Hey Reader Had a call with a subscription app’s growth team recently. Preparing for the Q5 CPM crash. ..the big spike in January. New Year New You etc. They wanted to go big. They were ready to scale. But they weren't feeling it. Creative tests werent translating to performance. Every week, they were trying to come up with completely new ad concepts. New hooks. New angles. New everything. 20 different ideas. 20 directions. And nothing was landing. Performance was flat. CPAs were climbing....
16 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader - Many moons ago, I read this book about Miyamoto Musashi. Legendary Japanese swordsman. In it, two swordsmen travel to challenge an old master named Yagyu Sekishusai. This dude was the real deal. The Shogun's weapons instructor. But he doesn't accept challenges anymore. ‘cos he's retired now - and aint got time for the young ‘uns. So instead of fighting, he sends each of them a single cut peony flower. One swordsman, a guy named Yoshioka, is insulted. He wanted a duel. Not a...
22 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader True story. A fitness brand told me last week they're thinking of waiting until January to start testing. And I just... paused. I get it. January is the promised land, right? Everyone's motivated. Credit cards are out. "New Year New Me" is in full effect. But that's exactly the problem. January is GO TIME. The buyers are ready. The intent is through the roof. People are actively looking for what you sell. And if you're still "testing" during all that? You're warming up while...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader ICYMI: Here is the latest-and-greatest from our socials This underrated habit matters more than creative volume The underrated creative skill: knowing when an idea is truly new This framework makes creative iterations that actually teach you somethingHow to ensure creative iteration doesn’t stop before a breakthrough The surprising reason good creative concepts fail(and how to revive them) The 70/30 creative testing rule that helped them scale to hundreds of ads per monthWhy your...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader ICYMI: Here is the latest-and-greatest from our socials Why this AI-first company’s human customer support felt like ‘AI’ - and AI customer support felt more human. This 7-day loop helped this kids’ app scale to 100s of creatives a week. Your biggest AI-challenge isnt the tech. It’s the people. I analyzed 77 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘀 for the book-summarizing app 𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁 to uncover what’s converting, what’s educating, and what learning & productivity apps can shamelessly steal. and here is the...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader ICYMI: Here is the latest-and-greatest from our socials Everyone talks about using AI to make 500 ads a day. Here is why that is the wrong metric to look at. They killed this feature. AI brought it back to life - and it helped scale to MILLIONS in revenue. This is where one of the biggest advertisers on Meta says no to AI. and here is the latest-and-greatest from the podcast Intelligent Artifice This team started with pre-GPT image models to launch 3 breakout apps: with Rohan...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader ICYMI: Here is the latest-and-greatest from our socials 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱-𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 “𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗮𝘆.” 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 🚶♂️ I ran semantic analysis of 𝟴𝟬+ 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 for the walking rewards app 𝗪𝗲𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗱 to uncover what’s converting, what’s motivating, and...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader Every account has one. The legacy winner. That ad that’s held the crown for 18 months straight. Still shows green in the dashboards. Still delivers ‘OK’ metrics. Still feels… safe. Everyone kinda hates it tho. ‘cos sometimes a “winning” ad is what’s holding you back. …it’s a local maxima - a ceiling that is blocking your growth. This kids’ app we’d been working with had scaled hard. Their top ad had crushed for months: and new variants just couldn’t beat it. Every week, the same...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader ICYMI: Here is the latest-and-greatest from our socials How this CEO addressed the fear of AI across his company. This AI agent chats with your Meta ads, and SLASHES 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 + 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟎%. Now we’re making it available for FREE. This language learning app built AI tools wayy before ChatGPT existed. Marketers - you should SCARE your users more often. Ramit Sethi talks about how someone once asked a well-known information product marketer: “Who’s going to read a...
2 months ago • 1 min read