Thank you for joining us, André.

You have an impressive track record of entrepreneurship and innovation. How did you develop your entrepreneurial mindset, and what led to you becoming the VP of Marketing at Siprocal?

I’ve always been curious, which definitely fueled my passion for business and helped shape my entrepreneurial mindset. Curiosity blended with risk-taking – embracing failures and learning from them – has been part of that development. This mindset led to my early successes with Flowsense, a startup specializing in app engagement. Flowsense was later acquired by DigitalReef, which eventually joined Gamers Club to form Siprocal. Now, as the VP of Marketing at Siprocal, I’ve been able to take my passion for entrepreneurship and disruptive tech and funnel that energy into mapping a strategic marketing plan for Siprocal’s future.

(As you mentioned) You founded Flowsense, a mobile marketing automation startup, and later merged it with DigitalReef. What motivated this merger, and what key challenges and successes you encountered during this process?

The merger of Flowsense and DigitalReef was driven by a shared vision for comprehensive mobile marketing solutions. Some of the challenges we took on included offering a solution encompassing different stages of the marketing funnel while being able to serve the whole of Latin America. Later, with the merger of Column6 and Gamers Club, we also included CTV and gaming as channels and North America as a geography. That opened many doors in terms of platform solutions and user reach across the Americas. Ultimately, the synergy of our shared tech capabilities and our shared visions of full transparency and putting user privacy as goal number one has resulted in a powerhouse partnership that is using intelligent data to bring people together – we need that more than ever, right? Together, we’ve set our sights on being the world’s largest mobile app and gaming distribution platform.

How did the DigitalReef and Gamers Club merger create Siprocal, a new leader in the gaming industry? What benefits and synergies has this merger brought to DigitalReef’s business and market objectives?

The merger was a strategic leap. When we combined DigitalReef’s tech prowess with Gamers Club’s user base and expertise in the gaming world, the result was better than anything we had anticipated. It sounds funny, but we exceeded our own highest expectations. And a huge part of that is our vast and engaged audience, which we are so fortunate and grateful to have. With the streamlined operations of DigitalReef seamlessly integrated with Gamers Club’s user-centric approach, we are forming a dynamic entity uniquely positioned to deliver unparalleled gaming experiences and establish a dominant presence in the competitive gaming landscape. (I’m not sure if you and your readers can tell at this point, but we are VERY excited about the future.)

Within the dynamic and ever-evolving martech landscape, how does Siprocal intend to harness DigitalReef’s intelligent audience engagement technology to power its next-gen gaming distribution platform?

Siprocal leverages DigitalReef’s intelligent audience engagement tech by tailoring it to the app and gaming distribution. We use premier audience access and data insights to enhance user experiences, personalize content, and optimize contextual ad targeting. It’s about marrying technology with gaming passion and ensuring we remain ahead in the dynamic gaming landscape.

DigitalReef has a significant presence across the Americas. How do you handle the diverse and complex needs of your partners, such as carriers, manufacturers, publishers, and advertisers across different regions? What key principles and practices guide your partnership management strategies?

Navigating the diverse needs of partners across the Americas demands a nuanced approach. That’s a no-brainer, right? Fortunately for us, Siprocal is deeply rooted in principles of transparency and adaptability, so we can modify strategies to align with regional variances – we are a global tech platform that leverages local partnerships and solutions. 

Because we understand the unique dynamics of carriers, manufacturers, publishers, and advertisers, we can prioritize open communication channels so that we’re all on the same page. Our partnership management strategy thrives on a commitment to mutual growth, where shared goals propel relationships forward. The very name Siprocal comes from building these reciprocal relationships. You grow, we grow. Simple. We actively listen to partner feedback and adapt our approach to meet evolving demands. But in the end, it’s all about nuance.

What main opportunities and challenges do you face as the VP of Marketing at Siprocal? How do you plan and execute effective marketing campaigns that reach and resonate with new audiences?

Being VP of Marketing at Siprocal is like being the conductor of a symphony where opportunities and challenges play different instruments. The thrill for me lies in orchestrating effective campaigns amidst a dynamic landscape. It’s about riding the waves of trends – going with the flow of the music – and mixing data-driven strategies while tapping into those emerging trends. My ultimate goal, my dream, is to craft campaigns that aren’t just seen but felt. I want them to resonate with our diverse audiences and not only capture attention but leave a lasting imprint on the hearts and minds of our audience.

Could you provide insights into Siprocal’s forward-looking vision regarding CTV and advertising within the martech industry? Additionally, please elaborate on how the company intends to remain at the forefront of technological advancements while consistently delivering exceptional value to its clients.

As trailblazers, we anticipate shifts in the CTV and advertising landscape, and when that happens, we want not just to keep pace but to set the standard. Our journey involves continuous research and developing new tech – always with transparency and privacy front and center. Talking about research, we sponsored this year’s CTV Latam Study by Comscore. That’s just one initiative to keep at the forefront. We’re embracing artificial intelligence and forming strategic alliances as well. We see a future where CTV and advertising converge harmoniously to provide users with an immersive, personalized experience. Remaining pioneers means not only adapting to technological advancements - we want to be the ones driving them in this ever-evolving world of martech.

Hello, Jasper! Could you share some key insights you’ve gained throughout your marketing career?

In the 12+ years I’ve spent in B2B SaaS Marketing, I’ve seen time and again that building relationships with your audience over time is the only viable way to long-term success. No one wakes up in the morning and decides to switch a critical component of their MarTech stack on a whim. Growth “hacks” and pure conversion-focused plays only take you so far. Instead, the main role of our marketing function is to create opportunities for our teams to build personal relationships with our audience at scale. In other words, as the leading Customer Engagement Platform, we need to practice what we preach to our customers.

What marketing challenges are specific to the North American market, and how do you address them as the VP Marketing, NA of CleverTap?

North America tends to be a focus area for many companies, so the competition for share of mind is quite high. Audiences are inundated with messages and have learned to become skeptical, sophisticated buyers. More often than not, they look for the best, not the cheapest, solution. But once a decision has been made, they can move quite quickly – and expect much more agility than, for example, buyers in Europe. Ultimately, it comes down to breaking through the clutter, building trust, and then providing exceptional service. Marketing plays a central role in all these three functions.

What sets CleverTap apart as the preferred customer engagement platform for companies aiming to optimize their customer lifetime value?

At CleverTap, we believe that disparate point solutions create disparate customer journeys. That’s why we built an all-in-one platform that combines the intelligence a business needs with powerful tools to put this insight into action. By providing an integrated solution for analytics, product experiences, and lifecycle marketing, we create an environment that encourages synergies between marketing and product teams. The results are not only improvements in operational and cost efficiency but also in the resulting customer experience.

The second major competitive advantage we have comes down to the granularity and volume of customer data we can store and process. Our proprietary data layer powered by TesseractDB™ lets CleverTap customers build truly personalized customer engagement strategies and user journeys that span their entire life cycle.

In your three months with CleverTap, what notable changes have you introduced to the marketing strategies?

A lot of our effort has been focused on building better relationships with our customers and potential customers. Face-to-face interactions are a key component of this strategy. To execute this well with a globally distributed team, we have introduced new processes and concepts – we want to be known as the experts in building better experiences. We are also working on our approach to providing meaningful content. Our audience is sophisticated buyers, and it’s important to show that we value their attention by providing interesting, relevant insights.

Can you share instances of how you’ve applied your strong analytical skills to resolve complex marketing challenges?

An analytical mindset is critical to many aspects of marketing decision-making, from determining the right metrics to define and track success consistently to effectively running digital campaigns to making informed choices on positioning and messaging. But the most interesting cases are those where analytical thinking only gets you half the way, and you have to mix it with intuition. Marketing is full of gray areas and unknowns – you rarely have clear “wrong” or “right” approaches to solve a given challenge. For example, the usual B2B SaaS customer journey includes multiple touch points that may include a mix of events, content, paid media, and other channels. Each can be independently measured to a certain degree, but it is often hard to prove the aggregate impact of integrated campaigns that combine all channels. Making decisions in the face of this uncertainty means that you have to look at data where it is available while ensuring that it doesn’t obscure the big picture.

How do you plan to navigate your role at CleverTap going forward?

“We are the largest Customer Engagement Platform globally and have a distinct technological advantage, thanks to innovations like TesseractDB™, RenderMax, and most recently, Scribe. Within North America, our market position as challengers aligns us with digital thought leaders who need to outsmart and not outspend their established competition. We need to stay hungry, flexible, and smart when it comes to positioning our products, reaching our audiences, and building relationships with them. To succeed, we need to rally our global team and provide focus, set a high bar for our marketing output, especially content and experiences, and embrace new technologies like AI. In this context, I see myself as a contributor who provides guidance, facilitates conversations between different internal and external stakeholders, and helps create alignment between them.

Can you describe your journey so far, and what key takeaways would you like to share?

While I work in Marketing now, I did not start my career there. For my first job after graduating college, I worked as a strategy consultant in the entertainment industry, advising companies on the best ways to navigate a constantly evolving technological landscape. This role helped me realize I wanted to get my hands dirty and work with emerging and innovative products! That insight pushed me to transition to marketing, and I haven't looked back since.

Since joining Customer.io, I have focused on getting to know our ideal customer profile, assessing the competitive landscape, and understanding current market trends. These insights have allowed me to revamp marketing's objectives and set clear goals for the year. I'm looking forward to leveraging what I've learned in past roles to mature the marketing function at Customer.io, better support our customers, and help the team deliver tangible business impact.

It's been just four months since you were onboarded as the CMO at Customer.io. What are you most looking forward to in your new role here?

While it has been a sprint these first few months, I've enjoyed diving into some critical business initiatives. For example, we launched our second product, Customer Data Pipelines (CDP), in April. It's been fun to be a part of a company leading the charge in customer engagement and communication. I've been impressed by the dedication and passion of the team, and I'm excited to continue working with them to develop innovative strategies that will drive accelerated growth and increased customer satisfaction with our expanding suite of solutions.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is optimizing the messaging and position of our customer engagement platform. Customer.io has a unique offering that can transform how brands segment their customer base and customize their communications. With the right approach, we can reach new audiences and better educate them about the power of our solutions. I'm excited to be part of a company that is driving real change in the industry, and I'm looking forward to helping contribute to its continued success.

What's your approach to driving growth, profits, and resilience in the current economic downturn?

To succeed in challenging times, I try to drive the team toward customer-centricity, data-driven decision-making, and agility.

Customer-centricity is foundational for success because it helps us focus on what matters most with our core audience. By really understanding our customers' needs and challenges, we can develop innovative solutions that help them address their "hair on fire" issues and exceed their expectations around what our product can do for them. In an ever-evolving economic environment, it can be difficult to discern how the market is changing. By taking a data-driven approach to decision-making, you can identify trends and build conviction for your decisions more quickly, maximizing the impact of any marketing investments. Finally, marketers need to be able to adapt rapidly to stay ahead of the competition. The ability to pivot strategies and tactics in response to new trends and market conditions is crucial for success.

Last year, Customer.io launched its Essentials plan enabling startups and small teams to engage customers on mobile and web apps. What are the plans for this fiscal year?

The response from the market to our Essentials plan has been very positive, and we have seen strong growth since it launched. As we look to the future, we are exploring new ways to drive more awareness of this offering and reach a wider audience of teams who could benefit from a robust set of tools at an affordable cost. Also, we want to continue building this plan's value proposition and have a rich set of new features that will be available in Essentials in the second half of the year. At Customer.io, we believe every team should have access to a customer engagement platform to support their business, so we will continue investing in our Essentials plan to support this belief.

How do you stay up-to-date on the developments in marketing automation, and how do you integrate them into your platform?

Staying up-to-date on the latest developments in marketing automation requires a proactive approach. First, I constantly monitor the latest news and trends by following popular thought leaders on social media and reading industry-specific publications/blogs. Additionally, I participate in a few professional associations and community groups to connect with other peers in the field, participate in discussions, and learn what they are seeing & hearing. Finally, I try to speak with our customers on a regular basis. This first-hand feedback is very insightful and helps me understand what is signal vs. what is noise.

At Customer.io, we take a very customer-centric approach to product development. Therefore, a strong, collaborative relationship already exists between myself and the product team. When I develop key insights, I communicate with the appropriate product leaders to integrate those takeaways into product development efforts. Given my role and understanding of our ideal customer profile, I want to ensure that the company stays competitive and meets the evolving needs of its customers.

You introduced Customer.io Data Pipelines (CDP) very recently. Can you shed some light on how it helps companies connect customer data to their tech stack?

Although data management can be a headache, we believe having access to good data is essential for modern marketers to deliver personalization, multi-channel targeting, and product integration. Therefore, we launched Customer.io Data Pipelines (CDP) to help companies connect their customer data to every product in their tech stack. With CDP, teams can easily unify their customer data without writing a line of code. Additionally, our solution keeps your data up-to-date with "out of the box" support for the most common destinations (i.e., Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, Salesforce, and HubSpot), so you have consistent data across the tools you rely on most. Finally, by seamlessly integrating with our current messaging product, Customer.io Journeys, our CDP allows companies to build a unified view of each customer and create memorable interactions across mobile and web using push, email, in-app, and SMS channels.

How do you measure the ROI of your marketing strategies?

Our focus is always on delivering value to our customers. To ensure that we align our resources on the most important initiatives, the marketing team at Customer.io uses the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework. This process helps clarify how we will measure success and who will own the delivery of the results. When we define the measurements for those Key Results, we use a mix of qualitative and quantitative metrics to determine the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. Finally, we set up dashboards based on our OKR metrics to monitor real-time performance across our various team meetings/syncs and complete a formal review of performance at the end of each quarter. By tracking key performance indicators in this way, we can identify areas of improvement more quickly and optimize our marketing strategies to serve our customers better. 

What do you think about the future of customer-engaging marketing automation platforms?

The future vision for customer-engaging marketing automation platforms is inspiring! As a marketer, you are always looking for ways to customize the customer experience because you know that this will drive more engagement. With the proliferation of customer data, the advancement of existing tooling, and the rapid evolution of new AI technology, marketing teams will be able to deliver more personalized and relevant interactions to our customers than ever before! Therefore, companies should focus on investing in platforms that share this future vision and streamline their ability to deliver increased personalization across the entire customer journey via powerful automation.