Most marketing teams are still trapped in a fake war: brand vs. performance. Jesse Resnick and Walter Shock (Co-Founders of Ei Digital) argue that’s the wrong fight, and that attribution is basically a magician: great at misdirection, terrible at telling the truth.

In this episode, we break down what actually compounds in 2026: building end-to-end systems that connect creative, targeting, measurement, and learning...so your funnel doesn’t just “perform”…it improves.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why treating performance like “just a numbers game” is a fool’s errand (the art + science have to work together)
• The real modern flywheel: data → creative insights → more creative → better algorithmic matching
• Why last-click attribution keeps steering budgets wrong (and why Google often “gets credit” it didn’t earn)
• A real-world test: turning off brand keywords (yes, even with a massive brand) and what actually changed
• How to use Meta as a real-time learning lab with a Minimum Viable Campaign (MVC) instead of “focus group theater”
• The leadership move most teams skip: second-order metrics (because lower-funnel reality can invalidate upper-funnel “wins”)

Connect with Jesse, Walter, and Ei Digital

• Ei Digital: https://eidigital.com/
• Jesse Resnick (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseresnick/
• Walter Shock (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/walter-shock-40486119/

Want help building leadership + growth systems that actually hold up in the real world?

Book a Transition Leadership Foundation Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/foundation-call-20min