David Herrmann@herrmanndigital
I'm presently sitting in a cafe in my wife's hometown of Jeonju, South Korea drinking a latte and doing a bit of a gut check on Meta / Media Buying and the state of DTC in May of 2026.
Right now it's brutal. There is no rhyme or reason as to why something is working / not working. I've got an inbox full of brands asking for audits and help.
Historically post Mother's Day always tracks pretty low, but this year has been one for the record books.
We will always say, is it economic issues, the media buyer, or is Meta (biggest share of wallet) just making massive updates?
The reality, none of us truly know. Which makes things always that much harder to diagnose.
I've been in advertising now for 18 years. The last calendar year has been the most I've ever been uprooted in my professional career.
If 2021-2022 was the year of iOS14, 2025-2026 is the year of what I call "the AI guinea pig era."
I'm not necessarily complaining, it was going to happen. But I just didn't realize how much all of this would impact sooooooo many brands. From AI slop to AI bots, AI has infiltrated every facet of your business for the good and bad.
Even some of the most stable, highest spending accounts I have access to are seeing broad issues, mostly related to issues on Meta.
I write this quickly to tell you once again, you're not alone. I think we can all find some peace in knowing this. That doesn't mean being complacent. There are plenty of things to try, test, and do in your businesses.
However, for the remainder of May until Meta (again biggest share of wallet) launches their new AI pixel, new Meta workflow and slows down their "innovation" some I find it hard to spend MORE unless we absolutely see bright spots. Again, it's not all doom and gloom, some accounts are a bit unfazed because of strong organic signals, but for the majority it's rough.
For most accounts we're seeing downward trends in the days pre-Mother's Day. The only thing that has helped stabilize has been reducing spend. That's it.
Again your businesses are all different, but I'm not going to gaslight you in saying things are good, because the reality is, they aren't.
Heads down though, figuring it out one ad at a time, one campaign at a time and one channel at a time.
This shall too pass.
