Edition # 13 I The Gauntlet

Some questions are just flat-out dumb. Yes, I said it. And you can quote me.

But I'll be the first one to encourage stupid questions. 

I have always championed an environment where anyone can ask anything. 

Because what you need isn’t a room full of sharp wits and finely honed statements.

What you need—what every team really really needs—is a space for brave idiots.

A place where everyone feels free to ask the unpolished, half-baked, and downright ridiculous questions. Because the best ideas almost always sound absurd at first. Or the simple, stupid questions tend to lead to the best ideas. 

If you've been in advertising long enough, you'll know exactly what I am talking about.

You need a culture where every voice is given a chance, where anyone can say whatever’s on their mind, no matter how “stupid” it seems. 

So here’s to a culture of courageous fools.

Here’s to being the brave idiot and paving the way for others to do the same.

Because that’s how true innovation begins: when everyone feels they have the space to say dumb things. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Ronnie.)

Because their opinion, their question, and their straight-up stupid statements can be something worth sharing, no matter what.

Even if it's just to get a good laugh. 

Welcome to this week’s mid-week pick-me-up. Not what you expected today, was it?

Well, either way... here's what else is in store for you today... 

A trip down memory lane with the early days of our agency, the debut of our exclusive BRAND-NEW course on strategy creation, media planning, and budget building, plus a breakdown of the key difference between strategy and tactics.

Listen, you’ve got 18.5 hours, 1,110 minutes, and 66,600 seconds of work left until the weekend.

So yes, you can take 2 minutes to breathe, read, and recharge for the rest of your week. 

“The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.”

— Albert Einstein

The Gauntlet

A story from inside the agency... 

Sometimes I worry that new employees don’t get a chance to experience the same sort of insanely chaotic work environment Patrick and Ari experienced when they first started as account managers. I was in this same boat, as was Danny, to a large extent. There’s no better way to learn performance media than to actually practice it—and practice it a lot. No amount of reading or learning can substitute for real-time experience.

It’s not really a mystery why we’re able to produce much better work for our clients than previous agencies are. It’s because our team leaders spent years working on hundreds of small business accounts, interacting directly with the owners, most of whom had to make a profit on a daily basis or not be able to afford the next day’s advertising spend.

The first salary I was able to afford was roughly $100/week, which got me full-time work in the Philippines. I loved Georgie. I sent him to an AdWords seminar in Manila, and he did good work. I guess you can say Georgie was the first ever contractor. One day, he added the list of negative keywords I sent him for one of our clients as regular keywords, and I only caught the error a couple days later. This client was our largest client ($399/mo), so I was really upset about this. “I SAID NEGATIVE KEYWORDS GEORGIE!” I chatted Georgie on Skype.

Then Georgie quit. Just like that. He said he didn’t like being yelled at. Even if it was just an All Caps message.

The next salary I was able to afford was Juan, a lovely guy, but he refused to speak to a client on the phone. He wouldn’t do it. Man, did that piss Danny off.

Patrick and Ari were our first two account managers in earnest, and by then, the YouTube tutorial was bringing in leads at a rapid clip. We had a whiteboard stuck to the office wall, and we’d fill it up throughout the month with all the new clients we signed. I also printed out a huge poster at Staples and hung it over Patrick’s and Ari’s heads, outlining the ten steps for onboarding a new client.

We were signing a lot of clients. One month, we signed forty clients. That meant twenty new clients for Ari and twenty new clients for Patrick. Danny once closed five clients in a single day (was it six?), which meant three discovery calls each for Patrick and Ari the following morning.

I miss those days. Life was so much simpler then. 

Brace yourselves—Nechama’s Strategy Lab is finally going live.

After relentless persuasion (think pulling Excalibur from the stone), we managed to convince Nechama—the one who could single-handedly raise the Mensa average—to pour a decade of her strategic genius into a course that’s, frankly, wild. We’re talking media plans, real strategy, goal-shattering frameworks—the works.

Want to learn how to create media plans that actually move the needle?

Want to see what it takes to build a strategy that goes beyond checkboxes and buzzwords? 

Want to know what “reaching your goals” really means?

You’re going to need in on this.

Get access with the Ultimate Digital Advertising Library—now 40% off.

Or… you could buy the Strategy Lab course alone. Totally up to you.

The “Why" Behind Your Media Plan

Let’s clear something up that most people tend to blur—strategy and tactics. They’re not interchangeable. End of story.

And getting them right is the difference between a campaign that actually drives results and one that just looks nice on a report.

Here’s how we’re gonna break it down in The Strategy Lab:

Strategy is the big picture. It’s your guiding light, your master plan. Think of it as the why. Why are you aiming for a specific audience? Why is this message the one that will resonate? Strategy is about long-term direction, aligning every move you make with an overarching goal, whether that’s revenue, growth, brand awareness, or something else entirely.

Tactics, on the other hand, are the tools, the actions, the how you’re going to get there. They’re specific steps you take to execute your strategy—targeting a particular audience segment, setting up retargeting ads, adjusting your bidding strategies. Tactics are where the details live, where you put your strategy into motion.

Tactics without a strategy? They’re a shot in the dark.

Strategy without tactics? Just an idea on paper.

When was the last time you looked at your media plan and asked, "Why?"

• Why are you targeting this specific audience segment?

• Why are you investing in certain ad placements but not others?

• Why is your spend distributed as it is?

Instead of asking “what,” understand the “why” behind every line in your media plan.

Nechama’s Strategy Lab is going to guide you in taking these questions from abstract to actionable.

Because if you can’t answer why you’re doing what you’re doing, then maybe it’s time to recalibrate.

Strategy is the framework, the rationale.

Tactics are how you bring it to life.

And when the two align, that’s where the magic happens.

If you’re ready to start building a plan where every action has a purpose, Nechama’s Strategy Lab is going to be your new best friend.

Join early with the Ultimate Digital Advertising Library, now 40% off—or keep waiting and wondering why.

P.S.

1. If you’re up for a wild ride through the joys and chaos of creative writing, subscribe to The Scatterplot Chronicles, my LinkedIn series where I spill the beans on my writing and publishing adventures. My second article is coming out tomorrow. Because LinkedIn is glitchy as hell right now. So subscribe to get updated when the article goes live tomorrow morning.

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3. Check out my book here. If you’re generous enough to order a copy (it makes a great gift), DM me your order confirmation on LinkedIn, and you’ll be entered into a raffle for a brand new pair of Apple AirPods MAX … drawing next week!