Misha Syrotiuk

Q&A with Misha

This Q&A reflects Misha's time as Director of Marketing Creatives at Huuuge Games. Currently, Misha is Head of Growth at Playvalve.

Misha currently manages a team of UA experts working on Ad Networks and DSP media buying. He joined Huuuge Games 3 years ago. Prior to his current role as Head of of Ad Networks and DSPs, Misha lead Huuuge Game’s Billionaire Casino UA team. Misha has over 5 years of digital marketing experience, with previous experience working in mobile ecommerce.

In your own words, tell us about the apps that you manage?

Huuuge Games' two biggest titles are Huuuge Casino and Billionaire Casino. Both games offer the best social gaming experience where players are able to interact, engage, play and - most importantly - have fun with other players in real-time in an attractive free-to-play casino environment. I manage a UA team of 4 people that manages media buying on ad networks, DSPs and direct on OS platforms (iOS, Android and Amazon).

How did you get started in mobile marketing?

It was 2013 right after my studies and internship ended. I went with my friend to a house party and met my future boss who invited me to stop by the office after the weekend. I didn’t realize that during the party he already completed his "interview" with me, while we were sipping beer. So, that's how I started as a junior specialist in a mobile ecommerce start up, responsible for Facebook, Google AdWords and affiliate marketing for both mobile and web. I still remember CPIs of $0.01 that we paid on Facebook MIA back in 2013.

What do you like most about mobile marketing?

I like that it is very fast moving, challenging and innovative. You cannot be in this industry and feel comfortable. Feeling challenged and pushed to the limits is my daily agenda and will stay that way.

What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?

Hard work, savviness, humbleness, acting fast, and the ability to take risks. If you think you have done everything - completed all the tests - you are far from succeeding.

What does a quality mobile user look like to you?

Quality in mobile is not defined the same across different verticals. For us, a quality user has a high level of engagement, loyalty and is bringing monetary value to the company (in the form of in-app purchases).

What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged app users?

There are a many strategies for converting installs into engaged users but I will focus only on two: 1) targeting, and 2) game economy. They both work in synergy with each other. UA managers can have the best targeting and attract the most loyal users, but if game economy is not tailored for the user, game players will leave. The same works the other way around - if the game economy is the best but targeting of UA campaigns are wrong, the whole gamer experience could be a fiasco.

In the past year, what is one tip you can share which made the biggest performance difference with UA or re-engagement of your app?

Do not be afraid of structure changes and act fast. In mobile gaming, things move at supersonic speed. Since I have joined Huuuge Games. performance marketing structure changed a few times according to the market and product needs. We would not be where we are if we kept the same team structure we had back in 2016.

How do you stay ahead of changes in technology?

A few ways: updating myself with news from the web, working with more than a dozen networks and DSP partners, staying in regular contact with them on both product and competitive analysis, acting fast in implementing and testing new ideas, taking part in industry events, and keeping in touch with networks and marketers in different verticals, not just gaming.

What do you see as the next big thing in mobile marketing?

Applying Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to both campaigns and ad creative is right around the corner. This will not only benefit UA managers but also be a threat - fraud installs will most likely also be powered by AI and ML (they probably might be already - we just do not realize that yet).

Our approach is to have a high level of synergy between internal departments - marketing, product, BI etc. There are many fraud prevention tools on the market and we are (and will keep on) using them. But without a deep understanding of your data, even the best tools will not help you understand what is abnormal and what is not.

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