Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying the first weekend of (unofficial) fall! If your week was anything like mine, it was jam-packed with 2027 planning meetings, BFCM and a few last minute, we-have-a-problem-that-needs-solved-in-2026 client requests. Plus some back-to-school drama (because why not?) and the (glorious) return of football. One of those many meetings was with a senior living operator spending $180k-$200k/yr on creative production, yet wildly frustrated with ad...
24 days ago • 16 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! The (unofficial) end of summer is finally upon us: Labor Day weekend. I hope these last few months have been fun, relaxing, rejuvenating and full of wonderful memories with friends, family and loved ones. I’ve always thought of summer as the best time of the year – the warm, late sunsets, the slightly slower pace, the kids playing in the neighborhood. It’s a magical time of year. But that’s the nature of time: all seasons come and go. And while the next summer may feel...
about 1 month ago • 17 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! Over the last few weeks, I’ve been part of a half-dozen (ish) 2027 planning meetings – which is to be expected in August. The post-Labor Day mad-dash-to-year-end hasn’t kicked off, everyone’s calendars don’t look like the 405 at rush hour, budgets aren’t committed yet. One thing I’ve noticed from those meetings is there is almost always a focus on two numbers: (1) a growth target and (2) an efficiency goal. The meeting I had on Friday morning was a canonical example:...
about 1 month ago • 17 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! Between audits, pitches and a truly unreasonable number of 2027 (yes, really) planning meetings over the past few weeks, it’s been a maniac start to the fall. From all that, 2 meetings stand out – both of which featured different versions of the same argument, both of whom would tell you (sincerely) that they run a tight operation, both of which have the same problem. Brand #1 is a B2C lead gen company that wants changes hourly. Not daily. Hourly. All based on call...
about 1 month ago • 12 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I trust you’re soaking up the final few weeks of summer sun (as depressing as that is to say). Football is back, school is in session (well, at least for many schools around here) and the final month of Q3 is around the corner. It’s hard to believe, but we’re only 138 days - just over 3,300 hours - until 2027. For this week’s issue, I wanted to write about something timely. There’s a post from Peter Quadrel that’s been making its way around X and LinkedIn that dives...
about 2 months ago • 9 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you're enjoying the last few weeks of summer, with back-to-school in full boom, football season around the corner and the final few vacation-acceptable weeks on the horizon. Back in my younger years (yeah, I feel old even writing that, but it's true), I loved video games. While my favorites were always MMORPGs, there's a special place in my heart for turn-based strategy games like Civilization - which is why I still play it every once in a while. A few weeks...
about 2 months ago • 14 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! Over the past few weeks, I've spent a considerable amount of time reading - mostly because it's light later into the night, and sitting on the patio reading is a fantastic way to unwind. But - because I'm a workaholic - I've spent most of that time reading exceedingly boring titles like The Principles of Product Development Flow. We are who we are. If you want to fall asleep faster while avoiding Tylenol PM, I highly recommend it. One of the many themes the book...
2 months ago • 21 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I trust you’re all enjoying your summer - the late sunsets, the warm weather, and the (hopefully) slightly slower schedules. Somewhere in the last hour, a few million people read a short block of copy that felt written specifically for them, deepened their attachment to an affinity group they claimed voluntarily, and left more likely to come back tomorrow. The organization behind that copy knows almost nothing about any of them. No CDP. No identity graph. No...
2 months ago • 20 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope this finds you all well (and if you’re in the northeast/upper midwest, enjoying an orange sunrise and lots of smokey haze). If your inbox looks anything like mine, you're getting pitched an AI audit tool once or twice a week. "Upload your account, find every issue & increase your ROAS 24% in 90 seconds” (yes, that’s an actual email subject line). I've rejected every single one - at least, up until now. But, while I was bored on vacation (and with a LOT of urging...
3 months ago • 17 min read