Happy Sunday, Everyone! Every marketer I know has blown up a strategy that was working. Not because the data justified it, but because something felt wrong. A down week. A “suggestion” from an exec. A pointed question from a client. A competitor launch that triggered a reflexive need to move. In each case, the math didn't change; it stopped mattering. This is the most persistent failure mode in the marketing/advertising industry. It isn’t incompetence. It isn’t a lack of data. It’s emotional...
16 days ago • 11 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying the first hours of daylight savings time (which, we can all agree, is the best time). A few weeks ago, I was reviewing a Meta account for a brand spending $40,000 a month. Their agency had told them they needed more creative. It was the same feedback they heard month after month. In the interim, they hired a UGC shop, added a designer and 3x’d the number of assets they were adding to the account. Everyone on their (admittedly small) team was...
23 days ago • 13 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! We've officially made it to March. If you've been following along with these intros for the past few weeks, you've likely picked up that I've been doing some shopping. I finally decided to get a grown-up wardrobe and — in my typical style — I did it all at once. We all have our things. After an initial round of shopping for basics, I identified a few gaps that needed to be addressed and thought I should explore a different store to fill them. I visited the nearby mall...
30 days ago • 18 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope everyone's having a good week - it's difficult to believe, but this is the last full weekend in February. 16.6% of 2026 is already in the rear-view mirror. The Olympics are coming to a close and the final month of Q1 is on the 7-day forecast. Winter is, at least, going. This week's issue is one I've thought about for the better part of 5 years. During that time, it's gone through more drafts than I care to remember and more revisions than I can count. But, after...
about 1 month ago • 22 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope everyone’s having a good week. Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate - may your significant other appreciate you as much as Google appreciates your ad budget (which is to say: quite a lot, but mostly when it’s convenient for them). This week, I want to talk about something timely that’s been on my mind. Over the past few weeks, Marty Weintraub and the team at AIMCLEAR published a fantastic two-part “Gut Check” series. Part 1 focused on...
about 1 month ago • 13 min read
Happy Superbowl Sunday, Everyone! I hope everyone's having a good week and - if you’re like me stuck in the northeast US - finding a way to stay warm during the “hard freeze” (or whatever meteorological branding is now in vogue). The idea for this week’s issue started earlier this week (yes, I do write these every week!). After months of putting it off, I finally organized my closet. Donated bags and bags of stuff I never wear to people who will (hopefully) appreciate them. Took dozens of...
about 2 months ago • 16 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic final week of January. If your inbox looks anything like mine, it's been flooded with hot takes about OpenAI's announcement that ChatGPT ads are coming. Everyone has an opinion. Let’s be honest: most of them are wrong. First, the facts. Here’s what actually happened: OpenAI announced they will be testing ads in the US for free users and their new $8/month "Go" tier. The operative phrase is "will be" - the ads aren't live yet....
about 2 months ago • 16 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you're all having a good week! We’re at that point where January feels like it’s (finally, blissfully) nearing its end. Last week's issue on the 5-Interaction Rule hit a nerve. I received more than a few emails back — most of them about the "fired" part. Turns out, telling people to fire their leadership team if they don’t talk to customers is... provocative. Who knew? But buried in the outrage (and the enthusiastic agreement - the split was ~50/50) was a more...
2 months ago • 14 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I trust you're all staying warm and having a fantastic weekend. If you have Monday off, enjoy it. If you're like most of us and you don't, well… at least you're in good company. Before we dive in, a quick note: this issue is a continuation of last week's piece on killing your content calendar and building a Content Engine. If you missed it, I'd recommend giving it a read first. If you're short on time, the tl;dr is this: most content strategies fail because they're...
2 months ago • 12 min read