drewmabry

Things ad platforms green-light: Ketamine. Psilocybin. Ayahuasca. GLP-1s. Things they flag as political: female empowerment t-shirts. Pretty sure that's a typo. It isn't. Politics is a tough game these days. More productive to focus on living our best lives.

Asked Doug how things were going. Said it seems awful but actually pretty good. He said yeah because you can eat a burrito and watch Netflix as the ship goes down. Easiest hard time we've ever had. At least we're moving. Even if we don't know where yet.

A stranger booked a cold call on my calendar. No intro. No context. First thing I asked: tell me what I do. He couldn't answer. AI made it easy to pitch slap at scale. But when your whole strategy is volume, people can feel it.

Carl at Bureauverse Southwest: easy mode is over. The shops that win won't have the slickest decks. They'll make clients smarter. Judgment. Truth-telling. Perspective. The stuff AI can't fake. We don't build that alone. Community isn't a soft skill anymore. It's a moat.

Stop turning in AI homework and calling it strategy. A client's CRO agency sent us a 20 page brief that should've been 2. No research. No thinking. Just slop. AI should help you do more better work. Not more sloppy work.

Most AI output feels like beige oatmeal. Not the tool's fault. It's what you feed it. @JordacheJohnson's DICE method nails this. Data. Information. Context. Examples. Garbage in, garbage out is still undefeated.  Check out the whole episode:  https://youtu.be/f_mRViksWZo

Three days with agency owners in Costa Rica. The takeaway: the ones winning right now are moving fast, positioning tight, and being honest about how hard it is. The playbook is changing fast but the people in that room are changing faster.

Three days with agency owners in Costa Rica. The takeaway: the ones winning right now are moving fast, positioning tight, and being honest about how hard it is. The playbook is changing fast but the people in that room are changing faster.

Played darts with friends at a trade show this week. No business talk. No AI talk. Just fun. That matters more than we give it credit for. We're human beings, not human doings.

Zuckerberg says hand over your ad account and let AI run it. Reality: garbage ads, wrong audience, robot creative. People can smell inauthenticity. They buy from people, not T-1000s. Can't manage it yourself? We will.

AEO. GEO. SGE. LLMO. ZCO. ...E-I-E-I-O. Google Ads aren't going anywhere. 73% of Google's revenue. They're just getting smarter inside Gemini. New acronyms, same goal: get people to see your brand. Machines serve people. Always will.

AI is solving problems faster than ever. Too bad it's still solving the wrong ones. 30 years working with clients taught me: the best solution isn't the best solution unless it works for everyone. That's still a human call.

Vibe coding is great until you have to ship, secure, and maintain it. AI excels at POCs, prototypes, and pilots. The mistake is treating that as the finish line. Real systems still need qualified people using AI to move faster. Spray and pray never works.

AI won't save your bad creative. It'll just make it faster. Most brands don't need more AI. They need more taste. Scale garbage without thinking? You're just a hoarder with a laptop.

No one ever says 'I fired them too soon.' Hard decisions don't get easier with time. They get heavier. In 2026, speed of decision is the differentiator. You probably already know what needs to happen next. I know I do.

Of all the 2025 wrap-ups I received this year Riverside wins the prize

AI is evolving so fast I need a nap by 9AM. Everyone keeps waiting for this tech to stabilize. It won't. Stop waiting for a stable playbook. Build the muscle now. Use what's working. Learn fast. Adapt faster. What's actually helping you save time right now?

"God is fast. You're being slow." I feel that deeply.  In 2025 I stopped waiting for clarity and started shipping at 80% confidence. Turns out the universe rewards motion. In 2026, I'm choosing speed over safety. Maybe today's the day you stop waiting.

Letting Meta write your ads is like letting your dog pick your stocks. Platforms are quietly pushing AI-generated ad content into live campaigns. The result? Slop that eats your budget. The problem isn't automation—it's abdication. Put humans back in charge.

Manifestation isn't vision boards. It's showing up for the present. The universe doesn't respond to your thoughts. It responds to your state. When you're grounded in self-respect, you stop chasing what isn't aligned. You already know what you're worth.

Everyone’s selling “strategy” like it’s rare gold. Most of it is useless. Copy this playbook, panic about AI, follow the crowd. No thanks. Real growth comes from clarity, relationships and actually doing the work. What’s the worst advice you’ve heard lately?

Founders blame their “small list,” but the real problem is every email feels like a sales trap. Give value twice, ask once. That ratio alone can turn a tiny list into a money printer.

Crocs and Paid Media Wild combo, but that’s exactly how many local businesses treat their marketing. If you’re not curating Google Business Profile, you’re throwing away free visibility. Why skip such a simple win that takes less than 5 mins a day? Happy to show you.

Your sandwich is your logo. Shopify brands obsess over fonts + founders. Sandwich shops obsess over flavor. If the product isn’t craveable, nothing else matters. Brand ≠ what you say Brand = what they taste and tell others Make a better sandwich.

People think I'm calm and collected. That’s 97% true. The other 3%? I’m a total lunatic who gets spun up when you call me at 9pm. The difference now? It used to take weeks to reset. Now it takes 3 minutes and a text that starts with “sorry about that…”

I came back from MAICON 2025 and realized most of us are asking the same thing: Where do we start? These lessons are about people, how we learn, adapt, and lead through AI together.

Some brands try to win Q4… Others get real and plan for January. If your site’s weak, your creative sucks, or you’re late to the party- lean into “New Year, New You” instead. Peak season’s about prep. Missed it? Don’t panic. Pivot.

The best holiday ads aren’t about discounts. They’re about momentum. Run evergreen ads now so they build comments, data, and trust before the sale hits. When Black Friday comes, your offer won’t need to prove itself. It’ll already be winning.

We used to treat onboarding like a formality. Then we realized it’s the moment you earn trust or lose it. Now every new client gets a clear path, real progress, and one owner from day one. Structure isn’t boring. It’s what keeps clients around.

AI won’t save your business if your spreadsheets are a dumpster fire. Clean your data, build a simple schema, assign ownership, and audit often. Structure first. Automation second.

“We need a quick video.” Cool. But who’s it for? If it doesn’t serve your audience or fit a bigger story, it’s just noise. Make content that connects, not just sells. Start with what they care about. Then earn the right to talk about you.

Everyone’s obsessed with the destination. Milestones. Metrics. Maps. But you don’t need a roadmap. You need an adventure. Set a direction. Start walking. Talk to strangers. Get uncomfortable. The good stuff happens on the way.