Blog
Field notes and research on paid media, memory, and the difference between a number and a decision.
84 posts in Guides & Research
In 2025 they sold you the map. In 2026 they sold each other the territory: a $1.9B acquisition, a unicorn, and free measurement from Microsoft — against AI referral traffic that still rounds to zero. What held up, what didn't, and what to actually do.
10 min read
Gartner's 2026 data shows AI restructured marketing rather than shrinking it — labor's budget share rose to 24.5% while only 30% of CMOs can scale AI — so this guide covers the emerging org models, which roles change, and how to decide build vs. buy vs. partner.
7 min read
With 68% of Google searches ending without a click and 94% of buying groups ranking vendors before first contact, most of the 2026 journey is invisible — this playbook covers measuring the dark funnel and building presence where AI models and buyers actually decide.
7 min read
Meta, Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn automated targeting and bidding in 2026 — Meta's Andromeda targets off creative signals and Google auto-upgrades accounts to AI Max in September — so this playbook covers the three levers advertisers still control: creative, signals, and structure.
7 min read
Meta's Advantage+ suite hands more decisions to the algorithm every quarter. Here's what that means for account control, transparency, and the record you need to keep.
2 min read
Meta ads change history exists, but it's buried and short-lived. Where the Facebook ads change log lives in 2026, its ~90-day window, and how to keep more.
6 min readNew Reddit x SurveyMonkey data: 83% of B2B buyers self-research before talking to sales. What the hidden journey means for how you run and measure paid media.
8 min read
B2B creator marketing became a real budget line in 2026 — Dentsu found influencer engagement is the fastest-growing driver of B2B decisions — so this playbook covers program models, LinkedIn mechanics, dark-funnel measurement, and the AI-visibility payoff of creator content.
8 min read
DIY ad alerts in Zapier, n8n, or Make vs a managed monitoring tool: real 2026 costs, API version churn, missing anomaly logic, and when each makes sense.
7 min read
Claude Cowork, Skills, and Claude Code are changing marketing work in 2026. What each surface does well, verified — and where they still need a memory layer.
7 min read
Most teams that deploy AI SDRs churn off within months, usually after burning a domain, yet hybrid human-plus-agent pods outperform both pure-AI and human-only models -- this playbook covers where agents break, where they win, and the guardrails that keep outbound deliverable in 2026.
9 min read
Overspent a client's ad budget? A practical crisis playbook: own it fast, quantify precisely, offer real remediation, and build systems so it never repeats.
6 min readThe record
Stop running an account that forgets.
Every decision written down, with its reason and its result. That is the whole product.