The process of developing a brand cannot be completed without advertising. Enthralling commercials have the power to leave a lasting impression on customers. Companies can promote their products and services and solidify their position in the market through advertising. Innovative, creative, and able to attract and fascinate the target audience are general characteristics of effective commercials. By 2028, the Indian advertising business is expected to reach Rs 1,544.07 billion, according to a survey.
Amazing ads have been shown to people throughout the years; for example, the “Just Do It” campaign by Nike, the “Palace-Tera Dil Roshan” campaign by Happydent, and the “Dimaag Ki Batti Jala De” campaign by Mentos are all great examples of how advertising can make people remember brands and their products.
The advertising industry has experienced a seismic shift throughout the years, adjusting to new forms of media, consumer habits, and technology. There has been a dramatic shift in advertising from the era of traditional print ads to the digital age. Newspapers, magazines, and billboards used to be the main forms of print advertising. As radio and television became more commonplace in the latter half of the twentieth century, broadcast advertising became increasingly prominent. To attract customers through auditory and visual channels, businesses began making catchy jingles and advertisements. The proliferation of digital advertising can be attributed to the new advertising channels made possible by the digital revolution. When marketers realized they could reach consumers online as well, display advertisements, SEM, and social media ads all took the stage. Technological developments in the last several years have propelled targeted advertising to the forefront.
Even though the definition of an “influencer” is up for grabs in a world where everyone from Jaya to Jerry thinks they’re an influencer, numerous brands are bringing online personas to television. Subtly hinting at potential influencer marketing trends, marketers are implementing techniques. Spending on influencers could increase by 70-100% this year, according to media sources, and it’s interesting to note that it’s not limited to the digital realm. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for a famous face from a viral video to make an appearance during a commercial break. Furthermore, not a single “freaky” algorithm is involved.
Several news outlets have reported that the main benefit of these internet celebrities is their relatability. Moreover, people increasingly use Google to search instead of examining the portfolios that casting directors present. Influencer marketing on television is also said by industry professionals to be a cost-effective strategy. Not only do they know what they’re doing for brand businesses, but they also price less than a B-list Bollywood actor and throw fewer tantrums.
Value of the Advertising Industry in India From 2016 to 2022, With Estimates Until 2024
AdTech Holding the Aces
Third-party service providers mostly make AdTech decisions, meaning which technologies to deploy. Although it’s still a small market, the ‘client direct’ segment of the AdTech industry is on the rise. Various entities, such as holding companies and independent agencies, remove the advertiser’s marketing department from the decision-making process.
Because of the recession‘s increased scrutiny of advertising budgets and the fact that the underlying technologies are no longer amenable to outsourcing on the same scale, advertisers must stay abreast of developments in the AdTech industry. While the aforementioned third parties may have the necessary expertise, financial clout, or other advantages to make decisions on the advertiser’s behalf, the latter would do well to question the reasoning behind such decisions or even take the lead in making them. This would give the former more agency and transparency.
The Rise of Social Media as a Trustworthy Resource
One of the most reliable marketing strategies in the modern era is social media. Companies nationwide are starting to see the unrealized potential of these modern marketing platforms. These enable firms to connect with clients on a personal level; they are virtual, accessible, and inexpensive. There have been projections that the direct-to-consumer sector will surpass $100 billion by 2025’s end. Certainly, there is zero tolerance for mistakes or misunderstandings in this direct-to-consumer model. Also, it makes sure that reviews and feedback are honest, which is great for product creation and improvement.
But here’s a critical issue that needs fixing. The traditional methods of doing business are still the preferred choice of small firms in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. They see social media as a passing trend. They must realize that social media’s influence will only grow in the years to come. Therefore, they need to be digital and social media savvy if they want to stay in business because those are the foundations of every successful enterprise nowadays.
The aforementioned changes show that the advertising industry in India is undergoing a technological transformation. Because of this, it is also well-positioned to offer several chances to everyone involved. Therefore, its expansion could be seen as a major turning point for this industry.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by AVOW.
The global market of mobile app development is growing at a CAGR of 11% and is expected to reach over $365 billion. As the app development market is growing rigorously, so is the need to market these apps. OEM (Original Equipment Manufactures) has a high influence in marketing mobile apps. Gaining the trust of the mobile app developers so that they can choose them as the primary platform for app distributors is the main goal of OEMs. AVOW is a startup that is a specialist in Mobile OEM on-device user acquisition and advertising across alternative app stores.
Read the startup story of AVOW, founders and Team, Growth, partnerships, and more about it.
AVOW – Company Highlights
Startup Name
AVOW
Headquarters
Berlin
Industry
Technology
Founder
Robert Wildner, Ashwin Shekhar, Orietta Mendez and Caio Balbino
AVOW is a global app growth company, specializing in alternative app store inventory. They provide brands with a unique opportunity to access untapped mobile advertising inventory via Mobile OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers- Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Samsung, Realme) at scale and invest their advertising spend across alternative channels for incremental user growth and engagement.
AVOW – Vision
Their goal is to make as many app developers aware of the great opportunity that lies in working with Mobile OEMs and their untapped user inventory. To achieve their goals, they plan to continue educating mobile marketers and app developers about the benefits of Mobile OEMs being integrated into their mobile marketing mix. In terms of business and hiring plans, they have recently opened an office in Brazil (in Q2) and continue to launch their services in new regions and broaden their teams of experts to cater to the high demand for their services. For their continuous growth, it is imperative that they keep strengthening their relationship with media partners.
Acquiring high-value users for mobile apps is a primary goal for app developers in 2022 regardless of vertical or region, but the app market is developing at a rapid pace with more competition than ever before: An average of 1,153 new apps are released every day on the Apple Store and 3,119 new apps each day on the Google Play Store. Fortunately, there are alternatives to those platforms mobile marketers can use to help achieve their company goals and increase ROAS (Return On Advertising Spend).
While mobile marketers may find it difficult to successfully manoeuvre through the different specifications and requirements for each of the alternative app stores such as HUAWEI, Xiaomi, Oppo Vivo, OnePlus, and Samsung when setting up, this gives marketers access to numerous benefits:
Achieve your growth goals: Mobile OEMs enable marketers to grow on a global scale by reaching new audiences and accessing new markets.
Reach your acquisition targets: Mobile OEMs offer higher user acquisition whilst paying lower CPI (cost-per-install).
Enter a fraud-proof ecosystem: Marketers gain access to a fully fraud-free user-acquisition ecosystem. This is because there are no additional layers between the budget holder and the Mobile OEM, and reach advertising placement is fully controlled by the Smartphone OEM.
Build trust with your audience: Users who are brand-loyal to the Mobile OEM will view adverts as more trustworthy.
Diverse advertisement (ad) formats: Access a diverse range of ad formats across all Mobile OEMs from full-screen interstitials to video ads.
Appographic targeting: Appographic Targeting helps marketers to find the perfect user for their app based on their unique interests and promote the app to users who are most likely to install it.
Access dynamic preloads options: Marketers can gain a competitive edge by accessing premium, dynamic preloads options. Their app will be pre-installed on the mobile device when it is first shipped and set up by the new device holder.
Transparency: They operate with complete transparency of each Mobile OEM and ensure their bidding methods give advertisers a greater understanding of how each Smartphone OEM is performing overall and compared to other channels.
AVOW partners with Mobile OEMs across the globe and are expert in OEM mobile inventory. They help their clients with a consultative approach through the whole campaign cycle, from getting their app listed on the respective stores, distribution, and tracking to performance and optimization. Mobile marketers can expand their reach and unlock new revenue streams with AVOW’s Mobile OEM partnerships – which cover 42% of the global Android market. These untapped audiences cannot be accessed via social, search, or SDK networks.
AVOW – Core Belief
Beyond the tech and tools, their company is powered by people, and in that lies their philosophy of people-powered technology. As a people-first-company, they extend this value to their clients, their partners, and, just as importantly, to one another. They believe in transforming app marketing through their one-stop solution for Mobile OEM aggregation, enabling app discovery across alternative app stores, and becoming the #1 partner to unlock new markets while ensuring a higher return on advertising spend.
Their core values that help to drive AVOW forward together are:
To be humble always
Fostering a positive team and family spirit
Pivoting mistakes into learnings
Building trust through transparency
Embracing a proactive mindset
AVOW – Founders and Team
Robert Wildner – Founder and CEO of AVOW
Robert Wildner is the founder and CEO of AVOW, the global app growth company. He leads the company’s growth and product innovation strategies. As a mobile marketing pioneer, Robert constantly strives to discover new advertising formats and inventory sources, ensuring that app marketers can meet their targets. In his 15 years of working in the digital and mobile marketing space, he has built a great network spanning from the USA and LATAM, to SEA and China, and therefore has a deep understanding of local markets and their specific market needs. Robert has worked with global brands – from Fortune 500 companies to Mobile Champions including some major brands such as Tokopedia, Letgo, Scopely, Shopee, Uber and Hasbro and has formed partnerships with global Mobile OEMs such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, realme and Samsung. Robert holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance and has lived and worked in both the UK and Germany.
Ashwin Shekhar – Co-Founder and CRO at AVOW
Ashwin Shekhar is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at AVOW. Currently, he is at the helm of affairs to expand AVOW’s presence across geographies by building global business teams in the ad tech and marketing tech arena. Ashwin also consults Mobile App-focused Startups on GTM Strategies, Growth, Retention and Monetization.
Using his deep knowledge and exposure in the digital and mobile advertising space, Ashwin has been at the forefront of building international businesses in Europe, APAC and India markets for prestigious organizations namely Glispa Global Group, InMobi and Infosys prior to establishing AVOW. With more than 10 years of experience in the industry, he supported leading mobile champions such as Twitter, Uber, Miniclip, Indian giants like Flipkart, BYJU’S, Paytm, & SEA Advertisers like Kumu, Ajaib and Shopee who are looking for hypergrowth.
Ashwin holds an MBA as well as an Engineering degree in Computer Science.
Orietta Mendez – Managing Partner and COO at AVOW
Orietta Mendez is the Managing Partner and COO at AVOW. Orietta in her current role as the COO of the company is responsible for people and operations and plays a vital role in establishing strategic partnerships at AVOW. Her expertise in Performance Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Adtech, StartUp Industry and Internationalization are highly valuable to drive the company’s operations in different geographies namely- Germany, India, US, Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia.
She was previously the Vice President of Global Operations & Partnerships at Glispa Global Group. She has also served as COO of Crobo, a company specializing in digital marketing for games (funded by venture builder Covus Group) where she was responsible for structuring and monitoring the various business units, including Product and HR. Orietta holds an MBA in SME promotion and Training as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Business Engineering.
Caio Balbino – CCSO and Co-founder of AVOW
Caio Balbino is the Chief Customer Success Officer (CCSO) & Co-founder of AVOW. With 10+ years of experience in digital and mobile marketing both as an advertiser/agency, with a focus on performance and user acquisition for apps, Caio is currently charged with the important responsibility of managing all the accounts and customer service functions globally. Prior to co-founding AVOW, he spent over six years at Glispa Global Group where he last held the senior leadership role of VP, Global Client Services.
The current company size is 30+ employees.
AVOW – The Idea and Startup Story
The company was first established in March 2018 but the founding team has known and worked with each other for the last 12 years in various companies before launching AVOW. With the mobile industry’s ever-changing nature, they knew there were opportunities to improve the mobile ecosystem and its marketing and advertising. They wanted to efficiently help app developers and brands reach their goals and move markets. It is always important to understand your value proposition and readjust this while you are growing.
Initially, they started the company with the idea of streamlining the process of identifying and blocking mobile advertising fraud more efficiently, to help clients to save marketing budgets.
Over time they have realized that fraud detection and prevention became a commodity and did not allow them to stick out of the crowd. They were looking for something disruptive that they expected to be the next big thing. During that time Google clashed with Huawei as well as Fortnight with Google and Apple and they knew which direction they are going to take – alternative app stores.
They have figured that alternative app stores are becoming reality and the time for Google Play and Apple Store as monopolies would come to an end sooner or later. – Alternative App stores are, as the name suggests, an alternative to the biggest App stores available in the market allowing advertisers to have an alternative channel promoting advertisements within the main Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) globally such as HUAWEI, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Samsung.
Keeping in mind that those Mobile OEMs alone cover 42% of the global Android market and the untapped audiences you find on those cannot be accessed via social, search, or SDK networks – which not only makes it unique and a must-have in any marketer’s mobile marketing mix, but also more effective and budget-friendly and yet – it comes with all the benefits that you get at Google and Apple.
Since they have been in the mobile industry for more than a decade they tested their offering with some of the closest allies and apps in the market. As the results were phenomenal, the testers were more than happy to continue growing their apps via those new marketing channels and untapped audiences. They also continued to grow its vision along those of their customers such as Byju’s, Amazon Prime, Moneytap, Navi, Upgrad and WazirX and matched them with the opportunities of Mobile OEMs.
Over the past years, they have also established very close relationships and exclusive partnerships with global mobile OEMs to offer the best possible options for their client’s marketing efforts. Recently, they were awarded by Huawei for the ‘Premium Specialized Mobile OEM agency’ for the year 2022.
AVOW – Name, Tagline, and Logo
AVOW Logo
They chose the name AVOW because it symbolizes their commitment to their clients and the service they provide. By definition, AVOW means “to affirm or commit to something openly and bluntly”. This is at the heart of the company philosophy, a value that is represented by the fully transparent and dedicated way their team operates.
AVOW – Growth
Their greater and better access to the untapped user audience coupled with their unparalleled customer service has contributed to the steady and faster growth. Due to their official partnerships with Mobile OEM advertising platforms such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Realme, and Samsung, they offer direct access to over 1.5 billion daily active users. AVOW is expanding the mobile marketing mix for global mobile advertisers by empowering app developers, marketers, and brands to leverage Mobile OEM advertisement placements (outside of Google, Facebook, or 3rd party advertising networks) to reach previously untapped user audiences and all of that brand save, ad fraud-free and at the same time for a much better price. AVOW is tuned towards performance and helps advertisers focus on scaling on performance bypassing the learning curve which comes with individual mobile OEMs.
Moreover, they offer their clients Dynamic preloads opportunities with some of the biggest Mobile OEMs such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo which gives their customers the exclusive possibility to be featured on phones right from the get-go when new users activate the mobile device for the first time and are presented with the opportunity to download the app while the mobile setup happens.
So their competitive advantage is a combination of excellent people, strong mobile OEM relationships and gained trust over the last years and the drive to always develop and solve advertiser’s growth needs.
AVOW – Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy that worked for Avow are:
WOM – in the beginning, word of mouth mainly. Pretty old school – but yes, they contacted their network one by one and only via their Sales team.
Only after a certain period of time, they have established a marketing team that supported them with building out their website, CRM and Email marketing strategy, and of course their Social media channels.
They also have representatives in all its major markets – that is India, Indonesia, the USA, Vietnam, Brazil, and Germany.
They also partner with the major MMPs like Adjust and run educational webinars in different countries to ensure they spread the word about the benefits that Mobile OEMs can bring to the mobile marketing mix.
A lot of advertisers referred them to their colleagues in the industry because of their ability to tap into unique fraud-free inventory with great service levels.
As already mentioned in one of the previous questions they (as individuals) have been around in the mobile phone industry for more than 10 years and hence have a vast global network of mobile marketers and app developers. They contacted a number of marketers when they first started to see if they could garner any interest and if they would be willing to run some test campaigns and budgets with them. Again, any marketer or app developer is always on the lookout to find and reach fresh new users and since Mobile OEMs have been under the radar for a long time – they discovered a great opportunity for mobile marketers to tap into a big pool of potential new users.
Of course, one thing one should not neglect – over the past years they have built out very tied relationships with those OEMs so that they can offer this premium service and solutions to their customers.
AVOW – Customer Retention Strategy
Caio (CoFounder), who is in charge of Account Management and Customer Service is very proud that their NPS (Net-Promoter-Score) is always great, which also means they see a very low churn rate.
They have 24/7 service due to the fact that they follow a straightforward glocal market strategy. Meaning that they have local people on the ground in all the major markets they globally operate in. It ensures that they are in the right time zone to support their customers as well as that they speak the language and they have a deep understanding of the local market – hence they can really help and empower their customers to get the most out of their services wherever they are based.
AVOW – Challenges Faced
As for many companies, the worldwide lockdown hit them quite hard, since they had a significant part of their business from the travel industry. They had the option of downsizing the team or focusing on new customers. They decided to put in some extra effort to find new customers in other verticals and succeeded.
AVOW – Partnership
In the past years AVOW partnered with 8 major Mobile OEMs.
Xiaomi
Oppo
Vivo
Samsung
Oneplus
Realme
Huawei
Transsion
Their clients like Amazon Prime, Unacademy, Upgrad, Byju’s, Moneytap, Avail and WazirX amongst others get access to 1.5 billion daily active users which they provide. They currently have a presence in Germany, India, Indonesia, Brazil, USA, Vietnam, and Russia.
They won HUAWEI’s prestigious “Strategic Partner Award, Europe” earlier in January 2022. AVOW was also ranked and recognized in three categories in the top 10 which included AppsFlyer’s dedicated Growth section: India, SEA and India, non-gaming finance and AF retention index finance in Power and volume: India and SEA in AppsFlyer’s Performance Index XIII.
The landscape in which they operate is extremely dynamic in nature with trends and regulations changing at a time frame which are often unpredictable. Across the global presence, their clients are diligently supported by teams that understand their specific market- the best practices and thus offer the much-needed localized and domain-centric knowledge from a strategy and execution point of view. Their teams across all of the global offices ensure that its clients get round-the-clock support. They follow a consultative approach to handling challenges that advertisers face. They believe in being proactive and keeping their communication channels open with advertisers at all points of time.
Communication for them is an opportunity and an important aspect to keep their stakeholders- partners as well as customers updated about the developments and movements happening in the venture. At AVOW, they have adopted the following strategies to keep them in the loop-
Regular news updates via email and tie it back to their Social Media campaigns. They use Hubspot as their go-to tool when it comes to anything related to marketing.
Posting a lot of educational pieces and features on its blog. They have plenty of subscribers learning about them and the services they provide there. Check it out 🙂
They also work with multiple PR agencies in the different regions who help them to communicate with the local news/media outlets
For any campaign related to their customers, they have an in-house proprietary tool that they use to launch, streamline, analyze, and optimize their customers’ campaigns.
And of course, they are getting back to conferences (MAU, dmexco etc.) and more face-to-face dedicated meetings.
AVOW – Recognition and Achievements
Some achievements of AVOW are:
AVOW has been ranked twice in AppsFlyer Performance Index in its 13th and 14th editions consecutively in the top 10.
AVOW is an official partner of Huawei
They have official partnerships with all major mobile OEMs Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, OnePlus.
AVOW won the Huawei prize
FAQs
When was AVOW founded?
AVOW was founded in 2018.
Who is the founder of AVOW?
Robert Wildner, Ashwin Shekhar, Orietta Mendez and Caio Balbino have founded AVOW.
Who are the partners of AVOW?
AVOW has partnered with 8 major Mobile OEMs.
Xiaomi
Oppo
Vivo
Samsung
Oneplus
Realme
Huawei
Transsion
What service is offered by AVOW?
AVOW specialises in Mobile OEM on-device user acquisition and advertising across alternative app stores.
The article is Contributed by Mr. Alok Pandey, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Xapads Media.
Adtech has seen unprecedented growth in Year 2021 so we have all the reason to be excited about what the future holds for us. Advertising technologies are bridging the gap between Reality and Desire and also adding new and innovative ways to bring Advertiser and User under the same screen.
As the world of Ad-tech is set to get bigger and better in the coming times, let’s see how.
Year 2021 will go down in history as a significant one that changed the world of Digital Marketing for Good as Apple introduced and finally implemented its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in iOS14.5. Now any App or Medium requires user Consent to track any sensitive data and gives User Privacy the importance it always deserved. With Google, Huawei and others to follow suit, this Year is expected to see more revolutions and steps around User Privacy.
CTV and OTT
Undoubtedly Year 2022 belongs to CTV and OTTas major players started to unleash the power in Year 2021 and with more and more content creators choosing the medium over traditional ones, this will remain a trend setter in coming months too. India will remain the top market as the penetration and growth continue to see an uptick.
Data Sets : The global CTV ad spend is projected to rise 23% in 2022, hitting approx. $20.3 billion whereas, the global OTT revenue will be approx. $205,565 million in 2022 and is projected to reach a staggering $210 billion by the year 2026. Coming to the Indian market, the revenue from the OTT segment will be $2,673 million in 2022 and will reach $3,928 million at a CAGR of 10.10% by 2026.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Another trend that picked the hype in late 2021 is Augmented Reality (AR). AR is reaching audiences in a way no other Ad-tech ever reached. It builds the personal connection with the user to drive brand awareness and showcase the product’s pointers as in the real world. Even though this tech is not widely used(yet), the prospect and offerings just can’t be denied for long. I personally say watch it as this will make the biggest difference this year.
Mobile First
Mobile First is another thing that will stay in trend, even though many believe that industry has seen the peak of In-App Marketing but I personally beg to differ. Countries like India and SEA are expected to see highest growth in terms of Mobile penetration and with fast adaptation of 5G and high internet, Mobile + In-App Marketing will continue to be Advertisers top choice. Another factor of this tide will remain highly adaptive MMPs like Appsflyer, Branch, Adjust and Kochava, providing advertisers with valuable user insights and control over Adspent.
With something Big making news everyday, 2022 would be an “Year for Adtech” as the market and industry prepare for the welcome of Metaverse and Web3.0 but there are still some trends that are here to make Big. India is also expected to ride on these trends and with high penetration and adaptation of new technology, this year might be crucial in making the history of India’s Adtech market. Against all odds India has shown high growth prospects post covid second wave with new Unicorn every week so a positive impact will propel India’s Ad Tech Industry.
Anagha S
