AppLovin – VP of Marketing Candidate Exercise
Prepared for: Adam Foroughi
Candidate: David Slater
Date: April 23, 2025
Plan to accelerate AppLovin's growth by strengthening switching costs, scaling network effects, and elevating brand preference—while streamlining the Marketing organization required to execute.
Executive Summary
1
Brand: keep performance credibility; add emotional preference.
Shift brand from trusted tool → strategic growth partner to raise win‑rate and pricing power.
2
Growth: Shorten time‑to‑value by 30%.
Replace fragmented resources with a product‑led education hub that gets new publishers live in < 1 day and advertisers profitable in < 7 days.
3
Time to Market: Turn AI efficiency into GTM velocity.
Use AI to cut creative & analytics cycle times 50%, reinvesting savings in deeper product marketing fundamentals.
4
Positioning: Own a "neutral optimizer" vs Google/Meta.
Scale e‑commerce from a ~$1B gross spend pilot to >$3B+, highlighting aligned incentives ("we earn when you earn").
5
Build a right‑sized team
~20% FTE savings in Year 1—reallocating headcount toward Product Marketing, Growth, and Brand/Comms.
12‑Month Outcomes
Three Insights That Shape the Plan
Based on an analysis using the Hamilton‑Helmer 7‑Powers Framework
Competitive Snapshot
(Unity+IronSource, Meta / Google vs AppLovin)
Neutrality
- AppLovin: ✅
- Unity/ironSource: ❌ (biased)
- Meta/Google: ❌
SDK ease
- AppLovin: ✅
- Unity/ironSource: ✅
- Meta/Google: ⚖️
AI‑driven ROAS
- AppLovin: ✅
- Unity/ironSource: ⚖️
- Meta/Google: ✅
Exec social reach
- AppLovin: ⚠️
- Unity/ironSource: ⚠️
- Meta/Google: ✅
Current State Snapshot —
Brand, Website, Resource Center, Social
Brand, Website, Resource Center, Social
Brand
What's Working: Trusted for performance; quiet confidence around AXON/AI tech
Key Gaps / Risks: Lacks emotional resonance and clear "why we matter"; under‑leveraged product stories
Website
What's Working: Concise Solutions pages; strong hero concept ("find ideal customers and success comes naturally")
Key Gaps / Risks: Product pages reflect org chart; minimal proof vs Unity/Meta; integration guidance buried
Resource Center
What's Working: Rich library of blogs, success stories
Key Gaps / Risks: Chronological "scroll of content" → impenetrable and drives no action; outdated News section (last post Oct '24) breeds doubt
Social
What's Working: Active brand handles & launch updates
Key Gaps / Risks: Zero exec presence; thought leadership sporadic; influencer wins appear ad‑hoc. In social, people follow other people. There are no external AppLovin leadership spokespeople
This snapshot underpins the 5 moves that follow.
Five High‑Impact Moves (First 12 Months)
1. Re‑frame brand narrative
From: Tech performance leader → To: "Fuel Growth, Not Guesswork" campaign to humanize tech and signal partnership
2. Website Reorientation
From Product-led to Customer-journey architecture, eComm hero slot for 6 months, land differentiation via proof grid vs. Unity/Meta, and clear "Start in 5 mins" CTA
3. Resource Center → Growth Hub
Transform scattered chronological content repository into action-oriented growth platform for developers
4. Executive Social Visibility Program
Establish thought leadership through strategic content and speaking opportunities
5. AI Marketing OS
Integrate GenAI into creative, analytics, and ops; target $1-2M annual OPEX savings
Org Snapshot & Budget (Year 1)
Realigned org (≈40 FTE, down from ~50 today, ~20% reduction in OpEx via AI efficiency)
Redeploy existing headcount toward higher‑leverage Product Marketing, Growth, and AI‑driven Ops while shrinking design & content thanks to GenAI.
Total: 38 FTE (–20% vs current ~50)
- Net budget impact: ≈small decrease – savings from 5 design/content positions fund 3 senior PMMs and 1 AI strategist.
Footnote: Typical ad‑tech peers allocate 4–8% of headcount to Marketing. At ~40 marketing / 750 total employee count = 5%, we remain lean yet fully staffed to deliver the roadmap.
90-Day Quick Wins vs 12-Month Roadmap