Google Discovery Campaigns are becoming Demand Gen (Discovery + YouTube Shorts) starting in October:

Starting October through November 2023, your Discovery campaigns will be automatically upgraded to Demand Gen campaigns. Your Discovery campaign settings, budget, and historical performance statistics will automatically transfer to Demand Gen with identical or comparable functionality. You’ll receive a notification in your Google Ads account when your campaigns have been upgraded.


Just got the new Meta ads manager audience setup flow. It’s 2 sections:

Audience Controls

Set criteria for where ads for this campaign can be delivered.

  • Locations
  • Minimum Age
  • Custom Audience exclusion
  • Languages

Advantage+ audience (optional)

Our ad technology automatically finds your audience. If you share an audience suggestion, we’ll prioritize audiences matching this profile before searching more widely.

  • Custom Audiences
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Detailed targeting (demographics, interests, behaviors, etc)

What you should also do if you’re a brand doing influencers, is run Google Ads. Because people will look at an influencers post, they won’t buy, and they will Google you. And you better be the top search result there so they click the Google ad and purchase.

-Yash Chavan

I would say this applies to all forms of paid social efforts. Advertising is an ecosystem, not a silo.


A good question to ask on a regular basis:

Are you here for your customers, to give them what they seek, or are you trying to do something to your customers, to squeeze out extra income?

Everything is customer service.


The era of the Western is here (again).

Expectations are the genre will “make a roaring return in entertainment and potentially usurp the superhero as this decade’s defining storytelling genre.”

If all brands and marketing are stories, how can you craft yours as a Western? Or at least compatible with a Western?

How can this story amplify “‘the idea you can live a more authentic, exciting, and rugged life.’”


Insight from Jack White

When you put something out into the world, the bigger it gets, the less control you have of it.

Your intentions and interpretations become less important over time. And the resonance and reverence amongst fans and the public becomes more important.

The meaning of your brand becomes a conversation, not a monologue.


According to behavior science, to boost believability, trustworthiness, and memorability, use:

  • rhymes
  • alliteration
  • simpler words (also makes people think you’re more intelligent)
  • humor

To sum up: aim to be clever, not smart (?)


The EU is cracking down on “very large tech platforms.” This means:

  • Less personalized ad targeting
  • Algorithm-free feed options
  • Stricter content moderation
  • More data transparency (to people like authorities and researchers)

The platforms are working on efforts to comply. But how will it work? And if it does, how long until the US copies it?


A winning ecomm email framework (that’s working right now):

  • Company name in the “from” field
  • Great headline (chatty is good) with subhead
  • Product shot
  • “Watch this video” or “Learn more”
  • Product video gif
  • CTA

45% Of U.S., U.K. Advertisers Have Used Same Ad Approach For Past 5 Years

71% of this group don’t plan to change their strategy in the next year.

A gif from the TV show Mad Men with 2 men in a wood paneled elevator and one saying “Not great, Bob!”