The Wednesday Windup Vol. 15: The Three Ps of Black Friday Survival, Client Love Languages, and 40% Off The Academy

It’s the busiest time of the year. Your to-do list? A Mount Everest-sized monstrosity. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to fake an injury just to get out of base camp.

Here’s what’s been keeping me grounded these past few weeks: ruthlessly breaking down tasks into smaller, less horrifying chunks. Micro-Mount Everests, if you will.

And then—because life is about balance—spending two hours debating the most irrelevant, existential questions with Ronnie and Nina. Like whether socks with sandals are a power move or a cry for help.

I know what you’re thinking... Yes, I was preaching about time management last week, but only to waste mine this week.

Guilty as charged.

But trying to improve isn’t about perfection; it’s about persistence.

Honestly, though? Those silly, off-road debates are sometimes the best part. They recharge your brain. Shake out the cobwebs. Make you come back to work with fresh ideas—or at least a good laugh. (Or maybe I’m justifying my existential deep dives into the recesses of my coworkers’ psyches. Who’s to say?)

Either way, the holiday surge is coming. And before the wave hits, take a moment to pause, breathe, and recharge. Chaos is easier to manage when your batteries aren’t running on fumes.

Stick around, because we’re about to hit the trifecta of marketing mayhem: client gifting ideas that don’t scream “I forgot about you,” the ultimate last-minute Black Friday checklist (no panic necessary), and oh yeah, our biggest sale of the year—40% off the ENTIRE AdVenture Academy. Yes, you heard that right. 40%. It’s borderline irresponsible.

Onwards and upwards!

“Gratitude sets the tone, and ambition sets the pace for the season ahead.”

— Thomas Franklin

Love Languages

A story from inside the agency...

I don’t know much about the famous five love languages, but I think giving gifts is one of them. Either way, I’ve always been a proponent of client gifts. I live by a couple of rules courtesy of Giftology, a great book on the art of gifting.

One, don’t send gifts to clients when they’re expected, like on Christmas or New Year’s. Send gifts when they’re completely unexpected—that will give the gift the meaning you want it to carry in the first place. That you’re thinking of the client, and that the relationship itself is worth the giving of this gift.

Second, always get the best in class (or as close as you can get) item for your budget. If you have $100 to spend, don’t get me a cheap decanter. Get a $100 mug—best in class. You get the idea.

We’ve given some great gifts.

We bought a beautiful tournament-style ping pong table for Vedder Holsters. They loved it. It was unique, and it was personal. When we visited their offices, we saw a perfect spot for a ping pong table. The client even made some comment about it. The gift was more than just a ping pong table—it showed the client we were engaged and listening and excited to contribute to improving their office culture.

Avery sent one client, Ken, a kosher dinner by mail after Ken commented how interested he was in cultural cuisine. Kugel, cholent, wine, the works. Incredible. Avery also recently sent the same Ken a specific golf putter Ken had his eye on. Avery knew exactly what putter Ken was looking for because Ken sent a screenshot of one of his ads he didn’t like, but he also had an eBay tab open—for the putter.

Ronnie found Ruth a signed vinyl record from her favorite indy band. Ronnie also found our POC at ComicsKingdom a signed Miami Heat cap.

Ari bought our friend Joe over at Finsweet an Oculus. Joe, and his kids, were over the moon.

We’ve never once bought a client something with our logo on it—or theirs—and I hope we never will.

I once bought Gary a handmade leather Macbook sleeve. It was certainly a best in class sleeve. He had just gotten a new backpack, and a new Macbook. The next couple times he visited the office, I noticed he wasn’t using it. I think he noticed that I noticed. The next time he came to the office, he pulled the leather sleeve out of his backpack. “Look how nice it looks,” Gary said. The sleeve was upside down. I don’t think he understood what it was for. Or maybe he just thought it was ugly and heavy. It was ugly and heavy.

When we went to visit one of our clients for the first time, I spent hours walking around in the heat (with Ronnie), looking for a Gucci boutique. We went to three different hotels. One of the partners had once told me that the client I was shopping for used to love Gucci.

Finally, we found the Gucci store, and after deliberating for another hour, I settled on a Gucci hat. I gave it to our client that night at their company party. He half-smiled. He looked pretty pissed. Turns out, he used to like Gucci, but that was before he fell on some hard times, lost much of his wealth, and gave up designer bling. He sort of saw my gift as me trying to upstage him. He’s still a client, and he still loves Ronnie. Me, not as much.

When our luxury jewelry signed their updated engagement contract with us a few months ago, I bought their CEO a very, very nice pen. It came in a beautiful rosewood presentation box. I gave it to him a couple weeks ago when we went to visit their offices in New Jersey.

On our way out of the meeting, I saw the gift bag sitting on the credenza in the conference room. A couple days later, the CEO says something to the effect that I should have bought something on the website the previous day to help push the single-day revenue to a new record.“I would have,” I demured, “but after spending all that money on the pen …”

“What pen?” he asked.

Our Black Friday sale is live, and it's our single BIGGEST SALE of the year!

But here's the thing — this deal will be gone sooner than the amount of time it takes to finish your second helping of Thanksgiving dinner 🦃 .

We've just dropped a TON of brand new courses and once this sale ends, we'll have no choice but to bring the prices back up.

Don't miss your chance to save big and access our newest releases for the best prices you'll see ALL YEAR LONG

Get access with the Ultimate Digital Advertising Library—now 40% off.

USE CODE: BF2024 at checkout for 40% off the training Tesla, Nasdaq, and AMC love. Need I say more?

A Marketer’s Guide to Surviving—and Thriving—in Black Friday Madness

Let’s get one thing straight: Black Friday isn’t just another sale. It’s the sale. The Super Bowl of eCommerce. The Hunger Games of CPCs. A chaotic, high-stakes, caffeine-powered marathon where only the prepared survive—and thrive.

So, how do you make sure you’re not one of the poor souls sitting in the corner crying over an underperforming campaign? You follow this playbook.

And yes, it starts with what I call the “Three Ps of Black Friday Survival”: Plan, Prepare, and Pray.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL GUIDE FOR FREE HERE.

Step 1: Publish Ads Early (Like, Now)

Look, the Meta and Google ad review process is slower than a turtle stuck in molasses. Publish your ads early. I’m talking 72 hours before launch. Not because you’re being proactive, but because if you don’t, there’s a 98% chance your ads will sit in the review queue longer than you’ll sit at the Thanksgiving table dodging political debates.

Pro Tip: Preload everything—your flashy Black Friday creative, your boring-but-reliable retargeting ads, and your “Hail Mary” experimental campaigns. Even if they’re not perfect, get them in the queue. Meta and Google don’t reward perfection. It rewards readiness.

Step 2: Set Up Automated Rules (Because You’ll Be Too Busy Panicking to Do It Manually)

Black Friday isn’t the day to play ad babysitter. Set up automated rules now, so you’re not frantically turning off ads while your mom texts you, “Are you coming to dinner or what?”

Set rules to pause campaigns the moment your sale ends.
If your campaign’s killing it, your rules should auto-increase spend without you lifting a finger.

Step 3: The Night Before (a.k.a., The Calm Before the Storm)

Let’s be real: this is where the anxiety kicks in. You’ve done the prep. You’ve crossed your T’s and dotted your I’s. Now it’s time to:

Check Budgets
Even if you’ve automated your budgets, double-check them. Why? Because Murphy’s Law exists, and you don’t want to wake up to find your Black Friday budget stuck in “business as usual” mode.

Adjust ROAS Targets
Your standard ROAS targets? Toss them out. Black Friday is a different beast. Whether you’re chasing volume, profitability, or world domination, your ROAS targets should reflect this specific campaign.

And Pray.
Pray to the gods of algorithmic fairness. Pray to the tech support teams who will inevitably fix whatever breaks. And if you’re not the praying type, meditate or scream into a pillow. Whatever works.

Step 4: Game Day (The Day of Reckoning)

Black Friday is not the time for “set it and forget it.” This is war. You’re in the trenches, and the only way out is through.

Monitor Like a Hawk
Your highest-performing ads at 9 a.m. might be dead in the water by noon. Rotate creative. Test new audiences. Make quick decisions. Your campaigns are living, breathing creatures—feed the strong, kill the weak.

Leverage Google’s Seasonality Bid Adjustments
Google campaigns not spending enough? Adjust seasonality bids to pump life into your ads. If you’re hitting your ROAS goals, don’t let fear hold you back—scale. This isn’t the time for cautious optimism; it’s the time for calculated aggression.

Scale Winning Campaigns
If a campaign is printing money, don’t hold back. Increase budgets dynamically. This is your moment. Grab it with both hands and a double espresso.

Pro Tip: Set up an emergency bat signal with your client and team. Group chats, Slack, carrier pigeons—whatever works. Keep everyone in the loop as you make game-time calls.
Pro Tip: Be nimble. If you can add a flash offer mid-sale, do it. Fire off texts or emails with something irresistible—“Buy in the next two hours and get X.” Creativity wins games.

Step 5: The Aftermath (Don’t Skip This)

The aftermath isn’t just about what you did. It’s about how you document it, how you learn from it, and how you set yourself up to do even better next time.

Email Clients and Bosses: Frame the narrative. Did you beat expectations? Did CPCs spike, but ROAS held strong? Write it up in a way that screams, “I crushed this, and here’s why you should keep trusting me.” You need to tell the story and give the why. (Dive into The Strategy Lab to learn how to take complex metrics and transform them into compelling stories your clients will actually understand—and love.)
Build a Retrospective Report: Break down your performance metrics in excruciating detail. Include lessons learned. This is your cheat sheet for next year.
Build a “Competitor Dossier.” Black Friday is as much about spying as it is selling. Study what your competitors did—their offers, their creative, their ad placements—and write it all down.

Black Friday is chaos, but it’s the kind of chaos marketers secretly love. It’s your chance to prove you’ve got the skills, the grit, and the coffee reserves to come out on top.

So, prepare now, stay nimble, and remember: the marketers who win aren’t just the ones with the biggest budgets—they’re the ones who adapt, outsmart, and maybe scream into a pillow just a little.

Isaac Rudansky
Founder, AdVenture Academy
training@adventureppc.com

P.S.

If you’re up for a wild ride through the joys and chaos of creative writing, subscribe to The Scatterplot Chronicles, my LinkedIn series where I spill the beans on my writing and publishing adventures. My fourth article is coming out today so stay tuned!
Seriously, please hit the subscribe button (it’s different from following me) to receive the Scatterplot Chronicles straight to your inbox.
Check out my book here. If you’re generous enough to order a copy (it makes a great gift), DM me your order confirmation on LinkedIn, and you’ll be entered into a raffle for a brand new pair of Apple AirPods MAX … drawing next week!

And whenever you're ready, here's how we can help you further:

Get BLACK FRIDAY access with 40% off THE ENTIRE ADVENTURE ACADEMY. SIGN UP NOW! Brand new courses rolling out ALL THE FREAKING TIME! Check out 100+ hours of on-demand ad training loved by 300K+ advertisers.
Promote the AdVenture Academy and earn commissions! Join our affiliate network and earn 30% lifetime commissions on all referral purchases.
Want a free strategy audit? Join our waitlist to speak with an AdVenture Media account executive and learn more about our managed services.