Two Columbia unicorns, two bets on positioning — what EquipmentShare and Veterans United get right

This week, two ads from two companies most of Columbia already knows by name — both actually headquartered here, both running paid media right now, and both making very different bets on what actually gets someone to act.

Ad 1: EquipmentShare (Google Display)

EquipmentShare — the construction-tech company built right here in Columbia, now valued north of a billion dollars — is running a straightforward product image ad: a forklift, their logo, a headline about rental equipment "tailored to your project's needs."

It's not a bad ad. It's also not a differentiated one. Swap the logo and this could be any equipment rental company in the country. The copy makes a claim — "tailored to your needs" — without showing how. No specific proof, no reason to believe it over the next listing in the results.

At their scale, this is almost certainly one image variant inside a much bigger brand-awareness buy, not an oversight. Still worth knowing: a generic claim without proof reads the same at any company size, whether you're spending $500 a month or $500,000.

Ad 2: Veterans United (Meta video)

Also Columbia-headquartered, also enormous — and running the opposite playbook. The copy doesn't open with a feature. It opens with a felt need: "Your VA loan benefit is built to serve you through every season of homeownership."

Then it gets specific, fast — three real scenarios, named directly: buying a first home, refinancing for a lower payment, tapping into home equity. Followed by a real person on camera, not a stock photo, walking through what the benefit can actually do.

That's the difference. Instead of one vague claim ("tailored to your needs"), this ad names the exact situations a real prospect is actually in, and lets them self-select into the one that applies. It doesn't ask the viewer to imagine how it's relevant — it tells them.

The takeaway

Both companies can afford whatever agency they want. The gap between these two ads isn't a budget gap — it's a positioning decision. One assumes the audience will fill in the "why should I care." The other does that work for them.

Running paid media without someone asking "why should they believe this, specifically" first is spend without leverage. That's the piece we build before we ever touch an ad account.

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