Marketers are being asked to do more with less and still hit the same (or bigger) goals.

In this episode, Brianna Ruiz (Director of Digital Advertising, Closed Loop) lays out how to balance brand and performance when budgets are tight, how to actually measure brand’s lift without magical thinking, and how to use AI as an enhancer, not a replacement for human judgment.

We cover:

• The “big squeeze” and why consistency beats one-off brand bursts.

• A practical 40/60 split (brand/direct) and when to ratchet up or down.

• Geo holdouts, blended CAC, and MMM as directional signals—not gospel.

• Mental availability & the 95/5 rule for staying in the consideration set.

• Why video outperforms static for storytelling and social discovery.

• Real-world AI workflows (like building an agent per client) that actually help.

• What to track when direct traffic declines: branded search & engagement.

Chapters

00:00 – Welcome to Demand Gen Confidential

00:15 – Golf, Scholarships, and Career Lessons

04:18 – From the Fairway to Funnels: Shifting Into Marketing

05:03 – The Big Squeeze: Today’s Marketing Challenges

06:30 – The 40/60 Split: Balancing Brand & Performance

22:22 – Beyond the Hype: Where AI Really Fits in Marketing

25:32 – Why Human Connection Still Wins in a Digital-First World

38:54 – Closing Playbook: Brianna’s Key Takeaways

Connect with Brianna on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bri-ruiz/). Or Closed Loop (https://www.closedloop.com/).

If this episode helped, subscribe to Demand Gen Confidential and share it with a teammate who owns pipeline this quarter.