Marketing Operators
Three marketing leaders from major DTC brands — Cody Plofker (CEO of Jones Road Beauty), Connor MacDonald (CMO of Ridge), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth at HexClad) — pull back the curtain on what actually drives growth in ecommerce. They discuss practical strategies, lessons learned, and tactics that work and don't work. The show claims to be the greatest ecommerce podcast in existence, offering an insider look at marketing operations.
Episodes
We Compare a $100 DTC Funnel vs a $100M DTC Funnel
“We weren’t doing a good job showing the value.” Where does a new brand find trust when it can’t claim a bestseller like HexClad? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) compare a scaled HexClad funnel with one from the weeks-old Winks. Step by step, they trace how each one builds trust across ads, landers
HexClad + Ridge Reveal Their 8-Figure Celebrity Sweepstakes Playbook
“Two of our winners have entered for free. They never purchased anything from us.”How did Ridge turn a 6-week Tony Hawk partnership into an 8-figure sweepstakes lift? Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) break down how sweepstakes campaigns became eight-figure growth engines for their brands. They cover celebrity deal structures, creative production, and revenu
Two $100M+ Operators Get Honest About Launching New Brands
“There’s so much that I took for granted. It’s such a different playbook.” What happens when two operators who’ve helped build nine-figure brands start again at zero? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (advisor and former CEO, Jones Road) compare notes on two new launches: Ridge’s Gut Culture and Cody’s Winks. They get into six hard lessons from the early days. (1) Building with a lean
How a 15% Price Cut Sent a Ridge Product’s Revenue Up 60%
Why do experienced operators still overcorrect on average order value? Varun Kundra (Co-founder, Aftersell by Rokt) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road) to break down the pricing missteps that quietly cost real revenue and the metric worth watching instead. The hosts compare years of pricing tests at Ridge and Jones Road. They cover three ways t
Two 2027 DTC Shifts: AI Retention Marketing & TikTok Creator Burnout
“We just had a hundred thousand people buy in the last 60 days.” What does the future of retention marketing actually look like by 2027? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) unpack what Postscript’s AI memories mean for retention marketing’s future. They map out a 2027 playbook built on personalized experiences, even as TikTok Shop’s creator economy hits a brea
Holiday Offers vs Black Friday, Cyber Monday: Which Comes First?
“Don’t let perfect measurement get in the way of good marketing” How do Ridge, HexClad and Jones Road each structure Black Friday, Cyber offers differently? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) share how holiday marketing campaigns pull their ecommerce brands in completely different directions. Shark Ninja becomes the ope
Incrementality Testing for Black Friday, Cyber Monday: What to Spend?
“It is so incredibly easy to not drive incremental results the week of Black Friday.” Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) share how they are approaching Q4 planning. Before scaling Black Friday, Cyber Monday spend, both HexClad and Ridge test incrementality with real control groups. That same discipline shape
“Leadership Is Leverage”: Motion’s CEO on the Future of Marketing
What changes when a single marketer creates as much value as an entire department? Reza Khadjavi (Founder & CEO, Motion) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road) to explain why he built Runneth, an AI agent meant to eventually replace Motion’s own product. He walks through the context engineering behind that shift and what it means for marketers
Funnel Coverage: The Upsell Fix Most Brands Never Check
How much can filtering a collection page actually lift average order value? What about cart, checkout, and post-purchase?Varun Kundra (Co-founder, Aftersell) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) to unpack how ecommerce brands raise AOV. Four levers make that possible: collection page tests, product bundles, post purchase upsells, and cross brand advertisi
Haus CMO Reveals the Incrementality Index Behind Smarter ROAS Calls
“I just don’t hear a lot of good reasons why this can’t be automated”. Can an algorithm allocate ad budget better than a human media buyer? Olivia Kory (CMO & Strategy Officer, Haus) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) to unpack incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, and early agentic media buying. Geo lift holdouts and attribution debiasin
Employee Number Four to a $1.2B Unilever Exit: Katie Cirulli’s Story
“It was the most fun role I think I’ll ever do”. How do visionary founders build teams to protect their time for big ideas? Katie Cirulli (Chief Emerging Brands Officer & fmr. President, Grüns) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road). She joined Grüns as employee four and rose from Chief of Staff to her current role. Before that, she
Creators Over Reach: How to Rewrite Your Influencer Marketing
“Borrow cultural equity executed with real partnership compounds faster than anything built in-house.” What happens when a legacy brand like Lexus stops buying reach and starts buying culture? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) trace how Lexus is using Colin and Samir to reach an audience Lexus already has.One idea driv
TikTok Shop Masterclass: Inside Ridge & HexClad Affiliate Programs
“The new infomercial is TikTok shop.” Why did Ridge see 88% of its GMV Max lift happen outside of TikTok? Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad), and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) sit down to unpack how their brands are building profitable TikTok shop affiliate programs. The conversation opens with Cody’s decision to step down as CEO of Jones Road. Connor Ma
Meta Ads Underperforming? Why + What To Do Right Now
“I don’t think our ads are any better.” Why are Meta click-through rates rising while conversion rates keep falling? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) unpack why Meta ad performance has quietly shifted across ecommerce accounts. They break down Ridge’s new chains launch and the merchandising lessons behind it, and deba
The Performance Creative Director Hire: Operator vs. Ideator
“She has built an amazing system and an amazing flywheel.” What separates a performance creative director worth hiring from one who just manages a content calendar? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) dig into what it takes to hire a director of performance creative today, why the creative strategist role has split into two distinct skill sets, and how AI agen
Big-Swing vs. Incremental: Our Ecommerce CRO Testing Framework
“All bad tests turn good and all good tests turn bad.” How do you run ecommerce A/B testing faster without sacrificing statistical confidence? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) debate when to burn the current site down and rebuild versus grinding out incremental wins one test at a time. The answer depends on what you c
The Right Way to A/B Test Landing Pages on Meta Ads for Ecommerce
“It’s not a test. It’s diversity for the Meta algorithm.” Can running more landing pages hurt your ability to make decisions? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) dig into landing page optimization strategy, conversion rate optimization for Meta ads, and when structured testing is the wrong tool entirely. They cover what Jones Road learned from overdeveloping pag
How to 2x Your A/B Testing Output Without More Budget
“We used to try to win every day. Now we’re willing to sacrifice entire months.” What does it mean to optimize ad spend when there’s no universal answer? Michael Ting (GM of DTC, JAXXON) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) to challenge one of the most common assumptions in ecommerce email marketing and paid media: that there is a single optimized ad spen
DTC Content Creation Process That Wins on Paid Social
“The digital deliverables have outpaced production company knowledge.” How do you build a repeatable content creation process without hiring a full agency? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) break down how they approach content production across every budget level; ranging from $50k brand shoot days to $100 iPhone clips
How AI Is Reshaping Ecommerce Growth Teams: HexClad & Jones Road
“We’re not hiring less because of AI. We just expect each hire to be more productive.” Is AI shrinking your marketing team, or just changing who belongs on it? Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) get into how two of the most operator-driven brands in ecommerce are rethinking their AI marketing team structure heading into the second half of 2026. They c
Meta Ads Catalog, TikTok Shops + GMV Max, and the Future of Creative
Can Meta and TikTok Shop be combined into a single playbook? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) are fresh off the Meta Performance Marketing Summit and cover what the event signaled, where paid social is heading, and what most brands are still sleeping on. They explain Meta betting big on product feed enrichment as the foundation for better AI-generated creativ
Live at Meta’s 2026 Performance Marketing Summit: Ads, AI & Audiences
“There’s going to be a world where you just tell them your product and your business goals and they do the rest.” What does Meta’s AI push mean for ecommerce brands trying to win on paid social right now? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) recorded this episode live at Meta’s Performance Marketing Summit 2026 where they
The Meta Playbook That Took True Sea Moss Beyond Nine Figures
“You don’t have to be first to be the best.” What does it take to scale a brand from $20M to $140M in just 12 months? Luka Kvatchrelishvili (CMO, True Sea Moss) joins hosts Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) to break down how he took a bootstrapped, product-led superfood brand … and scaled it into a nine-figure DTC powerhouse. Luka shares his path from pract
Ecommerce Content Flywheel: Meta to TikTok, Paid to Organic
What does a content flywheel look like when it’s firing on all cylinders? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) break down how their teams structure content creation end-to-end: from micro-creators and TikTok Shop affiliates to high-production studio shoots and ambassador programs. Both hosts bring their own playbooks to the table to compare notes in real time. Th
How to Get New Reach on Meta: Tactics & Data for Ecommerce Marketing
Are you measuring new reach on Meta the right way or just guessing? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) dig into the tactics + measurement frameworks driving their paid media strategies right now. The conversation spans Meta’s incremental attribution rollout and what the data shows. They cover signal engineering with con
Most Underrated Growth Tactic in Ecommerce Right Now With Andrew Faris
Drawing on over a decade of experience on the brand, HoldCo, and agency sides of DTC, Andrew Faris (Founder, AJF Growth) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) to discuss what it takes to build and scale an ecommerce brand across every stage of growth. The conversation covers what advice from larger operators can get wrong for smaller brands and why AOV may b
500% Growth: Inside Cadence’s DTC and Retail Playbook
Can you build a sports brand by saying no to most customers? Matty Martin (Head of Marketing, Cadence) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad), to break down what it takes to scale one of the fastest-growing sports hydration brands from scratch. Matty shares how he went from setting up the Shopify site himself to leading a full marketing team; all while se
Rethinking SMS Marketing for Ecommerce: AI, RCS & LTV
What if the most powerful customer insight tool in ecommerce is hiding inside your SMS program? Mike Manheimer (Chief Customer Officer, Postscript) joins hosts Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) to dig into how brands are getting more out of their SMS programs. They cover what most brands are doing wrong about messaging frequency, how conversational commerce is
Building a 9-Figure Baby Brand: Bobbie’s Kim Chappell (Chief Brand Officer)
“If you’re not staying unhinged, you’re not building a memorable brand.” What happens when a two-time Emmy-winning TV anchor walks away from the newsroom to help build one of the most talked-about baby formula brands in the country? Kim Chappell (Chief Brand Officer at Bobbie) sits down with Cody Plofker (CEO at Jones Road Beauty) and Connor MacDonald (CMO at Ridge) to explore what it means to bui
Why Your Meta Campaigns Are Stuck Targeting the Same People
Are you exhausting your audience or just exhausting your strategy? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) dig into the mechanics of reaching net-new audiences on Meta, breaking down which lever moves the needle most: creative diversity, signal engineering, or landing page strategy. They also revisit a Ridge case study showing how optimizing for the wrong purchase
Your Step-By-Step Growth Framework With Bryan Cano (True Classic)
This episode is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://axon.ai/en/9operators “Growth can actually kill a business that’s not prepared for it.” Bryan Cano (fmr. He
New Ad Accounts, Organic & Creators: Marketing Operators Hotline
It’s a MOps Hotline special episode! Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) answer your most pressing questions. Especially how to get started. Connor MacDonald shares what he’s learning in real time from launching a new supplement company from scratch — no Ridge halo, no shortcuts. The trio breaks down why organic distribu
Channel Diversification in Ecommerce: Biggest Mistakes & Wins
What if the reason your channel expansion isn’t working has nothing to do with the channel? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) break down what drives channel expansion decisions. They use the David Protein bar lawsuit as a jumping-off point to discuss bold brand marketing and the frameworks behind how DTC brands scale b
Salt and Stone’s Ari Murray on Sessions, Scent & Scaling DTC
“The market will tell you your hero — you can’t decide it.” How do you build a brand after you've seen the inside of 30 others? Connor Rolain and Cody Plofker sit down with Ari Murray, Chief Digital Officer at Salt & Stone, who spent four and a half years as Chief Growth Officer at Sharma Brands before going in-house. They dig into what it takes to lead growth for a single brand after year
Incrementality Playbook Every Ecommerce Marketer Needs
Are you making decisions based on data that proves causality or just correlation? Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad), Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) dig into what it means to build a truly incrementality-first marketing organization. They break down how to string together consecutive channel tests — using each result to build the next hypothesis rathe
Meta’s Manus AI Enters the Chat: Is Media Buying “Dead”?
Is media buying dead or just evolving? Cody Plofker, Connor MacDonald, and Connor Rolain unpack Meta’s integration of Manus AI into Ads Manager and explore what it signals for the future of paid growth. The hosts discuss whether AI-driven automation is making traditional media buying obsolete and what this shift could mean for ecommerce teams navigating an increasingly agent-led landscape. The squ
Mattel & PDQ: Scaling Through Data, Checkout, and Customer Trust
Mina Zandbar (VP of Global eCommerce & Digital Growth at Mattel) and Avi Moskowitz (Co-Founder & CEO) of PrettyDamnQuick, join hosts Connor MacDonald + Cody Plofker to explore ecommerce growth from two very different vantage points — one inside an 80-year-old, multi-billion dollar toy company; the other, building the infrastructure that helps brands stop leaking revenue at checkout. Togeth
Category Expansion: When to Launch, What to Test & How to Scale
Are your new product launches driving incremental revenue or just shifting money around? Connor Rolain, Head of Growth at HexClad, and Connor MacDonald, CMO at Ridge, dig into one of the most under-discussed challenges in DTC: how and when to introduce new products into your paid acquisition channels. From HexClad’s cocktail shaker launch to Ridge’s tattoo-inspired wallet designs, they break down
Episode 100! The Big Rocks We’re Focusing on for 2026 Growth
How do you build a marketing machine that scales without breaking? In celebration of episode 100, Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CMO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (VP of Growth, HexClad) reveal the strategic priorities driving their brands’ growth in 2026 — straight out of their internal planning docs. From creating a bulletproof marketing operating system to cracking TikTok
Performance Creative in 2026: What We’ve Updated and Why
This week, the team breaks down how they’re testing creative and scaling systems. Volume still matters, but only when it’s paired with clearer concepts, stronger hypotheses, and better signal quality. Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Global Head of Growth, HexClad) revisit the playbooks they built over the years and walk through what’s worki
From Organic Creative to Paid Performance: The New Flywheel
Is your brand still creating content for a social media era that no longer exists? Hosts Connor Rolain (HexClad), Cody Plofker (Jones Road Beauty), and Connor MacDonald (Ridge) dig into how they’re rethinking organic and paid social content strategy for 2026 — and why the old influencer playbook is officially broken. Cody reveals the million-dollar organic social investment he pitched to his board
Performance Creative: Velocity, AI Tooling & the Paid-Organic Relationship With Dara Denney
Performance creative consultant Dara Denney joins the show to break down how modern brands are approaching creative strategy in 2026. The conversation opens with the shifting role of content creators versus strategists, and why creative velocity, operations, and in-house production are increasingly shaping how brands scale.From there, they dig into how AI is actually being used inside creative wor
Key Initiative Breakdown: When and how to diversify your media mix
This episode breaks down a key 2026 initiative: when and how to diversify your media mix, grounded in real operator decision-making rather than theory. The conversation uses HexClad’s approach as a case study, exploring the data signals that indicate it’s time to expand channels, how teams test incrementality, and how operators manage rising measurement complexity - especially when scaling interna
The New Ecommerce Playbook: DR Funnels, CRO, and Buyer Behavior
This week, the team sits down with Dylan Ander, founder of Heatmap and author of Billion Dollar Websites, to break down how modern ecommerce funnels are evolving and why many legacy playbooks are starting to crack. The conversation opens with Dylan’s perspective on AI, trust, and synthetic content, and why brands may be heading back toward more human-led, harder-to-fake creative as AI becomes tabl
Our DTC 2026 Predictions & What 2025 Got Right and Wrong
This week, the hosts return for their annual predictions episode, starting by revisiting their 2025 forecasts and holding themselves accountable for what hit, what missed, and what changed faster than expected. From there, they transition into their 2026 predictions for DTC and eCommerce marketing, grounding each call in real performance data, platform behavior, and operator-level experience.The c
From Brand Moments to Revenue: How Halfdays Drives Growth - with Liz Anthony, Chief of Staff
This week, we’re joined by Liz Anthony, Chief of Staff at Halfdays, the fast-growing women’s outdoor apparel brand redefining performance skiwear. Liz breaks down how Halfdays balances brand and performance marketing to scale a highly seasonal DTC business, including the role of founder-led content, creative diversity, and standout collaborations like HOKA in driving Q4 momentum.From there, the gr
The Influencer Marketing Playbook - with Lily Comba, Founder & CEO of Superbloom
This week, we’re joined by Lily Comba, Founder & CEO of Superbloom, who opens up about how she got her start in influencer marketing and why she approaches influencer through a performance lens. Lily shares her journey from building in-house programs to launching Superbloom, and what she learned scaling influencer across some of the most recognizable consumer brands.From there, we go deep on m
Setting 2026 Goals, Incrementality Lessons from BFCM and Amazon Brand Bidding
This week, the team breaks down what recent platform moves signal for operators heading into 2026 — starting with Shopify’s Winter Editions and the growing role of Sidekick inside the Shopify ecosystem.They discuss how tools like Sidekick are democratizing data access, reducing operational friction, and changing how lean growth teams analyze performance, build reports, and take action inside the a
What Grüns, Marty Supreme, and TikTok Shop Teach Us About Modern Marketing
This episode is a grab-bag of highly tactical operator insights - starting with a breakdown of why Grüns’ transactional SMS and subscription flows work so well, and what smart lifecycle design looks like when you’re trying to prevent churn, drive upgrades, and increase LTV. From there, we dive into one of the most impressive brand marketing plays of the year: the Marty Supreme campaign, and why it
Black Friday Cyber Monday Recap & The Forecasting Process Behind Ecom Profit - with Richie Mashiko
This week, we’re joined by Richie Mashiko - Head of Beacon at Iris Finance for a full breakdown of how BFCM played out across their businesses. Together, the group recaps what actually drove performance this year, from media-mix diversification and top-of-funnel investment to traffic dynamics, conversion-rate behavior, and how different brand sizes approached Cyber Five strategy.From there, Richie
Brand Tracking That Matters and How Modern Teams Scale TV
In this episode of Marketing Operators, Cody and Connor break down how growth teams are rethinking measurement heading into 2026 - especially the rising importance of brand tracking. They discuss why click-based attribution alone no longer works, how incrementality and geo tests fill in the gaps, and why tracking awareness, consideration, and “future demand” is becoming essential.Then they’re join
Rethinking the Customer Journey: Text-to-Buy, Post-Purchase Wins & Alternative Media
This week, the team breaks down how operators should be thinking about Q4 performance, offer strategy, and what it really takes to evolve beyond the traditional “discount + ads” playbook. We get into why some brands are rolling out first-ever sitewide promotions, how seasonal bundles create new revenue moments, and how text-to-buy flows, post-purchase upsells, and Shopify Collective can create sea
How We Track Revenue and Ad Spend Hourly During Cyber Five
As we head into the final days before Cyber Five, this episode is all about going from daily pacing to true intraday pacing - the level of granularity operators need when every hour can swing the entire BFCM weekend. We break down how we monitor hourly revenue and ad spend across Meta, Google, and more using tools like Northbeam and Supermetrics, and how we make real-time adjustments when projecti
What DTC Can Learn From Enterprise Media - with JMo, VaynerMedia
This week, we’re joined by Jon “JMo” Morgenstern, Head of Investment at VaynerMedia, who manages over $1.5B in annual media spend across brands like Oreo/Mondelez, JP Morgan Chase, PepsiCo, and Yeti. JMo breaks down how enterprise advertisers think about channel mix, retail media, and allocating capital across Meta, TikTok, CTV, Amazon, and Walmart and what DTC operators can learn from teams worki
What We’re Putting Into Motion: Evolving Creative Strategy for Meta’s Andromeda Era (Bonus Episode)
In this episode of Marketing Operators, Cody and Connor unpack the real impact of Meta’s Andromeda update and what creative diversity actually means today, plus how to optimize for it in an algorithm-driven environment. They break down how short-form, personalized feeds have reshaped the playbook, why we’ve shifted from the editor era to the creator era, and what now constitutes a better ad in Met
AI & the Future of CX: Lean Teams, Better Workflows & New Revenue Levers - with Richpanel’s Amit RG
This week on Marketing Operators, Connor MacDonald kicks things off with a pressing question: “What does a modern CX team and workflow look like today?” From there, we dive into a growing debate across modern commerce - does CX actually drive growth, or is it still just a support functionJoined by Amit RG, co-founder and CEO of our show sponsor Richpanel, the team unpacks how leading brands are ge
Inside Our Forecasting, Pacing, and Holiday Shipping Strategy for BFCM Success
This week, we’re taking an even deeper dive into all things BFCM. How the team is approaching forecasting, pacing, and spend strategy heading into the most important stretch of Q4. We break down how each of us is projecting November and December revenue this year, how new product launches and category expansion factor into those forecasts, and what data we’re using to stay accurate in real time.Co
The Lesser-Known BFCM Insights & Strategies Driving Our Planning Right Now
This week, we’re getting into all things BFCM. What we’re doing right now to prep for the most important time of year for DTC marketers and what brands need to be thinking about that most people don’t. We dig into pacing, impulse-buyer windows and how to avoid misspending on the day, plus how we’re approaching budget planning, Meta performance, and the lessons we’ve learned from our own campaigns
Creative Strategy and How AI Is Changing the Game for Growth Teams - with Reza Khadjavi, Motion CEO
This week, we’re joined by Reza Khadjavi, founder and CEO of Motion, the podcast’s premier sponsor. Reza breaks down who he’d hire first if he were running growth today, why the best marketers right now are the ones who can merge strategy, execution, and AI into one high-leverage role, and how he’s seeing the return of the elite IC reshape modern marketing teams.Connor M shares a behind-the-scenes
Motion's Creative Strategy Summit: Why AI Creative Strategists Will Become the Highest Paid MarketersWhy AI Creative Strategists Will Become the Highest Paid Marketers (Bonus Episode)
Learn what separates top 1% creative strategists from everyone else - and why AI is making this the most valuable role in performance marketing.The Marketing Operators break down the exact skills, mindset shifts, and creative strategy frameworks that will make you indispensable in 2026.Motion.https://motionapp.com/pricing?utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast&utm_medium=paidsponsor&utm
Operators Titans E004: David Herrmann, the Media Buyer’s Media Buyer
Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators Despite a one-page website with nothing but his name and a contact button, Davi
Is Media Buying Dead? And How We’re Hiring for Culture, Autonomy, and Execution
The trio is back together and today we’re getting into the topic of the evolution of the media buying role, and how media buying has transformed from button-pushing inside ad platforms to a more strategic role that demands creativity, data fluency, and taking ownership of the entire customer funnel. We explore friend-of-the-show Taylor Holiday’s growth engineer concept, how automation is reshaping
Chat GPT Shopping, Striking a Balance with SMS & How We’d Build a Marketing Team from Day One
First up today, we’re getting into OpenAI and ChatGPT shopping with the Shopify integration - including how we’re approaching GEO, why bigger brands might have the edge, and why we’re not going all in on optimization just yet.We also dig into SMS and email, where the real limit is on frequency, and the balance between driving conversions short-term vs unsubscribes vs retaining subscribers in the l
Operators Titans E002: Portland Leather Goods (with CMO MacCoy Merkley)
Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators Dive into the inspiring journey of McCoy Merkley from Portland Leather Goods. F
New Product Launch Strategy, Net New Reach on Meta, and Big Partnership Swings
Today we’ve got a jam-packed episode for you, hitting on some of the things that are top of mind for us this week - product launches, Meta, partnerships, and more.First, we get into the value of teasing products and tactics on the best way to do that, how to make sure there’s social proof and community buzz from day one, and the role reviews play in building momentum at launch. We also discuss how
Why Direct Mail Deserves a Place in Your DTC Marketing Mix - and How To Make It Work (Bonus Episode)
In today’s episode, we’re getting into how and why direct mail can be an impactful part of your retention strategy. We discuss why the first 7–14 days post-purchase are critical, how we’re approaching cross-sells and multi-channel retention, what’s working from postcards to premium catalogs, and where direct mail fits into our overall growth strategies.We’re also joined by Michael Epstein, co-foun
Inside Cozy Earth’s Viral Social Challenge with CMO George Davis
In today’s episode, we’re joined by George Davis, CMO at Cozy Earth, to talk about their viral social challenge - the Cozy Earth Bed Rot Challenge.George shares the story behind the challenge and how it started as a little MVP test in season one with five employees and a $1k prize, and how it grew into season two with a 24/7 livestream, 50M+ impressions and 15k emails collected. We dig into what w
How We're Reaching New Audiences on Meta with Partnership Ads
Today we’re exploring how DTC brands can reach new audiences on Meta using partnership ads, and how they can improve performance and strengthen the paid social mix, as well as checking in on how Ridge's sweepstakes are going so far. We talk through how partnership ads compare to whitelisting, our experiences working with creators of all sizes, and what’s actually driving ROI. We also get into
The Untapped Potential of YouTube Ads – Strategy, Measurement & What Drives Results with Brett Curry
Today we’re joined by Brett Curry from OMG Commerce, and we’re grilling him on all things YouTube advertising - where to start, strategy, creative, and how to drive results.We discuss where YouTube sits in the channel mix, how it compares to Meta, why it’s still underused by most operators, as well as the challenges of measuring success on YouTube - from attribution challenges to incrementality an
How Halfdays Turned Community into a Growth Engine - with CEO Ariana Ferwerda
In today’s episode, we’re joined by Ariana Ferwerda, co-founder and CEO of Halfdays, to unpack the strategy and philosophy behind building a true community-first DTC brand, and why that approach has worked so well for them.Ariana shares her journey of launching a brand that struck product-market fit in its first season and grew 10x from their first to second season. We dive into the how and why be
From Growth Sprints to Brand Health Metrics: What's Driving Wins Right Now
From measuring brand health beyond ROAS to breaking down viral awareness plays and running focused growth sprints, we’re getting into the topics on our minds as Marketing Operators right now.We kick things off with baseline revenue - how we define it, how we track it, and why it’s one of Connor Rolain’s go-to metrics for gauging brand momentum, resilience, and reliance on paid media. We also get i
DTC OG Ezra Firestone on How the Game Has Shifted and What’s Working Now
Today on the show we’ve got a very special guest, one of the OGs of ecommerce, Ezra Firestone.He’s been around forever, running brands like Boom by Cindy Joseph, building software companies like Zipify, and creating training businesses like Smart Marketer, all while staying hands-on in the game as the DTC landscape keeps evolving.We get into how he went from top wig drop-shipper to building and ex
Unlocking Growth Levers with Connor Dault, CMO of Fast-Growth DTC Supplement Brand Gruns
Today we’re joined by Connor Dault, CMO of Grüns, to talk about his move into the company, how he got up to speed, and the steps he took to work effectively with a team that was already performing at a high level.We cover his onboarding approach, how he finds quick wins without disrupting existing success, and how Grüns spots opportunities by pairing customer feedback with cultural trends. Connor
How We’re Iterating on Tentpole Campaigns & Structuring the Content Teams That Power Them
Today, we’re kicking things off by sharing how we’re structuring our content teams - from hiring in-house roles to building systems around freelancers - and how that supports creative that performs across both brand and paid.Next we dive into how we’re iterating on some of the biggest campaigns we run at our brands: the sweepstakes. We talk through what’s changing this year, how we’re using influe
Acquisition Offers That Drive Retention: What’s Working - and Why Testing Matters
Today we’re getting into how acquisition offers - particularly in pop-ups - can do much more than drive opt-ins. The type of offer you lead with shapes who you acquire, how much they spend, and future LTV. We share examples from the offers we run on our brands, comparing blanket discounts with offers like cashback and second-order incentives, and how those choices impacted retention, AOV, and cust
When to Diversify or Evolve Your Media Mix: How To Approach Channel Expansion (Bonus Episode)
In today’s episode, we’re talking channel expansion and diversifying our media mix - when to think about launching on new channels, what to test, and how to approach those decisions with more clarity.We break down our current media mixes, the journeys that got us here, and the mental frameworks we use to decide what to try next.We’re also joined by Austin Santino, Client Development Manager at Tat
Why Great Marketers Think Like Data Scientists, with Eric Seufert
When we heard Eric Seufert talk at the Meta Summit we knew we had to have him on the show.Eric is the founder of Mobile Dev Memo and partner at Heracles Capital, and he joins us today for a deep dive into how today’s smartest marketers approach measurement. We unpack the difference between deterministic and probabilistic attribution, why incrementality testing beats last-click reporting, and how t
Spending More & Reaching Less? Fix Your Meta Account With Us
Today, we dig into the Meta performance issues we’ve been seeing firsthand - where spend is up, reach is down and performance isn’t tracking the way it used to. We unpack what’s been going wrong, and share the tactical changes we’ve tested to get better results.We get into where we’ve historically over-invested or moved too slowly, how we’re thinking about creative and spend caps right now, and wh
E067: How Marketers Should Actually Be Using AI, with the Boring Marketer
In this episode, we’re joined by James from Boring Marketing to dig into how smart DTC marketers are actually using AI - not just to move faster, but to build more efficient systems and workflows.We talk about how AI can support content systems and internal processes, the difference between prompting and system-building, and why using AI just to generate content won’t drive results on its own. Jam
E066: DTC Marketers - Where Are You Wasting Your Time?
In ecommerce marketing today, acquisition costs are rising, tariffs are up, and growth is harder to come by, which means DTC brands are under pressure to do more with leaner teams. That got us thinking about where are marketers - and our teams - wasting time, and how can we work more efficiently without sacrificing performance?In this episode, we break down the marketing workflows, habits, and int
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