General Marketing
My Unhealthy Obsession With Caffeine, Conversions and CTV Ads
Everybody asks about the mug. Caffeine, conversions, CTV. It's not a slogan. It's three obsessions, and they're more connected than you'd think. Here's the story, and the one business lesson hiding in my cold brew.
If you've seen my LinkedIn, you've seen the line: an unhealthy obsession with caffeine, conversions and CTV ads.
People think it's a tagline. It isn't. It's three real obsessions, and the longer I do this, the more I realize they're the same one.
Caffeine: Gregorys, Cold Brew, Heavy Cream
Let's start with the easy one.
I'm a huge Gregorys Coffee fan. I'm there every day. Some days twice. The order never changes: cold brew with heavy cream.
Not milk. Not oat. Not sugar. Heavy cream. People give me a look when they hear it, but I do it on purpose, for the health side of it. No sugar crash, and it actually holds me over. That's my order and I'm sticking to it.
But the habit didn't start at Gregorys. It started a long time before that.
Where It Really Started
As a teenager, the move was the diner. You'd sit there for hours with your friends, a bottomless cup of coffee and a plate of cheese fries, talking about nothing and everything. Nobody was in a hurry. The coffee was bad. Nobody cared.
Then came college, and the Broadway Beanery in Lynbrook. On the nights I wasn't shooting, I was at a table there with friends, talking scripts and structure and why one story lands when the one next to it doesn't. When the Beanery closed, we'd move to the diner and keep going.
That's where I figured out that coffee isn't really about the coffee. It's about the conversation it keeps going. The late-night version of an idea, after you've thrown out the safe one. It's literally where the CS in CS & Co. comes from: Caffeinated Strategies.
Conversions: The Buzz Nobody Can Explain
Here's the part people outside this business don't get.
Every conversion gives me a buzz. Every single one.
Somebody was sitting on their couch. They saw a TV spot that we produced, or a campaign we built from scratch, with a strategy we built from scratch. And then they got up and did something. They searched. They visited. They bought.
That's a person I'll never meet, making a decision because of something we made.
It's a high that's hard to explain. Honestly, it's a lot like caffeine. It's that dopamine hit. You see the numbers move, and you want the next one.
That's why I'm a little obsessive about measurement. Views are nice. Impressions are nice. But the buzz comes from the conversion, and the sales are the score.
CTV: The Field Finally Got Leveled
For most of TV's history, the game had a very short guest list.
If you wanted to be on television, you needed a national-size budget. That meant the Pepsis of the world and the big pharmaceutical companies. Everybody else watched from the couch.
CTV changed that.
Now small businesses, mid-size businesses and big businesses can all advertise on the same screen, the biggest one in the house. TV isn't just for big companies with big budgets anymore. Everybody gets their skin in the game.
That's why I love it. Not because it's trendy. Because it's fair.
The Business Lesson Hiding in My Cold Brew
Now for the honest part, because I'd be doing you a disservice if I stopped there.
The playing field is level. The entry point is easier. But to succeed at CTV, you still need a real budget.
If you think you're going to spend $500 and see conversions roll in, it's just not going to happen. That's like ordering one sip of cold brew and expecting to get through a 14-hour day.
Here's what "leveled" actually means:
- You no longer need Pepsi money to get on TV. The door is open to brands of every size.
- You do need enough to be seen. A test has to be big enough to show up in your sales, or you won't learn anything from it. Start smart, but don't be the last dog to the bowl.
- You need to give it time. CTV builds. The brands that play the long game are the ones that win it.
- You need to measure it like a grown-up. Read your own sales, your search, your site traffic. One instrument lies; the full picture doesn't.
Think of it like my Gregorys run. One cup doesn't change your day. The daily habit does.
The Final Take
Caffeine, conversions and CTV. One got me through the late nights. One gives me the buzz. One finally let everybody into the game.
And they all come down to the same thing: something small, done consistently, that adds up to something big.
So, what's your order? And is your brand ready to get its skin in the game?