Patrick Gilbert’s Post

Thank you, Isaac, for your incredibly kind and heartfelt message. It's hard to express how grateful and excited I am to serve as AdVenture Media's next CEO. It's been a long journey, but from the start, it was clear that Isaac was building a different kind of company focused on finding great people and building the company around them. In 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘛𝘰 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵, Jim Collins describes this as "Getting the right people on the bus, then figuring out where you're going." Many people read such books on leadership and company culture, but few truly implement these principles because it's difficult. Building a company the "right" way requires patience, empathy, humility, and what we've grown to call idiotic optimism. Few possess these traits deeply enough to stick with them for over a decade. Isaac is one of those outliers. He has always seen the forest for the trees, often sacrificing short-term gains to build long-term sustainable success. His commitment to his people and the trust he instills are inspiring masterclasses in leadership. In 2019, he sent me a 9,000-word culture manifesto that included this passage: "I believe in idiotic optimism because failures are cauterized, while successes ripple outward indefinitely. The negative impact associated with bad decisions is usually contained and temporary, but when you make a good decision, the positive impact is almost always unpredictable, and it pays dividends in ways you couldn't have anticipated. Good decisions are the opposite of contained. They are living, breathing organisms, brimming with vitality, continuously generating more positive outcomes as time goes on." Since then, we've quadrupled in size, opened three new offices, published a book, expanded our services, launched AdVenture Academy, built a network of partner agencies, developed a global talent pool of freelancers, hosted marketing conferences, and finally finished those pesky Karrass display ads. We've also faced many failures. So it goes; the bleeding stops eventually. Idiotic optimism prevails. I wouldn't be who I am today without witnessing Isaac build and lead this company through its highs and lows while staying true to his principles and core values. His support has been invaluable, and I am forever grateful for everything he's done for me. I'm also incredibly thankful for the amazing people who have been part of this journey, especially Daniel Tawil, Ari Pirutinsky, Nechama Teigman, Ronnie Cardno, Erica Newman, Avery N., Esther Nadoff, Brendan Roach, and Andrew Teigman. This core group from "the old office" has become essential leaders and helped shape AdVenture into what it is today. I love this company, the people who choose to build their careers here, and the clients who entrust us with their advertising budgets. Together, we’ve created something truly special, and I'm excited to continue building it with all of you. Upwards and onwards!

I've spent most of my career yelling at marketers to leverage AI (automation) in their campaign bidding process. In 2024, now that AI is generally accepted and even preferred—it's finally what all the cool kids are doing—this debate is less common. Ironically, I'm spending an increasing amount of time outlining exceptions to the rule and the risks associated with using AI tech when your business or ad account lacks the proper infrastructure. We've fully transitioned from "Join or Die" to "Never Always, Never Never." Here's an updated framework on the pros and cons of automated bidding and what conditions need to be met for this technology to drive better marketing results: https://lnkd.in/eKT-xE_p

The official PPCsurvey report is the most impressive and helpful marketing resource I’ve seen all year. Go download a free copy if you haven’t already. One insight that stood out: when asked about their top priorities for 2024, marketers consistently cited answers related to AI and Automation. Ironically, when these same respondents were asked about the paid media tools they use most often and are most satisfied with, AI-driven tools were at the bottom of the list. Clearly, we have work to do. Thankfully, AdVenture Media is hosting an event next Wednesday, April 17th. The event is called DOLAH, and the event’s theme is “Advertising Solutions for the AI Revolution.” Join us in person in NY … or by live stream! The full-day event will cover a range of topics including: - training GPT models to augment statistical analysis - AI-driven creative strategy - The power of Generative AI image creation (a la Sherry Horowitz) - using OpenAI to derive Pmax insights (a la Mike Rhodes 💡 ) - The Human’s Role in steering AI-driven Campaigns (a la Nechama Teigman and Ronnie Cardno ) - Agency growth models and building a content engine (a la Isaac Rudansky - Panels and discussions on different ad platforms, attribution tools, career growth, and more! Sessions start next Wednesday, April 17th at 9:30 Eastern. Event sponsors include Customers.ai, Causal IQ, ProfitMetrics.io, and SEO Werkz — All incredible companies with tools and solutions necessary for delivering marketing results in the modern AI landscape. Hope to see you there!

We’re hosting a marketing conference in NYC on April 17th. It’s called DOLAH. You should join us. For 10 years, educational content has been the backbone of our agency. We’re an open book, willing to teach others how we work, think, and approach the most complex marketing challenges. It’s not selfless. By sharing our work, others can build on our ideas or poke holes in our methodology. It helps avoid groupthink. It helps the entire industry grow. When we were a smaller company, we all knew each other’s business. I’ve learned more by eavesdropping on my colleagues’ meetings than you could ever imagine. Every new idea was shared, celebrated, critiqued, and tested across the agency. Every failure, big and small, helped the collective team get better. This omnipresent, continuous learning became more difficult as we became a larger company. Three offices, remote employees, call booths and conference rooms. There’s less eavesdropping; fewer serendipitous conversations. We can’t assume that ideas will spread organically like they used to. So, in 2020, we started holding DOLAH events. It was strictly internal. Everyone in the company—it didn’t matter if they were brand new—got up and presented an idea, a case study, or just something interesting they were working on. It was a huge success. We all became better marketers. And it was fun! By the fourth or fifth internal DOLAH, we invited friends from another agency. They, too, loved it. Then it became a conference. In November 2022, more than 300 marketers from around the world joined us in NYC for our first public DOLAH. We threw the whole thing together in a matter of weeks. This year will be bigger and better. DOLAH was never about finding “talking head” speakers who’ve traveled the world, delivering the same polished presentation to dozens of conferences—DOLAH is about hearing from the brilliant people who are in the trenches of our accounts each day, doing the real work and drumming up solutions to real marketing problems. I’m incredibly fortunate to go to work each day and be surrounded by such people … and DOLAH is an opportunity for you to do the same. If you work in marketing, advertising, digital media, or PPC, I highly recommend joining us on April 17th. I’m incredibly excited about this—It’ll be unlike any conference you’ve ever attended. This year’s theme: Advertising Solutions for the AI Revolution. In the spirit of our theme, I’m choosing not to link to the event landing page directly. Unfortunately, LinkedIn’s algorithms don’t love posts featuring an external URL. You can find a link in the original post from our company page below. See? We know what we’re doing! Join us on April 17th!

My favorite Super Bowl ad, and perhaps my favorite ad I've seen over the last five years, was poppi's "The Future of Soda is Now." In 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘸, Daniel Kahneman describes two ways in which we process information: System 1 and System 2. Most ads—especially modern Super Bowl ads—exclusively appeal to one of these categories. It's as if brands need to make a choice: make a cheesy System 1 ad—like the 2011 Kia Soul Dancing Hamster ad—or be a serious brand and make a thoughtful System 2 ad. There's even an episode of The Office dedicated to this decision. Poppi challenged this notion and pulled off an amazing ad that appealed to both System 1 and System 2. I broke this down in detail in the blog post below. Congratulations to poppi and all those involved! https://lnkd.in/es4tVjBm

At what point will digital advertising agencies collectively decide that the "free audit" is outdated? Michael is correct; most audits are low-value and time-intensive, aimed at a "gotcha!" moment against the current management. It's always felt sleazy. A quality audit is different. As Michael said, "What you need is a solid action plan." Yes... But this isn't an audit! You're describing a consulting relationship! My LinkedIn feed is filled with PPC folks advising on improving the audit process. The latest methods are much more valuable than the simple automated rules that Wordstream popularized in 2012. This is a good thing! But if you're doing this for a brand spending more than 1M/yr, you should be charging 15K for this ... minimum. Even for an SMB budget, your audits are delivering AT LEAST a few thousand dollars in value. It's still referred to as an "audit". And in this industry, you're not supposed to charge a fee for an audit. It's a sales tactic. This expectation derived from 10 years ago when even the smallest Google AdWords accounts had thousands of keywords. In 2015, about 10% of the accounts I audited had not even attempted to install conversion tracking! (And most that did were installed incorrectly) Back then, the free audit was an efficient way to convince a prospect that you knew what you were doing and promised that you could IMMEDIATELY add value to their business on day one. That's rarely the case today. Everything about our industry has changed, including the value expected from a standard audit. Prospects now expect much more than a quick, automated diagnostic... and the time/money/resources involved in delivering an audit today is much greater than it was ten years ago. ... but we're still giving it away for free, leaving 9-figures in market cap on the table in the process. Here are our options: 1. We stay on this path, sinking more resources into pitching new business and crushing our margins. (Bad!) 2. We draw a line in the sand between an audit (a simple diagnostic) and strategy consultations. This would disagree with Michael De Boeck's post and say, "No, an audit SHOULD be simple best practices and not tailored for the unique nuances of each business. It should be simple and mostly automated." 3. We commit to changes in the pitch process—an industry rebrand. If an account is indeed a victim of neglect, where a "best practices" audit could provide immediate value, then you offer that. Otherwise, we all commit to charging fees for our valuable consultative advice, reshaping clients' expectations one by one. #3 seems crazy, but we've been doing this for over six months. When we realize that we can't quickly fix something overnight, we'll ask the prospect to sign a three-month contract at a reduced rate. This expedites the sales process and is a much more effective way to showcase our expertise and generate value for the client. ... and we're not giving it away for free. I'd encourage you to do the same.

"When did we collectively decide that 10% off was the going rate for the privilege of sending potential customers emails until the end of time? Who did that math? What analysis validated it? (if you’re curious, the earliest example of 10% off for an email I can find is 2012, and it was far from scientific). For many brands, that 10% off represents 20% to 35% of their total contribution dollars on a transaction. That’s a staggering chunk of the total margin on a sale given away by a random pop-up, the incrementality and impact of which the brand has likely never tested." - via Sam T.'s latest "Digital Download" newsletter. 10/10 would recommend

I figured out my New Year's resolution! ...to stop signing off emails with: - "Please let me know if you have any questions." - "Please let me know if this makes sense." This has always been a well-intentioned habit. This week, I realized that these are, at best, cold and, at worst, condescending. I might as well have been saying: - "Please let me know if you have any questions, but I'll likely be annoyed if you do." - "Please let me know if this makes sense or if you need me to dumb down the message for you." My resolution, then, is to sign off with something like this: - "Is this helpful?" - "Does this help?" A yes-or-no question encourages and solicits feedback. But there are three possible responses here: 1. "Yes, that was helpful. Thanks!" 2. "Yes, that was helpful, but I still have a few questions about xyz" 3. "No, that was not helpful. Let's discuss how we can resolve this." 2/3rds of the possible answers confirm that your message was understood. The other party also acknowledges that they found your interaction helpful and positive, which is generally good for relationships (shout out to Dale Carnegie). But also: #1 brings closure to the entire conversation. #2 brings closure to the specific points outlined thus far and helps clarify that you're now tackling a new problem. This helps keep everyone aligned. #3 is the most important! "No! We're not on the same page! Let's figure this out!" I promise I won't take offense if you tell me that I'm not being helpful... I want to help! All of these options are so much more effective than the passive-aggressive, "Please let me know if you need to continue to bother me" responses that have dominated our email communications for the last two decades. New year, new me, same "over-analyzing every aspect of human communication" :)

Congratulations to Benjamin Lee on the launch of his fragrance brand, LILEE Perfume! Ben worked with us at AdVenture for a few years, and I often say that he—a true jack of all trades—taught me everything I know about marketing analytics. Naturally, he’d go on to develop his own line of perfumes… Yes, I’m being serious. At our very first DOLAH (a day dedicated to internal training which has since grown to a large scale marketing conference), Ben wrapped up the event with an interactive perfume class teaching us how to craft our own fragrances. It’s a wonderful blend of art and science, and I came away with a deep respect for people like Ben who do it well. I’m delighted to see Ben following his passion and for bringing this to life, especially through a sleak, simple Shopify store and beautiful product packaging :)

I just finished reading Morgan Housel's latest book, "Same As Ever: A Guide To What Never Changes." It's a brilliant concept: In a world where we're all so focused on what will change next, it's important to acknowledge those things that remain constant; otherwise, you'll be caught chasing the latest shiny thing. One anecdote that stood out was his thoughts on "permanent information," which enables us to be proactive thinkers/problem solvers instead of irrationally reacting to whatever emotionally driven problem currently exists in front of us. Ray Dalio would refer to these as Principles. From Housel: "I read newspapers and books every day. I cannot recall one damn thing I read in a newspaper from, say, 2011. But I can tell you in detail about a few great books I read in 2011 and how they changed the way I think. I'll remember them forever. I'll keep reading newspapers, but if I read more books, I'd probably develop better filters and frameworks that would help me make better sense of the news." Aside from the Bin Laden assassination, I can't remember a single news story from 2011, but I immediately thought of three books I read in 2011 that changed the course of my life. I was in college and being funneled toward a career in retail management. A professor recommended "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Reis and Jack Trout. It was the first time I picked up a dull, academic non-fiction book and failed to put it down. I realized I'd never be fulfilled if I pursued retail management and needed to focus instead on marketing/advertising. In 2018, we launched an ad campaign for AMC Networks, which borrowed ideas from one of those immutable laws... In 2011, "Why We Buy" by Paco Underhill started my fascination with consumer behavior/analytics, and Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography kickstarted my interest in tech. Housel is right—Read more books, less news. For what it's worth, Housel's first book, "The Psychology of Money," was one of my 2020 reads that I've reread twice and think about constantly. The permanent knowledge from this book helps keep me grounded while CNBC flashes all day long in the background of our office...