Category: Marketing

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 […]

5 Ways to Measure CTV Performance

CTV is getting a ton of headlines in marketing these days, many of them regarding its projections as one of the fastest-growing channels in digital. CTV’s promise is real; we’ve helped it come to fruition for a number of clients. Its blend of targeting, placements, and context – when measured accurately – has shown uniquely […]

CTV Isn’t Just a Brand Play —Here’s How to Make It Perform

You’re hearing a lot about CTV. It’s one of the fastest-growing channels in digital marketing. And not only are more advertisers starting to invest, more viewers are watching CTV content for more time every day. So why are marketers still hesitant? Part of the reason is that CTV’s optimization levers are slightly different from the […]

Boost Customer Lifetime Value with Performance Branding

As digital marketers, we often find ourselves under immense pressure to deliver immediate sales results, justify every dollar spent, and satisfy leadership with quick wins. However, these instant conversions might be quietly undermining the long-term health of our brands – and our overall marketing. Not All Shoppers Are Equal When analyzing customer lifetime value (CLTV) […]

Why Your Paid Media Strategy Is Maxed out—and What Comes Next

I was working on my laptop at a cafe the other day, eavesdropping (unapologetically) on the two baristas behind the counter. “You remember those old ads?” one of them said. “Like the ones with the jingles that got stuck in your head for days? Or the ones that were like little movies?” The other barista […]

How Smart Marketers Use AI to Elevate Creative Advertising

Ian Garcia, Playbook Media’s Director of Paid Social, has a simple approach: work smarter, not harder. When it comes to marketing and advertising, he doesn’t see AI as a creative replacement—it’s an assistant that speeds up research, generates fresh ideas, and refines messaging with precision.  Here’s how Ian blends both to develop high-performing creative across […]

Why Top Marketers Are Ditching Safe Data for Bold Ideas

In an era where marketers obsess over every decimal point in their analytics dashboards, a quiet rebellion is brewing. The pendulum of data-driven decision-making has swung too far, and industry leaders are starting to push back. When Marketing Lost Its Soul The digital advertising landscape has become a sea of sameness. According to Dr. Karen […]

Run These Incrementality Tests to Free Up Wasted Marketing Budget

  With the new year in full swing, many marketing teams sit on unused budgets from the last fiscal year. Rather than lose those funds or scramble to reallocate them, now’s the perfect time to run incrementality tests: show where your spend is working, and where it’s not, to inform optimizations for the months ahead. […]