Hiring top media buyers is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in this business. At a certain level, you can’t just bring in someone who’s managed a $10K/month budget. I need people who understand brands at scale, who can balance creative instincts with analytical rigor, and those people are few and far between.
This isn’t just about filling a role. It’s about building an edge in one of the most competitive areas of advertising. Here’s how I think about it.
Why Great Media Buyers Are So Hard to Find
I’ve tried recruiters. I’ve sourced candidates directly, both in the U.S. and internationally. And here’s the truth: most media buyers lean too heavily on templates. They run the same campaign structures across accounts, hoping that what worked before will work again.
That approach doesn’t cut it. Every account is different. The best buyers respect process, but they also know when to break it. I’m not looking for button-pushers, I’m looking for curiosity.
The Right Brain + Left Brain Equation
The best media buyers I’ve worked with operate on both sides of the brain. They live in spreadsheets, but they also know how to trust their instincts.
That word “feel” gets dismissed by analytical people. But I can wake up, look at the store’s revenue, and feel how the day is going to land. The same is true inside Meta Ads.
Great decision-making comes from blending gut and data, and then challenging your own bias when the two don’t align. If you only follow the numbers, you’ll miss the story. If you only follow your instincts, you’ll mislead yourself. You need both.
Creative Is the New Targeting
Here’s the other truth: no media buyer can save bad creative.
The best ones act as translators, giving the creative team the feedback they need to make ads that actually scale. One of my favorite exercises is previewing ads on a phone and asking: would I send this to a friend? If the answer is no, it probably won’t perform.
This is why shareability has become the most important metric. I’ve seen it play out in everything from Bud Light’s recent Shane Gillis spot to the early UGC campaigns that scaled Adventure Challenge. Platforms reward content people care about. A buyer who doesn’t understand that isn’t a buyer I can trust.
Training and Retaining Talent
Even when you find someone great, there’s another challenge: they get poached. Big brands or in-house teams will scoop them up, or they’ll strike out on their own.
That’s why I put so much focus on training. I’d rather hire someone hungry and curious, then pair them with a senior mentor and give them clear guardrails.
The healthiest setups I’ve seen give media buyers disciplined creativity: freedom to experiment, but within targets and compliance rules that protect the brand. That’s how you build talent that lasts.
Why This Matters Now
Advertising today doesn’t play by 2020’s rules. CPMs are higher, Fortune 500 budgets dominate the auction, and AI has automated much of the targeting work.
That means the leverage has shifted. Success comes down to three things:
Creative that earns attention.
Buyers who can translate numbers into stories.
Systems that grow talent faster than competitors can poach it.
Closing Thoughts
I won’t sugarcoat it: finding exceptional media buyers is tough. You’re looking for people who can crunch the numbers, trust their instincts, and bridge the gap between data and creative.
But if you can train for it, build systems around it, and create feedback loops that fuel great creative, you’ll build a moat that no templated approach can compete with.
Because at the end of the day, platforms don’t decide who wins, people do. And people reward ads that make them stop, think, laugh, or share.
Next week, I’ll dive into Dead Internet Theory and what it means for media buying in the years ahead.