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- How to Make Money Being Honest in Advertising, Marketing & Adtech
How to Make Money Being Honest in Advertising, Marketing & Adtech
Jay Friedman: The Man I Barely Know But Am Apparently Writing About
Pesach Lattin (ADOTAT)
February 18, 2025
Let’s start with the obvious: the ad industry often has the ethical consistency of a late-night infomercial.
We’ve all seen it—brands making bold claims about transparency while their data practices are murkier than a congressional hearing. Agencies pontificating about authenticity while shoveling ad spend into black boxes that no human has ever seen, except maybe an ad fraud bot lurking in a basement somewhere in Belarus.
The entire system operates on a mix of plausible deniability and outright gaslighting, where everyone pretends that media dollars are being spent responsibly while siphoning off a cut like it’s some sort of ad-tech mafia racket.
And yet, every so often, a company comes along that does something truly radical—telling the truth. Enter Goodway Group. Yes, I know, an agency actually making an effort to be honest. It’s like spotting a vegan at a Texas barbecue—rare, unexpected, and bound to get some side-eye. But honesty in this industry isn’t just about calling out fraud or waving around some transparency badge—it’s about making the hard calls. The ones that don’t get you applause at industry panels. The ones that sometimes mean restructuring, cutting what’s not working, and yes, even firing people.
Jay Friedman: The Man I Barely Know But Am Apparently Writing About
Let’s get this out of the way—I don’t know Jay Friedman, and he doesn’t know me. I’ve seen him in passing at conferences, probably nodded in that awkward way where you’re trying to figure out if you’ve met before or just seen their face on LinkedIn. If I weren’t on LinkedIn, I wouldn’t even remember what he looks like. That’s not a knock on Jay; that’s just the reality of ad industry networking—lots of enthusiastic handshakes, LinkedIn connections you immediately forget about, and panels where the buzzwords flow like cheap rosé at a media happy hour.
But here’s the deal—his company, Goodway Group, has been getting some well-earned recognition for actually telling the truth. And not the kind of performative truth where a company releases a 60-page PDF about 'transformation' while quietly laying off half the team. No, Goodway did the real thing. They looked at the market, saw where things were headed, and made tough decisions. They restructured. They let some people go. And they owned it—no vague corporate-speak, no 'realignment of strategic priorities,' just a clear-eyed assessment of what was needed to keep the company strong.
In an industry where most executives would rather walk barefoot through a glass-covered conference floor than admit their data is flawed, Jay Friedman and his team have somehow managed to create a business model based on gasp accountability. And yet, the strangest part? They’re growing. Turns out, when you treat clients like actual thinking adults instead of easy marks in a three-card monte scheme, they tend to stick around. Who knew?
Goodway’s approach is almost shocking in its simplicity: be honest about the market, adapt, and don’t pretend like nothing’s wrong when things clearly are wrong. That doesn’t mean they have all the answers, but at least they’re not gaslighting everyone into believing some nonsense metric is the future of advertising. In a world where adtech companies prefer to paper over their problems with another layer of AI-powered jargon, Goodway actually did something.
And for that, they deserve more than a passing nod at a conference.
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Goodway Group is out here committing the ultimate ad industry sin: honesty.
In a world where agencies would rather sell you a stack of smoke and mirrors than admit where your money actually goes, Goodway is pulling off the rare trick of acting like grown-ups.
Financial Transparency? In This Economy?
Most agencies treat their financials like they’re guarding nuclear codes. Goodway? They actually tell their employees what’s going on. Wild concept. During COVID, when most companies were busy gaslighting their staff while secretly handing out pink slips, Goodway was upfront about the situation. Imagine that—communicating like adults instead of hiding behind corporate gobbledygook.
Clients Over Shareholders? Revolutionary.
Their whole shtick is “making clients heroes,” which, let’s be honest, sounds like something printed on a cheesy conference swag bag. But—brace yourself—they actually mean it. Unlike the holding companies running a corporate shell game with agencies stacked inside agencies, Goodway doesn’t answer to some Wall Street overlord demanding an extra 2% margin squeeze. Their only real bosses? The clients. Accountability isn’t just a talking point—it’s how they operate.
Treating Employees Like People? How Dare They.
When Goodway restructured, Jay Friedman didn’t do the usual CEO disappearing act. No vague LinkedIn post about “evolving market conditions.” No faux-inspirational nonsense about “new opportunities.” He actually explained what was happening, why it was happening, and—heresy of heresies—helped people find new jobs. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry was busy slapping a “we’re all in this together” banner on their layoffs.
No Corporate Puppeteers. No PE Shenanigans.
Goodway remains independent, which in agency-land is about as common as a unicorn sighting. No private equity overlords demanding short-term profits at the expense of long-term sustainability. No dizzying maze of subsidiaries designed to confuse regulators and clients alike. Just a company that has to actually prove its worth instead of playing financial hide-and-seek.
So yeah, Goodway’s approach is shockingly simple: tell the truth. And in adland, that might just be the most radical move of all.
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🎯 FINAL THOUGHT: TRUST IS THE ONLY CURRENCY THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS
At the end of the day, customers aren’t just buying a product—they’re buying trust. 🏆
If they trust you, they’ll stick around. They’ll advocate for you. They’ll choose you over the competition, even when someone else has a flashier ad, a lower price, or the latest AI-powered gimmick.
If they don’t trust you? Well, no amount of influencer deals, data-driven personalization, or chatbot-powered apologies will save you. You can dress it up however you want, but fake is still fake—and people can smell it a mile away. 🚨
Jason Fairchild of TVScientific:
"This is simple.
(advertiser) Trust = (radical) Transparency X (total) Control.
Trust = Transparency X Control.
This formula wins in the end."
No fluff, no nonsense—just the reality of how advertising should work.
🛠 Goodway Group Gets It.
They’re not just talking about integrity—they’re actually living it.
✅ They admit mistakes.
✅ They treat employees like human beings.
✅ They build real relationships, not transactional ones.
It’s not rocket science. But in an industry built on smoke and mirrors, sometimes just flipping on the lights is enough to change the game.
🔍 Ask Yourself:
Before you slap the word “authentic” on your next campaign, take a hard look in the mirror.
Are you actually being honest with your audience? Or are you just another contestant in the corporate game of:
🃏 “Let’s see how much we can get away with before someone calls us out?”
Because in a business where perception is everything, the brands that actually tell the truth might just be the ones that win. 🏁
Jay Friedman's Rare Unicorn of a LinkedIn Post
A couple of months ago, Jay Friedman did something that sent most ad execs into cardiac arrest—he told the truth. In public. On LinkedIn. No corporate doublespeak. No “we’re all in this together” fluff. Just plain, unvarnished reality.
Here’s the post that had the industry clutching its pearls:
“Today, we announced a restructuring across Goodway Group. With that, we faced a choice. Keep it quiet and try not to talk about it or overtly support the people who will be impacted by eliminating roles in our workforce. We will always choose to overtly support our people!”
Let’s take a moment to appreciate how not standard this is. Normally, agency layoffs happen like a bad magic trick. One minute, you’re working. The next? Slack won’t load, your company email is suddenly a ghost town, and your boss—who swore everything was fine—is MIA. Meanwhile, leadership is busy posting “exciting growth updates” on LinkedIn like nothing ever happened.
Goodway? They actually acknowledged what was happening. No spin. No sugarcoating. Just: Hey, this sucks. Here’s what we’re doing. And here’s how we’re helping. And instead of the usual PR nightmare, something crazy happened—people respected it.
Even SaaS entrepreneur David Honig jumped in with some rare LinkedIn sincerity:
“True leadership is demonstrated through authenticity and honesty, especially when making tough decisions that impact employees. It’s rare for a CEO to address such matters publicly, and your approach shows how much you value your team.”
Translation: Wait—this guy isn’t pretending layoffs are just a ‘strategic realignment’? He’s actually treating employees like humans? What kind of witchcraft is this?
Goodway just proved what should have been obvious: being honest with your employees isn’t a radical concept. But in an industry that thrives on smoke, mirrors, and strategic vagueness, it might as well be a revolution.
Legal Marketing’s Credibility Problem: Can Integrity and Innovation Fix It?
Devin Downey is making a case for what he sees as a necessary course correction in mass tort legal marketing. The industry, he argues, has been tainted by overzealous lead generation, aggressive advertising (particularly around Camp Lejeune), and a general lack of integrity in how clients are acquired. His proposed solution? A return to ethical marketing, genuine collaboration, and what he terms "simply being nice."
The Problem: Lead Generation’s Ethical Sinkhole
Downey points out the issues plaguing the legal marketing space, particularly in mass torts, where the volume-based lead gen model often leads to deceptive practices, aggressive sales tactics, and partnerships that prioritize short-term gains over long-term trust. The Camp Lejeune advertising backlash exemplified these problems, exposing a broken system where firms compete in a race to the bottom rather than focusing on sustainable, ethical client acquisition.
His Perspective: The Agency-Side Wake-Up Call
Coming from a corporate marketing background—working with blue-chip brands like Wells Fargo and Hilton—Downey saw a stark difference in legal marketing. While the industry is filled with talented and ambitious professionals, he highlights how ego and profit-driven decision-making have created disconnection and a loss of authenticity. His shift from the client side to the agency side opened his eyes to these dynamics, ultimately leading him to found Blue Sky Legal.
His Solution: Ethics, Transparency, and Innovation
Downey’s pitch for Blue Sky Legal is that it isn’t "just another agency." He wants to create a firm rooted in integrity, avoiding the short-termism that dominates legal marketing. His approach centers on:
Ethical lead generation – Moving away from deceptive or high-pressure tactics.
Authentic client relationships – Prioritizing long-term trust over quick wins.
Technology-driven intake solutions – Leveraging AI and advanced intake processes to improve the client experience.
Industry reform – Advocating for a collective push toward higher standards and transparency.
Challenges and the Path Forward
Building Blue Sky Legal hasn’t been without its challenges. He notes difficulties in securing funding, establishing credibility, and differentiating from the mass of legal marketing firms. However, he sees these struggles as proof of the industry’s need for change—particularly in areas like fraud prevention, AI-driven legal intake, and strategic partnerships that emphasize collaboration rather than competition.
Final Takeaway: A Call for Industry-Wide Change
Downey is making a direct appeal to attorneys and marketing agencies to rethink how they approach legal marketing. His argument is that the industry needs a shift from transactional relationships to value-driven partnerships. The underlying message? Legal marketing’s credibility problem won’t be solved by more of the same—it will take a concerted effort to prioritize integrity, authenticity, and long-term thinking.
