Paid Media Governance

AI runs the campaign.
Someone has to govern the system.

Google said it plainly: execution is becoming a commodity. AI Max automates keyword targeting, Asset Studio generates creative, Ask Advisor optimizes campaigns through a chat interface. What AI cannot do is decide which problem to solve — or translate performance into a budget decision your CFO will trust.

Start with the Paid Media Second Opinion →

From campaign management to paid media governance.

The agencies still selling “we manage your ads” are selling a service AI is systematically replacing. The question is not whether to use AI — it is who is governing the system.

Yesterday

Campaign management

Keyword bidding, manual creative rotation, weekly optimization tweaks, last-click reporting. The work AI is now doing — faster and cheaper than any agency can charge for.

What’s Required Now

Paid media governance

Setting strategy. Configuring the AI tools correctly. Integrating first-party data. Running creative experimentation. Translating results into forward-looking decisions AI cannot make.

That is what we do. We govern your paid media ecosystem — interpreting the signals, configuring the system, and making the strategic calls that turn ad spend into defensible business outcomes.

The Paid Media Governance system.

Five layers — built simultaneously — because governance only works when strategy, data, creative, and reporting move as one system.

01 / Architecture

Campaign architecture & AI configuration

We design the campaign structure, set AI Max and PMax parameters, configure audience signals, and build the bidding framework that gives Google’s AI the right inputs to optimize against your actual business goals — not default platform proxies.

02 / Creative

Creative experimentation systems

Creative is the highest-leverage variable in paid performance. We build systematic creative testing infrastructure — AI Brief governance, Asset Studio workflows, A/B experiment design, and the iteration cadence that compounds creative learnings over time.

03 / Attribution

Cross-channel attribution & budget governance

We connect ad platforms to your attribution infrastructure, implement ABS and QFC tracking where applicable, and build the reporting layer that makes cross-channel budget decisions defensible — across YouTube, Meta, LinkedIn, and programmatic.

04 / Data

First-party data activation

The AI optimization tools running your campaigns are only as good as the data feeding them. We connect your CRM, offline conversion signals, and customer data to your ad platforms — so the algorithm is learning from real revenue, not proxy metrics.

05 / Reporting

Performance reporting & CFO narrative

We translate campaign performance into business language — cost per qualified opportunity, influenced pipeline, payback period, and long-term contribution — so the marketing budget conversation with leadership is grounded in outcomes, not impressions.

Get a second opinion on your ad spend.

AI-driven campaign types have turned paid media into a black box. Budget goes in, dashboards come out — and the agency running your spend is the one grading its own performance.

The Paid Media Second Opinion is an independent, fixed-fee account audit. In two weeks, we tell you exactly where your budget leaks. If everything checks out, that’s worth knowing too.

Wasted spend

Account structure, AI campaign guardrails, and exclusion hygiene — the places automated campaign types quietly spend against the wrong audiences, queries, and placements.

Attribution errors

Whether the conversions in the reporting are the conversions in your revenue — double counting, model inflation, and tracking gaps that flatter the numbers.

Reporting vs. reality

A line-by-line reconciliation of your agency’s reporting against platform truth. Where the story and the data diverge, you’ll know precisely where and by how much.

We’ve sat on your side of the table — holding external agencies accountable for a $12M annual media budget and delivering 4× pipeline ROI doing it. The independence is the product: we have no incentive to protect the incumbent, and no stake in the audit’s outcome beyond getting it right.

From $4,000
Fixed fee, scaled to monthly spend · 2 weeks

Credited toward an ongoing governance retainer if you engage us within 30 days of your readout. Findings delivered to the people who own the budget.

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[ Investment ]
$5K – $15K / month

Paid media governance retainers depend on channel mix, creative production requirements, and reporting complexity.

Performance incentive structures available
All engagements begin with the Paid Media Second Opinion — from $4,000, credited toward your retainer

Frequently asked questions.

What does the Paid Media Second Opinion include, and what does it cost?
The Second Opinion is an independent, fixed-fee audit of your ad accounts, delivered in two weeks. It covers wasted spend, attribution integrity, AI campaign configuration, and a reconciliation of your agency’s reporting against platform data. Pricing starts at $4,000 and scales to your monthly spend, and the fee is credited toward an ongoing governance retainer if you engage us within 30 days of your readout.
What channels do you cover?
Google Search, PMax, YouTube and Demand Gen, Meta, LinkedIn, and programmatic. We prioritize channel mix based on your buyer journey and budget, not on what is easiest to manage.
Do you handle creative production?
We design and govern the creative system — briefs, testing frameworks, AI-assisted production workflows, and iteration cadence. For video production, we work with your existing creative resources or recommend production partners.
We already have an agency running our ads. Why would we need this?
Most paid media agencies are optimizing execution. If your attribution is incomplete, your AI campaign configuration is using default settings, or your creative testing is ad hoc, execution quality alone will not close the gap. The Second Opinion assesses what your current agency is delivering and identifies where governance is missing — independently, since we have no stake in protecting the incumbent.
How do you handle the transition from keyword-based to AI Max campaigns?
AI Max requires a different configuration philosophy — intent signals, audience inputs, and creative asset quality matter more than keyword lists. We manage that transition, including the data infrastructure changes needed to make AI optimization perform correctly for your business.

Get the second opinion your budget deserves.

We audit your current campaigns, AI configuration, attribution, and creative system — then show you exactly where governance is missing and what closing those gaps would deliver.

Request the Second Opinion →