Jon Tucker

When Dave Pickles and I started TTD, we wanted to create a platform that was more transparent and more aligned with buyers. We wanted to create closer alignment with brands and agencies. We were one of the few DSPs that didn’t focus on disintermediating the agencies. I stand by our choice to partner with agencies. I stand by our choice to be transparent, even though I think we at times have been too open (as I shared at Marketecture Media last week). Over the last year or two, things have gotten much harder for agencies. Lately it seems that there are those who want to wave the flag of transparency publicly, but run from it in practice as they arbitrage in the inefficiencies of programmatic. Or in the most ironic programmatic practice, principal-based buying. (More on this next week. I know…I’m such a tease.) It bothers me when leaders of non-transparent business models are critical of those of us who are setting the bar—especially when they advocate for moving dollars to more opaque platforms and transaction methods. As Terence Kawaja said to me last week as we sat backstage at Marketecture, the long arc of programmatic, like any market, will inevitably bend toward efficiency and competition. Those who succeed will be those who embrace transparency and offer clients competitive, objective value. Thankfully, almost all of our clients, including the world’s largest brands and agencies, share this point of view. TTD has not “failed" any audit ever. Ruben Schreurs, CEO of Ebiquity plc, assured me today that he was unaware (until after published) that his firm would be quoted or used in any articles about TTD. Relatedly, we will not disclose the bills of all of our clients and partners to one of them simply because they assert ambiguous audit rights.   Working with our clients, we always welcome objective and rigorous analysis of our processes, fees, and the value we deliver for clients.

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Agencies are crushing it with Claude Code: Small agency owner. 34 active vendor and client contracts in a Google Drive folder. No idea which ones auto-renewed, which had rate escalation clauses, or which were expiring in the next 90 days. He opened Claude Code. Said: "Read every contract in this folder. Build me a spreadsheet with key dates, renewal terms, termination notice periods, and anything that costs me money if I miss it." Went to pick up his kid from school. Came back to a CSV with every contract parsed. Renewal dates, notice windows, rate increase triggers, liability caps. Color-coded by urgency. Three contracts were auto-renewing within 30 days. One had a 60-day termination notice window that had already passed. He was locked in for another year on a tool he'd stopped using. It also flagged two contracts with conflicting non-compete language that could cause problems if he took on a new client in the same vertical. He didn't ask about that. No paralegal. No contract management SaaS. One sentence while he drove to school. He cancelled the unused tool before the next renewal and saved $14K.

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There is a lot of broken testing happening in DTC.   As much as I love A/B testing, most setups are flawed.   And bad testing has a huge decision problem.   There are teams who;   ❌ test too many variables simultaneously, ❌ stop tests early when they see "winning" results, ❌ ignore external factors affecting performance, ❌ implement changes without proper significance.   So next time you're analyzing test results, feeling confident...   and wondering why your "winners" don't scale consistently.   Remember, statistical rigor beats gut feeling.   Not everyone's testing methodology produces reliable insights...   Or even actionable results.

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🚨 Want to know how I turned $11,000 into $45,000 with a simple 4-part email template? 📧 Most ecommerce store owners struggle with email marketing. They either: 1. Don't email their list at all 2. Send promotional emails that end up in spam 3. Write long emails no one reads But what if you could craft emails that people actually look forward to? Emails that convert subscribers into paying customers? Here's the 4-part framework I use for every email campaign: 1. Attention-grabbing subject line Ask a question, make a bold promise, or say something unexpected. The goal is to stand out in a crowded inbox. 2. Engaging preview text  Treat the first 1-2 sentences like a sub-headline. Expand on your subject line and compel them to open. 3. Punchy body copy Keep paragraphs to 1-2 sentences max. Focus on benefits, not just features. Paint a picture of how your product will improve their life. 4. Clear call-to-action (CTA) Tell them exactly what to do next, whether it's "Shop Now", "Buy Today" or "Claim Your Discount". Make your CTA impossible to miss. Implement this template and you can turn a small email list into a revenue-generating machine. In fact, I recently spent $11,000 on ads to grow my email list. By sending just 4 emails using this exact framework, I generated over $45,000 in sales. That's a 309% ROI from a few hours of work. Where most go wrong is overcomplicating their emails. They write walls of text no one has time to read. The key is to ruthlessly cut out fluff and focus on what matters to your subscriber. Do you struggle with email marketing in your ecommerce business? Let me know in the comments and I'll share more real-life examples of winning email campaigns. 👇 To access my ready email templates, visit quickdesign.io

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Adam Yaeger has been running Llama Lead Gen for eight years. 17 people, no outside funding, and a biz dev approach that evolved from Upwork to SEO to warm referrals. We covered a lot of ground on this one. What we talked about: -Why he prioritized sales over brand in year one, and the counterintuitive call that paid off -A hiring disaster, and the process he built because of it -Why soft skills compound in the AI era while technical skills commoditize -How his biz dev evolved from Upwork to their own SEO to warm referrals -A white label partnership that went sideways, and what the better model looks like -The founder handoff problem, and when he finally made his first BD hire -How he reads seasonality to decide when to push on sales vs. protect delivery quality Great episode for agency owners thinking about hiring, partnerships, or getting out of the biz dev seat themselves. 👇 Link in comments

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💡 Affiliate marketing isn’t just about coupons and influencers. Too often, brands overlook the real potential of content-driven affiliate partnerships — the kind that build trust, provide value, and drive long-term growth. If you're building (or rebuilding) an affiliate program, it’s time to think beyond discounts and discount codes. 🧠 Smart, editorial partnerships — with publishers, bloggers, and niche content creators — can elevate your brand and attract customers who are actually ready to buy. 👇 This article breaks down how to: * Identify and approach the right content partners * Make your affiliate program more attractive to serious publishers * Create long-term value for both sides Affiliate marketing with substance > spray-and-pray coupon links. #affiliatemarketing #affiliates #partnershipmarketing Link in Comments

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Agencies that only know how to “run accounts” are going extinct. Tech is catching up fast, but the future isn’t agencies vs. tech. It’s agencies with tech. They will converge. The smartest operators I know are already blending strategy, creative, and data. They’re building systems that make human decisions more accurate, not replacing humans. The agency of the future won’t be a service. It’ll be a strategic engine powered by tech.

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