Admiral Media

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are the world’s most extensive collection of online destinations focused on spiritual and emotional wellness, allowing people across six continents to find guidance on love, relationships, and life’s most challenging questions. I am the VP of Global Apps and Mobile and own the P&L for the mobile-first brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media?

We hired Admiral Media to set up and manage App & Web performance marketing campaigns for two brands in our portfolio - served in 3 languages - English, Spanish and Portuguese.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We came across Admiral Media by recommendation. During the initial project set-up discussion, we knew they would be able to handle our needs: active monitoring of scaling and diversification from FB channels, active involvement around marketing analytics and creatives strategy, balance mobile and web acquisition, and cross-brand optimization.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Admiral was responsible for setting up our App & Web marketing campaigns across Apple Search Ads, Facebook, Google & TikTok - which they did great. The team went out of their way to help us identify issues with our internal reporting and provided feedback regularly, working with our BI team to streamline reports.

One of the main tasks was to reduce our dependency on Facebook, and scale up Apple Search Ads and Google UAC & Web campaigns that started outperforming Facebook after some time. Admiral also helped us identify gaps in our tracking setup, which was crucial to achieving the results we hoped to achieve.

What was the team composition?

A total of five people worked with us, including one client lead, three-channel managers, and 1 data analyst. They always have additional resources whenever required to provide additional support/backup.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Now we are not heavily dependent on Facebook as our Apple Search Ads & Google UAC & Web campaigns have started delivering the desired outcomes. We were also able to scale our spending while improving our CPx and ROAS over time, thanks to the professional campaign management & analytical approach of Team Admiral.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Given the scale of our operations, reports & team, there were some initial hiccups in establishing the sync between our teams. Soon the teams started working seamlessly with each other, leading to fewer meetings with productive outcomes.

We had a team in Ukraine, and due to the war, we decided we would keep both teams but agreed with the Ukrainian team we could not depend operationally on them, which required an uncommon approach in managing the shared responsibilities. Admiral was constructive and professional.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Responsiveness to our business requirements. They always took the challenges head-on and worked in the direction we requested. From campaign management, creative inputs, and data analysis to identifying bugs in our internal reports - they worked as an extension of our team in identifying ways to achieve the desired results.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

It is our desire to move more acquisition traffic to the web for that we need better integration of data reported to the different systems and algorithms. Offering development services for marketing-related topics would be nice to have.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a company that provides a mindfulness and meditation app.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Admiral Media?

We brought on Admiral Media to help us with growth marketing to get more app downloads from different global regions, which we found difficult, especially because of the new Apple modifications. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Admiral Media on various campaigns across multiple channels, including Facebook, Google, Apple, and TikTok. We’ve worked with them to create and propose new creatives and define new campaigns to execute in specific regions. 

Specifically, Admiral Media has helped us start our TikTok campaigns — we created our strategy and determined which creative assets to use. We’ve used their campaigns to get qualified users from TikTok. 

What is the team composition?

Currently, I work with four teammates from Admiral Media. 

How did you come to work with Admiral Media?

I was working with two consultants who mentioned Admiral Media. I then sent out an RFP to several agencies — I vetted 4–5 agencies. Admiral Media ended up meeting my requirements; they were very flexible. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our payments depend on the volume of content their team provides. Their monthly fee is approximately €20,000 (approximately $20,000 USD). Across all the marketing channels, we’ve invested around €150,000 (approximately $149,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Admiral Media began in October 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our download numbers have stayed stable, despite the market being shaken by Apple's new regulations and policies. Admiral Media has managed to guide us through the changes in a way that didn't harm our performance. Their team is very dedicated — they’re easy to work with. 

How did Admiral Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is very structured. Admiral Media is good at formalizing and documenting decisions; we’ve established new work processes for our creatives since we manage creatives for several regions. We use Google Docs to exchange creatives. I’m happy with their management style. 

Our communication with Admiral Media is very frank — we focus on data and making rational decisions to continuously improve our growth. I meet with Admiral Media’s CEO every month. The other teammates and I communicate through Zoom and Slack. Their team is good at staying on budget. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Admiral Media has excellent project management, which gives us confidence in their workflows and team coordination abilities. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve already made the change I requested. I wanted them to establish more project benchmarks so that we could get a better understanding of the market. Now, every two weeks, they provide bookmarks highlighting our positioning, which triggers my creativity. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise customers to be very clear about what they want to achieve and the strategy they want to follow; internal alignment is critical. It’s important to have a strategy laid out internally before starting an engagement with an outside vendor. Otherwise, there is the potential for communication between partners. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CMO at a mobile subscription app designed to bring couples closer together.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media?

We were looking for a company to support us with paid content, specifically with Outbrain campaigns. This was our first time using paid content campaigns so we needed an agency that could support us both with campaign creation and management, creative testing and content creation.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

There are not many companies out there that can handle paid content for a mobile app, we selected Admiral cause it was recommended by one of the main experts on paid content.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Initially, we had some brainstorming to understand which topics we should tackle; they then created different pieces of content and started to launch campaigns. After the initial results, they identified the most promising ones and began optimising campaigns, testing creatives and iterating on content. They also developed dashboards in Tableau so that we can easily track the performance.

What was the team composition?

I worked closely with Oriol, our campaign manager and the main point of contact, and Regina, responsible for content and copy. The team also included different designers involved with creatives and a data person.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We were able to kickstart our presence on Outbrain and increase our spending consistently. We also identified two promising landing pages and learned much about which type of creatives work best.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly meetings to share results, special ad hoc brainstorming and a slack channel dedicated to the project. Communication was always easy.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I particularly enjoyed working with content experts who helped us find the right angle to discuss our product. I was also impressed by their reporting. They built our dashboards in Tableau and connected with the Outbrain API to download all relevant data and then merge this with our Adjust data.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Initially, they were trying to approach Outbrain like a Facebook campaign, but since paid content is such a different beast, it was not working.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Growth lead at a curated online gardening marketplace start-up

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media, and what were your goals?

We hired Admiral Media to help us scale our Paid Search campaigns while maintaining an efficient CPA as we were growing our business.They also helped set up paid social ads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Andre and Admiral Media were a recommendation from our network and we chose them based on their experience in optimising and scaling performance-driving digital media campaigns

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Building our paid search campaigns, experimentation with different campaign formats, creating a weekly performance report via Data Studio and Google Analytics, continuous optimisation of campaigns to meet our tight CPA and ROAS targets.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our account manager Juan, was brilliant, very knowledgeable when it came to campaign set-up and best practice to help us make most of our budgets.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The activity was running very efficiently and within a few months we were achieving CPAs at or below our target CPA and at a good ROAS.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Admiral team were very collaborative and responsive, we had a weekly performance review call as well as ad-hoc communication on Slack

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their expertise in the channels and formats was second to none and it enabled us to find performance improvements in our campaigns without affecting our ability to scale.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

nothing to complain

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a German FinTech start-up offering easy access to savings and investment products for retail customers. We launched an app only product at the end of 2021 to break down all barriers of entry for everyday people to be able to accumulate wealth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media?

User acquisition for financial products (esp. low margin products) is incredibly difficult. Traditional channels (e.g. SEA) are too expensive. We needed someone to manage our performance marketing activities and come up with new channel ideas to hit our user acquisition KPIs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Admiral Media was recommended from our network based on the expertise in the app performance marketing space. The competency of Andre and the team, their previous experience as well as the personal recommendation were the deciding factors for us.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After giving Admiral access to our ad accounts and historical performance data, they first conducted a thorough audit of our status quo and came up with recommendations. We first continued with existing channels (FB / Insta) and branded creatives but the team quickly started to realize that this approach would prove difficult to achieve our KPIs.

They suggested moving to user-generated content for our ad materials and also introduced TikTok as a new performance channel. They set up the first influencer deals through their network and helped us decrease our CPA drastically. From there, we continued optimizing campaigns for better performance by moving to deeper funnel events, better LAL audiences, etc.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with Andre (founder), one account manager and whenever needed topic experts, e.g. for ASA, UAC, TikTok, FB/Insta

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Thanks to Admiral we were able to decrease our CPA for paid marketing by over 50% allowing us to scale significantly faster with our limited budget.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly check-in calls with the whole team as well as a shared slack channel where we exchanged ideas on a daily basis. Very agile for any marketing agency. Also whenever we wanted/had to we jumped on ad-hoc calls to brainstorm.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

No agency bullshit. The team was very clear and direct, and I felt that our interests were always aligned. Where other agencies try to sell you other high-margin channels for them to take a cut, we always had the same common goal to achieve the lowest CPA in order to drive the budget up because of good performance.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

In the beginning there was some churn on the account management side which meant that different people had to get up to speed again. However, that's pretty standard for any company and it stabilised later on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Growth at Himalaya, an education app that offers short audio courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media, and what were your goals?

My team was small, so we opted to get Performance Marketing started through Admiral instead of hiring a team in-house. Before we worked with Admiral, all of our campaigns were under-performing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I know Andre (the founder) from before. He's also extremely active in the mobile marketing circle at conferences, forums and FB groups. I could trust that he would make the best decisions for our campaigns and actively seek out industry best practices.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Admiral handled all campaigns across FB, Google, Snapchat, ASA and TikTok. Through them, we managed to achieve our marketing KPIs for the first time in two years. Admiral also did a great job navigating difficulties regarding iOS 14.5+, successfully finding ways to bypass this. Even as our goals became more and more strict, they were able to adapt quickly.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with an expert from every channel, a technical person who helped us set up tracking. As well, Andre got involved personally very frequently.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

In general, we are extremely happy with Admiral and would recommend any company to work with them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective despite a 6 hour time difference. Admiral was always responsive even late into their evening.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They always know the current best practices and were able to stay ahead of the curve. I also found that they were very proactive and were always willing to walk me through their strategies.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I think the only thing I would recommend is perhaps slightly more reporting for companies that want more information. Of course, this depends on how involved you want to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a South Korean company that develops and hosts apps, mainly in the video communication sector. I’m the managing director for Europe — I’m responsible for a light video chat app and a video dating app, in terms of both development and performance marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Admiral Media?

Admiral Media is working on marketing for the two apps I’m responsible for. For the chat app, we wanted to scale the business in Europe and lower our CPI (cost per install), since we had a strict return on ad spend goal. The video dating app was an entirely new product, so we needed their support in launching it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the chat app, the challenge for us was to master a new channel, namely TikTok. With Admiral Media, we’re running performance ads there.

With the new video dating app, Admiral Media has been our partner in launching the app in Germany and the US. They worked to create media planning for us, along with running ads on Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Apple Search, and Google.

The deliverable is the media plan itself, in the form of an Excel sheet. Admiral Media has also handled budget allocation. They recommended where to spend the budget and what to expect from the channels in terms of conversion rates. We’re still working with that media plan.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 10 people from Admiral Media, including two motion designers, channel managers, and Andre (Founder).

How did you come to work with Admiral Media?

They were recommended to me. They were known in Europe for doing reliable, flexible work. They were knowledgeable and had a good track record. I also believe that Admiral Media was the first agency to offer TikTok marketing. 

How much have you invested with them?

They’re responsible for roughly $3 million in these projects. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Admiral Media around April 2020, and it’s ongoing. We started working on the dating app in August 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We use Tableau to compare their results to all other agencies and to our in-house efforts. We’re getting a higher return on ad spend and a lower CPI with Admiral Media.

How did Admiral Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They set up reporting on Tableau — one of our requirements was that the data should be shareable across our company. The time difference is a challenge since we’re working in the US and South Korea, while Admiral Media is in Spain, and some of their people are spread across Europe. We’re using Slack to manage the work, and we have biweekly calls and daily calls for each channel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I appreciate the most is their speed, flexibility, knowledge, and the experience they bring — that combination gives us a competitive advantage.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t that much for them to improve that I have in mind. Their reporting didn’t match our hyper-connect needs in the beginning, but that’s been improved already, so there’s nothing more I could mention.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would make sure that Admiral Media is onboarded within the planning and strategy phase, where the budget allocation and channels are determined. Admiral Media is strong in this area, and they can bring in an advantage.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company is an app from Germany that allows you to manage your insurances super easily for free. You can register in 5 minutes and manage your contracts simply, get full overview and control over your insurances.

You can see all the details of your contracts immediately and receive tips on how you can improve your insurance situation online. The app is available and free on both iOS & Android.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media?

We aimed for an increase of users who link at least 1 insurance with the app. Our acquisition channel was Facebook which already had quite a history but we reached a ceiling scaling our business. So we were hoping to get some new ideas & improvements from the Admiral Media team.

What were your goals for this project?

• Increase number users adding an insurance
• Reduce Cost added insurance
• Increase our reach to attract a broader audience

SOLUTION

How did you select Admiral Media?

We heard only positive reviews and feedback from the mobile app industry about work of Admiral Media. Thanks to their regular updates, we knew that we were in safe hands and we shifted our focus to our operation, partnerships, and offering good value to our users.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Admiral Media used the test budget to deeply explore Germany for both iOS & Android. They used different event optimization goals according to the campaigns' stage.

They started by install optimization, then initiate checkout and finally purchase. Admiral Media also analysed the product and target audiences, exploring different creative concepts and interests.

What was the team composition?

We achieved our goal and Admiral Media was able to outperform our own initiatives, thanks to the successful combination of personalized LookAlikes, interests, demographics, placements and optimisation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Apart from a 60% growth at 14% decrease of costs our tests with new creatives provided by Admiral Media showed very clearly on which ad concepts we needed to improve or double down.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Admiral was very flexible and it was easy coordinate working session between the two teams.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The communication was the best part. We had a really great account manager that we were able to reach at any time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Admiral Media helped us to clean our creatives and reduce complexity, but it would be also nice to try a different, “funnier” approach to target more reluctant potential consumers. Especially that the more dynamic ads usually are very well received by networks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

kaufDA is the ultimate deals app from Germany. Users can look for different shopping deals on grocery, cosmetics, furniture, or electronics and always can stay a step ahead in the savings game. Also, they can browse on discounts and set up alerts for their favorite stores. Shopping was never been that smooth & easy, thanks to kaufDA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media?

We had the challenge to encourage app downloads and increase kaufDA’s user base with TikTok Ads & ensure a profitable business. To succeed we had to find the best and fastest scaling target audience and creative strategy for the app.

What were your goals for this project?

Performance marketing on TikTok required a specific strategy to attract kaufDA’s audience. The goal was to find out if TikTok is a good channel to increase kaufDA's user base under high quality.

SOLUTION

How did you select Admiral Media?

With the wide experience of Admiral Media on TikTok – as user acquisition channel, and as well as working with TikTok influencers – we were convinced that we’re in the best hands to encourage app downloads and increase kaufDA’s user base.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After initial tests with in-house produced creatives that looked like regular TikToks we decided to get even more professional content from people who make a living from it: content creators & influencers. Admiral media needed to test various communication strategies & were able to identify the 2 main performing approaches very quickly:

• Inspiring, authentic & good-quality-content for the shopping-lovers
• Targeting an audience that matches the persona of the typical kaufDA user

What was the team composition?

We mainly worked with a campaign manager for the TikTok ads, an influencer expert and the founder of Admiral media.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within 1 month – September 2020 – we generated almost 70 Million Impressions in Germany and:

• Increased user growth by 1000% in one specific day (+731% overall comparing regular ads vs. creators ads) 
• Generated an overall 146% growth in user activity comparing regular ads vs. creator ads
• Decreased CPI by 18% Good content really makes a difference.

We saw a measurable difference between regular creatives and influencer creatives. Also, the engagement rate per impression was much higher, and the CPI much lower. Traditional ads vs. content creator ads led to:

• Increased growth by 1000% in one specific day
• 731% user growth overall
• 146% growth in user activity *Within 1 month, 70 Million Impressions, Germany, Android and iOS.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We worked very closely with the Admiral Media team and were in constant communication. The Admiral Media team was available at all times.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

With the experience of the Admiral Media team, we were able to super-scale our growth on TikTok. Authentic content acquired by them was the basis of our success on this platform.

Are there any areas for improvement?

nothing to complain

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Glovo is an app that allows you to buy, collect, and send any product within your city. Glovo is already present in over 22 countries and +400 cities, making life easier and better for millions of people around the world. The app is available for free on both iOS and Android. I am a Performance Marketing Lead in charge of testing for new channels with the objective of UA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Admiral Media?

We dedicated a test budget to deeply explore the possibilities with TikTok channel on both Polish & Spanish markets for both devices: iOS & Android. The challenge was to compare this new channel to other user acquisition channels and see its performance and understand whether it is profitable in the long-term.

What were your goals for this project?

• Test a new channel in Poland and Spain
• Compare the customer acquisition cost to other channels
• Take insights to understand what are the best practices in TikTok

SOLUTION

How did you select Admiral Media?

Knowing our goals and needs, we reviewed people in digital marketing and app agency spaces. Admiral Media is a highly specialized performance marketing agency for apps and has a proven track record.

We heard very positive reviews and feedback from the mobile app industry about their work, and after initial conversations, we made the decision. Every week, they updated us with everything that was going on, data, results, and other useful information, to make the right decisions.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Admiral Media used the test budget to deeply explore Poland & Spain for both iOS & Android, and also compared this new channel to our other user acquisition channels. They used different event optimization according to the campaign stage. Starting with Install optimization, then Signup, and finally First Order.

What was the team composition?

I've worked closely with the agency to define the strategy, creatives and technical set up. We involved our communication and design team to develop specific content.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We saw a good performance in our campaigns in Poland, with a competitive cost compared to other channels. We found the answers we were looking for reaching conclusions on the channel performance, and good insights on how to take advantage of TikTok

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was effective and proactive from both sides. We have weekly meetings where we review past performance and discuss next steps.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They know what they do and are flexible to adapt to your needs. They can quickly and effectively analyze the performance of a campaign and come up with new ideas to meet our goals.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Scaling in Tiktok is based on user-generated content, developing unique creatives is a challenge for companies like Glovo. Admiral Media is helping us to develop the strategy to scale further on Tiktok, their insights on several markets are key to understanding the characteristics of this channel. We are happy and look forward to working with them.