D2C Diaries
Loukas Hambi and Olly Hudson
Join Olly Hudson and Loukas Hambi in a laid-back yet insightful podcast, where we dive into the heart of D2C and e-commerce. With a combined experience of managing over £150 million in ad spend across Meta and TikTok and helping scale over 200 brands, we bring you a digestible blend of performance, operational, and creative wisdom.
Episodes
What £32M in Ad Spend Taught Us About Black Friday | Offers, Creative & LPs BFCM 2026
We managed over £32M in ad spend in November last year. This episode breaks down everything we learned what you need to prep now to hit the ground running going into Q4. We cover how to phase Q4 so October builds the audience you'll sell to in November, how to build offers around your margins and show the value clearly, what last year's creative audit showed about statics, urgency and reskinned winners, and why landing pages could be your quickest win. If you're planning peak for a DTC brand on Meta, this is your October prep list.This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=podGet our BF/CM playbook for free here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0yS4M3006:05 Why creative can't be left late09:06 October: build the audience before CPMs rise15:22 Are brand awareness campaigns worth it?18:06 November: from warm-up to peak week20:10 Offer is more than a discount28:12 Auditing last year's Black Friday creative43:14 Setting strategy: swing types and funnel splits51:47 What worked: high prod, factory UGC and satire1:04:16 Statics that convert and daily iteration1:07:33 Landing pages, post-click and gamificationFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
He Took ironSource to $11B. Here’s His $180M AI System for Scaling DTC| Omer Kaplan, Zyg
Before you spend more on ads, find out what's really capping your growth. Apply for a Growth Compass to unlock strategic clarity: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0yFr2w0 Omer Kaplan, co-founder of ironSource, joins Loukas to share how he's bringing the data and prediction playbook from mobile games into DTC, building agentic infrastructure to handle the work Shopify still leaves founders to do themselves. We cover predicting LTV, the margins you need before scaling, defensibility, inventory, fundraising, when to go all in, and why the best founders stay hands-on, so if you're building a consumer brand for an agentic world, this one's for you.Check out Zyg: https://www.zyg.comTimestamps: Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
What Will It Take To Win Peak 2026 - Soar x Fospha
🚀 Claim 1 of 5 Spots: 6 Months Fospha + Free Audit: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0yvPGP0It's crunch time. With BFCM just weeks out, Olly from Soar joins Fospha to break down what "ready for peak" actually looks like: the creative volume and diversity brands need, why the top 25% of performers run more campaigns in BAU than at peak itself, and how automation like Advantage+ and Smart+ is shifting the game back onto creative and offer quality.They cover forecasting creative output before Q4, scaling volume without losing intention, why upper-funnel spend keeps brands out of a reach hole, and the TikTok Shop halo effect most are underestimating. If you run paid media or creative strategy for a DTC brand, this is worth the watch.Timestamps:00:00 Intro 01:19 Introducing Phosphor and Soar 03:48 What "ready for peak" actually means 06:22 Forecasting creative volume for Q4 09:29 Building intentional creative diversity 12:58 Catching up when you're behind on volume 16:52 Peak Playbook data: preparation beats aggression 20:17 Full-funnel investment and the reach problem 23:33 Automation and the new creative requirements 28:06 Peak mistakes, and when to scale or pull back 30:41 Proving upper-funnel spend, and the TikTok Shop halo 36:08 Q&A: fatigue, measurement blind spots and iteration loopsFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
Creative Research 101 | The Hidden System Behind Ads That Scale
🚨🚀 Get your growth compass score: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0yhtSG0Loukas and Olly go back to basics on creative research: the five-factor scoring system that finds your real binding constraint before you open a single tab, and the audience, competitor and social research techniques that get you there. If you run creative strategy for a DTC brand or agency and want a sharper process for finding what to test next, this is your refresher on the fundamentals.AI Prompt: https://soarwithus.notion.site/Indirect-Competitor-Discovery-Prompt-3d711884e3c9802d843ff7eb108045c6Growth Compass "cheat sheet": https://www.notion.so/soarwithus/How-8-and-9-figure-D2C-brands-scale-spend-profitably-A-Complete-Framework-35711884e3c98073b830d1cbe90c2224?source=copy_linkTimestamps:This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=podFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
From Complete Burnout To A £40M Category Leader! Mark Scott | The Leader Mindset
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_88Mark Scott built Bella & Duke into one of the UK's biggest raw pet food brands - £40M+ revenue, 140+ employees, profitable since early on - then deliberately stepped down as CEO at £30M to get out of his own way. He breaks down how community (not audience) drove Bella & Duke's growth, why referral rate is the only way to beat the "death curve" on rising CAC, and the signals that tell a founder they've become the bottleneck. Plus: delegating KPIs not tasks, hiring people who aren't like you, and why he now spends his time doing breathwork instead of chasing another exit.Timestamps:02:58 Chopping a tree, and finding raw dog food07:51 Community vs audience, and why authenticity is uncomfortable11:03 A clear mission makes every decision easy17:34 Be more like a duck: expecting failure and letting it go20:07 Redefining the category and getting raw into retail22:31 The death curve and why referral rate is everything29:02 From pet food to full pet wellness39:32 Stepping down as CEO at £30m41:15 Are you the bottleneck? Signals to watch for46:18 Hiring people better than you, and delegating accountability49:55 Building a business vs building yourself a job51:24 Torus Tree, 9D breathwork and leading from the heart57:35 The real goal: energy, not moneyTorus Tree: https://www.torustree.com/Follow Mark Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markscottperth/This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=podFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
Meta Creative Strategy | Building Banger Yapper Ads That ACTUALLY Convert
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_87Yapper ads have taken over Meta and TikTok this year, and the best ones are almost impossible for AI to write. We break down what actually makes the format work: the "Oracle" who introduces the product, mining Reddit for real stories instead of AI slop, building curiosity loops that pay off, and turning a winning script into native ad copy, all for anyone writing or briefing DTC creative right now.Creative Intelligence Report: We've helped 250+ DTC brands generate £600M+ by fixing the thing most teams get wrong: creative. In 4 weeks, our Creative Intelligence Report audits your ad accoun to find exactly where your creative is leaking money, and hands you a 180-day roadmap to fix it. No guesswork, just real customer research and a plan you can action.Apply for your Creative Intelligence Report here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xZP9d0Resources: "Yapper" Ads Database: https://www.soarwithus.co/newsletter/yapper-ads-databaseWatch Harry Delme on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zCLVmZCoQQ&t=2sFollow Harry: https://x.com/harrydelmege_Timestamps:Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Follow Liam: https:https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
Meta AI Creative Strategy | What’s Working Now (Secrets From $100M+ Spend This Quarter)
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C+Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_87Olly and Loukas are back with a full round-up of what's working in paid social right now. They cover the AI tools turning any reference static into a new ad in minutes, why whiteboard and Miro style ads keep winning, how to audit an ad account in three steps, and the organic trends being turned into big swing formats. They close out on why landing pages are the next big skill gap for DTC brands, and how to prioritise what to build next.This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=podFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas:https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
Understanding Your True LTV and Company Value | Prof. Daniel McCarthy
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C+Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_85Daniel McCarthy is the founder of Theta and an associate professor of marketing at the University of Maryland. Private equity firms bring him in to dig through the transaction data before they buy a DTC brand, and he's done it on over 450 companies, from McDonald's to some of the biggest names in ecommerce. He breaks down the "growth report card" that shows whether a brand's growth is real or just manufactured by spend, why discounting a customer's first order drags down what they're worth long after, and why most brands have no idea where they stand when someone asks ChatGPT which brand to buy.Harvard Business Review article: How to Value a Company by Analyzing Its Customers: https://hbr.org/2020/01/how-to-value-a-company-by-analyzing-its-customersThis podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithusFollow Daniel McCarthy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcc/ Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/ Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Carl Weische - CRO Mastermind Behind IM8's $50M/Month, Spills On Funnels, Offers & Post-Click
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_84Carl Weische, founder of Accelerated Agency, runs CRO for AG1, Huel, Vessi, The Oodie, Bioniq and IM8. He breaks down why postclick and "the fragmentation of the funnel" are becoming the next big lever as media buying gets more automated and more expensive, why one product page can't sell to every customer avatar, and how he reframes offers around perceived value instead of discounting. He also tells the inside story of building IM8 from zero to over $50m a month using a network of 50 congruent, persona-driven funnels, each built around a specific ad angle.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:58 From Reselling Yeezys to founding Accelerated05:09 Media buying isn't enough anymore08:58 Postclick mistakes brands make15:27 Perceived value over discounting21:57 The IM8 story: $0 to $50m/month30:44 When to build a dedicated funnel33:42 The post-purchase upsell playbook38:58 The research most brands skip42:14 Where AI helps (and where it can't)45:02 In-house software and Claude Code48:09 The next competitive edge?...This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=podFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow Carl: https://www.youtube.com/@UCIgbiNZFqHZqIQ2Uoxxfu6w https://x.com/CarlWeische
How Lapland Turned an In-Person Experience Into a Global $20M+ DTC Empire
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_83Matt, Director of Brand & Product at Lapland UK, took a 20-year live-only Christmas experience business and turned it into a DTC brand that sold 15,000 advent calendars in under 4 hours. He breaks down why Lapland builds every product from the story first, and how they cracked the US market from zero brand awareness, landing a $250 average order value from a completely cold audience.This podcast is proudly sponsored by SATHISATHI is the affiliate platform built for Shopify brands that want the truth about their program. Cookieless multi-touch attribution shows you which affiliates drove the sale. AI-powered fraud engine catches leaked codes and self-referrals before your payout goes out. Ambassadors climb commission tiers, earn booster rewards, and see exactly what they need to unlock next. Payouts, invoices, and tax forms happen in one click.D2C Diaries listeners get 20% off, free migration from their current setup, and onboarding support from their team.Book a demo: https://www.mysathi.io/demo?utm_source=soarwithus&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=d2c_diariesFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe:https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Matt: https://www.instagram.com/mattbatts/
£1B Ecom Operator Shares His Best Advice (What e-com founders get wrong)
Paul Gedman has been in DTC longer than almost anyone we've had on the podcast - from joining The Hut Group in 2009 with 40 employees, and over nine years scaling it to £1 billion in revenue via ten acquisitions (including Look Fantastic), to now running eComplete, where he's building a model that competes directly with private equity for e-commerce acquisitions.Paul breaks down why every DTC era is defined by a different arbitrage opportunity, what actually happens once a founder takes on investment (his "5-a-side to 11-a-side" analogy is a good one), and the brutal real odds of a successful DTC exit - he puts it at 1 in 1,600 founders who get out with more than 50% of the value. We also get into why 80% of exit processes fail, the prep work founders skip that kills deals months later, and how eComplete is trying to build a hybrid model that gives founders a better shot.🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wQ_DM0This podcast is proudly sponsored by Sathi. SATHI is the affiliate platform built for Shopify brands that want the truth about their program. Cookieless multi-touch attribution shows you which affiliates drove the sale. AI-powered fraud engine catches leaked codes and self-referrals before your payout goes out. Ambassadors climb commission tiers, earn booster rewards, and see exactly what they need to unlock next. Payouts, invoices, and tax forms happen in one click.D2C Diaries listeners get 20% off, free migration from their current setup, and onboarding support from their team.Book a demo: https://mysathi.io/demo?utm_source=soarwithus&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=d2c_diariesFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-gedman-626b0666/ Follow D2C Diaries https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c_diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
We Audited 40+ 8-Figure DTC Ad Accounts in 2026. Here's What's Broken and How to Fix It
This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback https://incard.co?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=podMeta performance has been rough since March and if you're feeling it, you're not alone. Olly and Loukas are back for a solo episode breaking down exactly what's gone wrong on the platform and, more importantly, what's actually working across the 40+ audits they ran in Q2.They cover the five most common account errors they're seeing right now (most of which are quick fixes), why creative diversity has become the single biggest unlock for scaling spend, and how to run a proper gap analysis across persona, messaging, valence zones, emotional drivers, and vehicle type before you produce another asset.Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic, on Invest Like the Best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEEZPpx8qowBrian Chesky on Invest Like the Best - AI Founder mode https://youtu.be/eURcW5_uS60Creative Forecasting resource: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjPt2000:00 Intro: news and what we've been watching17:32 State of Meta: why Q2 has been tough across the board20:18 5 common account errors (attribution, audiences, funnel coverage, concentration, landing pages)28:09 What's working: The Hudson Method and creator flywheels36:36 Creative volume, gap analysis and diversifying across personas, valence & vehicle48:42 Hit rate case study: micro personas and psychological messaging in action50:58 Iterations, borrowing frameworks from non-competing brands55:24 Landing pages, quiz funnels and AOV engineering🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjzrY0 Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
What's Working in Meta Ads Right Now with Alex Cooper | AI Animation, Research & Winning Formats
This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback https://incard.co?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod ---12 months ago AI animation wasn't really a thing. Now it's a fourth creative format sitting alongside static, UGC and high production and the brands that figure it out first are going to have a significant edge.We got Alex Cooper back on D2C Diaries this week. And a lot has changed since he was last on. We got into everything. How we've built an AI videographer role into our production process and why you need a specialist not a generalist. Why winning ads right now are either hyper native or elite direct response and why everything in the middle is dying. How the pendulum has swung too far toward AI research and why the best strategists are going back to manual. Why iterations aren't dead post-Andromeda, they just need to mean something. And the brand that scaled from $1M to $45M off the back of one concept.Check out Parker AI here: https://heyparker.ai/🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjzrY0 Follow Alex https://x.com/alexgoughcooperhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgoughcooper/https://heyparker.ai/00:00 Alex Cooper returns 02:24 Our sponsor Incard04:01 The biggest shifts in creative strategy in the last 12 months05:54 How we built the AI videographer role 13:25 AI animations are here to stay16:02 Meta's persona level delivery20:04 Gap analysis, learnings and data26:55 Manual research vs AI automated research30:07 Our sponsor Incard31:45 Manual research vs AI automated research33:39 Iterations post-Andromeda38:26 Ugly vs high prod48:37 Positive framing51:22 Complexity bias in ads55:20 How Alex is using AI1:02:17 Parker AIFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The Organic Content Playbook Behind Tonic Health's 1.7M Followers: Sunna on Disrupting Supplements
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by Commercive.If you're a ecommerce business owner doing a minimum of 10+ orders per day and looking for a smarter and cost-effective way to source and fulfill from china, go to https://www.commercive.co for a free quote and fulfillment audit today.---Sunna van Kampen built 1.7M followers, generated half a billion views in 2025, and turned Tonic Health into one of the UK's fastest growing supplement brands. Without a single paid ad.What started as a Covid panic, a Boots listing that fell through and no DTC experience, forced Sunna to figure out how to reach customers from scratch. So he walked into a supermarket with a phone and started exposing what was actually in the products people were buying every week.That decision changed everything.In this episode we get into the full story. How Sunna built an organic content engine that runs on two days of filming a month, why he talks about bread more than vitamins, and how a single viral video gave him the insight behind Tonic's best selling product.We also get into the vitamin industry itself. Why the products on the shelves are underdosed by design, what Sunna found when he went into kids and baby nutrition, and why most supplement brands are built around margin rather than health.Plus the content philosophy that underpins all of it. Why Sunna's board kept pushing him to sell more, why he kept saying no, and why that decision is the reason Tonic is where it is today.---🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0w6mMv0Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Creative Strategy for Meta Ads | How a Top Creative Strategist Actually Works in 2026
This podcast is proudly sponsored by SARAL. Find influencers, reach out, manage every relationship, all in one place, without any chaos. 200+ brands including Grüns, Solawave, Spacegoods are running their influencer programs on SARAL.If that sounds like what you've been looking for, go to https://tinyurl.com/3t4d4myx and book a demo with their team. Tell them we sent you to claim your $500 discount and whiteglove onboarding.----Chris joined Hambi Media as a creative strategist with no agency experience. One year later, he's been promoted to Senior Creative Strategist working across 7-9 figure DTC brands.In this episode, the guys break down exactly what separates good creative strategists from great ones - the research process, micro personas, messaging psychology, and how Chris 8x'd hit rate in 30 days by changing just two things.This episode is for you if:- You're a founder trying to understand what great creative strategy actually looks like inside an agency- You're a creative strategist who wants to know what top 1% performance really requires- You're trying to break into creative strategy and want the most honest breakdown of what the role demandsWhat we cover:- Why manual research is the highest leverage activity in creative strategy- How micro personas unlock incremental reach without changing your frameworks- The messaging psychology shift that 8x'd hit rate in 30 days- Why AI creates the biggest opportunity in history to become a creative strategist- The deep work principle behind every great insight- What creative strategy looks like in 2 yearsChris's Substack: https://substack.com/@christopherstavropoulosChris's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisstav1/🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0v-BVd0---Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Creative Forecasting Masterclass: How to Calculate Your Exact Creative Volume for Any Spend Target
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by Commercive.If you're a ecommerce business owner doing a minimum of 10+ orders per day and looking for a smarter and cost-effective way to source and fulfill from china, go to https://www.commercive.co for a free quote and fulfillment audit today.----Most brands have a creative volume problem and don't know it.In this masterclass, Olly breaks down the Creative Forecasting model Soar Group uses across its client base (brands spending anywhere from £100K to £5M a month on Meta) to answer the one question that unlocks scale: how many new creatives do I need to produce each month to hit my spend target?You'll learn how to pull and classify your ad inventory, run cohort survival analysis to get your real churn rate, calculate your win rate and half-life, and plug those numbers into a demand equation that tells you exactly how many ads to launch each month, whether you're holding spend or scaling to a new target.Olly also covers why volume without diversity stalls accounts, how to map creative gaps across personas and angles, and the negative spiral most brands sleepwalk into when creative becomes a cost centre instead of a growth lever.By the end of this episode you'll have a repeatable forecasting process you can run on your own account today.The cheat sheet resource: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vzzg60🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vzzJ6000:00 Intro01:00 Our sponsor: Commercive02:20 The same trends we're seeing04:06 The challenges brands are facing05:20 Creative is the new targeting06:50 What we're seeing in audits08:45 How many creatives do we need each month?19:18 Factors that may impact the data21:33 What we're trying to avoid22:33 Personas25:57 How we help brands---Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Claude Mastermind: Building a Creative Strategy System That Powers 6K Ads Per Month
This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.Most founders building high-growth digital companies are stuck doing the same thing: toggling between apps, wrestling with spreadsheets, and manually reconciling expenses - all while trying to actually grow their business.There's a better way.Incard is the financial platform built for the way modern digital businesses actually operate. Multi-currency accounts, corporate cards with real rewards, and a fully connected banking experience - all in one place.This dedicated offer gets you:- 1 month free trial Incard Plus- All Incard Plus plan features included- 2% cashback on Ad Spend, Saas, Travel for year oneThis time-limited offer is only valid until end of May. Take control of your finances with Incard today. T&Cs apply: https://incard.co?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod---Loukas breaks down the full AI infrastructure he has built on top of Claude, from context engineering fundamentals through to a self-learning creative OS that compounds over time.In this mastermind he covers why context is the entire game right now and why your prompts matter less than you think, how Claude Skills work under the hood and how to build ones that actually compress your team's best thinking into repeatable systems, the exact 8-phase scriptwriting skill Hambi runs in production, the recursive script grader that scores every script against 10 criteria and rewrites until it ships, and the reasoning trace system that turns Claude from a tool into something that gets smarter the more you use it.Whether you're just getting started with Claude or you think you're advanced, this is the end-to-end session.Comment "Claude" below to get the reference files, CSOS template and PDFs referenced in this episode.Sarah Levinger's article on Valence Zones https://x.com/SarahLevinger/status/2021281038895546761?s=20D2C Diaries Scriptwriting Masterclass https://youtu.be/dlH4acLpd_g---🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vgMDy000:00 Intro03:27 Incard sponsor04:20 Why context is the entire game 08:08 Brand context vs domain context explained10:16 How to build a context library database14:14 Claude Skills vs Claude Code vs Claude Cowork20:38 Claude skills23:23 The CSOS - single source of truth setup on Notion26:33 Framework database 29:50 Skill building workflow31:00 Scriptwriting Skill 35:35 Incard sponsor36:28 8 phases of scripting writing skill50:22 Reporting skill53:27 Script Grader 58:28 Building operating infrastructureFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The AI Stack Behind £100M Annual Ad Spend in 2026
This podcast is proudly sponsored by SARAL. Find influencers, reach out, manage every relationship, all in one place, without any chaos. 200+ brands including Grüns, Solawave, Spacegoods are running their influencer programs on SARAL.If that sounds like what you've been looking for, go to https://tinyurl.com/3t4d4myx and book a demo with their team. Tell them we sent you to claim your $500 discount and whiteglove onboarding.---In this episode, Olly and Loukas go deep on the AI systems they've spent the last few months building inside Soar Group - the personal operating systems, the creative production infrastructure, and the internal tooling that's changing how the business runs.This isn't a conversation about AI tools. It's about the architecture underneath them.They cover:How Olly built a personal operating system based on Andrej Karpathy's LLM wiki pattern — using Obsidian connected to Claude Code. Call transcripts categorised automatically every day, Slack piped in, reasoning traces stored against every decision made in the business.How Loukas built his own version in VS Code connected to Claude Code with in-depth context on every brand, every direct report, and every specialism, plus a reinforcement learning loop built into the content pipeline.The Club Neuro AI operating system - a full web app built as a test case before rolling into the Control Room. Best performing frameworks dashboard, hooks database, one-click reporting, weekly Reddit scrape, and a UI designed to capture operator intuition at the moment it happens.The four learning loops: performance into hypothesis, hypothesis into correction, correction into rule, decision into outcome.How they hired an AI videographer targeting 60 unique concepts a month — the equivalent of 15 shoot days replaced by one person.A mass static generation system with 40-60 framework prompts, brand DNA and personas pre-loaded, ready to generate at scale.The principle that ties it all together: context compounds. Models don't.---00:00 Intro02:05 Our sponsor: SARAL03:00 Our personal operating systems we've built21:00 AI as a feedback loop24:14 Our sponsor: SARAL25:10 Our foundational context and data engine30:20 Club Neuro: creative intelligence operating system35:00 Best in class forecasting process 39:50 Our internal creative processes47:28 Business intelligence platformFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The 4 Growth Levers Every DTC Brand Needs To Audit
This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.Most founders building high-growth digital companies are stuck doing the same thing: toggling between apps, wrestling with spreadsheets, and manually reconciling expenses - all while trying to actually grow their business.There's a better way.Incard is the financial platform built for the way modern digital businesses actually operate. Multi-currency accounts, corporate cards with real rewards, and a fully connected banking experience - all in one place.This dedicated offer gets you:1 month free trial Incard PlusAll Incard Plus plan features included2% cashback on Ad Spend, Saas, Travel for year oneThis is a time-limited offer valid till the end of this month, April 2026. Take control of your finances with Incard today: https://incard.co?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod---Most people think growing a DTC brand is complicated. It doesn't have to be.In this episode, Olly and Sam break down the Growth Compass™ — Soar Group's trademarked framework for diagnosing the #1 constraint holding any ecommerce brand back from profitable growth. 4 pillars. 20 sub-factors. One binding constraint. Fix that one first. Everything else is noise.As promised in the episode — the full Growth Compass™ cheat sheet covering every sub-factor across all four pillars https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0tQ3_v0If you want us to run the full Growth Compass™ audit for your brand - scored across all 20 sub-factors with a prioritised roadmap - book a call with the team 👉 Book a call https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0tQ4SL0Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Q1 2026 D2C Debrief: AI Animation, Attribution Updates, and the Creative Gap Brands Are Missing
We're back. After a month off, a new office, two London events, and somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 ads launched... there's a lot to catch up on.In this episode, Olly and Loukas do a full Q1 2026 debrief across creative strategy, Meta attribution, offer positioning, and the frameworks they've been running across 250+ brands.---This episode is sponsored by Foreplay. Start your free trial here: https://tinyurl.com/3caahj4w---🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0tvkYy0---Resources mentioned in this episode:Brad Jacobs: How to Make a Few Billion Dollars: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Few-Billion-Dollars/dp/B0CHTQP25TRick Rubin: The Creative Act: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Act-Way-Being/dp/1838858636Jason Cohen: A Smart Bear: https://longform.asmartbear.com/jason-cohen/Oren Johnson (organic content & creator trends): https://www.youtube.com/@orenmeetsworldThe GLP-1 $1.8B four-person business: https://x.com/jonoringer/status/2039759594461839599?s=20Creative Testing Playbook: comment TESTING below and we'll send it to you---Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The Persona Mastermind: How Top 1% DTC Brands Drive Incremental Reach on Meta
🚨🚀 Your creative strategy was built for an algorithm that doesn't exist. In 4 weeks, we'll identify exactly where your creative is leaking money and hand you a roadmap on how to fix it using a persona-driven strategy that reduces CAC, beats creative fatigue, and scales spend profitably.4 week sprint. 3 hours of your time. No retainer commitment: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0sDQ-p0Most brands respond to reach problems by producing more creative. More hooks, more formats, more volume. But if you're speaking to the same emotional states in the same way, more output isn't going to move the needle.The real unlock is persona diversity — and not just at a demographic level.In this episode of D2C Diaries, Loukas breaks down the exact micro persona framework Hambi use across seven and eight figure DTC brands to drive incremental reach at scale on Meta. This is the internal process — from macro persona to micro persona mapping, through to how psychological diversity in your creative signals to Andromeda who to put your ads in front of.If you're managing serious Meta spend and incremental reach is a constraint, this is the framework to fix it.Download our persona breakdown board here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0sDQTw0Loukas published an article on micro personas, you can read that here: https://x.com/LoukasHambi/status/2028854922209374604Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
M&A Secrets for selling your DTC brand in 2026
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0slb_f0Most DTC founders have a number in their head. A valuation. An exit. A moment where the work pays off.What nobody tells you is that the decisions killing that outcome are being made right now, long before you ever sit across from an acquirer.In this episode, Olly and Loukas sit down with Paul Hanley from the Fortia Group, one of the UK's leading e-commerce M&A advisors, to pull back the curtain on what the exit process actually looks like from the other side of the table.Paul and his team have seen hundreds of DTC businesses come through their doors — from £400K startups to £50M+ brands — and the same mistakes keep showing up. Paul breaks these down.Plus Paul launches Beauty Value Labs — a new network built specifically for beauty founders who want to understand where their valuation stands today and what it could be.About Beauty Value Lab: For beauty brands doing $10M+ in revenue, the most important exit decisions are already being made, without you realising it. Years before a banker gets hired, through operating choices and reporting discipline.Beauty Value Lab is a pre-exit value engineering platform built by career investment bankers at the Fortia Group, working with founders 12 to 36 months ahead of a transaction. Membership includes quarterly Buyer-Grade Valuation Memos, ongoing decision support grounded in buyer logic, and direct access to active beauty acquirers through closed-door sessions.This is not a founder community. It sits upstream of advisors and bankers, engineering the conditions under which future transactions succeed.If you're a beauty founder building toward an exit in the next 1 to 3 years, find out more at the link below: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DfEGtuaRTYMsFYeVoK3CBQf8GH0GJ1dV/viewhttps://thefortiagroup.com/Follow Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hanley-4ab64592/Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
How to Make AI UGC Ads in 2026: Sora 2, Claude and the Full Workflow
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0s7Jtp0AI UGC has come on leaps and bounds. In this episode Loukas breaks down the exact workflow he's using right now to generate hyper-realistic UGC style ads, without booking a creator, running a shoot, or spending a fortune on production.We cover the full tech stack: Claude for prompt writing, Sora 2 for hook footage, ElevenLabs for voice cloning, ChatGPT for subject consistency, Nano Banana for B-roll generation and Kling for bringing static images to life.Then Olly and Loukas go deep on Claude skills, recursive self-improvement loops, and how they're using AI to grade scripts, review landing page congruency and build self-improving creative workflows across the agency.Comment PROMPT below and we'll send you the Claude template we use to generate Sora 2 prompts.Read Sarah's article here: https://x.com/SarahLevinger/status/2021281038895546761Recursive self improvement loop: https://x.com/vibemarketer_/status/2019435524532904205?s=46 Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Meta Insider Reveals How £100M+ Disruptor Brands Scale With Andromeda
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0rNf_N0For this episode, we’re joined by a Meta Creative Strategist working directly with some of the most disruptive brands on the platform. This is someone inside the system, helping fast-scaling brands rethink how they approach creative, performance, and growth.We unpack how the algorithm actually works in 2026 and why so many brands are still optimising for an outdated version of Meta. From the shift away from interrupting attention toward earning it, to Andromeda acting like a “super intelligent librarian” that reads the entire book rather than judging the cover, this conversation reframes how creative is interpreted at scale.We dive into why small iterative tweaks stop unlocking growth, how creative diversity fuels learning, and what really separates the top 1% of brands from everyone else. We also explore the real role of partnership ads, why identity changes how the algorithm understands your message, and where brands are over-relying on AI instead of strengthening creative judgment.If you run Meta ads, lead a DTC brand, or oversee creative strategy, this episode will likely challenge a few assumptions you didn’t realise you were making.You can download our 2026 Partnership Ads Guide here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0rNfZb0Read our Meta campaign study here: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/creative-customers/1942172This episode is sponsored by Foreplay. Start your free trial here: https://tinyurl.com/msm5ak8cFollow Maxime: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxime-menant/Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Meta Algorithm Update: How to Adjust Your Organic and Paid Media Strategy
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0rw0Jc0From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/In this episode, we break down Meta’s latest algorithm updates — including UTIs and the next phase of Andromeda and what they actually mean for reach, creative strategy, and performance.We explore why Meta is moving away from engagement-led optimisation toward interest alignment, how organic content is increasingly training paid delivery, and why generic, broad hooks are losing effectiveness. The conversation digs into creative diversity, persona depth, and how brands should rethink both organic and paid as part of the same system.We also share how we’re experimenting with Claude Skills, Co-worker, and Claude Code inside our creative strategy team, moving from prompt engineering to codified inputs, context-driven workflows, and structured delegation.This is a practical, operator-level discussion on how platforms are changing, how strategy needs to evolve, and where AI genuinely creates leverage without the hype.Read Olly's Meta GEM article here: https://x.com/oliverwhudson/status/2016142894504047008You can download Olly's Partnership ads guide here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0rw5St0Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The 2026 Meta Playbook: Creative Formats, Personas & Scaleable Structures
In this episode, we break down what’s actually driving Meta performance right now and why the brands scaling in 2026 aren’t chasing more creative, but building smarter systems around personas and AI.We go deep into how top-performing accounts are reusing existing assets, structuring creative by persona, and using AI to unlock speed, diversity, and incremental reach... without burning teams out or inflating creative costs.We also cover what’s next for high-production creative, why emotional authenticity still beats AI in key moments, and how founders and teams should be thinking about context, not prompts, as AI becomes embedded in everyday work.If you’re a founder, head of growth, or creative leader trying to scale Meta in a world where targeting is gone and AI is everywhere, this episode will reset how you think about creative strategy.Deep research AI guide here: https://kylepoyar.substack.com/p/deep-research-for-gtm?r=10j51v&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=trueFrom the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0rls0q000:00 Intro01:15 Creative formats we're using right now11:20 Next evolution of AI generated content15:30 Creative testing strategy (ABO vs. CBO vs. ASC)17:40 Criteria for deeming a scalable ad19:40 ASC by persona scaling campaigns22:40 The "Bidcap Graveyard" hack24:20 Exclusions in ad setup25:50 Intentional persona mapping30:50 Post-purchase surveys for purchase triggers34:10 AI-powered customer interviews 35:20 Do not turn off winning ads36:50 Importance of AI experimentation39:00 Claude Skills and Co-worker42:15 Context engineering over prompt engineering44:20 Building a Claude Skill for script writing51:45 The rise of vibe codingFollow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudsonFollow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marstonFollow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
How to Hire (or Create) Elite Creative Strategists for DTC Brands | Meta Ads & Creative Strategy
How we’re solving the biggest hiring bottleneck in DTC (and why Meta’s backing it). There’s a shortage of world-class creative strategists and it’s slowing down growth for agencies and brands alike.You can apply for the incubator here: Apply here: https://apply.workable.com/soar-with-us/j/F587A37B6F/You can find more information on the opportunity here: https://www.notion.so/soarwithus/Are-you-ready-to-launch-your-career-in-performance-marketing-2e611884e3c980589a44cb0d73c6bfb8In this episode, Olly and Loukas break down how Soar/Hambi are solving the problem from the inside out… by launching the UK’s first Creative Strategist Incubator.Whether you're hiring for this role or trying to be the hire, this episode covers:— Why great creative strategists are so hard to find (and even harder to train)— The exact soft skills to screen for if you're hiring— How we built a system to turn generalists into high-performance strategists fast— What Meta told us about upcoming creative similarity changes and why they're backing this programme— Who this is for, how to apply, and what’s actually includedApplications for the first 5-person cohort are now open.This is not a junior marketing role.This is the MBA for creative strategy. Apply here: https://apply.workable.com/soar-with-us/j/F587A37B6F/Chris’s newsletter (featured in the episode): https://copychris.substack.com/Timestamps: 00:00 Intro01:16 The shortage of great creative strategists03:50 What makes a great CS: baseline traits + transferable skills07:53 Incubator announcement12:01 9–12 month pathway to Creative Strategist role14:51 Why CS is hard to train15:56 Training method + modules21:48 Scriptwriting focus: train hardest first27:58 Gold Standard scorecard34:18 Why people leave companies: managers, progression, culture45:24 What’s next: course content + apply linkFrom the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: www.soarwithus.coFollow Loukas on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
How IM8 Hit $120M in 11 Months | Danny Yeung on Scaling the World’s Fastest Growing Supplement Brand
IM8 went from $0 to a $120M run rate in just 11 months and they’re targeting $300M by the end of 2026.In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly sits down with Danny Yeung, CEO and co-founder of IM8 Health, to unpack how he built one of the fastest-growing supplement brands in the world.From bringing on David Beckham as co-founder, to replacing 16 supplements with one clinically-backed daily drink, to assembling a scientific board with experts from NASA, UFC and Mayo Clinic, Danny shares the full playbook behind IM8’s explosive growth.You can watch our IM8 breakdown here: https://youtu.be/FSO_kiGOVu8Download the IM8 funnel resource here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0q_2-h0
Dan Murray on the £25M Brain Health Brand Celebrities Swear By
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0qMvq60What does it take to scale a wellness brand to £25M+ after your first startup crashes, your health collapses, and you’re told sleeping pills are the only way out?In this episode, Dan Murray-Serter, co-founder of Heights, breaks down the unfiltered journey of building one of the UK’s fastest-growing brain health brands. From startup failure and burnout-induced insomnia to founding a category-defining company used by real celebrity customers, Dan shares the mindset shifts, health breakdowns, and bold brand decisions that fuelled Heights’ rise.We talk:How burnout and gut issues led to a £25M brandWhy Heights rejected nootropics hype and built around boring fundamentalsHow they landed celebrity endorsements Why real customer obsession beats clever marketingThis one’s part growth playbook, part founder therapy. Raw, honest, and genuinely useful for any DTC operator or founder building through the pain.Follow Dan on socials:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmurrays/X: https://x.com/danmurraysFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOX: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BX: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: / d2c.diariesInstagram: / d2c_diaries
The Ecommerce Playbook for 2026: Strategy, Trends, and Lessons from 2025
If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0qBQFh0In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas break down the biggest lessons from 2025 and what they believe will be the single biggest changes shaping e-commerce in 2026.They recap a huge Black Friday (nearly $40M spent on Meta in November), explain why Q5 (Boxing Day → early January) is the most underutilised growth window of the year, and share a clear creative framework for capturing short-lived New Year motivation without defaulting to lazy discounting.The conversation also goes deep on leadership and operating lessons from scaling Soar - feedback loops, urgency, prioritisation, process mistakes - before closing with the D2C Diaries Awards, standout brands and campaigns, and predictions for where channels, creative, and acquisitions are heading next.If you’re a founder, operator, or marketer planning for January and beyond, this episode is essential listening.00:00 Intro01:48 Black Friday recap: $40M spend & what actually worked04:18 Why brands forget to analyse BFCM cohorts06:17 What this episode covers07:15 What is Q5 (and why it matters)?08:10 Why CPMs drop after Christmas09:17 The “flash in the pan” New Year motivation window10:25 Q5 creative framework: TOF vs BOF mistakes13:05 Why brands go too bottom-of-funnel14:00 Creative mix for Q5 (TOF / MOF / BOF)16:03 Outcome-led offers that outperform discounts17:14 What was happening in Jan 202519:12 Biggest leadership lessons from 202523:42 Prioritisation, planning & time-blocking27:45 Process rollouts & buy-in mistakes29:41 Why urgency compounds growth32:01 D2C Diaries Awards40:11 New brand of the year: IM841:24 DTC dominator of the year48:31 Most viral campaign of 202556:11 Predictions for e-commerce in 20261:02:47 Brands to watch in 20261:04:03 OutroFollow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olly-hudson/Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c_diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
SEO Playbook for Ranking in ChatGPT & AI Search in 2026 | Thomas Phillips
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0p-Mxb0SEO made £13.9M. ChatGPT made £175K. So why is everyone chasing AI?In this episode, Olly sits down with Thomas Phillips, founder of DTC SEO Agency and a veteran of 17 brand exits, to cut through the noise around AI SEO.Tom breaks down how one of their clients generated £175K in revenue from ChatGPT at a 19.7% conversion rate, yet that same brand made £13.9M from traditional SEO in the same 90-day window. The kicker? The strategy behind both is almost identical.From backlinks and content depth to digital PR and entity trust, Tom explains why the fundamentals of ranking haven’t changed. AI has just added a shiny new label. If you're chasing AI visibility without nailing your SEO baseline, you’re prioritising tactics over foundations.---We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Space Good 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email [email protected] the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/00:00:00 Intro to Thomas Phillips 00:04:30 The journey to 17 brand exits using SEO00:07:50 Starting the DTC SEO agency00:09:20 The rise of AI SEO and how to track it00:14:00 AEO vs GEO: The 2 types of AI SEO00:15:55 How to rank in Google’s AI Overviews00:18:00 Why long-tail, question-based content still wins00:22:35 How brands are ranking in AI search00:25:45 How to get unbiased ChatGPT rankings00:27:15 An increase in branded searches00:28:40 Shopify X ChatGPT integration00:30:10 How to rank long-term in AI search00:32:00 Link building and credibility still drives SEO00:42:20 SEO fundamentals top brands are doing00:45:15 Where newer brands should start with search00:49:10 The future of AI search + DTC landscape00:57:25 AI usage across content01:00:35 Key takeaways of AI SEOFollow Tom:https://www.instagram.com/thomasmrphillipshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tomphillipsofficial/https://x.com/thomasmrphttps://www.dtcseoagency.com/Follow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The 2025 Growth Blueprint: How Soar With Us Rebuilt Culture, Operations & Forecasting to Scale
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0pQjYt0In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas sit down with Matt Lewis, Managing Director of Soar Group and the very first hire in the business, to break down the real operating system behind Soar’s growth.The rebuilds, the mistakes, the hard lessons, and the frameworks that turned 2025 into Soar’s strongest year yet.If you’re a founder, operator, agency owner, or business leader, this is one of the most valuable conversations we’ve recorded. It’s a deep dive into culture, leadership, operations, forecasting, talent density, and how fast-growing companies actually scale from the inside.Matt has been part of Soar from day one and has scaled the group to nearly 80 people. His perspective is rare, tactical, and brutally transparent.Perfect for anyone building a team, scaling an organisation, or trying to create a high-performance culture.---D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerThey’re offering $25,000 in upfront capital for just $1,800 to help you ramp up your efforts leading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This funding can be crucial for covering unexpected costs and ensuring you can double down on your best-performing ads while staying stocked. Timing is everything, so don’t miss out! https://kntn.ly/55cfeeffFrom the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/Follow Matt Lewis:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-d-lewis/Follow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The Future of Creative Strategy: How AI Is Transforming Performance Marketing in 2026
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0pzLCJ0Creative costs are climbing fast.Meta’s changed how ads learn.And AI is completely redefining what “creative strategy” means in 2026.In this episode, Olly and Loukas dive into how brands can adapt to Meta’s creative similarity update, scale creative diversity without burning resources, and build systems that use AI as part of the production line — not a side tool.They unpack what happens when 70% of your iterations get grouped under the same entity ID, why the role of an AI videographer is about to become one of the most important hires in performance marketing, and how tools like Sora, VEO 3.1, Nano Banana, and Gemini are reshaping the creative process.From creative operations to prompt engineering, this episode breaks down what the next wave of performance marketing really looks like and why the future belongs to the brands who move fast and systemise smarter.Watch Andrej Karpathy's podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXUZvyajciY---We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Spacegoods and 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email [email protected] the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/0:00 - Intro01:08 - Club Neuro community event03:10 - Film recommendation: “I swear”04:40 - Creative diversity revisited07:18 - The new iteration strategy15:15 - Rise of AI production19:40 - Andrej Karpathy podcast episode23:35 - New AI drops27:45 - Building our AI data warehouse36:66 - How we're using VEO 345:20 - The future of creative operations + predictionsFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Meta’s Creative Diversity Mastermind: The 2026 Playbook for Ad Performance
🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0ppm8t0Meta’s Creative Similarity Penalty just changed the rules - here’s how to protect your performance in 2026In one of the biggest creative updates since Andromeda, Meta has changed the way your ads are evaluated and most brands are getting silently penalised.This episode of D2C Diaries is a deep dive into Meta’s new Creative Similarity Algorithm, powered by Entity ID and Creative ID tracking.We tested 20 ads for a top-spending brand. Meta flagged 15 of them as identical, even though they featured different creators, different hooks, and different formats.Why? Because they looked visually similar and that now triggers Meta’s Entity ID grouping, which kills:- Incremental reach- Fresh delivery- Performance learning- CPM efficiencyThis changes everything about how DTC brands should approach ad iteration, creative testing, and campaign planning in 2026.This is the most comprehensive breakdown of Meta’s creative diversity update you’ll find, packed with examples, agency-tested frameworks, and tactical steps you can implement immediately.---D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerThey’re offering $25,000 in upfront capital for just $1,800 to help you ramp up your efforts leading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This funding can be crucial for covering unexpected costs and ensuring you can double down on your best-performing ads while staying stocked. Timing is everything, so don’t miss out! https://kntn.ly/55cfeeff---We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Space Good 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email [email protected] the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: [www.soarwithus.co](http://www.soarwithus.co/)00:00 Introduction to creative update01:35 Wayflyer's Black Friday offer03:10 What's changed on Meta05:40 We're hiring06:35 The creative diversity scale08:10 Entity ID vs creative ID09:25 Visual examples12:07 Why does Entity ID matter?13:43 How our testing has changed15:07 The building blocks of creative differentiation17:50 How to test21:40 Creative vehicles we're leaning into23:45 Iterating with visual differentiation + hooks30:20 Static iteration examples37:00 How we're adjusting our approachFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The D2C Reset: Creative Strategy, Incremental Reach, and What’s Working Now
The D2C landscape has been completely rewritten in the last six months.Meta’s changing what it rewards. AI is reshaping how we research, test, and create. And the creative tactics that worked just half a year ago are already burning out.In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas break down what’s actually driving performance right now and how smart brands are adapting to find incremental reach in a tougher, more competitive landscape.They dig into what Meta is really rewarding in 2025, why format and hook now matter more than volume, and how to build creative that signals to the algorithm - not just the audience.The conversation covers the building blocks of modern creative strategy, how they’re using Grok + Reddit for sharper audience research, and why founder ads, nostalgia, and demographic nuance are quietly outperforming trend chasing.They also unpack a new GMV MAX tactic that’s driving £6–7K/day for clients and discuss how subtle shifts in creative structure are helping brands scale sustainably.🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nQz9n00:00 — Intro2:03 — Liquid Death controversy explained7:44 — Creative similarity and incremental reach14:42 — Using AI (Grok/X) for persona and audience research17:57 — Google Trends & keyword analysis for insight22:58 — Tailoring creative for personas and demographics29:07 — Messaging depth, market sophistication, and emotion35:06 — Creative formats, founder ads, and persona-driven hooks42:25 — TikTok Shop, AI content, and evolving creative execution49:46 — Static ads, nostalgic hooks, and final takeawaysFrom the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: [www.soarwithus.co](http://www.soarwithus.co/)Follow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
How Jack Rubin Scaled Purdy & Figg to 1 in 20 Homes with One Product
Purdy & Figg has quietly become one of the most impressive DTC brands in the UK. 1 in 20 households now use the product. But what’s more impressive is how they've done it:One product. One market. One channel. For six years.In this episode, Jack breaks down how he's stayed this focused and why most brands burn growth by diversifying too early.We get into how Purdy & Figg became the blueprint for creative volume, running 180 shoots a year and scaling a performance team in-house before it was trendy. Now, he's pivoting again, this time toward creative *diversity*, building campaigns that stretch across YouTube, TV, podcasts and radio.He talks honestly about the real impact of brand spend, the cash flow pain of TV, and why DR alone will never build a lifestyle brand. There's deep insight here on CAC, media mix, testing frameworks, org structure and how to lead a DTC company without losing your grip on creative.This conversation lays out exactly how to scale performance and brand, without sacrificing either.🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nQwsq0
The New Meta Ad Playbook: Avoiding Creative Similarity on Meta
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerRunning an ecom brand and struggling with cash flow? Whether you're scaling ad spend or restocking bestsellers ahead of peak season, Wayflyer provides fast, non-dilutive funding tailored to e-commerce businesses. No equity. No months of waiting. Just the capital and insights you need to grow, on your terms. Check them out: https://tinyurl.com/4jfc8yejCreative similarity is quietly killing Meta ad performance and most brands have no idea it’s happening.In this episode of D2C Diaries, we dive into the biggest update to Meta’s creative delivery system since Andromeda: how visual similarity between ads is now being flagged and penalised, even when the creator, script, or copy is different.Read Olly's update here: https://x.com/oliverwhudson/status/1975537673470132358This isn’t theory. We’ve seen the impact inside high-spend accounts over the past 6 months.Brands that look like they’re iterating are actually just reskinning. Meta sees it. And performance suffers.We share how one client went from £54k to £622k/week in spend by building persona-led creative that delivers stronger signals. We unpack what Meta really wants from your ad account in 2025 and why creative diversity now matters more than creative volume.We also break down the 3 new in-platform creative metrics Meta is rolling out (Creative Similarity, Fatigue, and Top Themes), how CPMR and New Visitor % are changing how we benchmark creative success, and why testing strategies need to evolve beyond micro iterations.Read Jason Yim's update here: https://x.com/jasonyimco/status/1975687580449710215🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nQwmw00:00 Intro2:51 How Meta reframed creative diversity9:30 Asset similarity explained10:35 Persona-led strategy 13:55 Volume vs quality of assets15:25 Signal engineering: how Meta reads engagement17:00 Tracking Meta performance24:23 Creative strategy: vehicles, angles, and hooks26:20 Concept-level variations and visual diversification33:00 Meta introducing 3 new creative metrics39:20 Brand consistency vs creative diversity42:14 Creative production scale challenges43:40 Sora’s leap in speed, cost, and realism48:20 OpenAI + Shopify + Stripe integrations 50:20 Further AI advancements55:35 Tactical Section: Black Friday prep 1:01:28 Final Thoughts From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: www.soarwithus.coFollow Sam on socials:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-wright-324737216/Follow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
How To Run Partnership Ads on Meta Like The Top 1%
How to Scale DTC Brands with Third-Party AdsStruggling to scale Meta ads without killing your CPA? In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly breaks down the exact whitelisting and partnership ad strategies we’re using across 8 figure ad accounts to unlock First-Time Impression Ratio (FTI) and drive incremental reach.This internal training reveals why Meta’s Andromeda algorithm update makes creative and third-party identity the new targeting, how to build high-performing whitelisting ad funnels, and what most DTC brands get wrong when trying to scale on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll learn how to use creator-led content, publisher positioning, and partnership ads to lower CPMs, improve engagement, and grow your customer base profitably.Whether you’re running ads for a DTC brand or managing a performance team, this is a plug-and-play strategy for scaling Meta spend without burning efficiency.Watch the full Meta ad strategy training now to see how we do it.00:00 What this session covers02:17 How Meta has changed03:18 What Meta Andromeda is06:07 What FTI is and how to track it11:30 The FTI funnel12:30 Why now is the time to adopt third-party ads13:48 The 3 types of third-party delivery on Meta23:45 What best-in-class looks like: 3 funnel examples29:10 Brands doing this well (and why to study them)30:05 Tactical ways to execute for your brand34:05 Results you'll see when done right35:13 How to measure success (FTI, CPM, visitor % etc)37:30 5 action points to takeaway
The Product-Led Strategy That Rebuilt Hera: Holly Beadle
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerRunning an ecom brand and struggling with cash flow? Whether you're scaling ad spend or restocking bestsellers ahead of peak season, Wayflyer provides fast, non-dilutive funding tailored to e-commerce businesses. No equity. No months of waiting. Just the capital and insights you need to grow, on your terms.Check them out: https://tinyurl.com/4jfc8yejMost founders obsess over CAC, ad spend and creative testing, but almost no one talks about the thing that actually drives LTV: Product.In this episode, we sit down with Holly Beadle, CEO of Hera, who took over a legacy fashion brand right before Black Friday and had to rebuild it from the ground up. Just product, operations, and a brutal growth ceiling to solve.You won’t hear any fluff here. Just the raw truth about:- What happens when you scale before you’re ready- How product scaled the brand- The real role of CX, refunds, and fulfilment in retention- How Holly thinks about launches, core categories, and loyalty- What most operators get wrong when they inherit a brandThis isn’t a growth-hack playbook. It’s a look behind the curtain of what rebuilding a real DTC brand actually looks like, especially when product is the lever that works.🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nv7p900:00 Hera’s origins & acquisition story4:14 Early days at Gymshark + MyProtein 6:02 Taking over Hera: product vs. CEO role8:43 Talent development at The Hut Group10:30 Hera acquisition: first steps & early struggles16:19 Product development & trend forecasting19:47 80/20 rule in product21:24 Acquisition vs. retention through product23:57 3 key product tips for founders29:04 The friction between product & marketing32:23 Entering new markets & territory growth36:33 Marketing mix post-acquisition: paid vs. organic42:12 Influencer collabs + Partnerships47:08 Growth strategy + Black Friday52:56 Building the team & hiring for scrappiness57:06 AI in the business59:04 A day in the life as CEO & being a parent1:04:53 Vision for Hera over the next 3–5 yearsFollow Holly and Herahttps://www.instagram.com/holly.beadlex/https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-beadle-4308b037/https://heraclothing.com/Follow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson
Scaling to £35M+ with Minimal Meta Spend: Pure Pet Food's Story
Before pet food was “DTC sexy,” Pure Pet Food was scaling with zero ad spend.In this episode, Matt and Joe unpack how they built early traction through scrappy tactics like event pitching, awards, and PR - not Meta. With just a £300 council grant and no industry experience, they grew the brand to £1M+ in revenue without touching paid media.They share how that foundation led to VC backing and how they leveraged Meta spend, a custom subscription stack, and retention-first thinking to push past 8 figures.If you’re early-stage and trying to scale without burning cash, or already spending and want to scale smarter, this one’s for you.🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nkf8h000:00 Meet Pure Pet Food04:35 Early failures + finding purpose12:09 Early adoption into the pet food category14:30 The rise of subscription pet food16:50 How they were scouted for Dragons Den 19:20 Pitch experience 23:45 The impact post-air date25:40 Inflection point for the business28:03 Scrappy techniques29:30 Hiring proactive team members32:20 Raising investment36:50 Understanding the game of venture39:55 Overraising = pressure to 10x42:10 How they unlocked Meta49:15 In-house growth restructure 50:40 Scaling and testing 54:35 Retention & subscription flywheel56:55 Post-purchase flows & feedback1:02:20 Future vision for Pure Pet Food1:04:50 Will they exit?Follow Pure Pet Foodhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mathew-cockroft-78bb2489/https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemitchellcreative/https://www.purepetfood.comFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
How Martyn Cook Scaled a Brand That Fortified 250M Meals
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerRunning an ecom brand and struggling with cash flow? Whether you're scaling ad spend or restocking bestsellers ahead of peak season, Wayflyer provides fast, non-dilutive funding tailored to e-commerce businesses. No equity. No months of waiting. Just the capital and insights you need to grow, on your terms.Check them out: https://tinyurl.com/4jfc8yejThis mission-first ecom brand has fortified 250 million meals without compromising scale.In this episode, Olly and Loukas sit down with Martyn Cook, founder of Noobru, the mission-first ecom brand that’s already fortified 250 million meals for malnourished children and is on track for 1 billion.But this isn’t charity for charity’s sake. It’s mission-led growth done right.They break down:- Mission-first growth (with real impact)- The unit of good concept and how to apply it- How mission affects AOV, retention, and partnerships- The downside of “fake” charity positioning- Tactical stuff: upsells, advertorials, and affiliate scaleIf you're a founder who wants to scale with purpose (and still keep control) this one's unmissable.0:00 Meet Martyn Cook: Founder of Noobru03:15 The brand background05:20 The whiteboard method06:50 Identifying malnutrition as the problem to solve09:10 What can you build that keeps your interest?10:45 Addressing the hot take14:10 The 'unit of good' framework20:05 Optimising everything by 1%26:40 Advertorials as a method for acquisition38:50 Dipping into founder style creatives40:05 Upsells and cross-sells unlocking 30–50% more AOV47:50 How super affiliates help you scale57:40 What's next for Noobru & the future of ecom in the AI eraFollow Martyn on socials:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martyn-cook/Podcast: https://smarterdestiny.com/series/podcast/https://noobru.com/Follow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
A Proven Meta Blueprint for Reaching New Customers at Scale
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerRunning an ecom brand and struggling with cash flow? Whether you're scaling ad spend or restocking bestsellers ahead of peak season, Wayflyer provides fast, non-dilutive funding tailored to e-commerce businesses. No equity. No months of waiting. Just the capital and insights you need to grow, on your terms.Check them out: https://tinyurl.com/4jfc8yejCPMs climbing. Frequency spiking. CAC creeping up... If you’ve felt your Meta ads are “hitting a ceiling”, this episode is for you.We break down incremental reach, the hidden KPI that dictates whether your Meta spend is actually reaching net new audiences or just recycling the same eyeballs.Inside this episode we cover:- What incremental reach really means (and how to measure it)- The signals your account is fatiguing (and how to fix it fast)- Why creative strategy is the #1 lever for reducing frequency and unlocking growth- How to forecast the creative volume you actually need to scale- Our research process for uncovering new personas, pain points, and angles- The account structures that work best at 5-figure+ daily spendThis is the Meta Blueprint for founders and marketers who want to scale without killing CAC or exhausting their warm audience.We’ve stress-tested these strategies across 8 and 9-figure DTC brands and they work.0:00 Intro2:36 Today’s topic: incremental reach explained5:40 What is incremental reach (and how to measure it)10:10 Creative as the key lever to fix incremental reach12:00 Breaking down the creative strategy layers15:45 Meta creative fatigue reports17:00 Quick creative wins19:45 Researching new personas & angles 32:50 Using AI to uncover hidden pain points & angles34:20 Seasonality35:15 Forecasting creative volume45:00 Account structure & testing strategies 48:30 Scaling winners50:30 Why consolidation helps incremental reach at scaleFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
We Blew £30K on AI Workflows Trying to Scale Creative Ops
D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerRunning an ecom brand and struggling with cash flow? Whether you're scaling ad spend or restocking bestsellers ahead of peak season, Wayflyer provides fast, non-dilutive funding tailored to e-commerce businesses. No equity. No months of waiting. Just the capital and insights you need to grow, on your terms.Check them out: partners.wayflyer.com/soarIn this episode, Olly sits down with Soar COO Sam to unpack the hard lessons from their early experiments with AI.After spending over £30K on tools, workflows, and automation frameworks that quickly became obsolete, the team realised they were solving the wrong problem.This episode dives into the strategic shift that followed, from prompt engineering to context engineering, from static workflows to scalable infrastructure.You’ll learn: – What context engineering actually looks like inside a creative team – The difference between business-level vs process-level context – How to build agentic systems that don’t collapse under real-world complexity – How Soar’s internal AI Committee drives bottom-up adoption across departmentsIf you're building with AI inside a fast-moving team, this is the blueprint we wish we had six months ago.Watch Andrej Karpathy’s LLM Breakdown Video: https://youtu.be/EWvNQjAaOHwComment on our Youtube "AI" to receive Sam's run-through on how to 10x creative strategy by using AI-powered context engineering00:00 Introducing Sam and his role with AI 07:10 Where our AI systems broke (and why)11:10 Business-level vs process-level context14:15 Codifying human judgment into systems15:30 Flashy tools vs infrastructure that scales17:45 Our internal AI committee28:50 Slope vs intercept thinking in AI builds32:30 Data warehousing39:35 Creating UGC briefs with MCP52:20 Setting brands up for the next 6 months1:00:00 The S-tier tools we're actually using
Black Friday 2025: The Exact Strategy Behind £45M in Revenue
Black Friday isn’t just another sales weekend, for some DTC brands, it makes up 90% of yearly revenue.In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas break down the exact playbook that drove £45M in sales from £11.5M in Meta ad spend during Black Friday 2024 and reveal how they’ve evolved the strategy for 2025.You’ll learn:- The proven goal-setting framework to anchor your BFCM strategy- Offer strategies that actually convert without overcomplicating- Why creative iteration beats “net new” assets every time- Lead generation tactics to fill your funnel before Q4- How gifting angles and TikTok Shop are reshaping 2025 BFCM🔥 Exclusive Giveaways:Comment “peak” to get Week 1 of our Ultimate BFCM Series, including the Black Friday Master Sheet to set your goals and targets.Comment “offer designs” to unlock 30 Canva templates for static ad creatives you can plug straight into your campaigns.This is your 2025 Black Friday playbook. Don’t leave 90% of your revenue to chance.0:00 Sharing our learnings from £45M in BFCM revenue03:30 Unit economics with our master sheet9:30 Crafting a great Black Friday offer14:20 Forecasting, pacing, and daily revenue tracking16:00 Lead generation in Q4 success19:30 How to execute top-of-funnel lead gen campaigns21:30 Lead gen case studies22:30 Urgency, exclusivity & scarcity as lead gen drivers25:00 Gamification & referral mechanics that work27:30 Looking at past data30:30 Funnel splits for creative and reusing top performers34:00 Static vs video performance in BFCM36:30 Obscure hooks 37:50 Q4 consumer psychology42:00 Middle and bottom of funnel48:10 Hook frameworks54:25 How to scale creative volume without burning out57:20 TikTok Shop predictions for Q4 202559:30 Reactive CRM plays 1:00:30 Wrap-up + future deep divesFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
£10M+ E-commerce CRO Tactics with Dylan Ander
CRO is the growth lever 99% of DTC brands are ignoring.In this episode, Olly is joined by Dylan Ander, ex-agency owner, 2x eCom founder, and now the creator of Heatmap.com, the CRO tool quietly powering some of the highest-performing brands online.They break down the post-click strategies the top 1% are using to scale profitably and why your landing page might matter more than your creative.You’ll learn:- Why CRO is the real 80/20 of DTC growth- What metrics actually matter (hint: not conversion rate)- Why you should stop sending traffic to over-engineered PDPs- How Dylan helped brands unlock 7 figures from simple CRO tweaks- Tactical wins around landing pages, AOV, revenue per session & moreThis is a must-listen for founders, creative strategists, and media buyers looking to scale beyond the click.0:00 - Why we’re talking CRO, not ads3:00 - Top 1% brands are doing these 3 things13:25 - Listicles, bundles, ugly pages that scale15:10 - Review mining + customer data19:18 - Quickest wins in CRO28:10 - Why conversion rate is a vanity metric31:45 - Offer testing = huge CRO lever37:29 - Dylan’s journey into SaaS41:20 - Why Dylan built Heatmap43:00 - Operating principles of SaaS 46:55 - How top users get value from Heatmap49:20 - Where AI + CRO are heading53:10 - Pricing
Scriptwriting Mastermind: How We Use Storytelling to Outperform 80% of Meta Ads
Most brands creatives live at the bottom of the funnel, battling over the same small pool of ready-to-buy customers.But 80% of our best-performing ads? They start much higher up.In this episode of D2C Diaries, Loukas shares the exact internal training we run with our creative strategists on the hardest skill in paid social: storytelling.You’ll see how we script for unaware and problem aware audiences (the stages most brands ignore) and why they’re the biggest unlock for scaling cold traffic.From building 15–40 second setups to weaving human desires into scripts, this is the framework we use to turn good ads into top performers.This session was too valuable to keep behind closed doors, so Loukas re-filmed the whole thing for our channel.Watch the training now and learn how to tell stories that sell.00:00 Storytelling as the hardest paid social skill02:53 Evolution of the funnel04:40 Funnel stages & messaging09:58 Hooking cold audiences without the product12:50 Pitfalls that kill storytelling18:55 Cutting fluff in scripts24:00 Ditching jargon28:12 Using human desires39:10 Messaging by market sophistication51:00 Curiosity loop techniques56: 45 Best-in-class examples1:01:30 Recap & key takeaways
Reinventing Creative Strategy with AI: Alex Cooper
Creative strategy is evolving, fast. And Alex Cooper is one of the sharpest minds pushing the industry forward.In this episode, we dig into the intersection of AI and creativity: how brands can scale content that actually converts, why performance-first storytelling matters now more than ever, and what the strategist’s role really looks like in 2025.Alex shares:- How AI is changing the business model of creative agencies- How AI is already reshaping the creative strategists role- What it takes to scale content in 2025 with AI- Why Alex believes "briefing will be the most valuable skill in the next 12 months"- Why agencies that don’t build internal IP will lose to ones that do- And why the next wave of winning agencies will look nothing like the old onesWhether you're deep in the weeds of performance creative or rethinking your workflow post-ChatGPT, this conversation is a roadmap for the next chapter of creative strategy.0:00 Who is Alex Cooper? His positioning in AI + creative strategy3:12 Meta + TikTok creative formats working now 8:00 Why video gen is worth investing in + use cases14:45 Ugly ads with AI19:15 Longform ads20:30 Unaware + problem aware ads27:07 Why best practices often don’t apply29:17 Other timeless tactics32:15 Formats that are declining35:00 High prod vs low prod37:20 Why many creative problems are research problems43:00 Training creative strategy teams + internal ops47:00 Studying the TikTok organic feed48:45 Incentivise framework for teams50:35 Hardest skill to train for creative strategists57:20 Alex’s favourite AI use cases1:04:45 Tools to enhance workflow1:08:00 The role of creative strategists in 12-24 months1:10:25 AI creative vs authenticity 1:13:20 The future of creative agenciesFollow Alex on socials:Twitter: https://x.com/alexgoughcooperYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC_M813lRmlnrqHDs5COWRGA Follow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Scaling DTC Ad Creative with JSON Prompts and Veo 3
What happens when you give Loukas two weeks, a cleared calendar, and unrestricted access to Google’s new Veo 3?You get a repeatable system for generating scroll-stopping ad hooks, without touching a camera.In this episode of D2C Diaries, Loukas breaks down the exact prompt structure we now use within the agency group to turn ChatGPT JSON prompts into Veo 3-generated ads. Whether you’re scaling a best-performing hook or building a fresh creative system from scratch, this workflow will save your team hours and unlock new angles faster.We cover: – How Loukas used JSON formatting to get better results from Veo 3 – The key components of creating a high-performing AI hook – Real examples of hooks we’ve built and scaled across Meta – Why realism often kills performance (and absurdity wins). – How to use Veo 3 + ChatGPT to 10X creative volume in your ad accountWe’re also giving away the exact JSON prompt template we now use in the agency.👉 Drop robot in the YouTube comments and we’ll send it to you.Watch the videos featured!Motion's baby podcast: https://x.com/rezakhadjavi/status/1935690909984665644Too short for Modeling Liquid Death Ad https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLkPcDmPchO/This episode is for founders, CMOs, and creative strategists ready to build faster and scale smarter.00:00 What is Veo 3 and why it matters for DTC creative06:40 Examples of scroll-stopping AI ads15:15 Examples of hook variations with VEO 318:30 How we use ChatGPT + Veo 3 together with JSON25:30 Constraints to VEO 329:10 How to use Flow within VEO 3 35:20 Product rendering + brand integration in AI videos39:10 Use cases of VEO 341:30 Legal, IP and content authenticity concerns49:40 Final thoughts + how to get the full prompt templateFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
Matt Kelly Returns to Break Down the Path from £10M to £50M
Matt Kelly is back on the podcast, 9 months after his first episode, and a lot has changed.In this brutally honest conversation, Matt opens up about what it really feels like to scale a wellness brand beyond 8 figures.We talk:– Space Goods has gone from £3.5M to a projected £18M.– Growing from 1 to 15 employees in 9 months– Losing his sense of purpose as the business outgrows him– Why the rebrand feels terrifying (even after 5 months of work)– The reality of copycats launching before he does– Getting quote tweeted by Andrew Tate– And how ChatGPT is basically his creative directorIf you’re a founder, operator, or builder navigating scale, you’ll feel this one.🎧 Full episode available now.🔔 Subscribe for more behind-the-scenes convos with the operators shaping the future of DTC.00:00 Matt Kelly is back02:40 Spacegoods 2.0: start up to scale up04:05 Losing founder identity10:55 Are you happy?14:50 Setting a long term vision20:00 Spacegoods rebrand21:50 TikTok shop zombie brands24:40 Product + SKU journey25:40 What's next in health + wellness?30:32 Product development35:40 ChatGPT as Matt’s co-founder39:40 VEO 342:30 Product roadmap44:20 Retail VS DTC49:30 Getting called out by Andrew Tate53:00 Being transparent 57:30 What's next for SpacegoodsFollow Matt: https://x.com/matthuciushttps://spacegoods.com/Follow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/
The Creative Angles Powering 9-Figure Brands
Back by popular demand, this solo episode is loaded with behind-the-scenes insights on what’s working right now in the DTC performance space.Olly and Loukas get brutally honest about what it actually takes to scale creative, fix performance plateaus, and build a winning system inside a high-growth agency. From a UGC format that’s driving £1M+ in spend, to the playbooks reshaping TikTok Shop and Meta, this one’s a deep dive into what’s moving the needle.They also unpack what’s really going on with platform policy changes, the biggest brand power moves in CPG, and how Soar is levelling up systems, team, and strategy to hit new scale.If you're a founder, operator, or growth marketer looking for clarity on what works now, this is your edge.🚨 Download our Whitelisting guide here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0lNw9l00:00 We're so back1:10 Congratulations are in order...3:20 UGC deep dive: what's working10:10 Which static ads are converting14:00 High-performing high-prod ads17:40 Onomatopoeia in ads18:42 Whitelisting quick wins22:45 David Protein lawsuit30:28 Creatine scandal 2.038:55 High AOV brands on TikTok Shop46:05 Agency group operations51:25 Our creative framework database54:00 Hiring for drive57:47 What's coming nextFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/