A simple paid plan for a proven email engine
Marc's words on 29 April: “stay focussed on doing the TEST painting sale to begin with — we need to make sure the TEST campaign works before we move onto anything else.” This is that plan. You run the 4 EDMs Jessie is building, we run a small paid layer locked to AU and New York around them. Every enquiry not from your EDM is one we found. That's the measurement contract, agreed on the call, and it's the whole point of the test.
Six Things the Meeting + Audit Confirmed
Context for the plan below. Pulled from the audit data and from what you told us on the call on 1 May.
Sales come through several channels: Park West auction house (US), Charleston's auctions (AU), gallery partners, and direct enquiries. The gallery is by appointment only. Shopify Add-to-Cart was deliberately removed because conversations close better than checkouts — items run A$1,000 to A$100,000. Every paid ad must optimise to form_submit_pify enquiries, not to purchases, because purchases don't happen on the site.
Marc on 22 Apr: “we market primarily to our past collectors, with a database of around 30,000 contacts.” 1.14 million sends in the last 16 months, 38.4% open rate — roughly 2× the arts benchmark. Jessie runs the 4 EDMs for this sale; we see them, mirror tone in paid, do not touch. Klaviyo confirmed dead (Evan's 27 Apr email: “no longer active”). We do not propose migration — you tried it, it felt overwhelming, we respect that.
Gillie's insight on the call: “everyone that buys from us loves animals. They love wildlife.” Sales from the paintings clearance partly fund the next public wildlife sculpture — Love The Last Wildlife Fund. This isn't a bolt-on — it's the creative angle that makes cold prospecting work. We lead the warm-up with wildlife + studio story, not with discount-pushing, so the brand stays premium and new buyers arrive genuinely interested rather than price-shopping.
Mark explained: the ~A$8k/month Meta spend has been “pushing the wildlife story, not selling.” That's why 94% of impressions went to India / Brazil / Indonesia (wildlife audiences are cheap and responsive there). It wasn't accidental — it was mission. For this test we redirect that budget to sales-focused paid in AU + NY only, keep the wildlife angle as the creative hook, and prove paid can drive invoiced sales rather than just engagement.
Gillie: “every morning we come in and we have a whole bunch of inquiries… I have no idea where they come from.” For the paintings sale we add hidden fields to the enquiry form that tag every submission with its source (ad click ID, UTM, landing page, referring campaign). Every enquiry during the sale window becomes traceable. After the sale you'll know, for the first time, which ones paid drove.
Evan's April 2026 report: ANZ A$1,584 spend → 34 form-submits @ A$46.59. Top performers PMAX Bronze Sculptures (A$551 → 14.5 conv @ A$38) and AU Brand (A$537 → 18.5 conv @ A$29). Overseas account separately: US Commissions A$407 → 5 conv @ A$81. Conversion tracking is already solely based on contact-form submissions across the site — exactly the form_submit_pify event we'd have proposed. We layer onto Evan's working structure for the sale, not rebuild it. Commissions and Sculptures High-Intent campaigns underperform and will be paused for the sale window to redirect budget.
Three Phases · Meta-Led · Wildlife Story First
A small, contained test. Every phase has a specific job. The conversion path follows how you actually sell: ad → collection page → enquiry form → your team emails the catalogue PDF → conversation → invoice. We don't force a checkout you've deliberately removed.
Mark's words: “the only emails we're going to get from our EDM are from our database. Anything that we get in that's not from that — we'll know you guys did it for us.” That's the test. Every enquiry arriving during the sale window that isn't from a known EDM subscriber is attributable to paid. We'll tag the enquiry form with hidden fields so there's a paper trail, but the final call on attribution is yours. Simple, transparent, no agency arithmetic.
Meta (leading platform): 1 cold-LAL prospecting ad set built from a Mailchimp subscriber-list export, locked to AU + New York,
OUTCOME_LEADS optimisation. 2 ad variants: (a) studio reel / artist story, (b) wildlife-mission reel linking Love The Last sculpture and protection work. No sale mention, no 50% off.
Instagram boosting: you keep boosting posts as you do today — Michael will review and advise on which posts to boost once he's in. No disruption before the sale.
Meta conversion path: ad → catalogue-specific landing page on gillieandmarc.com (one per catalogue) →
form_submit_pify enquiry → your team replies from artworks@gillieandmarc.com with catalogue PDF + price list → phone or email negotiation → invoice. Same flow as 2025's mailto: EDM, upgraded so paid traffic is actually measurable.
Meta ad set structure: (1) DPA retargeting across all 4 catalogue audiences with carousel creative. (2) Cold LAL prospecting seeded from Jessie's Mailchimp list export + website engagers + IG engagers, segmented by catalogue interest where the data supports it. Both optimise to
form_submit_pify, geo-locked to AU + NY.
Instant Form fallback: if the catalogue landing pages don't exist or are light on info, we substitute Meta Instant Forms (in-feed enquiry with name/city/phone — matching the 2025 mailto body) that pipe straight into
artworks@gillieandmarc.com. Call made once Michael has reviewed the pages.
Post-sale report (Week 8): every enquiry during the window, tagged by source, matched against your sold-paintings list, with clear attribution to EDM vs paid. That's the data set that decides whether the 12-month engagement makes sense.
On the 1 May call we parked Google Ads pending Evan's data. We've now reviewed his April 2026 report and it changes our recommendation: Google Ads is in. Evan's ANZ account delivered 34 enquiries at A$46.59 CPA on A$1,584 spend, with form-submit conversions wired since 14 Feb 2024 — exactly the form_submit_pify event we need. PMAX Bronze Sculptures (14.5 conv @ A$38) and AU Brand (18.5 conv @ A$29) are the two working campaigns. We layer onto those, we don't rebuild.
Sale-window actions: (1) create a new Australia | G&M | Paintings Sale | ANZ Search campaign targeting “50% off paintings”, “gillie and marc paintings sale”, “wildlife paintings sydney” etc. (2) raise AU Brand daily budget ~30% for the window — brand demand will spike during EDM sends. (3) add painting product group to PMAX Bronze. (4) pause Sculptures High-Intent (A$264 for 1 conv @ A$264) and Commissions (A$232 for 0 conv) — Evan already flagged these in his report as “didn't perform well, reviewing user behaviour in Microsoft Clarity”. Reclaims ~A$500/mo for the sale.
Before any ad goes live we do five things that benefit every future campaign, not just this sale: (1) wire form_submit_pify as primary conversion in Meta CAPI (+ Google Ads if Phase 1 approved), (2) finish the Meta pixel audit Adam started with Gillie — consolidate to a single ANZ pixel, (3) add hidden fields to the enquiry form capturing fbclid, UTMs, landing page, referring EDM subscriber flag, (4) lock all active Meta campaigns to AU + NY only, (5) archive the 1,621 dormant Meta campaigns and stop the ID/BR/IN spend leak. All five also carry into any longer engagement — nothing here gets thrown away.
Clear Lanes · Zero Overlap
You know your email list better than any agency ever will. We know paid. So we split it that way — and meet in the middle at the landing page where all channels converge.
- All email — Jessie runs Mailchimp, subject lines, copy, imagery, segmentation, scheduling
- Email platform (Mailchimp) — stays exactly as you use it today, no migration
- Sale timing & pricing — what's on sale, how discounts work, when it ends, negotiation headroom
- Enquiry inbox response — Gillie's team sends the catalogue PDF, manages phone + email conversation
- Closing the sale — invoicing, payment, logistics, delivery
- Creative approval — Jessie reviews all paid ad copy + creative before launch
- Instagram boosting — continues as today until Michael advises a change
- Wildlife & charity narrative — you define the story, we amplify it
- Meta Ads — geo-locked
OUTCOME_LEADS, DPA retargeting, cold LAL prospecting (Mailchimp list-seeded) - Google Ads — new Paintings Sale Search campaign + AU Brand boost + PMAX painting set (layered onto Evan's working structure)
- Conversion tracking — wire
form_submit_pifyinto Meta CAPI + Google Ads, finish pixel audit - Enquiry form instrumentation — hidden fields capturing
fbclid, UTMs, landing page, EDM-subscriber flag - Creative brief & copy drafts — mirror Jessie's EDM tone + wildlife angle, all submitted for approval before launch
- Geo + campaign hygiene — AU + NY lock, archive 1,621 dormant campaigns, stop the ID/BR/IN leak
- Reporting — weekly check-ins during the sale, post-sale report, EDM-vs-paid attribution tagging
Jessie handles all of your graphics and marketing internally. She's the point of contact for: (a) sharing the planned Mailchimp email sequence with us before the sale so paid copy mirrors it, (b) approving ad copy and creative drafts, (c) supplying hero painting imagery + artist-studio footage clips. We don't post to your Instagram, we don't write email copy, we don't invent wildlife narrative — we build paid around the voice she already owns. Every ad gets her review before it goes live.
A$2,000 Fee · Media Spend Your Call
121 Group fees cover strategy, execution, optimisation and reporting. Media spend is billed directly by Meta and Google to your credit card. We never hold media, never mark it up, never take a percentage. You set the number. Adam's view on the call: dictating a budget without visibility of current sales is “dangerous.” So we give you the minimum-viable spend, what Michael recommends, and context on what you've been spending — you pick.
| Line item | Fee | Duration | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale campaign set-up + management | A$2,000 | ~3 weeks end to end | Tracking wire-up, pixel audit, audience build, creative brief, ad copy, launch, daily optimisation, weekly check-ins, post-sale report |
| Option | Meta | Google Ads | Total | When to pick this |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum viable Michael's floor |
A$3,000 | A$800 | A$3,800 | Cheapest meaningful test. Google Ads AU Brand boost + paintings-sale search only (Evan's existing structure already converts at A$29–$47). |
| Recommended Our preferred test size |
A$4,000 | A$1,500 | A$5,500 | Meta at full strength (cold + 4-catalogue DPA + tail) + Google Ads covering AU Brand boost, new Paintings Sale search, and PMAX painting set. |
| Matched to history Same as monthly spend you already have |
A$6,000–8,500 | A$2,000 | A$8,000–10,500 | You're already spending ~A$8.5k/mo on Meta (currently to ID/BR/IN). Redirect to AU+NY for the sale, scale Google Ads against the same-week brand demand spike. |
| Line item | Allocation | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta — Phase 1 warm-up (wildlife + Love The Last story) | A$800 | Mon 4 May → Mon 12 May | Seed cold LAL pool from Mailchimp list export + wildlife creative, no sale mention |
| Meta — Phase 2 sale (4-catalogue DPA + cold LAL) | A$2,600 | Tue 13 May → Tue 20 May | 4 DPA carousels (Wildlife / Rabbitwoman & Dogman / Abstract / Prints) + cold prospecting with 50% off + FREE sculpture creative mirroring Jessie's EDM |
| Meta — Phase 3 DPA tail | A$600 | Wed 21 May → Tue 27 May | Recover abandoners from all 4 catalogue audiences — fine-art purchases mature slowly |
| Google Ads — AU Brand daily-budget boost | A$400 | Sale window + 3 days | Raise AU Brand daily budget ~30% (currently 18.5 conv/mo @ A$29) — brand search spikes during EDM sends |
| Google Ads — new Paintings Sale Search campaign | A$700 | Tue 13 May → Tue 20 May | “50% off paintings”, “gillie and marc paintings sale”, “wildlife paintings sydney” exact + phrase match, optimised to form-submit |
| Google Ads — PMAX Bronze: paintings product group | A$400 | Sale window + 3 days | Add paintings to existing PMAX Bronze (currently 14.5 conv/mo @ A$38) as new product group |
| Recommended total | A$5,500 | Mon 4 May → Tue 27 May | Billed direct by Meta + Google — zero 121 Group mark-up |
What “Worked” Looks Like — Measured Your Way
At the end of the 3-week window plus a 3-week reconciliation tail, we deliver a post-sale report with exactly the evidence you need to decide if this continues. Using Mark's definition: any enquiry that isn't from the EDM is one we found.
form_submit_pify firing in Meta + GA4 throughoutWeek-by-Week
| Week | 121 Group | Gillie and Marc | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 4 May – Fri 8 May Approval + setup |
Approval signed · Q-list to Jessie for Evan · start Meta pixel consolidation · scope 4 catalogue landing pages with Michael · link Google Ads MCC | Marc/Jessie approve fee + media tier · Jessie exports Mailchimp list · Jessie drafts 4 EDMs + shares catalogue content | All pre-flight underway |
| Mon 11 May – Tue 12 May Launch day minus 2/1 |
4 catalogue landing pages live · form_submit_pify wired into Meta CAPI + Google Ads · hidden form fields capturing UTMs · Meta pixel audit complete · Phase 1 warm-up Meta ads launched · Jessie approves every ad |
Jessie finalises EDM 1 for Tue 13 May send · confirms FREE sculpture stock | All tracking live before any ad • creative signed off |
| Tue 13 May – Tue 20 May 🎨 Sale window (7 days) |
Launch Phase 2 Meta (4 DPA carousels + cold LAL) + Google Ads (AU Brand boost + new Paintings Sale search + PMAX paintings) · daily optimisation · mid-sale check-in Fri 16 May | EDMs 1–3 drop to ~30k list · artworks@gillieandmarc.com team responds with catalogue PDFs + price lists · flags enquiry volume spikes |
Sale live · every enquiry tagged with source · first attribution data flowing |
| Wed 21 May – Tue 27 May Tail |
Pause cold prospecting · keep 4-catalogue DPA retargeting running · pause paintings-sale search · AU Brand returns to pre-sale budget | EDM 4 drops (final reminder / last-chance) · keep closing outstanding enquiries — fine-art sales mature slowly | Paid spend tapers to zero over 7 days |
| Extension window (optional) Wed 21 May – Tue 3 Jun |
If Jessie extends the sale per plan, we extend Meta DPA + Google Paintings Sale search at 50% budget · no new creative needed | Additional EDM sends as needed · signal on/off to 121 Group by Tue 20 May EOD | Flexibility preserved · no budget committed until confirmed |
| Wed 28 May – Wed 17 Jun Reconciliation |
Match invoiced sales to enquiry log weekly · segment by EDM vs non-EDM source · calculate reconciled ROAS by channel + catalogue | Share won-sale list weekly · confirm which enquiries closed, which didn't | True attribution known for the first time |
| ~Wed 17 Jun Decision meeting |
Deliver post-sale report with EDM-vs-paid attribution table · per-catalogue ROAS · recommendation on next phase based on evidence | Review with Marc, Gillie, Jessie · decide go / no-go on ongoing engagement | Binary decision, based on real data, no guessing |
Six Things Between Here and Launch
Sale is ~2 weeks out. We start the moment you approve. Here's exactly who does what and when.
artworks@gillieandmarc.com inbox ownership and response SLA, (4) request paused-Commissions/Sculptures campaign budgets to redeploy. No separate call needed — Jessie relays.
mailto:artworks@gillieandmarc.com with pre-filled subject/body — zero tracking. For 2026, we need 4 catalogue-specific landing pages on gillieandmarc.com: /paintings-wildlife · /paintings-rabbitwoman-dogman · /paintings-abstract · /paintings-prints. Each page: hero image, 50% off + FREE sculpture copy, visible enquiry form with hidden UTM capture fields, same look/feel as the EDM. Michael scopes effort with Jessie this week.
1345840819115125), removes legacy pixel references, archives the 1,621 dormant Meta campaigns, locks active campaigns to AU + NY. Complete before Mon 12 May (Phase 1 launch day minus 1).
Reply confirming (1) the A$2,000 121 Group fee, (2) your chosen media tier (minimum A$3.8k, recommended A$5.5k, or matched-to-history A$8k–10.5k), (3) sale dates confirmed Tue 13 May → Tue 20 May with possible extension to Tue 3 Jun. Pre-flight work (pixel consolidation, landing pages, form instrumentation, creative briefing) begins the next business day.