Liftoff Expands; Hires Former Twitter Head of Mobile to Accelerate Growth Outside Of The U.S.

Today we are excited to announce our expansion into Europe and the hiring of Phil Gontier, former Head of Mobile at Twitter EMEA, to lead our international efforts. We’ve seen tremendous growth over the past year outside the U.S., hence the decision to establish an international office. Gontier will spearhead expansion by establishing Liftoff’s London office.

Gontier is a 10-year veteran of the mobile advertising industry, most recently as Head of Mobile for Twitter in EMEA. At Twitter he built and led a team focused on servicing the needs of top brands and apps. Gontier joined Twitter through the TapCommerce acquisition in 2014, where he previously served as Vice President and General Manager of EMEA. Post acquisition, he was instrumental in accelerating growth of the mobile ad business in EMEA by more than 2000% over an eighteen month period.

“Phil is hands-down the best person to translate our vision and lead our development internationally,” said Mark Ellis, CEO and Founder of Liftoff. “Our International business is growing rapidly, so we sought a strong leader with experience, passion and most importantly–a successful track record of execution. We are excited to bring him onboard and tap into his strategic mind as we grow Liftoff together.”

“I’m inspired by what Liftoff is doing in the mobile marketing industry, and honoured to set-up our first non-U.S. office,” said Gontier. “Liftoff is transforming the way Mobile App Marketers acquire and retain users with its cost-per-action model. I firmly believe that most performance-led App Marketers will adopt this approach within the next couple of years. I am excited to be part of this next wave of innovation and to spearhead Liftoff’s expansion in new markets.”

Gontier’s appointment comes on the heels of Liftoff’s successful launch of Dynamic Ads, a product that automates the production of mobile ads by programmatically generating hundreds of highly personalised ads in real-time. Dynamic Ads has resulted in massively higher install and conversion rates of 150-400% and represents one of the biggest technology advances within the industry.