Profitable growth in a post-identifier world | UGC & video ad creative production to drive ROAS & scale

I help mobile app companies–including gaming companies like Applovin, East Side Games, Jam City and Scopely, and apps like Bumble, Lingokids, Mojo and FitMind(among others) –acquire new users and achieve profitable, scalable growth in a Generative-AI world.

Offering both managed user acquisition services and done-for-you creative production for teams running their own ads, our clients have continued to not only grow after Apple’s privacy changes, and many have seen their ROAS improve by an avg. of 20-40%.

The secret to our clients’ success is the combination of our deep expertise from having produced 10k+ ads and managed over $100M in ad spend, and our ability to rapidly produce UGC and video ads at volume that can be used to dial in exactly what works, and discard what does not.

📹 HOW WE DO IT📹 

Leveraging a combination of both human and AI creators, we’re able to rapidly produce UGC & video ads that are based on rock solid strategy and research. By testing 50+ (or more) variants a month even at small budgets with our signature rapid testing and iteration process, we’re able to rapidly isolate key elements of winning UGC. This is essential, with our data showing that the tiniest changes can lead to outsized performance.

💻AI VIDEO YOU ASK?💻

Yes, AI video. Now not just AI video, we use both human and AI creators. With the advent of AI we’ve been able to rapidly scale and test in a way we could not before. While many in the industry worry that AI 
Creative appears robotic and doesn't invoke emotion, we’ve found it depends on the inputs you give and the strategy behind your ads. 

📈 RESULTS CREATED📈 

-70% ROAS uplift and 69% CPI improvement for Adventure Communist, an idle-clicking game.

-Tested 100+ creatives for Games2Win, drove 350K+ installs, and 100% increase in ROAS.

-Unlocked month on month growth for hampr, a hyperlocal laundry app while improving cost per purchaser by 55%.

🏎GET STARTED🏎

Reach out here on LinkedIn to get a free consultation on leverage AI-fueled creative production to supercharge your growth.

Email us at: hi@rocketshiphq.com

Shamanth M. Rao

🧠 This is the breakthrough that made AI headshot generation possible

📍 We often think of AI progress as magic - but it’s really a story of simple extrapolation.

I spoke to Rohan Khadatkar, Head of Marketing at InstaHeadshots, on Intelligent Artifice, about how one key technological leap unlocked the entire category of realistic AI headshots.

Here’s how he explained it 👇

ChatGPT made “text to text” easy to grasp.

You type a prompt (text input) and get an intelligent text output. 💬➡️💬

Now, extend that same logic - 
🖼️ text → image
🎵 text → music
🎙️ text → voice

That’s where the next wave of AI breakthroughs began.

In the text-to-image world, the first big leap came when researchers built models that could take a text description - say “a red apple on a table” - and generate a photo-realistic image that looked like a real apple. 🍎

The next leap - the one that made AI headshot generation possible - was even bigger.

It was the ability to take just 8-10 images of a person and train a model to learn their identity. 🧩

Once that became possible, tools could generate realistic portraits that looked like the same person - across different poses, styles, and lighting.

That was the foundation on which the 2023 headshot generation revolution was built. 🚀

From a few sample photos → to a full digital identity.

A tiny dataset - a massive leap.

🎧 Full conversation with Rohan Khadatkar on Intelligent Artifice:
https://lnkd.in/dKSbwGJG

🚀 20-40% ROAS increase for mobile apps in 60 days | AI-fueled UGC & video ad creative production 📹 | 3x Exits | $100m+ ad spend | Meta, Google, TikTok partner

📬 I analyzed 70 ads for Fyxer AI ($17mm ARR AI app)

52% of their ads focus on this BIG emotional trigger….

Relief from overwhelm:

→ Inbox zero before 9am
→ "Drowning in emails?"
→ How I sleep knowing my emails are drafted and organized.

Which probably means... it's working. 

But there's more going on behind the scenes - so I ran it through my Sherlock Holmes Investigator Agent. 

It analyzed every single frame and conducted semantic analysis across the entire ad library - and then I checked it against what I was seeing manually. 

This is how their ads break down:

📝 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄
↳ Problem → AI solution → transformation
↳ Storytelling showing time saved and productivity gained

💢 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺s
↳ Endless unread emails draining focus
↳ Feeling buried in work emails
↳ Losing hours to inbox triage

⏳ 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆
↳ "Experience inbox zero by 9am"
↳ "Start your free trial"
↳ "Overdue replies"

📈 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
↳ "Start your free trial, no card required"
↳ User testimonials and trust markers

🌸 𝗔𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
↳ Get to inbox zero by 9am.
↳ Calm mornings and nights.
↳ Get more done without opening another tab

In our full breakdown, I share insights from the ad analysis our system ran, including:

✅ Effortless productivity: "Inbox Zero in minutes, not hours"
✅ Liberation from overload: "Reclaim your time from endless emails"
✅ Smart automation: "Your AI that manages replies while you focus on real work"

Full Notion analysis is here: https://lnkd.in/dsZ7S86c

And if you want me to analyze your competitors ad libraries and see what angles we can find... drop me a DM / email: shamanth@rocketshiphq.com

Happy to run a few for free.

𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝟱𝟬+ 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲-𝗯𝘆-𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲 with AI. Every subscription app founder going into Q5/Q1 should internalize these 5 learnings.

When I ran them through 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗜 frame-by-frame, I found 5 psychology patterns that drive their wins.

𝟭. 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗩𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 
↳ "Switching from my old language app felt like going from a rustmobile to a Ferrari" 
↳ They reference 'gamified apps' without naming competitors.

𝟮. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 
↳ "Have real conversations in three weeks" 
↳ Not "learn fast" 
↳ Not "fluent soon"
Three weeks feels achievable but ambitious.

They show it across formats. 
↳Suspense hooks. 
↳Interactive ads. 
↳ Before/after split screens with date labels.

𝟯. 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 
↳ "Built by 200+ language experts" 
↳ They repeat this across every ad format 
↳ Travel testimonials, creator POV, competitor contrasts

Repetition compounds trust.

𝟰. 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 
↳ "You only need 10 minutes a day"
↳ Morning coffee rituals
↳ Freelancer on the go 
↳ Pre-work routines

They show real people fitting lessons into everyday life.
Removes excuses before they form.

𝟱. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 

↳ "The pronunciation is too good" 
↳ Frame benefits as complaints
↳ "I regret learning too fast"
Every ‘complaint’ is actually a flex.

It subverts expectations. Makes benefits more memorable.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻:
Show them what life looks like after switching. Make the contrast impossible to ignore.

That's why these ads work longer and power Babbel's creative engine that has driven 18 million subscribers.

Want the full breakdown with actual examples you can apply?

Drop "𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗘𝗟" in the comments 👇

I'll send you the complete analysis.

ShyftUp

ShyftUp is a global, full-service mobile user acquisition agency based in San Francisco. We amplify your userbase with an ROI-driven approach. Profitable user growth is our ultimate deliverable.

Founder and CEO

Metrikal

Metrikal is a KPI reporting dashboard specifically for App Store Optimization (ASO). It keeps track of all of your ASO optimizations and visualizes how much growth they drive.

Co-Founder and CEO

AnchorFree

Advisory Board Member

* Responsible for 100% of global user acquisition efforts across all platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
* Built a marketing team of 6 high-performers from the ground up comprised of the following functions: Paid Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), App Store Optimization (ASO), Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and Creative Design.
* ROI Analysis and User Acquisition Modeling: Created a user acquisition model that was actively used as a guide to determine where to invest ad spend cost-effectively.
* Paid Marketing: Assembled the paid marketing program on desktop and mobile from ground up and scaled it up to $12M+ annual spend with high profit margins.
* Partnership Marketing: Established and nurtured partnerships that ended up being a $1M+ yearly revenue source.
* Affiliate Marketing: Scaled the affiliate program and maintained a steady 30% MoM growth rate while sustaining a positive ROI.
* App Store Optimization: Increased organic installs globally by 90% YoY by improving keyword and chart rankings on the App Store and Google Play.
* Social Media Marketing: Created a massive presence with over 3.5M followers on social media.

Head of Marketing

AnchorFree is the creator of Hotspot Shield, World’s most popular consumer VPN (virtual private network), providing users with Security, Privacy and Access.

I am responsible for all global user acquisition efforts for Hotspot Shield. I strategize, create and manage AnchorFree's all digital marketing initiatives including search engine marketing, display advertising and partnership marketing campaigns. I've met and exceeded all acquisition goals and maintained a positive ROI on all marketing dollars spent.

I've played a key role in taking Anchorfree to the next level, where AnchorFree raised $52M from Goldman Sachs in May 2012.

Manager, Digital Marketing & User Acquisition

Vinyl Interactive

•	Full responsibility on all PPC activity in the entire company.
•	Built SEM campaigns, including keyword research, structuring adgroups, bidding and writing ad copy on Google Adwords, MSN Adcenter and Yahoo Search Marketing.
•	Optimized SEM campaigns continuously, including ad copy testing and bid optimization and maintained an overall profit margin of 30%, which is above company average.
•	Utilized MySQL and pulled necessary data from the company database to create reports for campaign optimization.
•	Created Facebook advertising campaigns from scratch and maintained consistent profitability.
•	Implemented the Alchemy Social tool for Facebook to scale the campaigns.

Search Engine Marketing Analyst

Common Sense Media

•Created, structured and maintained paid search campaigns across Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing 
and MSN Adcenter. 
• Conducted keyword research and competitor analysis using a number of third-party tools to optimize SEM 
campaigns. 
• Prepared detailed reports for management through Google Analytics. 
• Promoted CSM’s website content on various social media platforms including Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon 
to drive traffic and increase the number of outside links to the site. 
• Increased the number of Twitter followers 3x in 6 weeks.

Marketing Intern

San Francisco State University

- Research Assistant in the Health Equity Initiative Department

- Conducted a research for finding suitable and feasible business models for the Health Information Exchange.

- Worked on a research project that investigates how online social media can be utilized for the coordination and support of cancer patients and caregivers.

Research Assistant

- Conducted a market research on the energy industry in Turkey, specifically on the natural gas distributors to spot the needs of existing and prospective customers of IBM in the energy sector.

- Came up with a strategy about the energy industry and presented this to top-level management.

Market Research Analyst - Part time

- Carried out a research on innovation in the automotive industry to spot the industry's competitive advantage factors.

- Worked on a research project on how IBM's Human Capital Management (HCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications can be positioned among customers.

- Held weekly presentations on the research findings to top-level managers.

Market Research Analyst

App Store Optimization (ASO) | Apple Search Ads | Mobile Growth | Founder at ShyftUp

At ShyftUp, we help the world's leading mobile app companies grow their userbases. We specialize in App Store Optimization (ASO) and Apple Search Ads. Some of the companies we've had the pleasure of working together with include Square, Evernote, Rosetta Stone, TuneIn Radio, Norton, Avast, AllTrails, Glow and Smartsheet.

Prior to ShyftUp, I led the marketing team at AnchorFree (Hotspot Shield VPN) where we acquired 450 million+ users.

Feel free to reach out to me for any questions about App Store Optimization (ASO), Apple Search Ads and mobile growth in general: levent@shyftup.com

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