Author Archives: markpilip

Buy Digital Directly. No, I’m Not Crazy!

Posted on Wednesday, 20 September 2017 7:15 am

Dr. Augustine Fou just published an interesting presentation, “You’re Not Getting What You Paid For,” which I encourage all marketers to read. The presentation lays out a number of the ways you–yes you–are being screwed in the digital ecosystem. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, digital marketing, Direct Response, fraud, Media, Strategy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Profit Maximization, Humanity Minimization

Posted on Friday, 15 September 2017 8:28 am

Facebook stepped in it again, this time by allowing users of their advertising platform to target users via vile anti-Semitic terms. Do I think the people or the company is anti-Semitic? Of course not. I think the company* is anti-human. … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Organization, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

AdTech: The Worst Server Room Ever

Posted on Thursday, 14 September 2017 11:29 am

We get a kick out of images like this one at the left. How in the world could somebody let a system get so out of control? When Alan Kay shows this picture, he points out that every wire was … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Philosophy, planning | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guitar Effects: Two Legends and a Sale

Posted on Friday, 1 September 2017 9:12 am

My core beliefs include positivity and assuming goodwill. If you only knew me from my writing here, you might not think that. It’s hard to be positive sometimes when I seem to spend the whole day mired in “digital” marketing … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Communications, digital marketing, Guitar, Marketing, Media, Sales, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mix modelling muddles marketers

Posted on Tuesday, 29 August 2017 5:54 am

Originally posted on Marketing Science:
I think econometric modelling is over used in marketing. And routinely produces misleading results. Let me explain… Warning: people who make their living from such modelling may not like what I have to say. Astrology,…

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Thought Experiment: Am I Just an Example of Survivorship Bias?

I’ve been a fairly successful continuity marketer, CMO, whatever. As such I’ve got a lot of what I think are good ideas about how to do marketing-type things. But what if I’m just an example of an outlier that’s made it … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Monday, 28 August 2017 10:45 pm | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Need an EVP of Brand Safety? You’ve Got a Problem!

Posted on Monday, 28 August 2017 9:57 am

It took a second read of the “Lets Talk About The Brand Safety Tax” column in AdExchanger last Tuesday to catch this: It’s a small price to pay, said John Montgomery, global EVP of brand safety at GroupM, running somewhere … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, digital marketing, Media, Strategy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Source Level Triage

Posted on Tuesday, 22 August 2017 9:08 am

Let’s assume you’ve built your marketing whiffletree and have a banding model at the source level that you can analyze every Monday. Of course, you’ll sort your sources from most effective to least and do more of the things that … Continue reading →

Posted in Marketing, Media, Philosophy, Tactics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Who’s Going to Debug Digital Advertising?

Posted on Wednesday, 16 August 2017 11:33 am

In Alan Kay’s talk “How To Invent The Future II” he quotes Tony Hoare: “Debugging is  harder than programming, so don’t use all your cleverness to write the program.” The entire digital ecosystem, so incredibly complicated that nobody can tell … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, digital marketing, Marketing, Media | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Live by the Algorithm, Die by Same

Posted on Tuesday, 15 August 2017 9:09 am

Think your fancy, all-seeing algorithm can’t be gamed? So do the fools at Uber. Unfortunately, it looks like Uber drivers can just switch off the app at once and trigger surge pricing. No complicated competing algorithm, no data scientists needed. Complex … Continue reading →

Posted in digital marketing, fraud, Marketing, Philosophy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment