Level Agency

Career education marketers, we'll see you in Austin. Level is headed to the Career Schools Private Education Network (CSPEN)'s 12th Annual Conference, August 10-13. While you're there: → Learn how career colleges can win enrollment in an AI-led student journey at our session on Wed, 8/12, featuring Stephanie Leisa Gallo of Pima Medical Institute → Pick up a copy of our 2026 Career Education Performance Benchmarks Report → Stop by Booth 33 to see how your digital marketing program stacks up against the report's recommendations Can't wait? Download the benchmarks report before the conference: https://lnkd.in/eG_z9RxV 📍 CSPEN 2026 | Austin Marriott Downtown | August 10-13 #CSPEN2026

At a conference full of AI talk, one question kept resurfacing among the marketers at Cannes Lions this year: how do you actually know if a new AI tool is good enough to touch client work? Our CEO Patrick Patterson already had an answer, built from a process he runs every time a new model drops. The process is close to the one you'd use to evaluate an agency: a standard set of questions, with an expected outcome for each. Is the new model actually better than what came before it? Is it cheaper or more expensive, and does that tradeoff make sense? Does it change how the work gets made, or just repackage what already existed? Patrick, Howard Diamond, Patrick Van Gorder, and Myles J. Biggs walk through that process on this week's “Good Enough Isn't”. In this episode: → The football league campaign that shows what good AI-informed creative actually looks like: a brute-force machine learning model used to find the league's luckiest fan, then a personalized campaign built around that one insight → Why access to the same tools and data is letting scaled indie agencies compete for accounts the holding companies used to have locked up → What Howard learned sitting in on the judging panels about what it actually takes to win a Cannes Lion, and where AI can and can't help get there Listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/eQpW4_Sb

Will AI replace human creativity? Wrong question. Here's the one worth asking: are you comfortable letting your agency hand your brand's taste and judgment over to an algorithm? That's what happens when AI runs the final 10% of the creative process instead of a person. Feed a model your brand guidelines and your best reference decks. It still gives you back an average result. Taste is a decision. It’s also the part you can’t automate. Carly Fridhandler (AVP, Creative & AI Innovation) and Michael Rubino (AVP, Creative) are breaking down where AI actually belongs in the creative process, where it quietly damages brand perception, and what performance data is starting to show about AI-generated ads versus human-made ones. Thursday, July 30 | 1 PM EDT / 10 AM PDT 30 minutes, plus a live 15-minute Q&A. Bring your specific AI and creative questions; Carly and Mike are answering them live. Register now: https://lnkd.in/entXsqb7

The timeline to adjust to the new federal rules is shorter than most career schools think. With the new loan caps already in place and the STATS earnings framework taking effect, waiting until 2027 to adjust your recruitment strategy is going to leave you behind. We heard these exact anxieties over and over at the CECU Convention in Cleveland. Because so much remains unsettled, we broke down what's changing with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the STATS earnings framework, Workforce Pell, and AIM accreditation rulemaking, and what each one means for your enrollment strategy. You can read the full perspective here: https://lnkd.in/eXF4VaCY If you are going to be in Austin for CSPEN this August, stop by Booth 33. We will be there to talk through the data and map out how these updates change the math for your upcoming marketing plans. #CECU #CSPEN

The question to ask your agency this quarter: what are we doing with YouTube strategy and AI Max? That's the direct advice from Nicole Jennings, Level Agency's EVP of Delivery, in this episode of "Good Enough Isn't." She's joined by Level President Bill Buchanan, who attended Google Marketing Live in person, including a private session with the people who presented on stage. Together, they lay out what the shift to AI-driven search actually demands from marketers. Three things Bill says every brand will wish they'd done sooner: fix the data foundation, compete for AI citations while it's still cheap, and stop treating SEO, paid, and content as separate efforts when they're all answering the same question. The window to build your AI search foundation while it's still early is open right now. This episode tells you exactly where to start. Listen on "Good Enough Isn't."🎙️https://lnkd.in/ejXimYJG

The weirdest thing about the rush to use AI in creative is that everyone seems to be using it backward. Many teams are brainstorming human ideas, and then trying to use AI to generate the final assets at scale. Which leaves a feed full of uncanny, overly glossy, highly predictable ad creative that audiences have already learned to scroll right past. Our creative team takes the exact opposite approach. We use AI to smash through the initial friction of the creative process, but we keep human taste firmly at the wheel for the final execution. Because taste and the ability to know if something actually connects with a human being is the one thing you can’t automate. On Thursday, July 30th, Level’s own Carly Fridhandler and Michael Rubino are hosting a 30-minute virtual session to show you exactly what this workflow looks like in practice. They will be sharing real performance data on AI ads versus human ads, diving into the "AI aesthetic" problem, and answering your specific workflow questions live. If you want an honest, practitioner-level look at where AI belongs in your creative stack, grab a seat at the link below. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eWCZHy8z

We're proud to share it: Level Agency and Ancora Education won Silver in Search at The Drum Awards for Marketing. The award recognizes "Building the System," a GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) program built for multiple Ancora Education vocational school brands: South Texas Vocational Technical Institute, Berks Technical Institute, and Arizona Automotive Institute. The program ran on one core insight: AI-mediated search rewards direct, machine-readable answers. We built a seven-mechanic writing system engineered for machine comprehension, then tested it in two conditions: new brands with no domain history, and legacy pages competing against established publishers. The results speak for themselves: STVT's HVAC blog: +1,023% clicks / AI Overview appearances up 900% / People Also Ask captures up 1,244%. That blog now ranks as the second most-visited URL on the entire site. Berks Technical Institute: +77.8% rank 1-10 keyword growth in two months, competing against dominant allied health publishers with no legacy domain authority. Arizona Automotive Institute: 126K impressions and an average position of 4.8, from a standing start. None of this happens without the team that built and proved the system, or without a client willing to bet on a new approach. Thank you to everyone at Ancora Education, and congratulations to the Level team. Good enough isn't, and this work is proof. Read more about the winning campaign here: https://lnkd.in/eU7KZSAr #TheDrumAwards

Cannes Lions 2026 is behind us, but the takeaways are still shaping how the smartest marketers are moving into the second half of the year. Howard Diamond, our Chief Revenue Officer, spent the week in the rooms where the decisions get made, alongside Patrick Van Gorder and Patrick Patterson. He came back with a clear point of view on the moves marketers should make now, before the rest of the market catches up. His recap covers the creative that won, the customer conversations that stood out, where creator marketing is headed, and what agentic AI media buying is delivering in live campaigns. Read Howard's full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/ecuDvcym Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity #CannesLions2026

There's a specific failure mode LaQuita Cleare sees in how marketing teams use AI for storytelling: they have AI write the narrative, then a human delivers it. The person presenting hasn't lived the story. The audience feels it in every sentence, regardless of how clean the structure is. LaQuita calls it a breakdown in the Engagement Code, her framework built on three inputs: connection, content, and delivery. When AI generates the content and the human skips the connection layer entirely, delivery can't save it. She joined Patrick Patterson and Myles J. Biggs on “Good Enough Isn't” to lay out what the right approach actually looks like, including how she uses AI as a story-mining tool, where the Engagement Code shows up in real marketing scenarios, and why connection is the layer most teams underinvest in. Listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/eQjCYwdD

It’s an exciting time at Level Agency. Our client roster is growing, which means our team needs to grow, too! We are officially opening the doors for seven new roles. Whether your expertise lies in building flawless client relationships, architecting high-converting paid media strategies, or setting up the robust analytics tracking that makes it all possible, we have a seat for you. Ready to find your fit? We're currently looking to fill these roles: - Account Coordinator - Account Director - Account Manager - Freelance Endemic Media Specialist - Paid Media Manager - Senior Content Strategist We pride ourselves on a culture that values sharp thinking, data-backed decisions, and a supportive team environment. If this sounds like the place you want to grow your career, we'd love to see your application! Check out the full list of open roles and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eTAZvM6B