Interview

Speaker Spotlight: yellowHEAD head of ASO Itai Keshet on organic and paid user acquisition

Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd

Speaker Spotlight: yellowHEAD head of ASO Itai Keshet on organic and paid user acquisition

Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd. To give you a taste of what to expect, we'll regularly be publishing interviews with the speakers at the show.

For more details on PGC London and to book a ticket, head to the website here.

In today's Speaker Spotlight we're talking to yellowHEAD head of app store optimisation (ASO) Itai Keshet.

Keshet currently functions as yellowHEAD's head of ASO, with over three years of experience in the field working with industry leaders.

Prior to that, he gained experience in the digital growth landscape through affiliate marketing. He has a BSc in Industrial Engineering & Management from the Israel Institute of Technology (The Technion) with a background in project management and workflow optimisation. 

Keshet will host a talk entitled The Right Marketing Mix for Your App - How to gain more users with complementing organic and paid strategies.

In this session, he'll share how implementing the right mix of organic and paid UA efforts allows developers to increase their app discoverability and grow their user base. Keshet will explain how various marketing strategies impact each other and are virtually inseparable.

He will also dive into how yellowHEAD tracks and analyses the right data for actionable insights. Keshet bases his findings on years of experience working with top brands around the world.

PocketGamer.biz: Could you tell us a bit about the company?

Itai Keshet: yellowHEAD is an AI-powered performance marketing company that provides holistic user acquisition solutions.

With advanced predictive intelligence technology, groundbreaking data visualisation tools and an experienced in-house creative studio, the company combines both paid and organic solutions to boost growth and reduce ad spend waste for leading gaming brands, including Ubisoft, Epic Games, League of Legends, Scientific Games, Playtika, GSN and more.

What does your role entail?

As head of ASO, I focus on strategic planning & implementation, as well as building strong relationships with internal and external partners.

I manage two teams of ASO professionals who provide hands-on optimisation and results-driven services.

Our main goal is to improve search visibility and conversion in order to attain more organic installs for our partners.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

Prior to yellowHEAD, I worked in more traditional industries, where I felt a lack of passion. I decided to look for something more "colourful" and exciting, but at the same time, extremely professional and very competitive.

The games industry is challenging and constantly evolving. This has given me the opportunity that I was looking for.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?

It's not all fun and games (pun intended). The gaming landscape is a serious and very competitive industry, and while it has its casual aspects, you always need to stay ahead of the game (pun intended, again).

What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?

In 2018, we've seen much greater focus on organic traffic, and a growing awareness of the need to combine organic and paid marketing efforts within a greater marketing strategy.

In addition, more and more focus is being placed on creatives as well as marketing automation. These are areas that yellowHEAD is actively developing by expanding our creative studio and creating in-house tools to automate and optimise marketing tasks.

What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?

There are more and more options to experience a game before actually downloading it, like playable ads, lighter versions of the game, etcetera.

This might bring lower numbers of installs, but better retention and more daily active users.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

Since I entered it about three years ago, the industry has experienced a massive shift to mobile-first, which obviously had a large impact on ASO and its growing importance in the field.

We've also seen companies focus less on hardcore games, and rather place more emphasis on midcore, as well as the combining of genres.

For example, we see companies like Playtika that used to be all social casino entering the casual world and trying to reach audiences they haven't attracted before.

Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?

I am most looking forward to PG Connects because my team works in the mobile app landscape and I'm excited to take part in shaping the newest industry trends.

Find out more about Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 on the website.