Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2 2020 will take place from June 8th to 12th, 2020. 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 Digital #2 and to book a ticket, head to the website here.
In this speaker spotlight, we caught up with Rovio director of growth Kieran O'Leary, who started in the mobile games industry back in 2014. Since then, O'Leary's focus has always been to bring a holistic, data and user-centric marketing agenda within game teams all along the product lifecycle.
O'Leary will be speaking about a number of user-centric approaches that Rovio has developed to increase our odds of finding new best-performing creatives.
PocketGamer.biz: Tell us a bit about your company?
Kieran O'Leary: Rovio Entertainment Corporation is a global, games-first entertainment company that creates, develops and publishes mobile games which have been downloaded 4.5 billion times so far. Rovio is best known for the global Angry Birds brand, which started as a popular mobile game in 2009 and has since evolved from games to various entertainment and consumer products in brand licensing.
Today Rovio offers multiple mobile games and animations and has produced The Angry Birds Movie, which opened number one in theatres in 50 countries. Its sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2, released worldwide in August 2019. Rovio is headquartered in Finland and the company's shares are listed on the main list of NASDAQ Helsinki stock exchange with the trading code ROVIO.
What does your role entail?
As a director of growth, I am leading the efforts to build a strategic advantage out of our focus on players. My team of product marketing managers, user experience researchers and creative directors - directly embedded with game teams, help making sure that our game roadmap and current portfolio actually caters to market as well as user's needs, and find their way to the right audience.
Why did you want to work in the games industry?
Why wouldn't you like to work in one the most creative industries, which mission is to bring instant and long-lasting fun to millions of players out there?
What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?
Be focused and leverage your passion for games
How has the games industry changed since you first started?
There has been more of a move to free-to-play, as well as much more competitive, heavier focus paid channels versus organics.
Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?
Everything within the Growth Track and other carefully picked up keynotes.
