In a recent interview with AffPapa, Leonid Pudov, CEO at mr.Booster discussed marketing strategy, ROI myths, and expanding into over 70 GEOs.
Yeva: You’ve worked across iGaming, fintech, and sports betting – three highly competitive and regulated industries. How does marketing in these sectors differ from traditional industries, and what unique challenges do they present?
Marketing in these industries is a different animal compared to traditional industries. Regulation plays a major role in shaping everything — from messaging to platform selection. Staying compliant is paramount, and that often means balancing creativity with stringent rules.
On top of that, these industries attract highly competitive, sometimes saturated, audiences. To succeed, you need to be strategic and create messaging that cuts through the noise while still adhering to the regulatory framework.
Yeva: Your Sigma Dubai talk tackled a critical issue: measuring ROI in display advertising. What are the biggest misconceptions marketers have when it comes to measuring display ad performance, and how can they avoid common pitfalls?
Many marketers over-rely on post-click metrics like conversions and clicks, which only provide part of the story. A key pitfall is ignoring post-view attribution — the impact of an ad, even if the user didn’t click right away.
Embracing full-funnel analytics can give a more accurate picture of how ads influence user behavior over time, beyond just the immediate click. This approach can help marketers understand the broader impact of their campaigns.
Yeva: Many businesses struggle to balance brand awareness efforts with direct-response marketing. How do you approach this challenge, and do you lean more toward one strategy over the other?
Here’s the thing: it’s not about choosing one over the other. It’s about aligning your approach with your business goals and the product’s lifecycle. For a company in growth mode, brand awareness is key to building recognition, while direct-response marketing becomes more important when driving immediate action.
The answer is balancing both strategies in a way that supports the customer’s journey and the product’s position in the market.
Yeva: Retargeting can be effective, but sometimes perceived as intrusive. What’s your strategy for striking the right balance between persistence and overexposure?
The key is frequency. We tailor the frequency of ads depending on where a customer is in their journey. For users who are just browsing, we limit exposure to avoid feeling intrusive, but for those closer to conversion, we remind them about the product in a way that feels persistent yet not overwhelming. By managing this frequency carefully, we can maintain a tailored experience that encourages action without causing ad fatigue.
Yeva: You’ve executed full-scale 360° marketing campaigns across different industries. Which campaign are you most proud of, and what made it stand out?
One campaign that truly stands out is the 360° marketing campaign in the CIS region we developed for a major gaming company. It was a full-blown, integrated effort that included everything from digital and social to offline channels and influencer marketing. What made it special was how we combined all these elements into a cohesive experience that resonated with the local audience.
It wasn’t just about pushing out messages — it was about creating something people could connect with. It was a great example of how to run a campaign that delivers real, measurable results.
Yeva: Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for mr.Booster in the coming years, and how do you plan to stay ahead in the competitive marketing industry?
The next few years are all about diversifying. We’re going to dive deeper into performance marketing, and we’ll be ramping up our presence on Google and Meta. It’s all about staying ahead of the trends and continuously evolving our approach to meet the changing needs of our clients. We’ll continue to innovate and explore new verticals, but at the heart of it, it’s about staying nimble and adapting to the fast-changing digital landscape.
With over 70 GEOs already in our portfolio, including top-performing regions like LatAm, Turkey, and CIS, our strategy is about maintaining a strong presence in these markets while pushing into new ones. The competition is tough, but we thrive on it. It’s what keeps us sharp.
Yeva: And finally, Leonid, if you weren’t in marketing, what career path do you think you’d have pursued instead?
If I weren’t in marketing, I’d probably have gone into financial analysis or cryptocurrency. I’ve always been drawn to data, patterns, and making sense of numbers. Cryptocurrency is fascinating to me because it’s such a dynamic, evolving space, and it requires a deep understanding of trends and analytics, similar to marketing in many ways. So, I guess I’d still be working with data, just in a different capacity!
Company:mr.Booster
Interviewee: Leonid Pudov
Date: 22.04.2025
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