Edition #1 Prove The Bastards Wrong

Let’s be real—Wednesdays are tough. It’s that awkward middle child of the week, not close enough to Friday to feel hopeful, but far enough from Monday that you can’t complain about it anymore. And then comes the 2:30 slump. You know, that time of day when even your coffee is like, “Sorry, I’m out.” 

We all have stuff we’d rather not deal with. Tweaking ad copy? Ugh. Adjusting budgets? Hard pass. Sitting through yet another Zoom meeting that really could’ve just been a quick email? Don’t even get me started.

But hey, here we are, surviving another Wednesday, barely holding it together with a mix of caffeine, sheer willpower, and the promise of Netflix later. So, welcome to The Wednesday Windup—your fun little break from the stuff you really don’t want to do.

A Story From Isaac's Desk

Prove The Bastards Wrong

I recently stumbled upon a phrase that resonated with me: Prove the Bastards Wrong. It struck a chord, and I’ve found myself using it in various situations. For instance, I shot it off in a text to Ari after he forwarded me a message from Kyle, one of the big players in our industry, asking for a call. Whether or not it was relevant, Ari understood what I meant.

Back in 2014, when AdVenture Media was just Danny and me, operating out of my apartment, we used a $29/month answering service called Grasshopper. It was a stretch for us financially, but it allowed us to have multiple extensions, which made us sound a lot bigger than we were. My wife Frayde even faked a British accent for some of the recorded greetings—we were doing everything we could to seem more established.

One day, I got a call from our “sales inquiries” extension. This was rare. It was Rebecca, the Director of Ecommerce at a publicly traded jewelry company. After a brief conversation, she asked what becoming a client would look like. I told her I’d transfer her to our sales and marketing department—Danny, who was sitting right next to me. We communicated through some quick eyebrow raises, and then Danny took the phone, introducing himself as our head of sales and marketing.

That’s how we signed our first publicly traded client. Rebecca turned out to be a fantastic client, hiring us at three more companies over the next six years. It was our first real taste of success, proving to ourselves and others that we could do this.

Danny and I soon moved into a small office, and we didn’t have to worry about affording Grasshopper anymore.

Quote Of The Week

"Creativity thrives not in the absence of limitations but because of them. Constraints are the birthplace of innovation."

What's Going On At AdVenture

August can be a slow month, but it's the perfect time to push harder. We’ve been focusing on creating new courses and sharpening our strategies. Now’s the time to hit the gas.

Food For Thought On Advertising

Pinning Responsive Search Ads

Here’s a thought on pinning ads: It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. Pinning can help control your messaging, but with the requirement to add 15 headlines, you risk diluting your message. More headlines can create redundancy, making your ads too vague or repetitive. After some internal discussions, our team concluded that pinning should be used sparingly. Don’t pin just for the sake of it—sometimes letting Google’s algorithm mix things up can be beneficial.

Strategic Setup

The Power Of Whitespace

We shouldn’t feel compelled to advertise popular products just because they’re popular. Instead, we should be looking for whitespace—those less crowded areas where we can gain a competitive edge.

Take, for instance, our work with Grown Brilliance, a jewelry brand that went from $0 to $200M in revenue over 18 months. We started with a small budget, focusing on tennis bracelets rather than engagement rings because the competition was lower, and we had a cost advantage. This approach allowed us to scale rapidly and successfully.

Identifying your whitespace is crucial. Let’s explore where your business can find that competitive advantage.

Let's keep proving them wrong. Until next time, keep pushing forward.

Isaac Rudansky
Founder, AdVenture Academy
[email protected]