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Beadle Across America
In less than two weeks, Dr. Joy Coates and I will be presenting on September 16 at the National Association of State and Territorial Apprenticeship Directors’ annual conference in Lake George, New York. You can register here for the conference.
Joy and I will also be presenting at Shift Work Forward’s SHIFT Conference 2026 on September 24 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You can sign up for the conference here.
I’ll be keynoting the Michigan Health Council’s annual conference at the Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Mich., on October 27.
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Governors’ races you might not be watching, but should, on workforce issues.
States have an even-more-outsized role in workforce right now. Influential stakeholders in workforce are quite explicit that they see states as the best government partners to have right now. Some see the federal government as effectively abdicating its role due to inconsistency in funding and the Trump Administration’s struggles to implement its agenda around apprenticeship.
That adds extra heft to this year's governors' races. To the state obvious, gubernatorial shifts usually result in new staff with different perspectives on these issues. What isn’t watered doesn’t grow, and deprioritization of projects can lead to good initiatives dying off because the newbies don’t understand what they have. That same handoff also can cost states federal money, making those dollars more available to other states—and some new governors can make states more competitive for those dollars.
On that front, there are three races, somewhat under the surface in a couple of instances, that could have a big impact even if there isn't a party switch in the governor's mansion.
Blu Dot surpasses 2,000% ROAS with self-serve CTV ads
Home furniture brand Blu Dot blew up on CTV with help from Roku Ads Manager. Here’s how:
After a test campaign reached 211,000 households and achieved 1,010% ROAS, the brand went all in to promote its annual sales event. It removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.
The results speak for themselves. As Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, ROAS jumped to 2,308% and more page-view conversions surpassed 50,000.
“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer,” said Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot. “Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS… and highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”
Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine for the brand.
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