// Writing Essays, guides & field notes
From the blog
Marketing Mix Modeling Is Back: Build an MMM That Actually Works in the Post-Cookie Era
Attribution broke in the post-cookie era. This guide shows you how to build a Marketing Mix Model that actually drives budget decisions — covering data requirements, common failures, the Meta Robyn vs. Google Meridian tool landscape, and how to operationalize model outputs into real budget shifts.
Google Demand Gen 2026: Display Ads Are Gone—Here's How to Build Full-Funnel Demand That Actually Converts
Google retired standalone Display campaigns in 2026, moving all GDN inventory into Demand Gen. This guide explains why Demand Gen isn't Display 2.0 and how to build a full-funnel architecture measured by incrementality—not last-click attribution.
Marketing Attribution Models in 2026: Why Last-Click Is Dead and What Replaces It
Last-click attribution isn't just flawed—it's actively harming your budget decisions. This guide explains why no single model solves attribution in 2026 and shows how to build a layered stack using MMM, MTA, and incrementality testing.
Agentic Commerce in 2026: When AI Shopping Bots Buy for Users — How Brands Stay Discoverable and Purchasable
Visa wired payments directly into ChatGPT — AI agents are now autonomous buyers. Here's how brands optimize product feeds, structured data, and Agent SEO to stay discoverable when their second customer is a procurement bot.
ChatGPT Ads Manager in 2026: How Conversational Intent Changes Everything About Where You Spend
A tactical breakdown of ChatGPT Ads Manager and AI platform advertising — from conversational intent differences to budget testing frameworks — written from $50M+ in ad spend experience.
AI Agents for Marketing Automation: Beyond Workflows to Autonomous Campaigns
Most marketing 'AI agents' are just glorified workflows. This guide breaks down where deterministic pipelines end and autonomous agents begin — with a real production architecture, trust framework, and use cases that actually work.
Reddit Ads in 2026: The Underrated Performance Channel Booming on AI and Commerce
A tactical guide for performance marketers on why Reddit Ads in 2026 is a legitimate direct-response channel, with cost benchmarks, a testing framework, and automation plays for scaling beyond Meta and Google.
AI Chatbots for Lead Qualification: How to Build One That Actually Filters Leads
Most lead qualification chatbots are just expensive contact forms. Here's how to build qualification logic that actually filters leads — with structured outputs, guardrails, disqualification logic, and CRM integration that works 24/7.
Google AI Max for Search: The DSA Replacement and Your Migration Action Plan
Google is sunsetting Dynamic Search Ads and replacing them with AI Max for Search — a fundamentally different system, not a simple rebrand. Here's what's actually changing, what control you're losing, and the exact migration plan to protect your campaigns.
GA4 Server-Side Tagging in 2026: How to Save Your Ad Attribution Before Cookies and ITP Kill It
If you're running paid media in 2026 without server-side tagging, your ROAS numbers are fiction. Here's how to wire GA4 server-side tracking before ITP and cookie deprecation silence your conversions.