Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all staying cool amidst the heat wave blanketing much of the US and Europe – as you’re reading this, we’re all enjoying Rome’s blissful, 102-degree heat on the last stop of our family’s summer vacation. And, speaking of heat - this week’s issue is a different one, inspired by the one-and-only Cory Henke (who reminded me to re-share and promote the greatest hits) – it’s 7 of the most-read, most-searched for issues from the Digital Download, summarized and...
14 days ago • 17 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all having a wonderful week and enjoying the summer solstice – June is always one of my favorite times of the year (long days, pleasant weather, relatively light on the holidays). I’m writing this from London, where our family has just landed for a (much needed) vacation – we’re excited to spend quality time in a new (for them, not for me) place, explore and make some new memories. Before we dive into this week’s newsletter, I wanted to share two other...
21 days ago • 13 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! (& Happy Fathers’ Day to all the dads out there)! I spent the last week in Boston for the first US-based, in-person SMX event since SMX West (way back in February 2020), and it did not disappoint. If you have the opportunity to attend an in-person event, I can’t recommend it enough – the energy, the networking, the conversations, the learnings are 10x greater vs. virtual events. The Third Door Media + Search Engine Land teams deserve a ton of credit for pulling...
28 days ago • 14 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying the almost-summer sun (at least, for those of you in the northern hemisphere) – it’s hard to believe, but we are mere weeks from the second half of 2025. Despite the fact that we’ve had more than a year of stuff happen since January - new administration, trade wars, trade deals, AI developments, unlikely alliances, drama (writ large) and, yes, a glorious Philadelphia Eagles Superbowl win - this year still has a lot more to go. There’s no two...
about 1 month ago • 21 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! It’s difficult to believe, but June is here. We’re officially 41.7% of the way through 2025. This week’s issue is one that was inspired by the current state of marketing and technology, along with several conversations with colleagues about what marketers should be doing going forward. Eventually, I came around to a theme for the issue: The more things change, the more they stay the same Marketing today is both more difficult and more exciting than at any prior point...
about 1 month ago • 15 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the (semi-official) start of summer, also known as Memorial Day. After a few heavy issues on marketing strategy, I thought we’d change course with this week’s issue, and focus on current events + big-picture ad tech trends. It also just so happens that Google held Marketing Live (part of I/O) this past week. In a surprise to exactly no-one, this was less a product showcase and more an AI infomercial. For two-hours this past...
about 2 months ago • 14 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! After a whirlwind spring conference season, I’m (finally) back for a few weeks. This past week, we rolled out a series of new initiatives to our team – and I found myself explaining Jevons’ Paradox. Afterwards, I saw many people found it helpful in thinking about the impacts of AI on marketing. This inspired me to start thinking about what other paradoxes, razors and mental models I use in my day-to-day, as well as how those might be helpful to you all. To be brutally...
about 2 months ago • 26 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you all are having a fantastic start to May (difficult to believe that we’re already more than 35% of the way through 2025). For me, it’s been an incredible week in South Africa - fantastic food, wonderful, welcoming people and a remarkable event (Converge 2025). In a surprise to precisely no-one, the most-discussed topic among the speakers and by the attendees was (by far) GenAI - followed somewhat distantly by tariffs and ad platform evolutions. But, what was...
2 months ago • 19 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! As you’re reading this, I’m likely on a plane to South Africa for Converge - one of the largest eCommerce conferences in Africa/Asia/Middle East. I’m beyond excited to check off continent #6 (just need to find a marketing conference in Antarctica), meet some wonderful people, and share some of what I’ve learned. For this week’s issue, I want to talk about the most pervasive, insidious, silent killer of ad account performance: creative. More specifically, it’s the...
2 months ago • 18 min read