Julia Lovallo Chaykin

Many brands aren’t able to scale ad spend profitably, and blame the platforms. From the countless ad account audits I’ve conducted it’s normally not a platform issue. The most common issues I see are: ↳Ad accounts are structured like its 2019: heavily fragmented, competing set ups. ↳Creative testing is ‘lots of creative’ with no real strategy or structure. ↳Spend is throttled across the fragmented structure limiting machine learning. Here’s the creative strategy blueprint we've used to drive profitable, scaleable paid media results across $35M in Ad Spend in the last 12 months: 1.Set your ad accounts up properly, creating the right environment for creative testing: ↳Creative testing campaign ↳Scaling campaigns 2.Use a data driven approach to developing creative concepts (LEAVE subjectivity at the door): ↳Internal Research: Brand USPs, Products/Category focus, Audience (personas), Sentiment/Social Ad comments, customer reviews and survey insights ↳External Research: Competitors, press, blog posts, Reddit/Quora (understand the category and objections/motivations) ↳Historical Research: historical ad performance 3.Ideation, Briefing, Ad Production:  ↳The quality of your brief matters, it determines the outcome: briefs include storyboard, script, shot list, overlays, voiceovers, testing element etc ↳Launch new concepts into your creative testing campaign (# of concepts dependent on total ad budget) 4.Use data to analyze performance: ↳Push the winning concepts into the scaling campaigns ↳iterate on both winners and losers.  ↳Use Motion (Creative Analytics) to know what part of the creative needs optimizing (ie: could have a strong thumbstop but low CTR: keep the hook, change the call to action) We run 6 week creative sprints of new concept development, testing and iterations: feeding brands ad accounts with enough new concepts to test and iterate on. Depending on budget, the total volume will need to flex up or down. Struggling to develop a strategic creative strategy to drive profitable paid media results? Drop us an email @ hello@flightperformance.co 

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"Chaos asks questions of you order never will" The wonderful Colleen DeCourcy retells her experience working with Dan Wieden when she took over as Chief Creative Officer at Wieden+Kennedy Her immediate response to me asking about working with Dan was this quote about chaos. We have a natural reaction against chaos because it can be destructive and unsettling but what if we reframed it as a necessary condition for achieving something truly breakthrough 🌪 Chaos propels you forward while order maintains the status quo 🌪 Chaos creates leaders while order creates managers 🌪 Chaos demands a response while order delays it 🌪 Chaos reveals the cracks while order papers them up 🌪 Chaos forces ownership while order delegates it 🌪 Chaos fosters creativity while order fosters compliance 🌪 Chaos requires trust while order replaces it It got me thinking whether there is an optimal mix of Chaos and order required to achieve breakthrough ideas and momentum? We spend most of our time creating order but what if what we actually needed was an injection of chaos? To hear more from this episode check out the links in the comments John Kearon Kerry Collinge Orlando Wood

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I really enjoyed this Marketecture Pod by Harry Kargman. He said what we all know to be true: "If you even look at Trade Desk today...are they even a DSP or an ad network or a data company, or all the rest, you can't put anything in a box." But what I do know is what a black box looks like. So if you don't know where your ads are running (ie: domain level reporting with log files to back them up) or how much you are paying for them now, (beyond the platform fee, or the variable/blended margin), then I can tell you with a large degree of certainty that you are you are probably lighting 50-60% of your media dollars on fire once it actually gets to the end human, which you aren't also tracking to be true. Keep in mind, your screenshots are also made up. AI can do that for me now too. If you don't believe me, hit me up via DM and I'll tell you where you money is being wasted. https://lnkd.in/gHxmHeZ7 CC: Lizzie Black Brittany Smartt Batchelor

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I typically avoid engaging in hot takes, but this one needs to be highlighted until issues like these become a no-go-zone for brands. Moreover, this hits close to home on multiple levels. Many people have rightfully criticized the recent print ad by the Bombay Shaving Company. What shocks me to the core is if trolling, bullying, centuries of prioritizing women's looks over their accomplishments is the issue then how is this tasteless print ad, which could have been totally a personal note to Prachi Nigam, the solution? I wonder how many women were a part of the room which decided to not only treat society's collective failure as moment marketing but make it all about themselves (even after claiming not to do so). Many women, myself included, have experienced bullying regarding our appearance in various settings, whether it be in school, tuition classes, or even within our own families. Witnessing this level of bullying on a national scale even after Prachi achieving something most students can only dream of , with many meme pages participating, leaves me feeling disheartened both as a woman and a marketer. Don't get me wrong, this issue is primarily about brands (although i don't think this company can be called a brand yet) not knowing 'how to help' even if they want to. But I have been a part of enough rooms where I'd see men thinking about how we should address women related issues, moments and days and there are some things you just won't get right if you've not experienced them. It's always an outsiders' lens until it has happened to you and that is why representation matters. And no representation doesn't just come happen through ads where you go beyond showing a typical male and female but it matters the most in the rooms which control the output. Pro tip: if you ever feel as a brand that your print ad can drive a change in the society, check the room that will work on it. Is it equipped to handle these issues because at some point they went through it themselves or know someone who did? If not, use your access and financial resources to not buy an expensive front page spot but work with the person or on the issue at hand to collaboratively to come up with a solution.

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Good piece by Ewan Larkin on the 4-day workweek featuring comments from yours truly: https://lnkd.in/eUY9QCwH If big agencies want to move in this direction they'll need to fully embrace different comp models, e.g., output-based or outcome-based pricing. We know from countless projects with clients that there remains a big reticence to do that.

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Apple's latest "Mac does that" ad campaign is derivative of probably half a dozen other ad campaigns including Roku's "Ok, Roku does that." spot by R/GA in 2021. This, combined with the previous "destruction of culture" ad for iPad, is creating a not-so-great string of misses for the tech behemoth. Also, Mac has always been about breaking the mold. Positioning it as just a better AI PC (which I don't even know what that means) flies in the face of an inspiring tradition of disruption. I don't know who did these ads, but it caught my eye... for all the wrong reasons. Is Apple doomed to Dr. Clayton Christensen predictive cycle of disruptors or can it right the ship? Or has that ship sailed? What do you think? #innovatorsdilemma #innovation #apple #mac #advertising #digitaladvertising

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Netflix made a big announcement during its Upfronts presentation, revealing plans to launch its own advertising technology platform just a year and a half after entering the ads business. This move puts it in direct competition with industry giants like Google, Amazon, and Comcast. Initially, Netflix partnered with Microsoft for its ad tech, but now it's bringing the technology in-house, indicating a significant shift in its advertising strategy. This change will give Netflix more control over creating targeted and personalized ad experiences for its massive user base of 270 million subscribers. Netflix aims to move away from generic advertisements and experiment with "episodic" campaigns that tell a story rather than repeating the same ads. Additionally, Netflix is expanding its buying capabilities by partnering with platforms like The Trade Desk, Google’s Display & Video 360, and Magnite. The company also shared the success of its ad-supported tier, noting that it has 40 million monthly active users globally, with 5 million users joining within six months of its launch. #PPC

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Articles like this are why creative and media teams need to be in lockstep more than ever. A great piece in The Wall Street Journal calls out how brands are leaning more into happiness, humor, and nostalgia in their products and creative messaging. This strategy will hopefully woo customers downtrodden by everyday problems and distracted by chaotic realities in a 2024 full of wars and before the upcoming presidential election. So, P&G is introducing a fun, foamy toilet bomb based on consumer "research." Miller Lite introduced retro ads to remind people of the good ol' days. Will fun, foamy toilet bombs cure people's everyday problems? Of course not. Do I fear marketers are thinking too much about pre-election brand safety, and not enough about the dark temperature that might come after November? Yes. Am I curious about what kind of messaging advertisers run if people are actually happy (dramatic? Serious?) I do. But putting all of that aside, I worry brands' attempts at happiness aren't being given a fighting chance. Why? Because while creatives are making more and more ads that are emotional and pull on people's heart strings, media teams are placing these ads in more and more small and / or invisible screens. WARC just put out a paper that 40% of brands / marketers upped their performance spend last year, vs. 36% who upped brand investment. That follows a three year trend of performance gaining with brand modestly rising or staying flat. How can you expect to make people happy, if the screens we are buying are low attention - below the 2.5 seconds required to make a lasting memory - or low positivity - within the doom scrolling of social media - or low reach - because we continue to buy banner ads full of fraud? After all, creative teams rely on media teams for research tools they don't have access to and expertise from being tapped into what works on the various platforms creatives are building for. But often, that consultation is compromised by the fact that media teams either have annual partnerships with certain platforms they need to honor, regardless of the creative strategy, or certain goals they are responsible for, so they opt for attributable channels over the most effective ones. Ultimately, creative teams need media teams that will put their ads in the best canvases possible to make their attempts work, and media teams need to also be honest with their creative teams about what sort of message will actually resonate with the people they're trying to reach. But I fear too many are merely doing hand-offs without enough consultation or mutual respect and support. If you find yourself in that position, I'd love to talk. https://lnkd.in/eCY2HYTm

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Is Facebook making a comeback among Gen Z? That's what Meta is claiming recently, as they put a renewed focus on Facebook with younger people. Numbers-wise, Meta is claiming 40M young adults ages 19-28 are now using the app. For context, Snapchat has 100M daily active users and TikTok has 170M. So, that number isn't exactly super impressive. However, what IS interesting are the ways in which Facebook is gaining relevance with that younger Gen Z crowd (again, according to Meta). First, Meta claims Marketplace is increasingly a place where young people are finding deals and items to purchase. That's fair--my son is browsing Marketplace to look for cheaper items for his car and room. I could buy that one. Second, Reels. Facebook says that “Reels is gaining traction as a medium to explore interests.” Hmm....not so sure about that one. But maybe Gen Z is using the same behaviors they're using on Insta. It's possible. Third, Facebook Groups. To me, this is the one area where Facebook does have an advantage over other social platforms. People are spending more time in Groups, and it would make sense that Gen Z is possibly doing the same. Finally, the big surprise: Facebook Dating! Wait, what’s Facebook Dating, you ask? It was quietly launched in 2019 but apparently it’s making matches and picking up steam in the US. Meta says: “Facebook Dating is continuing to see steady and strong daily active user growth, and is up +20% year-over-year with young adults in the United States and Canada.” So, is a Facebook comeback amongst Gen Z really possible? More importantly, if you're a younger person, have you used Facebook Dating? I'm so curious!

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This is why we need to do more than just talk about the state of mental health and agency cultures in advertising. We need to do some hard-self reflection and start making radical changes to what we expect of ourselves, and each other. Walter T Geer III's story is a great reminder that our work isn't life or death...until it is. Sending him so much gratitude for sharing his experience. 🙏 If you have a story to share, too, I'm gathering data for a mental health in advertising report, and upcoming event, with The One Club for Creativity. You can add your voice at the survey link https://bit.ly/3UpnFLm here.

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What a week 🔥 1. Finalized bringing two awesome brands into the agency to lead their customer acquisition across creative strategy + paid media. 2. Finished all prep for S3 Bitesized launch (next week and some killer guests) and finalized one additional partnership. 4. Recorded two new episodes of the pod with Conor Begley and Noah Tucker ☃️ ☃️ - awesome people, super smart and great episodes! 5. The first drop of my clothing brand went live today! link in the comments if you want to check it out. 6. Hit my 2 workouts a day consistently (summer shredding) and gallon of water per day. Plenty of things I missed on too (not always a highlight reel) but the team effort that goes and has gone into the above has been immense. What are you most happy about achieving this week? Share your wins! 👇

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I think this will be a train wreck for ads. You think it's more ad inventory. I think it's a sign of the end for Meta. Here's my take. Zuck and his board are sitting in their board room trying to figure out how to make more rev dollars. They see brands spending less than usual. Market conditions, inflation, and competing platforms are eating away at their user base. Meta's making more money now but not because more people are spending more time on platform. More brands are spending on other channels because Meta ads has been widely volatile. So Zuck and his board are asking, "how do we squeeze more revenue out of what we have?" It's either - more inventory to deflate CPMs - jack up CPMs - subscription model - live selling - more users to spend more time on platform They're doing some of that except optimizing for "time on platform" Here's why this is bad for biz. 1. Forcing ads on someone is ONLY GOOD for Meta....short term. They are forcing a user to consume an ad to watch what they want. Before, a user could swipe past what they do vs don't want. Meta will get more ad dollars now by cheaper CPMS so brands will spend more. Users will get a worst experience. Ads in these new placements will have the worst engagement, CVR, and CTR's you've ever seen. Ever run on Youtube, Display? 2. We should be scared for Meta. Yes they are having great profits at the moment but when you screw with the users experience they will go else where. It's a sign of the end. This to me is screaming Meta is prioritizing profits over experience. And they see the only real path to keep growing is to force ads on people. - they can't get more inventory by having people stay on the platform longer - so they have to force more inventory Why do I say that? Ever been on Facebook lately? They have non-skippable ads on some videos and it's horrible. It makes me not want to watch the video I intended to watch and I literally leave because I don't want to be forced to watch. I spend the least time on Facebook than anything other platform. 3. Users will see your ads as an invasion vs a shoppable interest. Right now users get to control what they watch. Like walking down a mall with friends. You can pick where you go. Yes they get ads but they don't have to watch it. They can scroll right past it. They are in control. So when they do watch an ad they chose it. - they liked it - it intrigued them - they feel in-control It's the most fair mutual experience for advertiser and users. With non skippable ads they lose that choice. You must not know human behavior. When we get to choose what we like we think it's our idea and are more likely to take time watching "what we are choosing" Forcing it on people is an invasion. Saying, "you must do this" people don't want to do it. Ever had kids? lol Not good for ads or experience. I am an advertisers. A very good one. I love having cheaper CPMs. But I don't see how this ends will for both long-term.

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Three takeaways from D&AD Jury Day 2: 1) I’d love (someone smarter than me) to chart the diversity of execution YoY in PR shows over the last 5-8 years. I’m confident that pie graph would show an exponential increase in creative tactics. So please, can we finally kill the dinosaur-dated argument of “that’s not PR, that’s OOH/film/a t shirt”… it’s not the channel, it’s how you use it. 2) To that pointtttttt, we had great discussion around whether name of the category was the most appropriate description of the work and our role in the industry. There was a unanimous decision to make a formal recommendation to D&AD to redefine the category to “earned-first creativity”… it's not semantic, as it would definitely sharpen how we evaluate the work. Curious what others think about this... 3) Winning a pencil is crazy hard! I’ve been in both jury rooms and it’s more discerning than the mighty Lion. With no quota (a gift to the jury!) and no gold/silver/bronze, D&AD doesn’t just evaluate the work against other entrants, but against the industry’s output over the year as a whole. What a great experience setting the standard in PR creativity under jury president Deepshikha Dharmaraj and alongside Bridget Jung Emma de la Fosse Nedal Ahmed Julie Kang and Indy Selvarajah. Thank you ✏️

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Influencer Marketing Still Has A Long Way to Go Celebrity endorsements have been happening for decades but the modern version of influencer marketing is relatively young and unregulated. The massively increasing supply of "creators" or "influencers"--to use these terms broadly--creates an immature market environment that still has a lot of issues. Fraud - Some influencers have bought their followers, giving an inflated and incorrect view of their audience, which is what they're selling to brands. It's easy to miss this if you're not aware of the most common forms of trickery and deception. Industry standards and practices - I've spoken with many people working at brands and agencies talking about the poor behavior and struggles of working with influencers, not to mention the countless examples of consumers being misled on social media. A lot of the time, the influencers themselves are the ones being taken advantage of in their business deals or being discriminated against. Market pricing - Without sophisticated and robust data on pricing, most of the time the way an influencer values themselves is "finger in the air," setting prices for their services based on shoddy advice. If an influencer doesn't receive good advice, they could likely underprice their services and get taken advantage of in even more malicious ways. Attribution - understanding and quantifying the impact of your advertising has been an issue for time immemorial, and new content formats and media channels from influencers add even more complexity to measurement and ad insights. Knowledge - Brands don't always know how to work with influencers and influencers don't always know how to work with brands. Like any emerging industry or technology, the skillsets and infrastructure required to build business relationships does not really exist yet. Amidst all of these challenges lies boundless opportunity and anyone working in marketing/advertising today should be paying attention to what is truly becoming the most important "channel" through which to reach audiences today - influencers. https://lnkd.in/enmsjPkr #marketing #advertising #influencers #creatoreconomy #media #digitaleconomy #contentcreators

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https://lnkd.in/eg_xSxN7 Easy answer to this one... buy ads on Peacock's Olympic stream. NBCU's taken things to the next level with a whole suite of innovative ad experiences too, several of which we're honored to have partnered on like Engagement Ads to drive interaction, and Frame ads to capture attention in-show. #ctv #ctvadvertising

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I have a free opportunity for DTC brands and agencies. Free exposure for anyone interested. I'm restarting my email newsletter with about 1500 people and would love to feature some of the best brands and marketers. One brand/marketer a week will be featured breaking down 1-4 of their winning creatives. I will probably also make short-form content around the creative once I revamp my TikTok (about 3k followers from 2 years ago). What I need from you is: -Comment so I know you're in -1-4 creatives from you or a client (if you're a marketer I will message you to make sure you have the client's consent) -Some type of proof that these are top performers What you'll get: -Guaranteed exposure to my email list -Potential partnerships for brands and agencies -Potential content from me on Linkedin and TikTok (maybe IG) So comment to let me know that you're interested!

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