Miaomiao Li

Meet Miaomiao Li, Performance Marketing Manager at Rovio. She drives performance marketing for iconic titles like Angry Birds 2, balancing user acquisition with evolving privacy regulations. Miaomiao is passionate about using data-driven insights to refine UA strategies, experiment with SKAdNetwork, and optimize ad creatives that showcase Rovio’s unique gameplay. Known for her proactive approach, Miaomiao has rapidly advanced in her career by embracing new challenges, from BI projects to mastering retargeting in a privacy-first world.

Miaomiao and Kentaro Sugiura are a powerhouse Mobile Heroes duo at Rovio, each bringing unique insights to drive performance marketing success.

How would you describe the types of games that Rovio makes to a new player?

Our company slogan is, “we craft joy,” and our goal is to make Angry Birds a widely recognized IP. With Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds Dream Blast, we want to offer unique experiences. I work on Angry Birds 2, which starts players off with our classic yet casual slingshot gameplay experience.

We gradually introduce midcore, RPG-like features. For example, Angry Birds 2 has an Arena mode and RPG-inspired items that boost your bird’s power. This is quite unique for us. It’s rare to shift casual players to more midcore features. It’s exciting but also challenging for marketers since it’s hard to benchmark a game like this. Most benchmarks we have are for match-3 or classic puzzle mobile games.

What does your typical day look like at Rovio?

I’d break it down into three parts. First, I review campaign data and creative performance for networks and exchanges. Sometimes, I brief the creative team or provide feedback. 

The second is communication. I work closely with our internal game team—our product team—to understand what A/B tests are running and when new features are rolling out. If we notice a performance change—good or bad—it’s often related to the game. Externally, I’m constantly in touch with advertising partners and our mobile measurement partner (MMP), especially when we need to discuss optimization strategies, learn about our ad partners’ platform benchmarks, and run experiments.

Lastly, I support specific projects. I’m currently involved in our SKAdNetwork (SKAN) retargeting project and providing input on our new internal BI tool. This involves working with data engineers and an analytics team to build tools to enhance user acquisition efforts.

Many of our readers look to Mobile Heroes to learn more about how they moved up in their careers. You’ve been promoted three times in three years. What hard-won advice can our readers learn from you?

The mobile industry is constantly changing. My advice is to take the initiative. When I joined Rovio in 2021, SKAdNetwork took off, so no one, no matter how long they worked in the mobile industry, including myself, knew much about it. But diving into something new lets you learn fast and make an impact in your company.

Also, find something you’re passionate about, engage as much as possible, and be vocal in your team. For example, I enjoy collaborating with our business intelligence (BI) team and always taking on BI projects. This broadens your impact and allows you to receive constructive feedback from other teams that will help you grow.

Another tip: Get involved in the hiring process if you can. It allows you to reflect on what qualities the team needs and how you contribute. 

Also, always be curious. Ask questions, but think through them first. When I first started in the mobile industry, I didn’t know what a demand-side platform (DSP) or MMP was, for example. My colleague Kentaro Sugiura told me to ask myself “why” three times before asking someone a question—this helps you prepare and makes your questions more efficient.

Finally, ask to manage different ad partners. At Rovio, I first managed Google. Then, I moved on to managing our advertising with DSPs and mobile ad networks. Since each ad partner operates quite differently, I learned a lot this way.

Rovio has been marketing mobile games for over a decade. Based on Rovio’s experience and your own, what makes for an excellent mobile ad creative?

We aim to create fun and satisfying ads, always showing core gameplay. For us, this means that most creatives feature the slingshot mechanic or the birds themselves. We’ve also succeeded in expanding into other creative concepts outside of gameplay, like the domino concept, where one fall triggers multiple successive falls. 

It’s essential to have a variety of creative formats—banners, GIFs, playables, and videos. We’ve found that even static images or GIFs can perform well. The creative should convey the game’s core message and appeal to the target audience. We’re also developing a strategy for retargeting ads to understand user needs better.

What is it like to manage performance marketing for Angry Birds 2, a title that’s been live for almost a decade?

It’s a challenge, especially when hiring—people are more interested in launching new games than managing UA for an older one. There are also technical hurdles, like deferred deep links or setting up internal player tracking systems. But tackling these issues helps you develop a strong relationship with the product team.

On the upside, older games like Angry Birds 2 have strong organic and search traffic thanks to the brand and the game’s longevity. This is not common for mobile games. However, privacy changes—like the inability to track users by device ID on iOS—make measurement more difficult. That’s a challenge we’re constantly facing.

What kind of UA experiments are you working on right now? What excites you about them?

We’re currently working on a few experiments. The main one right now involves testing a new SKAN schema. Initially, we only used purchase or revenue events in our SKAN schema. Still, since most purchases in Angry Birds 2 happen after the first 24 hours, we’re trying to find proxy signals for purchases.

In the past, we’ve tested different conversion windows with ad partners like Google and Facebook and saw some interesting results. Recently, we found success with influencer creatives at scale on Liftoff, which was surprising since that type of creative didn’t perform as well with other ad platforms.

Looking ahead, we’re excited about testing high-value user targeting on Liftoff. We’ll segment users based on their purchase events and target those likely to make higher purchases. There’s always something new to test—it’s a continuous learning process.

As a company with mobile games played by kids and adults alike, what can our readers learn from Rovio’s approach to running privacy-safe mobile marketing campaigns?

Our games are for everyone, and we’re very aware of the younger audience. All Rovio games require players to input their age to play, and we provide a different game experience for underage players—for example, 13 in the UK and US and 16 in California only. This age threshold is being adjusted based on local laws, as some countries consider people to be adults at various ages.

Players considered underage aren’t served an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt, as we automatically decline consent on their behalf. These players can’t make in-app purchases and have limited features, like restricted player chat options. Their data is also not used in any internal modeling or A/B tests.

For SKAN and privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we ensure users who decline consent or are underage are not intentionally targeted by our UA efforts. If they encounter our ads, their data remains anonymized, and we don’t use personally identifiable information (PII) in the postbacks sent back to the ad partners. We don’t retarget these users either. Our team stays on top of any new privacy regulations and adapts quickly.

What work challenges or concerns keep you up at night?

Honestly, my anxiety sometimes keeps me up! But from a work perspective, our iOS performance is a big challenge. Without device IDs on iOS, it’s hard to suppress users, so we face issues with measurement and attribution.

Another concern is the constant evolution of privacy standards. Just when we got a handle on SKAN 3, SKAN 4 rolled out, and now there’s Apple’s new AdAttributionKit and Google Privacy Sandbox. We’re watching each of them closely.

One of my focus areas is retargeting, which is also impacted by the lack of a SKAN equivalent for Android. Apple has finally given us some info about re-engagement support. Ad platforms, however, have been slow to adapt to Apple’s changes, so pushing the platforms forward will take time.

What would you see if we gave you access to a crystal ball to peer into performance marketing’s short- and medium-term future?

We recently had a team discussion about how AI could support ad creative production. We’re testing an AI tool to generate creatives based on the assets we feed it, and while the results aren’t quite as good as those of human-made creatives, they show potential. Some companies are experimenting with fully AI-generated creatives and AI voice-overs, so it’ll be interesting to see how that evolves.

In the short term, UA managers must develop more data analytics skills. There’s so much user-level data to sift through—such as in-game engagement—and it’s helpful if UA managers can handle some of the lighter data analysis themselves.

In the mid-term, contextual targeting will make a comeback. Many ad platforms are comfortable with probabilistic models, but that sentiment could change depending on how future privacy policy evolves. 

What are your top three go-to resources for keeping up with performance marketing?

• I turn to my colleague Kentaro Sugiura as a go-to resource for new insights.
• I also like Deconstructor of Fun.
• Another great resource is webinars, especially from MMP partners like Singular or ad partners like Liftoff. They offer deep dives into new industry developments, like the latest on SKAN, re-engagement strategies, and overall valuable insights from experts across the industry. These webinars provide a broader perspective, showing us where we stand in the industry and offering inspiration for what we can do next.