“We used to spend $1 million a day on Google Ads”
Now this was a seat mate worth talking to…
“And we used to get $1.2 million a day back” he said.
How often do you talk to the person sitting next to you on a plane? Do you strike up conversation, or prefer the head in the phone option instead?
I love meeting people on flights. It doesn’t always work out of course (ask me about the flight from Sydney to Dubai that time), but when it does, it’s solid gold.
This nice 50ish or so chap on the Jersey 'Red Eye' with me was on his way to London for a board meeting, dressed in his shorts, polo shirt and deck shoes. What’s that about first appearances…
Anyway, we did the pleasantries and then got down to business.
I mentioned that I was on my way to Toronto, a place where he’d previously spent 6 weeks whilst waiting for a visa to get into the US.
Travel, that was his line, and back in the day (2005) in said United States, he setup an online car rental company which we grew for 5 years before selling to some outfit called booking.com
“It was crazy, we used to spend $1 million a day on Google Ads” he said, and with a wry smile added “And we used to get $1.2 million a day back”
He said it was something to do with A/B Split Testing of which I know a thing or two about, because split testing in advertising is where the big money is.
But over $1 million a day on ad spend? The mind boggles…
Sadly he’d slept for most of the flight, so we only got talking after touching down at Gatwick. If ever you wanted to be stuck in a holding pattern for an hour!
Before he went off to his board meeting in the big city, something to do with disrupting online travel booking (but in a good way), I asked if he’d like to be on my podcast.
“Oh no, not really my thing at all, I wouldn’t be any good” . . . Oh yes you would!
But sadly he got away through arrivals, whilst I remembered I’d left my laptop in the seat back pocket in row 2.
Not a bad start to the day…
About the Author
Andy is on a mission to help you grow your business.
Having worked with some of the leading brands in the world, he founded Great Circle to fill the gap of business owners needing an effective outsourced brand and marketing solution.
For help with your branding, website or marketing, please get in touch for a no-obligation chat:
