Business of Apps NYC: Creative is how brands will win

At Business of Apps New York, one message cut through the noise: marketers don’t have a targeting problem. They have a creative problem. Why? While the platforms have revolutionized, most marketing strategies haven’t. At least not yet.

As AI and machine learning take increasing control of optimization across media platforms, the competitive advantage is shifting away from audience targeting and towards creative effectiveness. The brands that understand this shift will grow. Those that don’t will spend more to achieve less.

Every Dollar Counts (more than ever)

As marketers head into budget planning season, scrutiny is at an all-time high. Whether budgets are expanding, contracting, or being reallocated, there is less tolerance for wasted spend than ever before. Every investment needs a clear purpose. Every test needs a measurement framework. Every channel needs a reason to exist. How do marketers ensure they hit ROAS while avoiding being so cautious they miss opportunities? For me this comes down to planning and testing. 

When new opportunities emerge, whether that’s AI-powered channels, retail media, CTV, or new ad formats, marketers need robust testing strategies in place before the budget arrives.

The question should not be whether to test, but rather, what can be learned from the test. Any extra dollar spent is going to be the most important one to measure.

For CEOs and CMOs, this creates a challenge. Growth increasingly depends on finding new opportunities, yet accountability demands greater certainty than ever before. CEOs and CMOs have to balance the need for innovation while preventing waste. Winning brands are building structured testing cultures that allow them to innovate without gambling.

The Era of Hyper-Targeting Is Over

For years, marketers obsessed over audience segmentation. From lookalikes and affinity groups to behavioral signals. We’ve built layer upon layer of targeting sophistication. Today’s platforms have evolved and fundamentally changed that equation.

Meta, TikTok, Google and other major platforms now rely heavily on machine learning to identify and reach the right users. That’s why I think one of marketing’s oldest principles has become more important than ever: Creative is the new targeting.

When algorithms control ad delivery, creative becomes the signal that determines who engages, who converts, and who ignores your message completely. The brands winning today aren’t necessarily targeting better. They’re creating better.

Creative Isn’t an Asset. It’s a System.

Many brands still think about creative in campaign terms. Take one hero video, a handful of supporting assets, and ensure there is a quarterly refresh. Well, that model is becoming obsolete and the future belongs to brands that treat creative as an ongoing performance engine with a creative studio set up to support the systems’ needs.

Instead of A/B testing, marketers should be thinking about A-to-Z testing – granular details, different messages, hooks, formats, emotional triggers, offers. The list goes on.The objective of this approach is not just simply creating more content, but rather creating more opportunities for platforms to find what resonates with different audiences.

A winning creative strategy doesn’t produce one great ad, it produces a constant stream of learnings.

Retention Is Still Marketing’s Biggest Growth Lever

While acquisition often dominates industry conversations (and budgets), there is a reality that is often overlooked. The most efficient growth strategy isn’t always acquiring another customer, but instead is keeping the ones you already have.

This is particularly true in app marketing, where acquisition costs continue to rise and competition for attention intensifies.Too many brands invest heavily in customer acquisition only to underinvest in retention. The result is a leaky bucket that requires ever-increasing acquisition spend to maintain growth.The smartest marketers understand that retention isn’t a CRM problem, it’s a business growth strategy.

As businesses prepare for key seasonal moments and holiday periods, retaining existing users can often generate a stronger return than chasing incremental acquisition volume.

Key Takeaways

The next generation of growth won’t come from squeezing more efficiency out of yesterday’s playbooks. It will come from embracing how modern media actually works.

Three ideas stand out:

1. Build a structured testing culture. Growth favors brands willing to experiment intelligently.
2. Invest in creative volume and variation. The algorithm can’t find winners if you only give it one option.
3. Treat retention as a strategic growth function. Sustainable growth comes from keeping customers, not just acquiring them.

The brands that act on these principles will create distance between themselves and their competitors.

The ones that don’t may discover that yesterday’s marketing tactics no longer deliver tomorrow’s growth.

Watch the Full Interview

Jonathan Yantz joined Business of Apps in New York to discuss budget allocation, creative strategy, retention and the future of performance marketing.

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