Mystic Mike’s predictions: What does 2026 hold for paid media?
By Mike Sharp, Operations Director at Launch That time of year is here. The time when I confidently predict the…
Meet Luke! He’s a Senior Paid Media Manager at Launch, specialising in paid search and social. He joined us with a wealth of experience in e-commerce, and has delivered campaigns from idea to content creation right the way through to pressing the metaphorical green button. This gives him a razor-sharp holistic edge when implementing paid strategy.
Outside of Launch you’ll catch him enjoying live music, attempting to be Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen, and immersing himself in photography and videography projects.
To get to know Luke, we asked him what he thinks about the world of paid media right now…
What’s the best thing about working in paid media?
The best thing about working within Paid media is the ability to test new ideas and improve results in the process by actioning real data with real conversion results. I enjoy working on accounts that have great opportunities for growth as well as refining ad creatives, finding the harmony between actionable optimisations and relevant engaging ads to help clients achieve their goals. The awesome art of keeping things in balance and the satisfaction of finding new market opportunities and learning from experiments.
What’s your favourite new development in Paid Media?
I have enjoyed the double-edged sword that is the introduction of AI into advertising mediums such as Google and Meta with Pmax and Advantage+. With the right setups and strategy, it allows for great targeting at the right times of a customer journey which has been previously affected by IOS updates and changes to cookies. Paired with server-side tracking and great creatives it could help client campaigns excel by showing the right ads to the right people at the right time, thus using budgets more efficiently.
Is there a metric you feel is underutilised/underrated for understanding user behaviour?
With the digital world getting ever more complicated, I think some underrated metrics are, CAC, (Customer Acquisition Cost) and MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) also known as blended ROAS. These metrics are important as it’s clear that a user journey and touchpoints to conversion are way more complex. Many businesses now approach a multichannel paid strategy so it makes sense to have a holistic overview of the way all paid activities contribute to the end goal.
How does it feel to become a Loller?
It feels great to be a part of a team and company that has such a high regard for its culture and the way the environment is curated. Everyone is so friendly and approachable thus creating a supportive network that is a joy to work in. With a great opportunity to level up and do great work for awesome clients with an incredible team of experts.
Last but not least, what’s your favourite karaoke tune?
There is 3 solid choices fighting for top spot but Arctic Monkeys, I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, takes the edge.
Connect with Luke on LinkedIn.
If you have a campaign our paid media specialists might be able to help with, get in touch!
