Pok Pok’s VP of Growth Marketing On Creativity and Agility for Growth Marketers

Disclaimer: The opinions represented here are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent those of their current or former employer.

App growth is about creativity, agility, and understanding what truly makes your users tick. Few people illustrate that better than Félix Boudreau, VP of Growth & Marketing at kids app Pok Pok and former head of marketing at BetterSleep. Bidease recently sat down with Félix for an interview, where he shared hard-won insights that helped him scale apps to the top of their categories.

Watch the full interview below, or read on for a selection of key takeaways.

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Key Takeaways

1. Fall in love with your users’ problem, not a specific solution, and dig into qualitative feedback and data. Use those insights to identify quick wins and run fast experiments to drive growth.
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2. Don’t underestimate the power of simple changes. Simplifying copy can have a major impact on conversion.
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3. Scale your marketing content without losing quality. Establish clear brand guidelines to align your team quickly and cut those who don’t fit.
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4. Adapt to privacy regulations by focusing on what you can control. Double down on powerful creatives that resonate with your audience.
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5. When growth plateaus, throw out the old playbook. Seek fresh ideas from peers and be ready to experiment aggressively, even if it means breaking things.

Ground Yourself in User Insights and Rapid Experimentation

No matter the app vertical, be it kids’ education or adult wellness, the fundamentals of early-stage growth are similar. It starts with obsessing over the problem you’re solving and deeply understanding your target audience. According to Félix, even veteran marketers are never too experienced to interview users or comb through analytics for “low-hanging fruit.” But Félix doesn’t stop at analysis. He translates insights into action through fast, iterative testing. In his view, establishing a high tempo of experiments (while staying unafraid to challenge assumptions) is what uncovers the next growth opportunity.

“In any of those companies, it has been talking to the users a lot, just getting that qualitative feedback, and also really digging into the data… Finding patterns and then establishing what the low-hanging fruit is. Starting small and establishing a fast pace of experiments has been what has worked best at any company I’ve been at – and not being afraid to challenge the status quo and experiment quickly.”

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Listening to users can be the difference between mediocrity and becoming the next global phenomenon. The team behind Instagram famously pivoted from their first app (a check-in app called Burbn) after noticing that users were obsessed with the photo-sharing feature. Rather than sticking to the original plan, the founders listened to users and analyzed usage data, then boldly refocused the product on photos. That experiment paid off massively. Instagram’s focus on what people loved turned it into a global phenomenon.

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Nail the First Impression with Laser-Focused Copy

Veteran growth teams often obsess over channel mix and LTV models, yet the most lucrative win can be hiding in plain sight: the very first sentence users read. Félix learned that lesson the hard way. When growth stalled at BetterSleep, he turned his attention to the onboarding screen itself, asking: “Are we telling people, in plain language, exactly what they need to hear right now?” That tiny reframing unleashed an outsized conversion surge.

“Changing about one sentence of copy in the onboarding… Dumbing it down… We did that at BetterSleep, and at first, we had something very branded, which was like, ‘We're going to take you on this journey to understand your sleep, blah, blah, blah’. And it was kind of convoluted. Then the next time was something like, ‘We'll help you sleep better…’ It got like a 20-25 % impact in terms of downloads to trials. We underestimate how strong copy can be, and also how strong just understanding your user psychology and talking to them in very simple terms can be. People come in with an issue…Tell them that you're going to fix it.”

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Small tweaks in language can feel trivial compared to overhauling funnels or launching new channels, yet Félix’s experience proves that clarity on the very first screen can outperform far costlier initiatives. Before you spin up another campaign, audit your onboarding headline: Does it promise the core benefit in the simplest words possible? If not, rewrite, test, and watch the compounding effects on every downstream metric, from trial starts to lifetime value.

Streamline Creative Production and Team Management

When Félix led marketing and content for a sleep app, he was tasked with managing 70+ writers, voice actors, musicians, and translators to produce high-quality content at scale. His solution was to build processes that ensured consistency and efficiency from day one. He created a brand book that acted as a North Star, aligning every freelancer with the app’s soothing, slow-paced style. Most importantly, he instituted a policy to cut ties with contributors who weren’t a fit after a trial period, a tough but necessary step to keep the machine running smoothly.

“What helped was having a really solid brand book to align everyone quickly on what the product is. The other big thing was the onboarding process – making people understand what we were doing quickly was key... There’s a point where you have to decide that a person is just not working out. If they’re not improving fast enough, stop working with them… You’re going to save a lot of time.”

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In its early years, Duolingo leveraged a large community of volunteer contributors, but it succeeded by giving them rigorous guidelines and tools to maintain quality. The Duolingo team provided a detailed style guide and structured onboarding via the Incubator program, ensuring every course followed the same standards. This system of strict content guidelines kept the learning experience consistent across dozens of languages. Moreover, Duolingo wasn’t shy about managing performance. Underperforming contributors could be replaced to protect the user experience. The outcome was exponential growth: Duolingo scaled to over 100 million monthly active users while still delivering a coherent, high-quality product.

Turn Privacy Constraints into Creative Opportunities

Marketing kids’ apps comes with unique hurdles, something Félix knows intimately from growing Pok Pok in a COPPA-regulated environment. With limited user-level data (no IDFAs, GAIDs, or personalized targeting), Félix became less reliant on granular metrics and more focused on big-picture signals. He implemented surveys and watched blended revenue metrics to gauge campaign impact. But he’s perhaps most enthusiastic about creative strategy. If you can’t micro-target parents based on individual profiles, you must win them over with the strength of your creative messaging.

“We look at blended metrics more, and we established a ‘How did you hear about us?’ survey that’s been really helpful – not exact, but directionally pretty good. ... At the end of the day, UA is all about creating really powerful creatives to find your audience and connect with them. We spend a ton of time thinking about our user psychology – what does a parent really care about? What’s going to convince them to try our app at this time of year?”

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As privacy measures curtail tracking, savvy marketers are doubling down on creativity and broad-based strategies. Initially, many mobile game studios responded to Apple’s ATT by overhauling their creative production process, focusing on fewer but higher-impact ads. Instead of spraying dozens of variants to see what sticks, they invested more research and craft into each creative. More recently, AI tools have made it easier to produce personalized ad creatives at scale, causing yet another shift in direction.

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Break the Mold When Growth Stalls

Even the best growth engines can sputter. Félix recounts a scenario where one of his apps hit a growth plateau – a moment every veteran marketer dreads. His response was not to panic, but to radically change the playbook. He encouraged an atmosphere of experimentation where “breaking things” was acceptable because there was little to lose. Félix also did something many neglect: he reached out to industry peers to crowdsource new ideas. With fresh tactics in hand, Félix then prioritized aggressively and executed fast. His philosophy is that in a stalled period, speed is your ally. Every quick experiment is a chance to find a spark, even if a few fizzle out.

“[Don’t be afraid to say], ‘What we’re doing is not working, so everyone be more experimental and don’t be afraid to break things.’ I talked with a lot of colleagues in UA, asking them, ‘What’s working for you?’ Those conversations were really helpful, because that’s not something you’ll read in a blog or hear from your ad partners. Based on that, we prioritized and experimented really quickly. If you’re not moving, just do different things and do them quickly, because most likely the first thing you try isn’t going to work out.”

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History shows that bold pivots can revive growth. In 2022, Netflix’s numbers were flat and even declining in some regions. In response, they took decisive (and controversial) action: introducing a cheaper ad-supported tier and cracking down on password sharing. These unorthodox experiments paid off. Within a few months of the password-sharing crackdown, Netflix added 5.9 million new subscribers – nearly three times what analysts expected. The same principle applies to apps: Whether your user acquisition has flatlined or engagement is dwindling, doing more of the same won’t cut it. Instead, brainstorm that crazy new campaign, call a fellow growth lead for ideas, and try something you’ve never done before. 

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Stay Ahead of the Curve

Félix’s journey offers a wealth of wisdom for app growth veterans. The thread running through all his advice is a reminder to stay both creative and analytical: Success comes from balancing gut-driven innovation with data-driven rigor. The mobile landscape will continue to evolve, but with the right mindset, you’ll evolve with it and thrive.

If you’re inspired to take your app marketing to the next level, consider putting these insights into action with the right tools. Bidease’s AI-driven platform makes it easier to implement fast experiments, target the right users, and optimize every impression for growth. Contact us today.