Perspectives

We spent $1,536 testing ChatGPT Ads, and the eight conversions ChatGPT reported never appeared in our tracking. Brayden Zuin, our Senior Performance Media Specialist, on why conversions are the wrong test for ChatGPT Ads, and what to measure instead.

Issue 09 of The Bonfire Newsletter goes the long way: why effort is back in vogue now that anyone can make stuff in seconds, how a buyer’s shortlist forms before a cold email lands, what tension around Taiwan could mean for WA marketing budgets, and why 95% of attendees trust a brand more after an in-person event.

Issue 08 of The Bonfire Newsletter looks at what the safe choice costs: a branding framework hiding in RuPaul's Drag Race, an anti-AI rulebook that has everyone writing identically, the Fremantle side sharing the load across every line, and the fear that stops people starting at all.

The GA4 change behind the April drop, why the best-timed ad converts later than you think, what Tasmania taught one of us about daily metrics, and the craft of building a page around its content.

Platform dashboards measure what happens inside Google and Meta. The numbers that decide whether your marketing actually worked sit inside the business. Evan Dela-Grammaticas on closing the gap.

What makes people pay attention, and keep paying attention? Issue 06 of The Bonfire Newsletter looks at the culture that shapes our taste before we notice, the point of view that gives a brand its edge, the campaign people couldn't stop replying to, and the franchise built for constant discovery.

I recently had the privilege of attending Google Honours in San Francisco and Mountain View as one of 24 winners from Australia and New Zealand. It was one of those rare experiences that managed to be both big-picture and highly practical. Across the week, we spent time with Google’s product, leadership and performance teams, exploring where Search, Ads, Commerce and AI are heading, and what that means for marketers right now.

The Bonfire Newsletter, Issue 05 explores what makes people stick around, from engineered scarcity in music to a world where the best ads are simply the clearest answers.

What happens when uncertainty rises, AI reshapes how we work, and trust becomes harder to earn? Issue 04 explores the decisions brands and marketers make when the ground shifts beneath them.

Google’s new Keyword Intent and the holy grail of omnipresence, why two-minute songs are built for loops (and what that means for brand equity), a smarter way to calculate your marketing investment, and a reflection on finding balance beyond the London rat race.

Shakespeare's response to pre-show advertisers, Labubus and little treat culture, Tiffany & Co.'s brand masterstroke in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, and the difference between culture fit and culture add.

Rosalía’s experiential album launch, Mark Ritson’s reminder to stay the course, Robert Greene’s take on mastery, and Harvard Business Review’s insights on soft selling.