Belgrade 2014Video Coverage

Justin Wenczka: A Good Fit for Games | Casual Connect Video

December 15, 2014 — by Catherine Quinton

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Belgrade 2014Video Coverage

Justin Wenczka: A Good Fit for Games | Casual Connect Video

December 15, 2014 — by Catherine Quinton

Justin Wenczka took a look at marketing strategies during his session at Casual Connect Eastern Europe 2014. “Video ads are an obvious choice at the moment, because 53 percent of mobile traffic is now video”, he says. “We found there are above average engagement figures around video content.”




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Justin Wenczka, the performance advertising manager at Opera Mediaworks, started his career in mobile gambling, since mobile gaming was then in its infancy. He had studied probability and advertising

Justin Wenczka is the performance advertising manager at Opera Mediaworks
Justin Wenczka is the performance advertising manager at Opera Mediaworks

psychology, which he applied to user acquisition models for the main gambling brands in EMEA. When mobile gaming began increasing in importance and popularity, he was able to merge these skills with his passion for gaming.

He admits to a borderline addiction to gaming, including playing, podcasts, let’s plays, and even blogging, as he constantly cycles through so many games. So the games industry is perfect for him. He says, “I could turn my attention to another vertical, but I don’t think I’d find one that suits me as well.”

Working at Opera Mediaworks

When Wenczka joined Opera Mediaworks, he brought a valuable academic and career background in affiliate advertising. He used this mentality while working at 4th Screen Advertisers, a premium publisher network, before they were acquired by Opera. His focus was on ROI-based clients and identifying the best inventory in the network for them.  Now he continues advising clients as well as speaking about ROI on mobile throughout Europe.

He considers his most important achievements with Opera Mediaworks to be founding the performance department and building long lasting relationships with advertisers. This department is built on visibility for clients and a dedication to improving campaign effectiveness within the team.

But what he most enjoys about his work is helping users discover games they will love by helping apps get discovered.

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Knee-Deep in Gaming

When Wenczka has time away from work, he is still heavily involved playing games, or playing golf if the weather is good. But even more often, he can be found hanging out with friends over cocktails and good food. As an inquisitive person, he enjoys listening to podcasts about obscure facts, frequently going on tangents of discovery.

The type of gaming he does appears to depend mainly on his location and the length of his travel time. At home, he is working his way through Destiny on his PS4. On short journeys, he plays puzzle games on his phone as well as comedy, games, or fact podcasts. Longer journeys are almost always filled with Football Manager on his tablet.

He owns both PS4 and Xbox 360, which he still considers the best game console experience. He also appreciates PS4 because it supports the next generation of indie developers and because he is such a fan of adventure games, currently dominated by Naughty Dog.

For his devices, he prefers his Windows phone saying, “A screen that tells me instantly everything I want to know is the best UI in my opinion.” But the iPhone is his preference for gaming because it appears to be the first port of call when porting games to mobile. He also has an Android tablet to use for more immersive titles and to use when testing indie games. Clearly, he uses every opportunity for gaming, including while recently traveling through the Italian mountains.

A Look at the Possibilities

During the next several years, Wenczka expects mobile to extend the way it is consuming traditional media budgets, something which can be easily bridged by video. The focus is on high quality and fast-loading content, a focus which is the reason for the direction of Opera Mediaworks’ latest acquisitions.




The focus is on high quality and fast-loading content, a focus which is the reason for the direction of Opera Mediaworks' latest acquisitions.
The focus is on high quality and fast-loading content, a focus which is the reason for the direction of Opera Mediaworks’ latest acquisitions.

He also notes an increasing emphasis on big data being used to enhance targeting and the gauging of marketing effectiveness. He believes, “We’ll see the rise of smart marketplaces and automated systems to help entry level marketing.”

At Casual Connect Eastern Europe, Wenczka announced that Adcolony had recently been brought into the Opera Mediworks family. Their instant load HD video technology is the foundation of the largest in-app video network globally, and will help meet the increasing demand for high quality mobile video. Their dynamic ad units and vast audience of gaming users produce outstanding rates of interaction for the largest developers in the world.

 

 







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Catherine Quinton

Catherine Quinton

Catherine Quinton is a staff writer for www.gamesauce.org. Catherine loves her hobby farm, long walks in the country and reading great novels.

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