FC
FC Bayern basketball was established in 1946, after which it experienced tremendous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s and now has seen a resurgence as the club’s marketing team finds ways to grow the basketball fanbase in the age of mobile phones, social media, and apps.
Important Notice about Firebase Dynamic Links: On August 25, 2025, Google is shutting down Firebase Dynamic Links which is part of the Firebase platform offering app deep linking capabilities. Google is no longer recommending Firebase Dynamic Links for new mobile app development projects. If you're using that technology for your linking or QR codes make sure to consider a replacement like URLgenius.
The Challenge
To help grow the audience for FC Bayern Basketball, the marketing team launched the club’s first mobile app in 2022. The app’s purpose was to deliver live streaming of games and be a central entertainment and information hub for anything and everything about the team and the FC Bayern club. Mobile app users would have special access to game highlights, scores, statistics, lineups, player profiles, news, and game commentary.
When
One Campaign, Two App Store Links
As they set out to launch the campaign for the mobile app, it occurred to the team that they had two different app store links to promote, one for iOS and one for Android. They wanted to avoid any unnecessary landing pages and link directly to the app stores. The social ads could convey what the app was about, so an extra landing page wasn’t necessary.
Could one intelligent campaign link be created, or did the team need to manage two social media ad campaigns: one for iOS and one for Android? It would be much easier and more efficient to manage one campaign and one media budget. Ideally, the team could create one campaign link that could skip the website and go directly to the right app store, depending on the device clicking the link.
Learn more about URLgenius gives you the tools to create a single campaign link for your app install campaigns:
App Install QR Codes
The team also foresaw the need for QR codes designed to drive installs from various marketing materials and channels. Like a single app store link, a single QR code that could route the user directly to the right app store was important. Consumers scanned QR codes in mobile moments, so to maximize conversion, it was key to avoid any unnecessary landing pages or extra clicks along the app download journey.
App Install Web Banners
Another challenge was that the mobile website for FC Bayern Basketball did not have app install banners, which would be ideal for driving organic app installs from a captured, relevant audience. App install banners on the mobile website would also drive down the app’s overall cost-per-install. App install banners, however, typically required development resources for iOS and Android, which the team did not have access to, and even if they did, there was no time to implement, test, or manage more technical solutions.
The team thought their only viable channel to launch the app and drive app installations quickly was paid social campaigns, so they set about finding a solution for app store links first and planned to implement app install banners later.
Disover how URLgenius app install banners can increase organic app installs and lower your cost-per-install:
The Solution
The marketing team at FC Bayern Basketball searched for an enterprise-grade app-linking solution that did not require development skills or technical resources. The solution needed to be easy to implement and accessible to the entire marketing team so they could instantly use it for their social media advertising campaigns.
Pro Tip: Is your app using Firebase Dynamic Links? If you haven't heard, Google is planning to discontinue the technology. The URLgenius platform is the best alternative to Firebase deeplinks because it's designed for marketers and doesn't require any technical resources. More than a Firebase URL shortener, the URLgenius platform even has a deeplink API that can replace the Firebase dynamic links API. Contact us to set up a demo for your entire app team.
As a cloud-based enterprise solution, the codeless approach of URLgenius was ideal, as this would enable the team to get their social media campaigns started immediately in time to meet their app launch deadlines. In addition, the team discovered that the URLgenius platform also offered no-code app install banners, which were visible on all browsers. The marketing team could also control the banner design by using a straightforward dashboard.
With the help of the team at URLgenius, the FC Bayern Basketball marketing team quickly implemented URLgenius app store links in their social media campaigns and no-code app install banners on the basketball team’s mobile website. Key elements of this strategy included:
A Single Campaign Link or QR Code That Routes Directly to the Right App Store
To drive app installs from social media campaigns, the team implemented URLgenius app store links and QR codes, which allowed the team to skip landing pages and direct mobile visitors immediately to the right app store based on the device clicking the link or scanning the code. In addition, the FC Bayern basketball domain was used for the link in place of the URLgenius domain. This strategy would inspire trust in the link and maximize conversion.
There was another benefit of URLgenius app links and QR codes that the marketing team thought would be helpful in the future. They could be set to open the basketball app to a certain screen if the app was already installed. As more fans installed the app, the team wanted to avoid continuously sending current app users back to the app stores in future campaigns while promoting specific screens or content in the app.
URLgenius app store links and QR codes also provided valuable analytics data, including link-level, app, and web referral data. Understanding the source of traffic would be important in the future for improving the campaign's effectiveness and as the brand’s app store links were distributed more widely for promotional purposes.
With URLgenius analytics, the team could determine which platforms were driving the most FC Bayern Basketball app store visits. UTM parameters could also be added to the app store links to measure how many app installations could be attributed to a specific URLgenius link.
Smart App Banners for the Mobile Website
When
URLgenius solved for all common app install banner challenges, including:
- Immediate implementation across thousands of web pages without any coding
- Visibility on all web browsers and device combinations
- Dashboard control of fonts, colors, messaging, buttons
- Routing to both app stores from the same banner
- Ability to disable banner display by platform or device
- Scan QR code to view real-time design changes
- Control over when to bring the banner back after a visitor clicks “x” to close it
As a cloud-based, dashboard-controlled app install banner solution, URLgenius does not require coding either for implementation or for future changes to the banner’s design or functional attributes. This was viewed as a strong, valuable benefit by both the marketing and technical teams.
The Results
The impact of FC Bayern Basketball´s URLgenius app linking, and app install banner implementation was immediate, and it allowed the team to exceed their goals for the app’s launch including time to market while surpassing their app install targets. The URLgenius app banner also provided the team with important insights for optimization that would not be available with standard app install banner solutions. The team realized the following benefits and results:
- The team was able to launch their social ad campaign with a single intelligent app store link in a matter of days
- The FC Bayern Basketball app install banner had a CTR of 1.5% and a 55% app install conversion rate
- The app banner had a close rate of 15% while 85% of users decided not to close the banner during their visit
- URLgenius referral analytics allowed the team to understand and optimize for the mobile web pages that were driving the most app installs
- The marketing team realized an estimated 50% reduction in their cost per app install compared to a strategy that only implemented paid social media ads.
The team now plans to utilize additional URLgenius features including social media app links designed to increase app engagement among app users as well as URLgenius QR codes on all printed marketing materials, advertisements and select streaming and video content.
Contact us for a free evaluation of your use case along with your questions at info@urlgeni.us about your QR code unique requirements.
If you found this content helpful, check out some of our latest how-to posts for app marketing:
- Smarter App Install Banners: A Radically Easy Approach To Grow Organic App Installs
- Dynamic QR Codes: How To Connect Print Ads and Digital Marketing
- Dynamic QR Codes: How To Connect Print Ads and Digital Marketing
- How to Generate a Custom QR Code to Open an App
- How to Generate a Single QR Code to Download an App from iOS App Store and Google Play
- Jewelry Television Strikes Gold with TV QR Code Strategy
- Aesop's International QR Code Strategy Sets the Standard for Product Marketing Distribution
- How to Customize QR Codes for Apps and Websites Like a Pro
- How to Optimize Small QR Code Sizes to Maximize QR Scans
- The 5 Most Common QR Code Fails Marketers Make
- Ready for Takeoff: Dynamic App Linking into Marketplace Apps from Social Media