Rebecca Caulkins
Rebecca: UA Manager at Pixelberry Studios
Where to hear and read about Rebecca Caulkins1 episode or test
Rebecca Caulkins is UA Manager at Pixelberry Studios, a mobile gaming growth leader who spoke on a 2023 panel about marketing after Apple's privacy changes. The most useful lesson from her is to keep the classic ad structure and keep budgets and channel tests moving, instead of waiting for measurement to go back to how it was.
hook gameplay and call to action is still the winner of all ads
How the Gaming Ecosystem is Approaching Growth in 2023
Rebecca Caulkins: the story and the lessons
1How Rebecca Caulkins runs Pixelberry's mix under SKAN
Caulkins moves budget between channels faster than before. Her team now switches budget from channel to channel much more quickly than it did before the privacy changes.
The panel noted that not every ad network moved well into SKAN, so money goes wherever the return is best.
Her team keeps testing new channels that adapt quickly to SKAN. Caulkins says her overall marketing mix has not changed drastically, but the team does not leave it alone and keeps testing new channels.
The channels it favors for testing are the ones that adapted to SKAN fastest.
2How Caulkins reads measurement: SKAN first, MMP alongside
Caulkins treats SKAN as the source of truth. SKAN is the primary data, and her team looks at probabilistic matching (the MMP view) next to it.
The panel agreed measurement will not go back to how it was before ATT, and SKAN only covers the first 24 to 48 hours.
Her team sees huge gaps between SKAN and probabilistic matching. The discrepancies show up even when a campaign hits the install threshold, so neither view is taken alone.
She favors networks that offer dual attribution views. Her reasoning: "the more data uh performance marketer has the better decision we can make".
3Pixelberry's creative playbook: Spark Ads and the classic ad
Caulkins asks TikTok creators to run their existing UGC as Spark Ads. She searches TikTok for the app's name, finds videos already promoting it, and messages the creators to ask if the video can run as a Spark Ad.
Followers, likes and comments go to the creator's page, so they usually agree, and the team gets ad content without paying to produce it. Pixelberry has run a ton of Spark Ads this way. The team also uses the collaboration feature on Instagram. It works best for brands that already have people talking about them.
Hook, gameplay and call to action is still Pixelberry's top ad. Caulkins says this classic structure remains the top performer for Pixelberry, despite the popularity of UGC and influencers.
Teams get new versions by iterating on the middle gameplay segment, for example by varying the call to action or the ways players are judged inside the fake gameplay.
How the Gaming Ecosystem is Approaching Growth in 2023
Three mobile gaming growth leaders explain how they handle SKAN, measurement across MMP, SKAN and MMM, Apple Search Ads, Google UA and organic channels after ATT. Their practical takeaways include treating SKAN as the source of truth, investing steadily in non-direct-response channels, and building ads around the classic hook, gameplay, call to action structure.
Caulkins moves budget between channels faster than before. Her team now switches budget from channel to channel much more quickly than it did before the privacy changes.
The panel noted that not every ad network moved well into SKAN, so money goes wherever the return is best.
Her team keeps testing new channels that adapt quickly to SKAN. Caulkins says her overall marketing mix has not changed drastically, but the team does not leave it alone and keeps testing new channels.
The channels it favors for testing are the ones that adapted to SKAN fastest.
Caulkins treats SKAN as the source of truth. SKAN is the primary data, and her team looks at probabilistic matching (the MMP view) next to it.
The panel agreed measurement will not go back to how it was before ATT, and SKAN only covers the first 24 to 48 hours.
Her team sees huge gaps between SKAN and probabilistic matching. The discrepancies show up even when a campaign hits the install threshold, so neither view is taken alone.
She favors networks that offer dual attribution views. Her reasoning: "the more data uh performance marketer has the better decision we can make".
Caulkins asks TikTok creators to run their existing UGC as Spark Ads. She searches TikTok for the app's name, finds videos already promoting it, and messages the creators to ask if the video can run as a Spark Ad.
Followers, likes and comments go to the creator's page, so they usually agree, and the team gets ad content without paying to produce it. Pixelberry has run a ton of Spark Ads this way. The team also uses the collaboration feature on Instagram. It works best for brands that already have people talking about them.
Hook, gameplay and call to action is still Pixelberry's top ad. Caulkins says this classic structure remains the top performer for Pixelberry, despite the popularity of UGC and influencers.
Teams get new versions by iterating on the middle gameplay segment, for example by varying the call to action or the ways players are judged inside the fake gameplay.