Elliot Thornton
Media Buyer
“The ROI Machine”
Senior Media Buyer | ROAS Optimizer | $50M+ in Managed Ad Spend
📍 Chicago, IL💼 10 years experience🏢 Marketing
👤 About
Numbers-obsessed media buyer who tracks every cent of ad spend. Lives in spreadsheets and attribution dashboards. Will not launch a campaign without a clear ROAS target.
Started buying media by running Facebook ads for his college band and accidentally discovering he cared more about the cost-per-ticket-sale than the music. Has a personal spreadsheet tracking the ROI of every purchase he makes over $50. His coworkers call him "The Accountant" and he considers it a compliment.
💪 Key Strengths
ROAS optimizationAttribution modelingBudget efficiency
💼 Work History
Wpromote
Senior Media Buyer
2020–2024
- Managed $50M+ annual ad spend across Meta, Google, LinkedIn
- Achieved 6.2x average ROAS across 40+ e-commerce clients
- Built internal bidding optimization framework adopted company-wide
PMG
Media Buyer
2017–2020
- Scaled DTC clients from $5K/mo to $500K/mo ad spend
- Pioneered Advantage+ Shopping adoption saving 30% in CPAs
Merkle
Paid Media Analyst
2014–2017
- Google Ads management for Fortune 500 retail clients
- Reduced wasted spend by 22% through negative keyword optimization
🏅 Industry Certifications
Google
✓ Google Ads Certified (Search, Display, Video, Shopping, Measurement)
Meta
✓ Meta Certified Marketing Science Professional✓ Meta Certified Media Buying Professional
LinkedIn
✓ LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Fundamentals
🎓 Education
B.S. Integrated Marketing Communications
Northwestern University
2014
Digital Marketing Certificate
Wharton Online
2017
🛠️ Skills
Meta AdsGoogle AdsLinkedIn AdsReddit AdsAttribution ModelingROAS OptimizationBudget AllocationA/B TestingGAQLLookalike AudiencesConversions APIPMax