Drew Karges

CANADIAN MARKETERS' AI USAGE: 74% of Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) members use generative AI tools for work at least weekly. This is ahead of the 62% average uptake amoung Canadian knowledge workers, which includes academics, physicians, engineers and scientists. We completed the Generative AI Readiness Survey in partnership with CMA member twenty44 and will be sharing more of the findings at our CMAai event today (April 10) and also in our CMA Connect podcast episode with Steve Mast, which is released tomorrow (April 11). You can also learn more in Strategy Online article. #CanadianMarketers #GenAI #marketing #CMAConnect

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TL;DR: As the first retailer to test Reddit Max Campaigns in Canada 🇨🇦, Endy drove +33% ROAS, 20% more efficient CPA, and a +4% lift in average basket size by using AI-driven prospecting to automate targeting, creative rotation, and bidding. 👉 Read the full case study to see how Max Campaigns delivered these results: https://lnkd.in/eqnE3Qck

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ChatGPT is now your shopper. 🔥🚀 OpenAI just teamed up with Shopify—and it's about to change how we shop online. Here’s what that looks like: - Browse products, check prices, and read reviews inside your Chatgpt conversation - Found something you like? Buy it instantly—no new tabs, no redirects - Behind the scenes: a slick system using "buy_now" and "shopify_checkout_url" to make it seamless For Shopify merchants: It’s a zero-effort way to reach millions of users, without learning a new platform. This isn’t just a feature. It’s a new era of e-commerce. ♻️ Repost this if you learned something. Follow Be10x to never miss an AI Update.

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Imagine investing top dollar in something, with no idea where that money is going or what it's doing. This is what marketers feel like when it comes to investing in CTV. In fact, 68% of 2,000 marketers surveyed said they “must have transparency in order to justify the high cost of CTV campaigns” — yet 2024 DV data revealed a startling truth about the rate of app transparency in CTV impressions. Read to find out: https://buff.ly/Jc7NDHU

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If you want programmatic M&A to fuel real growth, you can’t wait around for seller-led opportunities. You need a Buyer-Led strategy, and the right tools to execute it at speed. Matthew Person of Quickbase nails it: defining your ideal targets and proactively pursuing them isn’t just smarter, it’s proven to drive faster growth and stronger market positioning. That’s what DealRoom is built for: helping you move faster, close smarter, and scale repeatable acquisitions. See how DealRoom powers Buyer-Led M&A.

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Programmatic inventory, premium CTV, agentic AI, and brand authenticity: Each come with benefits, but can require overcoming challenges. Explore those issues, then prepare for success in these key areas with our 2026 Trends Report (at the link in comments).

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Social shouldn't stop at awareness—neither should attribution. RevSure’s X (Twitter) Ads Writeback is now live. That means every ad interaction is now mapped across the buyer journey—no more blind spots. With Conversion API support, you get deeper funnel insights, better attribution, and clearer ROI. It’s time to treat X like the revenue channel it actually is. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g39VXi47 #B2BMarketing #XAds #RevenueIntelligence

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Marketers, agencies, creatives... need your input ** Times of rapid ch-ch-change requires reality checks. That's what we got at the 10th annual agency panel held by American Marketing Association (AMA), Toronto - What I heard: Agencies might not be moving fast enough to adapt to AI & market changes - Client's are smart and catching up to any "games" played to keep billable hours up. - Campaign & award focus needs to expand to be relatable to other C-suite (e.g.; CFO & COO) - Google & Meta want your money & think they can do "it" WAY better I also heard finance is hesitating as business models change. You won't get what you used to with an agency sale if you are keeping staff that's not needed & billing client's what isn't useful. AND! If you're willing to be "young in thought" - there's so much new opportunity out there - If you're willing to put the energy in & be willing to abandon what once was. Did you hear what I heard? What am I missing? Robert MacLean, Frank Palmer, Max Rakov, Sabaa Quao, MBA, Éric Blais, Sean Stanleigh, Caroline Kilgour, Armida Ascano, Seema Shah, Lina Komkova, Debbie Bolton, Aleksandra Lekic, Lulia Luong, Miglena Nikolova, Photo credit: Michael Cooper

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Canada’s data landscape isn’t yet primed for AI-driven programmatic advertising, and calling it “intelligent” may be premature. I think AI has a great deal of potential in our industry, but not if we don't solve the data challenges of Canada, which worsen when we don't have local media owners. Here’s why: Incomplete Media Measurement Not all media channels are being measured, through no fault of the industry, especially as margins continue to shrink. However, these blind spots create significant gaps in the data, limiting the effectiveness of AI models that rely on comprehensive inputs. Limits of Personalization Without Personal Data True personalization is complex (if not impossible and not needed) when personal data is off-limits, as it should be. The industry remains fixated on tracking individuals across platforms, hoping it will unlock new opportunities. Yet, a large portion of consumer behaviour still happens offline, beyond the reach of anything on a phone. (93% of purchases still happen in a store). Platform Bias and Over-Reliance There’s a growing dependence on a narrow set of DSPs and data partners, which introduces bias and limits innovation. This over-reliance can skew performance insights and reduce the diversity of data inputs needed for robust AI applications. Like many countries, Canada faces unique data gaps that limit its ability to execute locally what is often possible at a global scale. AI is a model, and you still need the data and good data at that.

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Most SEO teams treat audits as a one-time fix. But the truth? The top-performing sites audit consistently and strategically. Why?... Because SEO is never “done.” Algorithms evolve. Sites break. User behavior shifts. And what ranked last quarter might be invisible today. This checklist was built to go beyond surface-level checks. - It helps you identify technical issues that silently kill rankings - Spot UX problems that tank conversions - Uncover content and keyword gaps your competitors are already capitalizing on Whether you're in-house, agency-side, or running your own sites, a smart audit can be the difference between steady growth and flatlined traffic. Use this as your go-to framework. Customize it. Scale it. Reuse it. Because in SEO, the edge goes to the most proactive, not the most reactive.

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You spent weeks building the perfect audience. But if you’re still relying on pixels, you’re losing visibility. In our META Ads course, Jack Paxton breaks down how to use Conversion API to track Meta ads more accurately: - Pixels are dying. Privacy updates are killing third-party data. - Conversion API gives you back signal across devices and platforms. - Know which ads and channels are actually driving results - not just claiming credit. If you don’t have Conversion API set up, you’re guessing where to spend. Clean data powers better audience research, better targeting, and smarter spend. -- Dive deeper: Jack’s Meta Ads course is live now: https://lnkd.in/dqkehyJZ AI for Audience Research & Social Listening kicks off Sept 3 – join the live cohort: https://lnkd.in/ege7bqVB -- #meta #metaads #paidmedia #b2bmarketing #marketing #ai #capi

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ICYMI, re-sharing some Q4 Search highlights from Tinuiti's latest digital marketing benchmarks report (link in comments). 𝗧𝗟𝗗𝗥: • Consumers are searching more • Advertisers are spending more • CPCs for ads are declining (yay!) • Less competition from major advertisers on Google • Continued momentum on Microsoft Ads • YouTube/video is comprising more and more of overall PMax volume on Google

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Big news: CTV ad spend isn’t keeping up with viewership.  Bigger news: that means CTV ads can be a huge competitive advantage for your brand.  Biggest news: you can launch a CTV campaign in minutes with GroundTruth.

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🎯 Struggling with incomplete or inflated GA4 conversion data? Most businesses don’t realize their event tracking is misconfigured leading to broken attribution and misleading ROAS. In this guide, learn how to set up 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 in GA4 for Shopify, WooCommerce & more: ✅ Recommended vs custom events ✅ Correct parameters for purchase tracking ✅ Debugging & validation tips ✅ Common mistakes to avoid 📖 Read here: https://lnkd.in/dHC3gHUK #GA4 #ConversionTracking #eCommerce #Shopify #WooCommerce #GoogleAnalytics #Conversios

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How's Retail Media performing in Canada? 🇨🇦 Everything you need to know on 4 slides. As we’re evaluating the market potential for Pentaleap beyond the US, where we’ve grown a lot, we also took a closer look at the Canadian market. For those who are interested in 🇨🇦, here are the 4 aspects we took a look at: 1️⃣ What growth to expect until 2028 2️⃣ What does the pie “Amazon vs. the rest” look like 3️⃣ What ad formats and channels do the major players cover? 4️⃣ What’s the breakdown of ad spend by format? Scroll through the slides to see the details! 👀 What do you think will be the key retail media growth drivers in Canada over the next few years? 👀 LMK in the comments.

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Canadian Amazon advertising is more profitable than most sellers realize. While everyone's fighting for expensive clicks in the US ($0.90 CPC), Canadian sellers are quietly winning with $0.50 clicks on Amazon Ads. Here's what this means: 🔶 Half the cost, same customer quality 🔶 Less competition = higher profit margins per sale 🔶 Your ad budget goes 2x further The strategic advantage: When you focus on profit per unit instead of volume, you can outperform US competitors without needing their traffic levels. Personal proof point: I expanded my campaigns to both markets using Sponsored Products, and saw 45% growth in overall visibility while maintaining 30% higher profit margins on Canadian sales compared to US campaigns. Multi-Country Expansion unlock: Amazon's Multi-Country Advertising lets you capture both - high-volume US traffic AND high-margin Canadian sales simultaneously. Sometimes the best opportunities aren't in the busiest markets - they're where your budget works smarter. Check out the image and link below 👇 What's your experience been with Canadian vs US Amazon Ad performance? For more insights on Multi-Country Advertising strategies: https://lnkd.in/eDJbTQQv #AmazonAds #EcommerceStrategy #CanadianMarket #DigitalAdvertising #AmazonSellers #ad #sponsored - Part of the Amazon Ads Creator Programme

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After working with agencies across Canada, the US & UK, here’s what I’ve learned: The agencies that scale fastest don’t hire faster. They partner smarter. White-label is the secret weapon behind their margins.

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