// Writing Essays, guides & field notes
From the blog
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.
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.
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.
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.
Incrementality Testing for Paid Media: Did Your Ad Actually Drive the Sale?
Platform ROAS inflates your results. Learn how to run incrementality tests — holdout, geo-lift, and ghost ads — to prove your ads actually drove the sale, not just took credit for it.
Meta Advantage+ Campaigns in 2026: When Full AI Automation Works (and When It Burns Money)
A no-BS breakdown of when Meta's Advantage+ AI automation earns its budget and when it silently burns through it — based on $50M+ in real ad spend, not platform marketing claims.
Google Performance Max: How to Actually Control the AI Black Box (Asset Groups, Audience Signals, Budget Caps)
Performance Max campaigns burn budget when you can't see the levers. Here's how to actually control PMax using asset group structure, audience signals, exclusions, and budget caps — with real before/after numbers.
Meta Ads MCP: What It Actually Lets You Do, How to Set It Up Safely, and Why I'm Not Trusting It With Live Spend Yet
A practical walkthrough of Meta's official MCP server for ads — what it actually lets you do with Claude and ChatGPT, how to set it up safely, and where conversational ad operations still break down.