to buy a gift for Exactly. But.
Speaker:If you don't call it out,
Speaker:I'm probably not going to subconsciously
think that unless someone was like,
Speaker:Hey, buy this for your significant other.
Speaker:Buy this for someone
else other than yourself,
Speaker:especially if you are trying to target
people outside of what they would buy for
Speaker:themselves.
Speaker:Love it. How holidays love it.
So then as we're going here,
Speaker:there's a shop now button at the bottom
that's always there and then you show
Speaker:this 60% off deals. You talk about,
hey, the best ads have offers.
Speaker:There was a hooray audio
that goes on with that.
Speaker:So you've tested these ads
with and without the 60%
off or with other discounts
Speaker:or whatever and this has been your winner.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:definitely having an offer and
especially if you are a brand that
Speaker:advertises in Q4 and you are
something that people gift to others,
Speaker:I think the urgency of like, hey, this
is a deal you should get right now,
Speaker:it's for the holidays, limited time
offer. Another thing we do a lot is like,
Speaker:hey, you need to get it
in time for Christmas,
Speaker:especially it being a custom product,
you don't have until prime day,
Speaker:two day Amazon it to your
house on December 22nd
Speaker:that you have to get these
ahead of time. So I think too,
Speaker:if you have a product with longer lead
times leaning into that urgency of like,
Speaker:Hey, you have to order this now because
otherwise you just don't have it for
Speaker:Christmas, no matter if you want it or
not on this the 22nd of December, you.
Speaker:So offer plus some urgency, bonus
points if it's points, points,
Speaker:urgency, that just is totally
legit. It makes sense here.
Speaker:So now we're looking
at cuddle clones logo,
Speaker:white background shop now button at
the bottom. This is the end card.
Speaker:Is that what we're looking at right now?
Speaker:No, you're not quite at the end
card yet. This is just the video,
Speaker:but we're trying to really put that
brand name in as you're watching the
Speaker:ad. I think too,
Speaker:if you think about if you're watching
a reel or if you're watching a TikTok,
Speaker:you're going to see the brand name
Speaker:as the title there or if you run a white
listing ad it'll be partnered with,
Speaker:so the brand name's always on
an ad on a social platform.
Speaker:Most cases you'll see the brand
name and the logo somewhere.
Speaker:So we like to insert it into the
video somewhere or mention it verbally
Speaker:so that even if you don't
make it to the end card,
Speaker:you heard the brand name or you saw it
visually and our logo is actually purple,
Speaker:but we added the red because
it's Christmas. Again.
Speaker:Bringing.
Speaker:Continuing to bring all of that
holiday recognition into it.
Speaker:Totally makes sense.
Speaker:And I know one of the things you mentioned
when we were prepping is that real
Speaker:comments, there's a lot of people
that just clicked on bought,
Speaker:but there's also really a common journey
where someone saw it on AppLovin and
Speaker:then searched on Google.
Speaker:So that's where you really have
to make the brand name clear.
Speaker:You don't want them just to get the
idea and go search for something else.
Speaker:You want them searching for
you afterwards on Google.
Speaker:That is the second highest customer
journey is either AppLovin to purchase or
Speaker:app AppLovin to Google to purchase. So.
Speaker:Crazy.
Speaker:Again, super important that brand recall.
Speaker:And if you don't have the brand recall,
they're like, what was that thing?
Speaker:Was it pajamas with my dog on it?
Speaker:You better be targeting all of
those broad keywords as well.
Speaker:Absolutely. Absolutely. So.
Speaker:You didn't advertise to them and
then they went to your competitor.
Speaker:Yeah, which happens a lot. Yeah,
Speaker:you're just giving someone an idea and
helping out a competitor. Congrats.
Speaker:So now this I believe is an Incar arrest.
Speaker:You got low at top custom pet
face pajamas as the headline.
Speaker:Then we got these are shorts, PJ's,
Speaker:closeup of the cute dog's face,
actual picture of the dog there,
Speaker:get some highlights of some
features and stuff there.
Speaker:So this is the end card
that we're looking at.
Speaker:So here's an interactive
end card. If you play it,
Speaker:it's going to go through
different color variants.
Speaker:Oh, nice.
Speaker:Nice. So it's very
interactive animation style.
Speaker:Again,
Speaker:there's different variety where you can
scroll with your thumb across several
Speaker:photos. You can ask
them a quiz at the end.
Speaker:So there's different ways to interact
with them through that end card that I
Speaker:think is very different than most
ads you'll see on any other platform.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:So we had the interaction where there's
different styles of PJs popping up
Speaker:there. Now we've we're looking
at something that looks
more like a feed ad or a
Speaker:collection of Google shopping
ads type of thing. A DPA,
Speaker:this is a progression
or this is a separate,
Speaker:this is a different in
card that you could test.
Speaker:This is the DPA A at the very end. So
if you toggle this on in your settings,
Speaker:this will always appear
on all of your ads.
Speaker:So that's kind of where the
customer can interact with
Speaker:your feed directly from Shopify.
Speaker:So this is where you can then show
the products or show the customer what
Speaker:products you have to offer.
Speaker:Have you tested this
with and without price?
Speaker:So right now we're
seeing sweatshirts, mugs,
Speaker:all that has your pet's
face on at PJ's of course.
Speaker:Have you tested that with
and without the price listed?
Speaker:No, at this point we have not
tested with the price listed.
Speaker:I'm not sure if that's an
option yet in their offerings.
Speaker:I kind of like this, I actually
not showing the price here.
Speaker:This is something we
test a lot on YouTube.
Speaker:You can make your YouTube ad shoppable
and you can insert your feed into YouTube
Speaker:ads.
Speaker:And I've found that actually sometimes
that kills your conversion rate if you're
Speaker:showing the price of something too
soon before they're really sold,
Speaker:before they've interacted
with your product enough,
Speaker:it can actually be a detriment.
Speaker:And so I think it's kind of cool
that there is no price there.
Speaker:So we'll keep playing this
here and then basically, okay,
Speaker:then basically you're just showing the
progression then someone clicking through
Speaker:to the website.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Great, great. Love it. So talk about this,
Speaker:I know now in every platform obviously
utilizes AI in some form or fashion,
Speaker:but now you can upload lots of different
elements and then Apple Oven is going
Speaker:to piece those together and test
those and find winning combinations.
Speaker:What are the variables that the AI
is combining to try to build winning
Speaker:ads for you?
Speaker:So I think something important to
follow in their best practices.
Speaker:So if you're making a creative set,
you can upload up to 10 videos,
Speaker:up to 10 interactives and up to 10 images.
Speaker:And then your DPA is always going to
be connected if you have turned on.
Speaker:So that's.
Speaker:All part of a creative set,
a that ad group type thing.
Speaker:So those are newer, those didn't
exist earlier in the platform,
Speaker:so that's a newer feature.
Speaker:But what I found and what they suggest
is best practice is doing a couple videos
Speaker:and then as many interactives as
possible, as many images as possible.
Speaker:So best practice I found is do two to
three videos and in a set and then you do
Speaker:10 interactives. 10 images.
And in their media library,
Speaker:which is unique compared to meta,
Speaker:you can see the performance
of that end card or image as
Speaker:a standalone versus how
it performs with nice.
Speaker:So if you have the same
end card in four campaigns,
Speaker:you can measure just the
performance of the end card,
Speaker:regardless of where it lives. Very.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:So that's something
that's important. And two,
Speaker:testing your end cards in your images.
You can look at the performance.
Speaker:So if you have say two that
have a lower click through rate,
Speaker:pull those out and try
to test more and keep,
Speaker:how high can you get your click
clickthrough rate and test through those.
Speaker:I think that's the most important part
of someone deciding to click forward.
Speaker:So can you show the offer? Can you
show the features in the end card?
Speaker:We have one brand that
I've worked with of two,
Speaker:can you show as many products
as possible on the end card?
Speaker:So we're showing all
the colors of the PJ's.
Speaker:Can you show all the variants that
you have so that someone's like, oh,
Speaker:well I don't like pink,
but I really like blue.
Speaker:If.
Speaker:They see that you have for blue,
Speaker:they're more likely to click or say you
have shoes and I don't want sandals,
Speaker:but I saw that you have
sneakers. I like sneakers.
Speaker:And then they'll click through.
Speaker:So kind of just thinking through what
can you show them about your product
Speaker:before they click to make them really
want to go through to the widest amount of
Speaker:people.
Speaker:Totally makes sense.
Speaker:And then do you have a setup where
if someone clicks on the in card,
Speaker:that's maybe taking them to a different
page versus if they're clicking in the
Speaker:DPA that's going directly to that
specific product detail page?
Speaker:Or what does that look like?
Speaker:You'll just pick one landing page per
creative set. So if that's your PD DP,
Speaker:but if someone does go to the DPA,
Speaker:they can click on a product
that maybe was not in the ad.
Speaker:So that's where your DPA is going
to be a little bit different.
Speaker:So if someone sees all of our pajamas
that we offered where there are
Speaker:our standard line, but we also have
sweatpants that is included in that dpa,
Speaker:someone might click on the sweatpants
and then they're going to end up on the
Speaker:sweatpants pdp. So that'll
be a little bit different.
Speaker:But in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker:most times when you do
have the DPA connected,
Speaker:it has a much higher conversion
rate than if you did not.
Speaker:Very cool. So let's talk about how many
creatives do you need to get started,
Speaker:and then I want to talk a little
bit about creative fatigue,
Speaker:and then I want to talk about creative
diversity in a second as well.
Speaker:But how many creatives do
you need to get started?
Speaker:You just need one really. I mean,
you can add more. I'd suggest more,
Speaker:but I mean,
Speaker:Q4 last year we spent a million dollars
and we probably had less than 30
Speaker:creatives in the platform. So.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:I really don't think you need hundreds.
Speaker:I think you need probably five great
ads and then continue to test and make
Speaker:more and see what works for you and
your brand on the platform. But no,
Speaker:you don't need a lot to get started.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:And then in terms of longevity or creative
fatigue or these wearing out after a
Speaker:week or two,
Speaker:are these more YouTube and TV where maybe
you've got a winner that can run for
Speaker:months or a year plus? What
does the fatigue look like?
Speaker:Much more like YouTube.
Speaker:We have a winning ad that's been
running since November 21st, 2024.
Speaker:That's always at the top.
Speaker:I love it. Yeah, it's.
Speaker:A great ad. So yeah, if you have got
a really good winner like YouTube,
Speaker:you can run it for a very long time and
it'll continue to reach new people and
Speaker:continue to perform, continue to test.
Don't just get one winner in there.
Speaker:Totally and.
Speaker:Done with it,
Speaker:but you definitely don't need to continue
refreshing them every single week
Speaker:with 30 new ones. I feel like Andromeda
and Metas starting to gear towards,
Speaker:so definitely not as high as a fatigue
as meta. Definitely more like YouTube.
Speaker:Love that. And then let's talk a
little bit about creative diversity.
Speaker:And I know that's kind of the name of
the game as everybody's talking about
Speaker:Andromedan meta and things. It's like,
I wouldn't say iteration is dead,
Speaker:but this idea of subtle
variations where it's like we have
Speaker:15 or 30 or a hundred versions
of basically the same ad,
Speaker:but just with slightly different hooks
and so different endings and things like
Speaker:that. I know now on Meta Meta's
going to treat those all one ad.
Speaker:And so now it's saying take bigger swings,
Speaker:make the creatives quite
different On YouTube,
Speaker:we're still finding some wins if
it's kind of the same core video,
Speaker:but very different hooks
that can work really well.
Speaker:And so we're still iterating.
Speaker:We're kind of trying to do both
iterate and take big swings.
Speaker:But what are you finding in app Loven?
As far as creative diversity goes?
Speaker:We've definitely tested different things.
Speaker:We found more success with
iterations at this point.
Speaker:We have a couple core winners. We've
sliced and diced 'em different ways.
Speaker:We've made some short,
we've made some long,
Speaker:we've called out different
things than others.
Speaker:And then also doing the same of big
swings as something that's totally,
Speaker:totally different. Maybe using
a different creative agency,
Speaker:using a different influencer.
Speaker:So that's where I think
you should do both,
Speaker:and I think you should
do it at a quality level.
Speaker:I would not just make
creative for creative's sake,
Speaker:that's all different and you
spent five minutes on it,
Speaker:you should really be thinking about
these ads and your customer and making a
Speaker:good informational ad,
Speaker:not entertainment and not something
that was thrown together really quickly.
Speaker:And with poor intent,
Speaker:you should think really deeply on it of
what you want to make and what you want
Speaker:to portray. It doesn't have
to be high production though.
Speaker:I mean all that content you saw is UGC.
We've spent millions on the platform.
Speaker:We have a very small in-house
creative team, scrappy team,
Speaker:so you don't need to be a
multimillion dollar brand with a
Speaker:videographer and a camera
to have success here.
Speaker:Yeah, I love that. And then the logo
looks really professional. The end card,
Speaker:the DPA that's got all those product
images look really great and look
Speaker:professional. But yeah,
the video looks like UGC,
Speaker:but that makes it look authentic and
trustworthy and fun and doesn't make it
Speaker:feel like just a standard ad. So yeah,
Speaker:I think that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:What we're doing on the YouTube side is
something similar where we're looking
Speaker:at, hey,
Speaker:what are our winning hooks and measured
by view rate and what do they have in
Speaker:common and what do the
losers have in common?
Speaker:And then the ads that have
the best click-through rate,
Speaker:what do they have in common and what are
we doing in terms of the product demo
Speaker:and what are we doing
in terms of the offer?
Speaker:And then what is the highest conversion
rate? And we're just kind of looking at
Speaker:the similarities and over time we're able
to iterate and able to say like, Hey,
Speaker:we saw for this baseball ad,
Speaker:it was like this product line just didn't
really work. Or for this skincare ad,
Speaker:it was the founder on
camera saying these things.
Speaker:It just worked consistently
over and over again.
Speaker:And so then you're able to take lessons,
Speaker:take that next iteration
and maybe take a big swing,
Speaker:but take a big swing
that's informed by data.
Speaker:I know I probably want to mention these
things and maybe I'll just take a big
Speaker:swing in terms of saying
it in a different way.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:I think you can have a good
mix of quality content,
Speaker:but it can be UGC and it definitely
doesn't need to be a TV commercial.
Speaker:So I think that's where it's very similar
to YouTube in those ways where you
Speaker:want to seem authentic,
Speaker:but you also want to portray a story
to the customer at the same time. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, portray the story.
Speaker:You got to hit all the points of
overcoming objections and strong call to
Speaker:action, all those things which are
really, really important. Great.
Speaker:Any other mentions or callouts
as far as creative goes?
Speaker:Anything we didn't talk about that's
important from a creative standpoint?
Speaker:No, I think we touched on
everything. I would just say
Speaker:to think about the way that these
customers interact with the platform.
Speaker:When you're adding creative, you can
100% add your meta creatives in here.
Speaker:And depending on how the style of them
is, they may perform really, really well.
Speaker:But if they're purely entertainment,
Speaker:you're probably not going to have a
lot of success right out of the gate.
Speaker:And you should probably
make some creatives that are
closer to a YouTube ad or a
Speaker:commercial compared to something
that's just either eye catching hook
Speaker:or an entertaining video.
Speaker:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker:Maybe one last thing here before we wrap
up and talk about how people can learn
Speaker:more about you and also buy
some amazing pet centered gifts
Speaker:for the holidays.
Speaker:Talking again about lack of
overlap between App 11 and social.
Speaker:I think you had mentioned that there's
a true classic tease case study where
Speaker:meta was mainly selling to women
buying for their significant other
Speaker:app love and was more men buying
for themselves or maybe have that.
Speaker:Yeah. But yeah, was it
the inverse of that?
Speaker:Yeah, so I think you can reach new
audiences, especially on app love,
Speaker:and I think everyone also talks about
the older demos are always really
Speaker:successful. You can
find those on app love.
Speaker:You can also find 20 year
olds who like to play scape.
Speaker:So I think regardless of your
brand, you should give it a shot.
Speaker:And I think there is a wide variety
of demos on here that you can reach,
Speaker:just like Meta.
Speaker:Makes a ton of sense. I
think the time is right.
Speaker:You need to diversify if you've got
video content and can pull together
Speaker:something that will fit for app 11. It
just makes a ton of sense. So first off,
Speaker:Miranda, if someone is like, all right,
Speaker:I got to check out these cuddle clones
and see what these are all about and I
Speaker:need to check out the PJs, how
can they learn more about you?
Speaker:Go to cuddle clones.com.
Speaker:You have to order before December 10th
if you really will. These at Christmas.
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:Click now. Yeah, make sure you
go get them well ahead of time.
Speaker:They can all be made to order for you.
Speaker:And I would venture to say, and I've
got several pet lovers in my house,
Speaker:this will be their favorite
gift. You get this for somebody,
Speaker:it's going to be the gift they talk
about and share with other people,
Speaker:and you'll get to see them wear it for
years to come. And then what about you,
Speaker:Miranda?
Speaker:So I know you are active on X
and you're speaking at operators
Speaker:events and things like that. How can
someone connect with you or follow you?
Speaker:Yeah, follow me on X on
Twitter, Miranda Tinger.
Speaker:Just look me up. I'm sure I
can tag it at the bottom here.
Speaker:I'll send it over to you, Brett. That'd
be great. Just an advertising nerd.
Speaker:And I like communicating with
everyone online. I live in Ohio.
Speaker:There's not many media
buyers in Ohio over here,
Speaker:so it's nice to connect with other
marketers that work in DC because I don't
Speaker:quite live in an area
where that's a hotbed.
Speaker:Totally. That's same. I'm in Missourian,
Speaker:so it's like most of my friends
who are e-commerce nerds
Speaker:or media nerds are on the coast
or somewhere else. So yeah,
Speaker:love that connection. Awesome.
Any other asks, requests,
Speaker:anything else coming up that you
want to mention to the audience?
Speaker:No, but I hope everyone has a good
Black Friday. It's going to be a wild,
Speaker:wild west I think this year.
Speaker:And if you can diversify and
have success like we did,
Speaker:I ended up packing PJ's in the warehouse.
Speaker:I'll ask you for after everything I
sold, so I'd love to do that again.
Speaker:It's like, congrats Miranda, you made
app love and work as a thank you.
Speaker:You get to go pack orders in the
warehouse. Oh yeah, that's fun.
Speaker:I can think of the way worse things
to do for sure. So love that. And hey,
Speaker:if channel diversification is on
your Christmas list or beyond,
Speaker:actually probably based on
when you're going to hear this,
Speaker:reach out to us at OMG Commerce.
Speaker:We'd love to talk to you about opening
up opportunities on YouTube or on Amazon
Speaker:or Meta or things like that. And so
would love to chat there. Miranda,
Speaker:thank you so much for the
time. This has been phenomenal.
Speaker:I'm all hyped and pumped up
to go run some AppLovin ads.
Speaker:Sounds good. Hope everyone else is too.
Speaker:Awesome. Thank you. And thank
you for tuning in as always.
Speaker:We'd love to hear from you. If you
found this episode to be helpful,
Speaker:share it with someone else that you
think might enjoy it. And with that,
Speaker:until next time, thank you for listening.
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