Julian Scharman

Who will the merger between Omnicom and IPG be good for? Not for employees - Expect to see layoffs and for those that remain, a huge amount of busywork adapting to new corporate policies and procedures. Not for the work itself - Consolidating creative agencies and media buying will further water down creativity and disincentivize innovation. Not for clients - See above. It's a survival move with shareholder value being the primary consideration. Could these holding companies have saved themselves by other means? I've worked at big brands and small startups, big holding companies and small agencies -- and I can tell you that the best work, the most creativity and the most innovative solutions are coming from the smaller outfits. If you're a brand of any size looking for an agency partner that will deliver outsized value, consider these smaller guys, to name just a few. nmbl, Public Display of Affection (PDA), Magic Camp, Darkroom, X&O, QRY

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Common sense and complexity in marketing measurement Yes, last-click attribution is suboptimal to other methods that consider and attempt to measure the contribution of all marketing efforts on commercial outcomes. Yes, last-click attribution introduces the risk that an advertiser invests money into a channel that does not deliver truly incremental outcomes. Yes, last-click attribution could result in analytics that wholly distort a business’ underlying marketing dynamics. But in certain circumstances, last-click attribution can be the best approach for measuring marketing outcomes.

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For decades, marketers were taught that attention was the holy grail. Catch someone’s eye, and the battle was half-won. Platforms optimized for clicks, brands chased impressions, and we built strategies around fleeting moments of engagement. But today, attention is cheap—and fleeting. Here’s what’s changed: 1. Overexposure: The average consumer sees upwards of 6,000 ads per day. Overwhelmed by noise, they’re tuning most of it out. (Forbes) 2. Distrust: Consumer trust in advertising has plummeted. According to Edelman, only 33% of people say they trust ads. Instead, they rely on peers, influencers, and authentic brand experiences. (Edelman Trust Barometer) 3. Intentional Consumption: Social media usage is declining among younger demographics, as people prioritize wellness and mindfulness. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube still thrive, but they reward depth and authenticity, not gimmicks. (Pew Research) Consumers aren’t mindlessly scrolling anymore. They’re curating their feeds, blocking ads, and choosing substance over spectacle.

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We love setting up seed emails to assess our clients deliverability health. Here are a few important notes when setting them up: 1. Set them up in proportion to the ISP split of your list. (ex: 50% GMAIL, 30% YAHOO, 20% Microsoft) 2. Never open, click, or engage in anyway with the emails sent there. 3. Make sure you checking them becomes part of the routine :)

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Don't Set It and Forget It - The Power of Hands-On Meta Campaign Management I've seen the difference that active, involved campaign management can make for businesses advertising on Meta's platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). Far too often, I encounter brands who take a "set it and forget it" approach, only to be left disappointed by the results. The reality is, effectively advertising on Meta requires an ongoing, vigilant effort to analyse performance, understand your audience, and continuously optimise your campaigns. I'd recommend you to take the following into consideration; Audience Insights Diving deep into the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the users seeing your ads is key. Who is engaging, who is converting, and who is falling off? An expert eye can uncover audience insights that inform smarter targeting and creative decisions. Placement Performance Where your ads are served – whether it's the Facebook news feed, Instagram stories, or the Audience Network – can have a major impact on results. Closely monitoring placement performance allows you to double down on what's working and pull the plug on what's not. Continuous Optimisation The most successful meta advertisers constantly test, iterate, and optimise their campaigns. From ad creative to bidding strategies, a test-and-learn approach is essential for driving down costs and boosting conversions over time. If you're serious about unlocking the full potential of Meta advertising for your business, I encourage you to partner with a seasoned marketing expert who can guide you through the process. The ROI will speak for itself.

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WARNING: This post mentions blood sucking Zombies and describes scenes of gross financial malfeasance. If you are squeamish, turn back NOW. I'm sometimes asked to share the books I have found most helpful for crafting an effective DTC campaign in the medical device space. I used to share such gems as: >> The Innovator's Dilemma >> The Robert Collier Letter Book >> Cialdini's work on persuasion (Omar M. Khateeb loves this guy) >> Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️'s gems on category design. These have all served me well, but none as well as George Romero's definitive treatise on zombies: Night of the Living Dead. If you work in the medical device field in any capacity consider this film the key to future-proofing your career. This film teaches us two critical things about Zombies: 1) It's hard to know if they are dead or alive 2) They have a voracious appetite My proposition, kind reader, is that if your company is relying on a zip-code based physician locator to connect prospects with local clinics -- and drive revenue -- you've cozied up to a zombie. Let me explain. The common assumption for years has been that prospects are rational and obedient and follow the conversion path YOU want them to take. Which looks something like this: Paid Traffic> Manufacturer Website> Clinic Locator> Call Practice> Make An Appointment This DTC funnel is appealing and widely taken as gospel and.....HALF DEAD It was killed by search-savvy consumers who want to learn about a local practice before placing a phone call. After all, they are heading down a path that at the very least could burn up half a day going in for a consult. At most it means the people at the other end of the phone line are going to cut them open and implant some magical, wonderous device. In this context, doesn't it make sense to learn about the clinic BEFORE placing a call? Of course it does. So this is what lots of prospect journeys actually look like: Paid Traffic> Manufacturer Website> Clinic Locator> Google> Local Clinic Website> WTAF???-- Do these guys even do this procedure > I'm Gone Your clinic locator may seem alive because it's the best tool you have in your DTC arsenal, but it's HALF DEAD because prospects --being rational actors -- visit a clinic's website to build trust before they place a call. And in the vast majority of cases their experience with your product on the clinic website is a No Show or Major Disappointment. (I'll talk more later about ways to fix this) The part that really stings is that you have PAID good money for these prospects who fall out of your funnel. I'll close by comparing the standard device funnel to a Zombie and see if I have made my case. 1) It's hard to know if they are dead or alive  ✅  2) They have a voracious appetite  ✅ (YES, they love to consume paid traffic) - - - - - - - - - - I'm Colin I'm a Father A Writer An Oarsman I Help Medical Device Companies Increase Revenue by Removing Practice-level Barriers to Conversion

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There's a new growth strategy on the block. And I'm dubbing it "The U-Haul Playbook." It's when a founder moves to where their target market lives. Not everyone can do this. Few should. But the real takeaway is in understanding why this matters. Customer discovery is the most important activity for a startup founder who is in pre-market phase, MVP phase, or seed stage. Spoiler alert: the importance never ends, but the tactics can change as you grow. I wrote a bit about this trend and how to think about customer discovery in my latest beehiiv for Five Four!

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Decks are the biggest waste of time in Marketing.   I’d bet on an inverse correlation btw “pretty decks” and “client outcomes.”   The prettier the deck, the more fluff—the more being hidden.   We’ve won several clients b/c we didn’t send a deck…   Instead, we sent actionable recs in a Doc with a Loom.   We add screen caps where necessary.   But no “About Us,” “Why We’re Different,” etc.   Just clear actions to take to scale ads profitably.   No saying, all doing.   Whether you do it with us, yourself, or with someone else.   - Takes less time - Offers way more value - Differentiates us   A win-win-win.

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In this video, learn how to effectively leverage Spark Toro to assess if a site's audience matches your target demographic. Discover how inputting a site and examining the audience's interests and behaviors can unveil potential commonalities for precise targeting. #SparkToro #AudienceAnalysis

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A tried + true cheat code for earned media is to leverage your 1st party data - and most particularly - local data. Stacker is looking for 3 companies to work with as we expand uses cases for our local content platform...👇 We are looking for 3-5 orgs with location-tagged proprietary data to help turn into localized content to then be distributed to news outlets. Can all but guarantee participating orgs will receive upwards of 100 earned placements... each month. (Last month we launched with Backstage to help produce stories on "Castings happening in _____ location," and have helped drive hundreds of incredible local coverage pieces.) Your data x Stacker's platform. We'll do the work. Comment below or DM if you know someone in content/research at an org that might be great for this.

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New Open Market episode featuring Jay Friedman, CEO of Goodway Group. This one’s packed with insights for anyone in ad tech, agencies, or media. Key Highlights: -Why Jay believes marketing belongs at the top of the boardroom agenda. -Goodway Group's incredible 95-year history and evolution. -How Jay’s perspective on remote work has shifted. -The critical role of incrementality in proving marketing’s value. -Smart advice for ad tech CEOs on how to effectively sell to agencies. As always, expertly guided by Joe Zappa. Check it out—link in comments.

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One of the things I'm continually shocked by is how many marketing organizations operate with blinders to their customers and their needs. Getting your arms around your customers' requirements and using it to ensure you have the right product/market fit - not only for your offerings, but also for your approach to getting them to market - is foundational not only to your marketing team, but also to your entire corporate strategy. Our latest blog entry talks a bit about the importance of nailing your product fit. We think it's important enough that it's one of the key tenets of the Callan Way.

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All the reasons I expect our software category to be worth north of $150B 1. Influencers are the #1 source of discovering new products according to Morning Consult Research Intelligence for Gen Z and Millenials. 2. Global influencer ad spend is up 5X in 6 years to $30B 3. Google searches for “influencer marketing” are up 29X in the last 10 years. 4. Mr. Beast/Feastables 414M followers VS Hershey’s 1M **Feastables is the fastest growing candy brand by market share. 5. Logan Paul/Prime 117M followers VS Rockstar Energy 2M **Prime hit $1.2B in revenue 2 years after launch 6. Kim K/Skims 381M followers VS Spanx 2M **SKIMS is valued at $4B with $750M in revenue (Spanx $430M) 7. Elon/Tesla 213M followers VS Ford 1.4M (Twitter) *Ford spends 26X times more than Tesla on marketing  **Tesla’s Valuation $540 B **Ford’s Valuation $48 B 9. McDonalds+Apple+Nike’s IG accounts will generate 1.7B impressions this year. **Creators on IG will generate 28.8B about them. 17X times more. 10. Creator content on Tiktok ads get 5X the video completion rate and 2X the conversion rates (according to Tiktok) --- Thanks to Chamath for some of the research cited here as well!

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Advice: don't own operational and growth metrics simultaneously. It's a two-hat trap, one that most experimentation folks and CROs, especially in centralized structures, know well. A ton of the industry conversation on Linkedin and at many conferences is commiseration about the symptoms of conflating and combining/not-delineating these roles and jobs. > If you own operations: then you are likely a center of excellence, experimentation or product or marketing ops role. This means your job is to help others make decisions fast. You should care about customer insights and learning systems. This is the role that I see Jonny Longden promoting and elevating, as well as others like Manuel Da Costa and André Morys > If you own growth: then you are a mini-CEO of some touchpoint/swimlane/product. You are a product manager or channel OWNER. This means that you need to hold yourself accountable for business bottom-line metrics like revenue. You are the decision maker. You also need authority over your own roadmap ideally, as well as the responsibility. This is what clients (internal or external) are hiring you to do most of the time. This is what Guillaume "𝑮" Cabane and Elena Verna and Leah Tharin talk and post about so much. ^ doing these both at once is like a CEO who is also the COO. It's like the PM who is also the analyst and secretary. It's not a proven way to be efficient I think. But also, these are two different echo chambers on Linkedin. We need to do better to see this I think. Mainly, I fit in the former, but I'm wanting to push for systems of growth so I'm thinking a ton about the latter.

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Here's a shortcut to build an iconic startup brand: Kevin Byrd -- one of tech's most singularly brilliant brand builders -- is taking on a couple clients. Kevin created tech's most timeless, irreverent brands -- e.g. Postmates by Uber & Instacart (not to mention Daydream's original viral site). Maybe you're relaunching your homepage. Or raising. Or your vibe just needs a reboot. But I promise you, you're not going to regret working with Kevin if you manage to get one of these slots. A standout brand lubricates everything. You'll probably close more sales, have an easier time recruiting, and fundraise better. I mean that. Hit him up or DM me if you want an intro for your company (or a portco, or a friend's company).

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This is not an attack on agencies, but... I often hear CMOs and CEOs saying: "If we want to scale this channel, let's hire an agency." Let me be clear: this is (often) not the best way to scale any channel. Here's why: 1. Resource allocation While agencies may look experienced and know what they're doing, you'll rarely have their best talent managing your account. The reality? You often get junior profiles learning on your budget. 2. Time investment Because of agencies' business model, they will never invest as much time as you want in your account. Think about it: is 2 to 4 days of work per month enough for a core marketing channel? 3. Strategic alignment After working with numerous agencies, I can tell you that the best and only way to scale a channel you're serious about is to run it yourself. The solution? → Hire someone who is a field master and give them full ownership → If you're early stage and can't afford a specialist yet, working with an agency can be a temporary solution → But once you find traction, it's time to bring it in-house 🔍 How to make the right decision: Agency vs In-house When to consider an agency: - Early-stage with limited budget - Testing new channels before committing - Non-core marketing activities - Need for specific expertise on short-term projects - Geographic expansion requiring local knowledge When to go in-house: - Core marketing channels - Need for deep product/market knowledge - Long-term strategic importance - Budget allows for dedicated expertise - Need for rapid iterations and testing 💡 Pro tip: Before making your decision, calculate the real cost of both options: Agency costs: - Monthly retainer - Additional fees - Management overhead - Knowledge transfer costs - Platform access fees In-house costs: - Salary & benefits - Tools & training - Recruitment costs - Management time - Team integration 🤔 Your turn to share! I'm curious about your experiences:  - Have you successfully transitioned from agency to in-house? - What challenges did you face? - For agency leaders reading this - what's your perspective? Let's make this discussion valuable for everyone - share your insights in the comments below!

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Announcing Leland's $12M Series A led by Forerunner! Forerunner has an incredible track record of backing iconic consumer brands and marketplaces like Warby Parker, Chime, Glossier, Inc., ŌURA, Faire, Zola, The Expert, and others. We couldn't be more excited to welcome Eurie Kim to the board and partner with her and Forerunner to take Leland to the next level. Also participating in the round are GSV Ventures, inVest Ventures, and our early investors like FJ Labs, Contrary, Peterson Ventures, and GSBackers. We’re also proud that dozens of Leland coaches and customers participated, in addition to leading marketplace founders, operators, and angels from companies like Instacart, Handshake, LinkedIn, Pluralsight, Mercado Libre, and others. With this fresh capital and support, we're well positioned to accelerate our vision of unlocking human potential by making the world's expertise more accessible. In the past year alone, our coaches have helped hundreds of thousands of people in over 70 countries break into top schools or companies, develop new skills, prepare for interviews or tests, and pursue goals across dozens of unique categories. While a fundraise is never a destination, it certainly represents an opportunity to reflect on the progress we’ve made and thank the community who has helped us get this far. So, THANK YOU! We know the biggest opportunity is ahead of us, and we’re excited to be building a world-class team to go after it. If you want to join us, we're hiring. if you want to partner with us, shoot me a DM. And if you are interested in working with a coach or coaching the next generation, we'd love to have you in our community. Big thank you to Deborah Quazzo, Ben Capell, Kyle Harrison, Eric Tarczynski, Jason Bornstein, Lauri J. Moore, Karen Chi, Glenn Borok, Jeff Weinstein, Jose Marin, Jen Yang-Wong, Jason Chen, Taylor Jones, ilana stern, Aaron Skonnard, Gary Williams, Martin Rudigier, and the many others who have made this possible through your support! Here's to the next chapter of helping people reach their most ambitious goals. (TechCrunch coverage in comments)

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Our eng team at AdQuick built an AI agent specifically for the out-of-home advertising industry. Trained on 1,000s of real-world insights from our team, supported by 100s of millions in campaign spend, & armed w/billions of data points via analytics. We trained the AI using 6,000 recorded sales and strategy calls at AdQuick. Our AI has comprehensive, up-to-date data on queries about our category while the general purpose Chat GPT will not. It can speak intelligently about the following media categories: - Billboard Advertising - DOOH - Street Furniture Advertising - Transit Advertising - Wallscape Advertising - Wheat Pasting Advertising If you're a media planner or a media buyer: Try it out on any page on the AdQuick website for free; just click the tiny robot icon in the bottom right of the screen, it's that simple. Please let me know what you think - I think it's pretty good. I hope the Advertising Industry is having a blast partying with Shingy at POSSIBLE #possible24 in Miami Beach this week. cc: GroupM OMD Worldwide PHD Spark Foundry UM Worldwide Publicis Media dentsu Interpublic Group (IPG) WPP Omnicom Media Group Havas EssenceMediacom RapportWW Kinetic Mindshare Wavemaker McCann Digitas North America OAAA Starcom

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Ten years ago brands like Zillow and American Express nailed it as pioneers of brands launching media companies - while hundreds tried and failed. Now we're in a new era for brand publishing... What's different? 🚀 The Journey For the brands mentioned above, the strategy was a success. But many brands struggled to find their footing, leading to the shutdown of countless content initiatives. Today we’re seeing a resurgence and a true new era for brand publishing, fueled by lessons learned from past challenges. 🔍 What’s Different Now? Today, successful brand publishing has 3 important components: 1. Distribution Focus 2. Strategic ROI 3. Measured Investment. More on this in my latest article - link in first comment. #BrandPublishing #ContentMarketing #BrandJournalism #EarnedMedia Image Credits: Roman Samborskyi - Shutterstock

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