Reach the Podium with User Acquisition and Retargeting Campaigns this Olympic Season

Just as athletes spend years training for their big day on the world’s stage, mobile app marketers can benefit from well-prepared strategies that effectively acquire, convert, and retain app users. 

With each passing Olympic Games, more mobile devices find their way into the hands of users across the globe; this further digitalization of sporting events allows excellent opportunities for app marketers to identify new and appropriate consumers. By utilising AdTech, brands can incorporate Mobile Programmatic User Acquisition (UA), interacting directly with captivated users, as well as converting previously engaged users with precise Retargeting efforts. Here we provide strategies to centre your app during this one-of-a-kind advantageous seasonal event.

Why now? 

Throughout the Olympics, the scale of viewer engagement is massive, with the 2020 Tokyo Games attracting 3 billion viewers. Once you’ve properly identified your audience and broken them down by factors such as, age, gender, geographies, as well as particular behaviours and personalised tastes, you’re ready to segment based on these criteria. It is within this phase that programmatic advertising can help you reach for the gold in your ad marketing strategies.

“During this Olympic season, users will likely be bombarded with ads competing for their attention. To truly stand out brands should focus on building a robust retargeting strategy centred on ad creative innovation.

Start by creating clear user segments to run targeted ad campaigns. These campaigns should deliver localised and personalised ads to maximise relevance and boost engagement. Leverage dynamic ad formats like Hybrid Ads and Product Feed Ads.  Ad platforms with automation capabilities can simplify this process, allowing you to generate multiple captivating iterations from a single ad image while ensuring brand and ad safety. 

By combining the excitement of the Olympics with a tailored ad strategy, brands can achieve meaningful results and maximise their marketing efforts during this season.”
– Martje Abeldt, CEO, RevX

What might these strategies look like?

Your individual campaign will depend on the custom direction determined for your brand and your KPIs, but it is important to consider where your customers are in their user journey to best allocate ad delivery and reduce ad-fatigue. 

User Acquisition Campaigns

In UA campaigns, RevX’s programmatic platform works to engage and nurture users who might be aware of your app but require more brand recollection to equate proper relevance to their daily lives.

Educating and enticing Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) app users during the Olympics–when they are highly attentive to their devices–is a great time to do so. Whether you use videos, native advertising, or a combination of both, strong campaigns hinge on when audiences are attuned to news cycles or awaiting updates. The weeks-long efforts of Olympic participants, volunteers, and motivated sports fans, provide a time when people are hyper-vigilant to staying in the know.

Reach them with ad creatives that align messaging with past browser history of their favourite athletes, or ad formats that frame the biggest match of the day, according to their lifestyle habits or past purchases. 

Retargeting Campaigns

For Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) audiences, accessing Retargeting channels focuses on reinitiating dormant or previously engaged users, aiming to convert users back onto your app at the moment they most require your services or are reminded of something they need or desire. 

The environment of the Olympics is unique in its potential to create euphoric sensations that drive users to explore and react to nostalgia, hobbies (old and new), and the sporting world-–creating opportunities for many verticals: travel, eCommerce, entertainment, and consumer goods. You could provide discounts renewing yearly subscriptions to get special behind-the-scenes Olympic coverage, foster in-app purchases (IAP) during highly-attended events with coupons inviting friends to join in the fun, or offer access to delivery promotions when their favourite local team registers a goal or medal. 

Don’t forget you can add these layers of personalisation with Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) ads that are fit for each audience segment, delivering tailored messaging perfect for capturing the attention of users during their Olympic spectator journey.

We’ll be on the edge of our seats for this upcoming Games! 

Discover further strategies for Paris 2024 and future Olympic editions, and learn insights from other AdTech experts from the likes of Singular, AppsFlyer, and M&C Saatchi, in Affle’s ‘Going for Gold: The Comprehensive Advertising Playbook for Olympic Success’.