Mercer Shift MediaFrom understanding the people you're trying to reach to figuring out what happens after they click, here's a look at how we approach the work.
01 / THE THINKING
First, who am I. I'm Kurtis Mercer. My thinking draws from my own life: relationships, separation, family dynamics, and from years studying human behaviour, attachment patterns, nervous system regulation, and the beliefs that shape how a man reads his own life. I've developed much of it through my writing and my YouTube channel, Autopilot to Alive. I don't write ads about men like yours from the outside.
When a man is scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, he's not looking for a coach. He's killing time.
But he might stop for something that looks like his life. A quiet truck cab in his own driveway. A short answer to his kid that he regrets by bedtime. A thought he's never said out loud.
That's where I begin. Not with a program name: with his moment.
I develop the creative in conversation with an AI agent. We test perspectives, challenge assumptions, and cut anything that sounds like a brochure, until what's left is a moment worth building an ad around.
The goal isn't an ad that looks good. It's an ad that makes the right man stop and think, 'That's exactly what I've been experiencing.'
But the moment isn't the whole job. The ad also has to show him what he gets if he moves: the marriage where they talk again, the house that feels calm, the son who opens up. The moment makes him stop. The result gives him a reason to act. And that's one part of the work, not all of it. The same thinking goes into who sees the ad, what happens after he clicks, and whether the coach's offer and follow-up are ready for him when he does.
I don't start with a plan. I start with the moment, follow the leading I feel in it, and try things until the ad feels true. Some tries miss. The misses sharpen the next one. That's why every ad comes out different. Different moment, different reason to stop, different message. What doesn't change is the test: does it feel like a real person living a real moment?
Whether that approach performs is something we test and learn from. But it's the thinking behind every ad we make.
02 / THE JOURNEY
Before I can help a coach bring new clients into their business, I need to understand what happens when someone becomes interested in their services.
Where does their website lead? Is their offer clear? Can someone easily take the next step? And are there things that might cause a potential client to leave before ever reaching out?
I start by exploring the business from the perspective of someone discovering it for the first time. That means looking at their website, offers, social media, and the different paths someone might take toward becoming a client.
Watch Kurtis walk through a real coaching business and examine the steps a potential client takes before making a decision.
In this walkthrough, you'll see me examine a coaching business, follow its links, check how its offers are presented, and investigate an issue that initially looked like a broken checkout page.
It's an example of the research I do before deciding whether a business might be a good fit for advertising.