Author: Dereka Smith

Why CTV isn’t the only Performance Branding Channel

CTV has become a go-to for performance branding, blending the broad reach of traditional TV with the precision of digital targeting. But as powerful as CTV is, it’s not the only player in the game. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Meta, along with Google’s Demand Gen, offer unique opportunities to build brand awareness while driving […]

Are You Ready for CTV? Here’s How to Know

Most brands are curious about CTV. But wanting to try it and being ready to leverage it effectively are two different things. Here’s the truth: CTV isn’t magic. It won’t fix a broken funnel. It won’t save bad marketing. And it sure won’t work as well, if you’re missing the basics. So what are some […]

Is CTV Advertising Worth the Investment? Here’s a Low-Risk Way to Decide

I’ve been having some great conversations with current and prospective clients recently; and everyone is curious about the performance branding aspect of CTV. It’s no secret that CTV can help expose new audiences to our clients’ products and services. Yet two factors have held our clients back in the past: 1) How to measure the […]

Performance Branding to Offset Budget Instability: 4 Moves to Future-Proof Marketing Spend

To be or not to be in recession… your guess for the coming months is as good as ours. One thing is clear and certain: if you are a B2C brand, the majority of your consumers are being more mindful of their spending habits.  This generally means that if a consumer isn’t looking for the […]

Is Your Marketing ROI Declining as Spend Increases?

I bet you’ve heard this before: “We need to double our marketing budget to double our results.”  Of course, marketing doesn’t work like that, and pretending it does costs companies millions. I had a chat with our CEO, Bryan Karas, earlier this week and we got to talking about the marketing dragon that refuses to […]

How We Measure the Value of Brand Campaigns

We talk to lots of brands with plenty of budget but even more frustration with persistently increasing acquisition costs. When we ask whether they’re ready and willing to invest in upper-funnel campaigns, there’s a common refrain: They’re not sure how to measure them. Most people are familiar with upper-funnel metrics like awareness, impressions, reach, brand […]

Brand Isn’t a Product — It’s a Promise That Drives Performance

(Or: how to make brand and performance stop ghosting each other) In performance marketing, we track everything—CAC, ROAS, LTV, UGC ROI (and sometimes, TMI). But here’s some real talk: if you don’t have a brand, all that metric horsepower becomes worthless if it’s not supporting something bigger than itself. And to be clear, a brand […]

Designing for Attention: Creative Principles Every Digital Advertiser Should Know

People love to say we’ve got short attention spans. I don’t buy it. We binge eight episodes in one night, spend hours scrolling deep into niche rabbit holes, and rewatch the same TikTok three times because it hits. The real problem is that most ads are just forgettable. For instance, Geico’s has been playing its […]

Why Cutting Creative Corners Tanks Your Paid Media ROI

Most brand marketers don’t suffer from a lack of content. They suffer from a lack of resonance. The gap between making something and making something people care about is widening. These days, anyone with basic research functionality can stand up mediocre creative using AI, but not everyone can tell a great story that builds genuine […]

Effective Ad Creative Testing Strategies: How to Run A/B Tests in 2025

Marketers still rely heavily on traditional A/B testing for ad creatives—comparing two relatively similar ads side by side, deciding quickly on the “winner,” and repeating the cycle. Over the past few years at Playbook Media, we’ve moved away from this method in driving growth for our clients. Why? Because modern ad platforms do the testing […]