JOIN US AT
July 22 – 24, 2014 | San Francisco, CA
Join the Apps Alliance and our members at this year’s Casual Connect. Casual Connect brings together more than 6,000 of the most talented and knowledgeable experts in the casual gaming field.
Will you be attending Casual Connect? Let us know in the comments section below.
ALLIANCE MEMBERS AT CASUAL CONNECT
HILTON SAN FRANCISCO UNION SQ. | 333 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
MEET ALLIANCE MEMBERS
Click on a logo to get in touch with Alliance members:
EVENTS, NETWORKING, AND PARTIES
WHY MOBILE VIDEO ADVERTISING WORKS
WHEN: Monday, July 21st, 2014 @ 6:00pm – 8:00pm
WHERE: Flurry HQ, 360 3rd St, Suite 750, San Francisco, CA 94107
WHAT TO EXPECT: Learn how to acquire high-quality users and monetize with mobile video ads.
Pre-Funk & Badge Pickup with StartApp
WHEN: Monday, July 21st, 2014 @ 5:00pm – 8:00pm
WHERE: Hilton Union Square, Grand Ballroom
WHAT TO EXPECT: Relaxed Networking, Beer and Wine
Mingle with Tapjoy
WHEN: Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 @ 5:00pm – 6:00pm
WHERE: Hilton Union Square, Continental Ballroom
WHAT TO EXPECT: Beer and Wine
Casual Connect Dinner 2014 with Mobile UA Fellowship
WHEN: Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 @ 6:00pm – 1:00am
WHERE: Jillian’s @ Metreon
WHAT TO EXPECT: Networking and a panel session on Google’s Overview Updates to 2H 2014 GooglePlay & Android Strategy
WHEN: Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 @ 5:30pm – 8:30pm
WHERE: Clift Hotel
WHAT TO EXPECT: Exclusive evening of networking over cocktails and panoramic city views of San Francisco
Official Opening Night Party, presented by InMobi + Pandora
WHEN: Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014 @ 8:00pm – 1:00am
WHERE: Mezzanine & 54 Mint & Blue Bottle @ Mint Plaza
WHAT TO EXPECT: Dance party featuring DJ Youngblood Hawke and Tender Buttons at Mezzanine. Chill networking at 54 Mint and Blue Bottle.
Mingle with Fiksu
WHEN: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014 @ 5:00pm – 6:00pm
WHERE: Hilton Union Square, Continental Ballroom
WHAT TO EXPECT: Beer and Wine
Dinner with Vegas World
WHEN: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014 @ 6:00pm – 8:00pm
WHERE: Chambers SF, 601 Eddy St, San Francisco, CA
WHAT TO EXPECT: Dinner, Beer and Wine
WHEN: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014 @ 8:00pm – 9:00pm
WHERE: San Francisco City Hall
WHAT TO EXPECT: Grab a drink and discover the Indie Prize Award winners this year!
Play the nominated Indie Prize games
App Annie and Upsight at Party @ City Hall
WHEN: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014 @ 8:00pm – 12:00am
WHERE: San Francisco City Hall
WHAT TO EXPECT: Music and dancing featuring live band Mustache Harbor in the Light Court. Chill networking and games in the Rotunda.
Women’s Lunch with DeNA
WHEN: Thursday, July 24th, 2014 @ 12:00pm – 1:00pm
WHERE: 620 Jones St. San Francisco, California
WHAT TO EXPECT: Networking, Inspiration, Lunch and Drinks
FEATURED SESSIONS AT CASUAL CONNECT
July 22
9:30 – 9:50 – Mobile Momentum and Google Play
Mobile has seen explosive growth across the country and across the world, and games play a critical role. With Android accounting for 62 percent of the mobile device market, the opportunity is massive for game developers. Google Play global head of games business development, Bob Meese, shares insights on the mobile gaming industry and how you can take advantage of it.
12:00 – 12:30 – LUNCH SESSION: OpenGL® ES 3.0 and Beyond: How To Deliver Desktop Graphics on Mobile Platforms
See how the latest release of OpenGL® ES brings the power of desktop graphics to the mobile development space. Android devices are shipping with powerful graphics hardware. Many of these devices share the same capabilities as desktop PC systems. We’ll give an overview of the latest features of OpenGL® ES 3.0 and OpenGL® ES 3.1 and demonstrate the power of these features with illustrative examples giving developers the tools for delivering the most powerful mobile graphics experience possible.
1:30 – 1:50 – Mobile Marketing and User Acquisition Trends – 2014 and Beyond
Bryan Buskas of AdColony will refresh his popular developer survey – which was a hit at Casual Connect 2013 – and unveil insights for the first time on the latest trends and strategies for user acquisition and monetization straight from the top grossing devs to you. The new developer “future-casting” research presentation will pull insights and show change in attitudes over the past year on topics such as, “What advertising channels are currently being used by Top Grossing mobile developers?”, “What user acquisition channels and ad formats are most effective at achieving campaign goals?” and “What trends from last year are on the down and out?”
With aggregated data and real input from the biggest developers in the world on important topics like mobile video, social, and more, Bryan will discuss the ever changing mobile marketing landscape and give attendees a dose of reality on what’s working and what’s not. In a highly competitive landscape where many devs keep their marketing tactics and spend close to their chests, this new research will deliver a high quality, not-to-be-missed Casual Connect talk!
2:00 – 2:20 – Mobile Update: Data-Driven Strategies for Profiting on Smartphones and Tablets
Leveraging the latest analytics data from over 1.3 billion devices per month, Flurry CEO Simon Khalaf will dive deep into the worldwide mobile game market. Viewing data by OS, country, device type, demographic and game genre, Khalaf paints a vivid picture of the market and its biggest opportunities. The audience will get data-driven strategy, design and monetization recommendations aimed at profiting in mobile.
2:30 – 2:50 – Win the Race: The Brains and Beauty of Mobile Advertising
One of the biggest challenges in the mobile advertising world today is how to advertise without compromising user experience. In this session, we’ll reveal our secret recipe for the right mix of user experience and monetization strategy.
3:30 – 4:20 – The Secret Science Behind Higher Quality Downloads, Increased Player Retention and Longer Term Customer Value and ROI
With more than 1M apps available across multiple platforms, app developers worldwide are constantly looking for ways to drive higher quality downloads and increase retention rates. Moderated by industry expert Dean Takahashi, lead writer for GamesBeat at Venturebeat, this panel will explore the ins and outs of the science that goes into driving higher quality downloads, increasing player retention and longer term customer value and ROI in the app and mobile landscape. In conjunction with Jason Cianchette, general manager of Publishers Clearing House’s Liquid Wireless platform, Andrew Birnbryer of AppLift and James Peng of Storm8, the discussion will also focus on the ins and outs of player engagement, increasing app store rankings, ad testing and ad optimization and the ongoing importance of ratings and reviews. The panelists will discuss specific case studies of successful app launches and how they have been able to maintain player engagement, excitement and drive retention across a number of popular apps.
July 23
10:30 – 10:50 – Pinpointing the ‘Next Big Thing’ with Data-Driven Insights
Identifying and acting on app market trends is nearly impossible without access to context-driven data insights. Luckily, App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt has the information to identify emerging trends before they happen. What is working in Japan that will soon thrive in the US? How can a messaging app in South Korea aid the London app economy? Mr. Schmitt will reveal how developers and publishers can use analytics to act on emerging trends and become the next great app leaders.
1:00 – 1:50 – What Technologies Will Change the Face of Mobile Gaming?
Since the launch of the first smartphone, evolving technology has been drastically changing mobile games. Now that most everyone has a high-powered gaming computer in their pockets, player expectations have grown considerably. But things are just getting started. New technologies are helping mobile developers to create visually stunning games that delight and connect players like never before. These technologies include:
- 3D game engines
- New scripting languages
- Synchronous multiplayer
- Analytics & visualization platforms
- Cross-platform
July 24
11:00 – 11:20 – Monetizing Free-to-Play 3.0: In-App Purchases vs. Ads. Finding the Right Balance
In-app purchases comprise a large share of in-game revenue today but are driven by paying power users (a.k.a ‘whales’) which typically make up less than five percent of the total user base. Ads can supplement monetization for the remaining ninety-five percent of non-paying users, but concerns around cannibalization and user experience for the whales prevents developers from implementing ads. As the gaming industry moves toward a hybrid of monetization models, targeting users across platforms becomes key. How do you show the right screen to the right user at the right time?
1:00 – 1:50 – Leveraging Data to Build Better Games and Enhance Monetization
More than ever before, developers have access to rich pools of data – both of the first and third-party varieties – that can enable them to create better, stickier, and more monetizable user experiences. What are some of the best practices that industry leaders have employed to make data-driven decisions? Can we now know, with unprecedented precision, the moment at which a user is likely to organically bounce out of a game? And if so, should that influence their advertising experience? Can we convert free users into paid through the use of smart internal marketing? Can we combine first and third-party signals to make game mechanics work better? Learn how your peers are leveraging “big data” to build better, smarter and more monetizable products.
10:30 – 10:50 – How Chinese Apps are Winning Outside China
In 2013, three of the top ten app publishers globally were Chinese. With the shift in gear and budgets to back them, Chinese app firms are embracing rapidly growing mobile audiences outside of their own country. Learn which Chinese apps are dominating and how they did it with Si Shen, the Beijing-based CEO of PapayaMobile and China’s largest mobile RTB platform, AppFlood. She will explore the critical factors driving rapid growth of Chinese apps like WeChat that are currently giving the likes of Facebook a run for their money in the global app arena and walk through case studies from s
ome of China’s most successful mobile games and apps.
10:30 – 10:50 – More is Less? Less is More? Finding the Balance Point in Mobile Advertising
So, you have decided to do the right thing and market your application. Fortunately, you live in a world where everything is trackable, measurable, and transparent. You may be thinking, “I’ll try my luck and bid low. If I can get engaged users on this bid – it’s a win-win!” What if I were to tell you that in the advertising world, more is actually less, meaning, the higher you bid, the less you pay for a booking/ paying user? The key here is to find your balance point! How much it is worth paying, to get the right amount of new users at the desired level of engagement.
11:30 – 11:50 – The Next Frontier: Optimizing Mobile Gamer Acquisition, Retention and Monetization (A.R.M) in Southeast Asia
With its rapidly rising mobile penetration rates, growing 4G availability, and maturing ecosystem, Southeast Asia (SEA) is likely to be the next frontier for mobile game developers. However, only those companies that can navigate the region’s complexities effectively will succeed in SEA. Animoca’s David Kim examines the platforms and technologies that are driving Southeast Asia’s amazing growth, while prescribing tips and exploring best practices to help mobile game developers excel in the region.
10:30 – 10:50 – Kids and Families on Mobile Devices
The way media is consumed has changed vastly over the past five years. No longer do big media companies need to focus on the big screen or the television–the screens are becoming much smaller, and the way that families consume media has completely changed. With over 75 percent of streaming videos consumed by toddlers and kids occurring on mobile devices, it is time to build products that capitalize on this shift. The new world of ubiquitous mobile devices creates many issues to consider in protecting our children. Join Matt as he addresses these issues head on with actionable advice for building products for children.
11:00 – 11:50 – Casually Connecting with Kids…and their Purchasing Parents
How do industry players succeed when targeting kids & family? This dynamic panel consists of children’s major entertainment studios, publishers, developers, and researchers. Listen to their insights as to what works and what doesn’t from a functional, monetization, and marketing point of view. Jean will delve into a number of questions including what qualifications a developer should have, whether kids & family vary internationally, and trends to be on top of.
2:00 – 2:50 – Creating A Mobile App With Longevity
A panel of top-notch developers and executives from around the mobile world! Innovative gameplay, clever visuals, strategic licensing and a smart business backbone are all key components to building and sustaining your mobile brand. Come learn how some of our clients and friends have made, or are making, the transition from startup to established brand and what you can do to set your company up for long-term success.
4:00 – 4:20 – A Practical Guide to COPPA: Does COPPA Apply to You and If So, What are Your Options?
COPPA is a U.S. federal law designed to protect the privacy of pre-teens online. Mobile app developers and publishers would be wise not to ignore COPPA – to do so can result in significant fines and just as importantly, can tarnish their brand. The intricacies of COPPA can be complex and nuanced and for many app publishers confronting them is low on their list of priorities. If pre-teens are among your users, you need to understand COPPA!
This presentation will attempt to strip away much of COPPA’s legalese to provide a simple, practical guide for app developers to determine if COPPA applies to them and if so, to clarify their options for achieving compliance.
