Building DTC brands to 8 and 9 figures | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising | CMO of JAQ Group

The rules of DTC growth changed in 2025. In 2026, they're set to change again.

The playbook that got you to £10-30M - broad Meta campaigns, a handful of hero SKUs, one creative style across every touchpoint, is now actively working against you. 

Algorithms reward creative diversity. Attention spans demand psychological precision. 
And TikTok Shop has emerged as a genuine high-volume demand creation channel, not just another place to run ads.

The brands winning today are producing high volumes of distinctly different assets across every awareness stage (problem, solution, product), each built on messaging frameworks that actually drive people to buy. 

Not more creative. Better creative, deployed smarter.

I've spent 7 years in this problem space. My agencies have generated £600M+ in revenue across 250+ DTC brands. 

More importantly, we've built systems that compound, so you're not starting from scratch every creative cycle. Data from 70+ brands and over 4,000+ ads per month. 

A few recent wins we've delivered for our clients:
→ Ekster: 40% increase in profit, 75% YoY growth
→ Spacegoods: New customer orders up 86%, NCPA down 33%
→ AKT London: Tripled new customers and cut CPA by 59% in 6 months
→ Nutrition Geeks: 2,200% growth in 12 months

What makes us different: we build context databases that capture your brand DNA, winning angles, and performance learnings across every campaign. 

When the algorithm shifts or a creative fatigues, we're already three steps ahead, not scrambling to figure out what worked.

If you're a CMO or founder at an 8-figure brand feeling the scaling friction, happy to talk through what's working right now. Connect here or email olly@soarwithus.co

Olly Hudson

We’ve packaged what’s working, what’s dead, and what’s next for 2026 into one resource:

🚨 THE 2026 D2C PLAYBOOK: The New Rules of Meta, TikTok, AI & Performance Creative

2026 is the reset year.

If your ads aren’t built for algorithmic feeds and personalised signals, you won’t scale.

Every platform is now fully personalised.
You’re not competing in interest groups anymore 
You’re competing inside each user’s unique feed.
And at the same time…
People crave connection more than ever.
They want emotion and authenticity, not just AI-fed precision.

So what wins in 2026?

Brands that blend machine logic with human insight.

That means:
- Creative systems built to match micro-behaviours
- Messaging that adapts in real time
- Ads that feel made for one, but scale to millions

This is your roadmap to profitable, personalised growth across Meta, TikTok, Google, and AI workflows.

- What’s working
- What’s out
- What’s next

Get the playbook here and build for what's coming: https://lnkd.in/ePapZ29e

If you're a DTC brand looking at 2026 resource/planning, get in contact with us here: https://lnkd.in/eVb3BKbs

The Creative-Led Paid Acquisition Partner Behind £600M+ in DTC Revenue | Meta & TikTok for 8-9 Figure Brands.

Back by popular demand, we're reopening the vault. Get access to our most requested resource: the top-performing brand funnel breakdowns of 2025.

Not just their ads. The full stack:

Paid strategy > Organic > Landing pages > Google ads > Email > Offers

Everything.

Easily the most ripped asset we’ve ever put out.

So we’ve packaged them properly. One folder.

Here’s who’s inside:

– Rhode
– Meshki
– LOOP Earplugs
– Alo Yoga
– IM8
– Refy
– BREZ
– Wonderskin

Use this to cut out weeks of guesswork or get your next winning concept straight from their playbook.

Grab the folder here: https://lnkd.in/exiK3_XK

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BFCM Guide

This is just one page from our 127-page ultimate guide to BFCM. 

If you’d like 126 more pages of ecom gold, join 500+ brands and check this out: https://bit.ly/3RlTHZ4


Plug 1

Newsletter Tease

Ps. Head here if you want to be the first to receive our 2024 ads blueprint this week: https://bit.ly/3YR6HaD


12/03

5 more critical errors to fix: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/olly-hudson_use-data-to-fix-your-brands-creatives-and-activity-7168154221719056384-Yn5A?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

13/03

Motion plug

We recommend Motion because it simplifies comprehensive insights.

• Eliminates the guesswork
• Brings quick clarity to your ads process
• Converts your ad data into digestible reports
• Keeps your teams aligned toward a common goal

Get 10% off your first 3 months using our code: SWU10
https://motionapp.com/

Kind Patches are running 3,000+ live ads right now. And not a single one is relying on a hero SKU or one-size-fits-all message.

We just broke down the funnel of one of the most deliberately segmented brands we’ve seen.

→ Every SKU positioned around a pain point
→ Every angle tailored to a specific outcome
→ Every ad mapped to a unique persona

This is persona-led growth, done properly.

Not “here’s our sleep patch” → but “here’s how you solve Sunday night scaries without melatonin.”

We’ve broken down the ads of 10 of their personas

- For those who want better skin and hair
- For those who want less stress
- For those who want better sleep
- For those who want more energy
- For those who want more focus
- For those who want support with weight goals
- For women who want hormone support
- For those who want better intimacy
- For those who travel often
- For men who want to take it to the next level

The breadth of products and persona variations feeds Meta’s Andromeda system with high-volume, diverse signals, improving delivery efficiency and incremental reach.

Want to see our breakdown?
Like this post
Comment “persona” and I’ll DM you.

We’ve scaled to 80+ people, 250+ brands, and £500M+ in tracked revenue.

And everyone in our leadership team is under 30.

Talent and energy got us here.

Structure is what’ll get us further.

We’ve made every classic mistake you’d expect from a young team building fast:

– Hired too late
– Invested in the wrong things
– Moved without the right operational muscle

At some point, you hit a ceiling. You can only build what you know.

We’ve always been good at doing - making ads, shipping strategy, driving performance.

But building a business that lasts is a different game.

That’s why this quarter we brought in Rachel McDonald (ex-Dentsu) to help sharpen our strategy, how we operate, scale and continue to lead the market into 2026.

She’s led global teams. She’s been in the rooms we’re aiming for.

Now she’s in ours.

Because if you want to build a long-term agency with real staying power, you need to balance hunger with experience.

Young teams are underrated.

But young teams with the right support? That’s where things get dangerous (in the best way).

In 2025, TikTok Shop grew 180% YoY, converted at up to 12%, and produced $2.7M LIVE days. In 2026, it’ll feel crowded. This is the playbook most DTC brands will wish they had before that shift.

TikTok Shop is converting at 8–12%, while most DTC sites are still stuck at 2–4%.

That gap is the opportunity and it won’t last forever.

If you’re doing £5M+ in e-commerce and TikTok Shop isn’t on your roadmap yet, you’re probably underestimating what’s happening.

TikTok Shop isn’t a “new channel” anymore. It’s a different operating system for commerce.

It rewards speed, structure, creative volume, and momentum.

The brands winning aren’t chasing one-off spikes, they’re building repeatable systems across affiliates, LIVE, offers, and content that compound daily.

This is a start-to-finish guide designed to help established brands launch TikTok Shop the right way, with the infrastructure, strategy, and execution required to scale without chaos.

Inside the guide, we break down:

- How to build a TikTok Shop foundation designed to scale (not collapse under demand)
- The technical setup and LIVE structures top brands use to keep viewers engaged and buying
- How to select hero products and offers that drive consistent GMV
- The affiliate ecosystem playbook: recruiting, incentivising, and sustaining creator output
- How to use LIVE coupons and flash deals without eroding brand value
- What high-performing TikTok Shop content has in common (hooks, structure, proof, CTAs)
- The host framework for training on-camera talent that can actually sell
- The metrics that matter during LIVE — and how to react when performance dips
- How to turn TikTok Shop into a creative engine for wider paid and organic growth

It’s a practical, plug-and-play blueprint for building a TikTok Shop system that drives consistent revenue and scales with control.

If you’re responsible for growth, creative, or e-commerce performance, this guide is your reference point.

Want it?
Like this post
Comment "tiktok 2026" and I'll send it over.
Make sure we're connected so I can DM you

I received this message from a client saying it’s the best experience they’ve had with an agency in 8+ years of eCom.

We’ve doubled the team this year. Launched new processes. Taken on some of the most ambitious brands we’ve ever worked with.

But through all of that, the thing I’m proudest of? The feeling our team creates for the people we work with.

The trust, reliability, and care that sits underneath it all.

And this note from a client, saying it’s the best experience they’ve had with an agency in 8+ years, says more than I ever could in a pitch.

Massive shoutout to Martyna, Kit and the wider team for the hard work and dedication you bring to our clients every day.

The kind of partnership that gets noticed (and recommended) without ever having to ask.

If I had to sum up how we’ve scaled Soar:

Build it properly. Treat people well. Let the work speak.

Turns out… it’s working.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Next month marks 7 years since we started Soar With Us from a spare bedroom at uni.

Today, we’re a 60+ team, managing 8–9 figure brands, and became Meta’s #1 DTC agency in the UK.

But here are 7 things we did to build in 7 years.

(I probably shouldn’t be posting this. Most agencies would gate-keep it)

1️⃣ Invest in marketing
You don’t have a sales problem, you have a marketing problem.
80% of our pipeline is inbound.
We built a weekly content engine designed to give away the strategy and sell the implementation.

What that looked like in practice:
- 1x podcast/week (D2C Diaries) – brands came in pre-sold, they’d already listened to 10+ hours of us.
- 1x lead magnet/week – frameworks, audits, templates
- Newsletter – built on HubSpot, personalised follow-ups based on downloads
- Founders post 5x/week – LinkedIn + X 
- Events & masterclasses – offline to online flywheel


2️⃣ Proprietary process + unique IP = scale leverage
- Agencies commoditise when they only sell hours. We scaled by building our core IP: Growth Compass, 360 Feedback System, creative frameworks.
- Our audit decks don’t just point out problems, they score, rank, and prioritise fixes using our frameworks
- Every new client runs through our Growth Compass scoring to benchmark performance gaps and build roadmaps


3️⃣ Founder-led organic content
We closed a £35M brand in 30 minutes as they’d already listened to 50 hours of us.
We turned our founders into a content-led growth engine and it changed everything.


4️⃣ Creative + paid = one system
- Merged creative + growth into one unified team by acquiring Hambi Media in 2024.
- Used frameworks to break down customer journeys and optimise every stage.
- Focused creative testing on incrementality, not just ROAS.


5️⃣ Internal culture = growth leverage
You don’t scale by adding clients. You scale by retaining great people and giving them progression and clarity.
I’d rather lose a client than a top team member.
- Every employee has career framework + KPIs tied to business impact.
- Internal culture pillar reviews, “kind candour” feedback loops.


6️⃣ Operational Excellence → margin + moat
We waited too long to bring in experience. A good ops head is a 6-figure unlock.
👉 Build ops early. Don’t wait until you’re 50 heads in.


7️⃣ Aggressive brand positioning + acquisition strategy
We positioned ourselves as the #1 performance creative agency early and backed it with proof.
- Aggressively pursued press, awards, and partnerships (Triple Whale agency of the year).
- Merged multiple agencies under one group to cover TikTok, Meta, and Creative.


It’s also worth saying, we’ve made every mistake you can make.

But we stayed obsessed with one thing: becoming the best growth partner in DTC.

If you’d like to work with us in 2026 as your Creative-Led Paid Acquisition Partner, get in touch here: https://lnkd.in/ew-b7dhN

Soar With Us

Hambi Media

Creative strategy is the most misunderstood (and most impactful) role in a DTC growth team. 

But most brands are hiring them for the first time with no idea of what “great” even looks like.

And the few A-players in the market? Already locked in or demanding salaries that don’t make sense for most teams.

If we could solve one constraint that would unlock growth in our agency, it’s the supply of creative strategists.

So instead of trying to hire them, we built them.

Over the last 12 months, we’ve refined an internal system to turn high-curiosity, high-potential operators into world-class creative strategists.

Now, we’re opening it up - The Creative Strategist Incubator

The 9-month pathway we’ve built from zero to strategist (and why Meta is backing us).

This is the MBA for Creative Strategy.

We’ve broken down the details of what this is in our newest episode and how you can apply.

Episode dropping at 5 pm. 🚀

If you're stuck on how to diversify creative… start here.

We built a creative hierarchy to maximise Entity ID diversity and in doing so, we unlocked:
- Scalable reach
- Lower CPMs
- Net-new audiences

All without increasing budget.

Think of the testing hierarchy as a pyramid.

At the base are the big creative swings, at the top, the small refinements.

When you’re launching:
→ Launch brand new concepts from scratch.
→ Test messaging within those fresh ads, don’t just swap copy into old visuals.
The goal: identify the message, persona, format combo that resonates most.
It keeps learnings clean and avoids grouping penalties.
(Even if variations get grouped under the same Entity ID, a winner will emerge).

When you’re optimising:
Got a winner? Remix it.
→ Change the format or the vehicle
→ Update the hook so it looks instantly different
→ Translate the story to a new style (e.g. founder VSL → third-person VO)

Here’s the hierarchy we use inside every high-growth account:

1. Format
Static / UGC / High-Production
→ Use when you're plateauing or need fresh signals.

2. Vehicle
Founder story / Green-screen / Testimonial / Listicle / Product demo
→ Use to scale a proven message across new personas.

3. Persona
Gen Z female → 40+ mum / Creator → Founder
→ Use to expand TAM or unlock overlooked pockets.

4. Hook
Zoomed-in face / Problem-statement / Unboxing / B-roll
→ Use to ensure Meta sees your ad as net-new.

5. Messaging
Script tweaks / CTA variants
→ Use once a concept is already converting.

If your creative system isn’t built around this hierarchy, you won’t scale in 2026.

We’re entering a new era of ecom.

Google, Shopify, Walmart, Etsy, Wayfair, and over 20 others have just dropped UCP: a universal standard that lets any AI agent buy from any retailer in real-time.

It’s now live in Gemini + Google's AI Mode.

Here’s why it matters for DTC 👇

The “Universal Commerce Protocol” (UCP) revolutionises the shopping experience.

Think of it as an open-source checkout layer for the AI era, one that any brand can integrate with, and any AI agent can transact through.

Why it matters:
→ It removes friction from discovery to checkout
→ You stay the merchant of record
→ Customers can buy directly inside AI interfaces (Gemini, Search, ChatGPT, Copilot)
→ Built-in support for Shop Pay, Google Pay, more coming
→ It’s composable: plug in your product catalogue, offers, checkout flow + discounts
→ It’s open-source and backed by Google

The goal? To create one shared language for agentic commerce so agents, brands and wallets can speak to each other instantly.

Just like HTTP did for websites.

Most DTC brands won’t clock this yet. But AI discovery is going to be a commerce channel, not just a research tool.

This changes how products are surfaced, selected, and sold.

It’s the end of the linear funnel. And the start of contextual, agent-led buying.

If you’re a scaling DTC brand:
→ Get your products into the Merchant Centre
→ Integrate the UCP spec (works with any backend)
→ Enable agentic checkout across Google + others

AI agents aren’t a threat. They’re the next growth opportunity.

IM8 Health went from $0 to a $120M run rate in 11 months. Now they're targeting $300M by the end of 2026.

We’ve been pointing to IM8 as best in class for months.

One of the cleanest funnel builds I’ve seen: long-form site, deep education, premium price justified at every stage. 

All engineered by Danny Yeung.

Built with:
- David Beckham as co-founder
- A product that replaces 16 supplements with one drink
- A scientific board from NASA, UFC & Mayo Clinic
- NSF certification + clinical trials from day one

Catch the full episode here, it’s stacked with insights: https://lnkd.in/e85t_ASx

IM8 Health

Investor I CEO I Entrepreneur I Advisor I Astronaut

We break down the creative strategy and funnel plays that drove $40M in Meta spend and 6,000+ ads during BFCM 2025.

If you’re serious about scaling in 2026, this is the episode to start your year with.

Here’s what we cover 👇

Q5 strategy: The most important “quarter” that isn’t a quarter.

Most brands waste this window with hype-led messaging or default evergreen creative.

The sharpest brands? They layer seasonal context into a funnel-led framework and it scales:
✅ 50% to TOF problem-aware “reset” creative
✅ 20–30% to MOF trust-builders + objection handling
✅ Hook variation built to extend shelf-life past Q5
✅ BOF = urgency + relevance, not just discounts
This is how you capitalise on low CPMs, high intent, and minimal competition from the big enterprise players.

Black Friday learnings
We spent $40M on Meta in November (+185% YoY) and shipped 6,000+ ads.

Our top takeaways:
- Start earlier than you think
- Don’t change your offer mid-flight
- Demand gen > discount panic
- Simple > clever (especially for older demos)

Creative strategy in 2026
You’ll either win with:
- Ultra-authentic, native content
- Highly stylised, scripted storytelling
Middle of the road = forgettable.

We also break down:
- Our approach to creative iteration vs net-new
- How to stretch performance from your best hooks
- The key human desires your content needs to hit
- Why volume still matters… but where it comes from matters more

Biggest risks for brands right now
- Poor offer architecture
- Weak mid-funnel
- Not adapting messaging to intent
- Lack of urgency across the team
- Process changes without buy-in

What’s coming in 2026
- M&A activity will ramp up
- Meta spend will keep growing, but TikTok Shop, YouTube, and AppLovin will become serious plays
- Brands will need a deeper bench of channel-ready creative
- “Creative similarity” will punish lazy iterations
- Great products with true retention will win. Everything else gets exposed.

This episode will give you the blueprint to hit the ground running in January and compound into your biggest year yet.

Catch up now: https://lnkd.in/eCja7Gu7

85 people in the room. Talented people. And a voice in my head asking what I'm doing up here.

I thought imposter syndrome would disappear with progress.

More clients. Bigger wins. A growing team. Surely at some point you just... feel like you belong?

But it didn't disappear. It just changed shape.

Now it shows up in different moments. When I'm presenting a new strategy to the team. When someone asks a question I don't have the answer to. When I look around the room and realise how genuinely good the people around me are.

You think you'll feel "ready" at a certain level. But you don't. You just get better at showing up anyway.

Here's what I've come to understand: imposter syndrome doesn't leave. And maybe it shouldn't.

Because the moment you stop feeling it is probably the moment you've stopped growing.

If I'm expecting everyone else to improve with the business, it's non-negotiable that I'm on the same growth trajectory. Not standing still. Not coasting on what got us here.

The voice in my head that asks "what am I doing up here?" isn't the enemy. It's a reminder to stay accountable. To keep the standard high. To not let comfort replace curiosity.

The shift for me came when I stopped trying to get rid of it. Instead, I started using it as fuel.

Being clear, not perfect. Owning what I don't know. Backing the people who do know. Learning faster than the business is scaling.

Because leadership isn't about having every answer. It's about creating belief and showing up when it counts.

Some days the voice is louder than others. But I show up anyway. Not because I've figured it all out. Because the team deserves a leader who's growing as fast as they are.

P.S. Do you still feel it? Or have you found a way to make peace with the voice that questions if you belong?

You'll lose over $90K this year to avoidable fundraising admin, here's how to stop it.

Most founders are still tracking investors in spreadsheets and scrambling to build data rooms the night before calls.

If you're a 100-person company, you're bleeding up to 1,848 hours per year ($92,400 annually) on admin overhead that could be automated.

I switched to an AI-powered fundraising workspace that changed everything: pitch deck, investor CRM, outreach sequences, and data room, all in one place using Notion.

The results:
→ Admin time dropped 80%
→ Pitch iterations 3× faster
→ My calendar freed up for actual investor conversations

The AI Founder's Kit I'm using includes everything you need to go from idea to funded:

- $300 Supabase credit for backend
- $60 in Vercel credits to ship your frontend
- 1 Year Framer launch
- Up to 6 months of Notion Business with AI
- 2,000+ vetted early-stage VCs, incubators, accelerators
- 50 pitch decks from YC, a16z, Sequoia-backed startups
- Tactical fundraising guides from operators

This isn't about working faster, it's about pitching sharper and closing smarter.

👉 Comment NOTION and I'll send you the free toolkit

Personas are the real unit of scale on Meta now.

Meta doesn’t need you to define audiences anymore, creative does that work now.

In this episode, we break down what’s actually driving scale on Meta in 2026: persona-led creative, smarter systems, and AI used as a multiplier, not a shortcut. 

We cover why accounts hit incremental reach ceilings, why one persona always steals spend, and how the best brands are structuring creative and campaigns to scale without burning budget.

If performance looks fine but growth has stalled, this episode will help you reframe the problem

🎧 Full episode out now: https://lnkd.in/encyKp78

Here’s 5 scaling challenges we see in every £30K–£1M/month agency:

- Margin collapse
- Sales team friction
- Delivery bottlenecks
- Founder burnout
- No true peer group

I’m co-hosting an in-person mastermind this March with Jordan Platten that solves all of these in 3 days.

Agency Accession is for agency owners making £30K–£1M+ per month who want to scale profitably without breaking the business in the process.

It’s 3 days of honest conversations, deep dives, and decision-making, with operators who’ve actually scaled past £100K/mo and had to rebuild the systems they broke along the way.

The focus is simple:
→ Profit
→ Client results
→ Happiness

Think founder dinners + fire strategy + clarity you don’t get from group chats.

When: 23–25 March
Where: London, UK (outskirts)
Who: Agency owners doing £30K–£1M+ p/m
Format: Evening kick-off, seminar-style talks, and implementation workshops

Common challenges we’ll break down:
- Hiring sales teams without losing margin
- Systemising delivery without bottlenecking
- Creating predictable acquisition
- Delegating ops while scaling volume
- Embedding AI (the right way)
- Finding a real peer group that’s on your level

This is built for founders who want to scale with leverage, not stress.

Operators who want to simplify, not stack more onto their plate.

If you want to be in the room (or have questions) head here for more details: https://lnkd.in/exKbmhnB

Helping Agencies Around The World Scale

Most DTC brands are hiring creative strategists with no benchmark for what “great” actually looks like.

It’s usually the first time they’ve ever made the hire.

And without reps, they end up either overpaying… or onboarding someone who takes 6 months to add value.

We hire this role over and over, which gives us reference points, systems, and a real understanding of what works.

That’s why we stopped relying on the market to provide talent.

We built a system to create it internally and to cut the time to value down from months to weeks.

If you can’t afford a £90K+ A-player with 5 years of reps, your only option is to build them, fast.

That's why we've created the UK's first creative strategy MBA, more details on this here: https://lnkd.in/e-rJdsBi

You can apply here: https://lnkd.in/eXXfmmMs

Meta changed how it decides which brands deserve scale, and engagement is no longer the deciding factor.

For DTC brands, GEM + UTIS explain why ads that get views no longer scale, and what kind of creative now does.

That changes the practical playbook for DTC brands in two big ways:

1. You’re no longer “feeding the algo” with ad volume. You’re feeding it with signal shape.

2. Organic is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s now part of the ranking surface area for paid.

Here’s what Meta is doing consistently across ads, organic, and Reels:

They’re moving from “What keeps people watching?” to “What genuinely matches what this person cares about?”

That’s the throughline.

Meta has publicly admitted something important: old engagement-based systems were flawed.

Interest-matching precision sat at 48.3% - near random.

So they built UTIS: the User True Interest Survey.

How UTIS works:
- Users are asked directly: “How well does this video match your interests?”
- Thousands of responses are collected daily
- A perception layer is trained on top of existing ranking models

The results:
- Precision improved from 48.3% → 63.2%
- Niche, high-quality content surfaced more often
- Generic viral content was actively demoted
- +5.2% total engagement
- +5.4% high-interest ratings
- –6.84% low-interest ratings

The key insight: interest isn’t just topic. It includes audio, mood, style, motivation, and production quality.

This philosophy directly mirrors what GEM is doing for ads.

GEM is not “a better targeting engine.” It’s a storyline interpreter.

It looks at:
- Sequence behaviour (months → weeks → days)
- Cross-platform actions (IG, FB, Reels, WhatsApp)
- Web behaviour
- Organic and paid interactions
- Creative attributes (format, style, persona, context)

Then it asks: “Does this brand’s creative consistently align with what this person actually cares about?”

That’s why Meta keeps repeating: “Rank both organic content and ads.”

Organic is no longer distribution. Organic is training data.

Meta doesn’t just want more ads.

It wants:
- More distinct interpretations of who your product is for
- More signals of relevance depth
- More evidence of niche alignment

This is why creative is the targeting. And why generic viral content is now actively punished.

UTIS demotes:
- Trend-jacking
- Broad, relatable humour
- “Everyone will like this” hooks
- Empty watch-time bait

GEM rewards:
- Narrow language
- Specific use cases
- Clear persona intent
- Context-rich demonstrations
- Consistent organic + paid storytelling

So when DTC teams ask: “Why are our Reels getting views but ads aren’t converting?”

The answer increasingly is: you trained Meta to think your brand is for everyone, so it’s for no one.

I've published an article breaking this down in more detail: https://lnkd.in/ezy75VeE

Most brands are already planning 2026. Very few are planning Q5 properly.

In the latest episode of D2C Diaries, Loukas Hambi & I break down why the period between Christmas and the first full week of January is the most misunderstood (and most valuable) window in e-commerce, and why how you use it will shape your entire year.

We cover:
 – What we saw spending nearly $40M on Meta in November 
 – Why simple offers still outperform complexity at scale
 – The demand and mindset shift that happens almost immediately after Christmas
 – The short “flash in the pan” motivation window brands either capitalise on… or miss
 – And the biggest changes we expect in e-commerce in 2026
- Plus our 2025 awards & predictions for 2026 👀

If you execute Q5 properly, you don’t just win January - you set momentum for the rest of the year.

Full episode live now 🎧 https://lnkd.in/epNwpMV8

Genuinely one of the things I’m most proud of at Soar: our AI research process.

Very few agencies go this deep but time and time again, it’s the part clients are most impressed by.

We dig into friction points, buyer psychology, emotional nuance, and unseen drop-offs across the entire journey.

Because before we scale anything, we want to know what’s blocking scale.

What’s inside our AI research doc (and why clients rate it):

– Conversion blockers that don’t show up in GA
– Emotional insights to shape messaging, UX, and offers
– New persona unlocks based on real behavioural signals
– Practical fixes that get implemented immediately

✅ One client used it to fix hidden site issues and even rolled out a new feature to catch customers entering the wrong discount codes at checkout.

It’s not just research. It’s one of the clearest reasons high-growth brands choose to work with us.

Founder | Premium & Luxury Brand Growth Specialists | Scale at the Intersection of Finance & Psychology

Scaling premium & luxury D2C brands at the intersection of AI Powered Advertising & Finance.

After working with 60+ luxury & premium brands we've developed a system to guide brands to their full potential.

Utilizing our psychology-based creative strategy and data science-founded financial forecasting, our partners to profitably grow from 7-8, and 8-9 figures.

As a performance-based partner, we act as shareholders rather than an agency.

Apply now, to partner with the best in premium & luxury brand growth.

odylicmedia.com

Peter Quadrel

Meta is Releasing 3 NEW Metrics: Creative Similarity (what this means for you)

Jason Yim from Meta just shared a new reporting suite rolling out. 

This isn't just another dashboard update.

This validates the hypothesis we've been pushing for months.

The 3 New Metrics:

1. Creative Fatigue:

Your audience has seen the same creative too many times. 

Engagement drops, performance tanks, CPMs rise.

Now you'll be able to track it.

2. Creative Similarity:

Meta's algorithm sees your ads as visually identical, even when you think they're different. 

Similar ads get treated as one data file. 

Performance of one similar ad gets assumed for all untested variants.

3. Top Creative Themes

Distribution of active ads and spend across creative themes: humor, nostalgia, savings, social proof.

This is the end of lazy creative iteration.

Changing copy or swapping background colors won't move the needle much anymore. 

Meta's similarity score will likely expose it.

The New Protocol:

→ Net new visuals + net new messaging

Every ad needs to be visually and narratively distinct. No shortcuts.

→ Micro-persona targeting 

Different audience segments demand different creative approaches. 

One creative theme across your entire funnel = creative similarity penalty.

→ Multiple creative partners 

Working with various creators and agencies ensures aesthetic differentiation.

One design team = one visual style = similarity clustering.

→ Wider brand guidelines 

Strict brand aesthetics are now a performance liability. 

Your guidelines need to expand to accommodate multiple styles that appeal to different personas.

Q4 Planning:

If you're still running 12 variants of the same ad with minor tweaks, your CPMs are about to get punished harder than ever.

Start building true creative diversity now. 

Different visuals, different messaging, different personas, different partners.

The brands that diversify their creative ecosystem early will dominate Q4. 

Everyone else will be scrambling with inflated costs.

Founder of Odylic Media | New Customer Growth for Premium & Luxury Brands

Most Brands Are Still Running Meta Ads Like It's 2024...

Sequential learning changed everything and nobody updated their creative strategy.

You're still testing random hooks hoping something sticks instead of building actual customer journeys that Meta's algorithm can learn from.

Here's what's different now:

Meta doesn't just optimize for conversions anymore. 

It optimizes for WHO converts and WHAT content moves them through the journey.

That means persona-specific creative sequences beat random creative testing every single time.

I'm giving away my complete 2026 Meta Creative Strategy White Paper.

This isn't a PDF with generic tips. 

This is the complete framework I use with 7-8 figure brands to build creative that actually works with Meta's algorithm:

What's inside:

- How to research and identify the actual personas worth building creative for
- Building complete customer journeys mapped to Meta's sequential learning
- Turning journeys into highly diverse creative briefs your team can execute
- The 4 types of creative you need to cover every stage properly
- How to ensure real creative diversity (not just hook variations)
- Organic-first creativ e approaches that work in feed without looking like ads
- Creative tracking and organization systems with proper naming conventions
- Breaking down what each persona needs to see at top, middle, and bottom of funnel to actually convert

This is the exact process I use to develop creative roadmaps for luxury and high-AOV brands running serious spend.

72 hour window. 

After that, it's gone.

To get it:

1. Make sure we're connected
2. Like this post
3. Comment "Creative"

Most consultants package this as a $2k+ course.

You're getting it free because I'd rather see brands actually leverage sequential learning correctly than keep watching the same tired strategies fail.

The Website Is Dead. Shopify Just Accelerated Its Funeral.

Shopify dropped their Universal Commerce Protocol yesterday, and most DTC brands are completely missing what this actually means:

Your website will be irrelevant within 5 years.

The New Buying Behavior:

Your future customer won't browse your site. 

They'll ask Gemini "find me a minimalist weekender bag under $300" and buy instantly without ever knowing your URL exists.

The point of discovery IS the point of purchase now.

What Shopify Just Enabled:

- Native checkout in ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity
- Open protocol (UCP) co-developed with Google 
- A new"Agentic plan" for ANY brand (even non-Shopify stores)

Your products syndicated across every AI platform from one integration.

Why This Changes Everything:

Amazon already lets users set price triggers for auto-purchase. 

That's just the beginning.

In 24 months, consumers will delegate purchasing decisions to AI entirely. 

"Restock my essentials when prices drop 15%." 

Done.

The brands that win? 

The ones building AI discoverability infrastructure TODAY.

How To Actually Get Started (The Tactical Breakdown):

→ Go to your Shopify Admin and enable Agentic Storefronts 
→ Install Knowledge Base app to control brand narrative and FAQs 
→ Toggle individual platforms on/off (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity) 
→ Choose your checkout flow: embedded in-chat OR redirect to your store
→ One-time setup syndicates your products to all AI platforms via Shopify Catalog 

For Non-Shopify Brands:

→ You DON'T need a Shopify online store 
→ Plug your existing product catalog into Shopify's infrastructure 
→ You become discoverable across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Shop app
→ Sign up for Shopify's "Agentic plan" waitlist (this is the game-changer) 
→ Shopify routes orders to your existing OMS, integrates with your PIM/tax systems 


Shopify Catalog uses specialized LLMs to categorize and enrich your data. 

Clean feeds = better AI discoverability.

Group products by standard attributes and metafields so AI accurately presents your offerings in searches.

Track FAQs, policies, brand voice. Control how AI answers customer questions about returns, shipping, product details.

onitor which AI platforms drive conversions. You get full visibility into search trends and customer questions.

This paves the way for AI ads and sponsored placements. 

Google's already testing "Direct Offers" pilot exclusive deals served directly in AI Mode.

Just like Google search ads disrupted Yellow Pages, AI recommendation ads will disrupt Meta/Google.

The brands investing in AI channel presence now will own category dominance when the inflection point hits.

Gen Alpha won't "go to a website." That phrase will sound as dated as "look it up in the encyclopedia."

The infrastructure for that future just went live. 

Most brands are still optimizing their homepage hero sections....

The Biggest Meta Advertising Mistake in 2026:

Brands still optimizing for individual ad performance instead of journey performance.

Here’s what changed:

Meta doesn’t care about your “best” ad anymore. 

They care about your best sequence.

Sequential Learning optimizes for entire customer journeys, not isolated conversions.

Your ads get intentionally sequenced to build conversion paths. 

Meta decides the order based on what actually converts over the full journey.

The mistake:

Killing high-spend, low-ROAS ads.

That awareness asset eating 15% of budget with a 1.2 ROAS? 

It’s probably the first touch making your 4x ROAS retargeting work.

Spend distribution = Meta’s confidence in an asset’s role in the journey.

Your top 10-20% spending cohort IS your customer journey.

How to map it:

→ Track CPMR + Frequency + customer breakdown to identify funnel position

→ Map average touches to conversion

→ Identify the gaps

Most brands have zero creative addressing mid-funnel objections.

The fix:

Pull your support tickets. Pull your reviews.

Common customer questions = missing journey steps.

→ Warranty concerns? Make an ad.

→ Sizing questions? Make an ad.

→ Comparison to competitors? Make an ad.

If it’s a question in support, it needs creative in your journey.

Think landing page ecosystem, not individual ads.

Every potential concern needs addressable creative.

Every persona needs their own journey built.

→ Technical buyers need specs and proof points

→ Social buyers need testimonials and social proof

→ Value buyers need guarantees and risk reversal

Going into 2026:

Stop optimizing for last-touch attribution.

Start mapping journey cohorts, build creative that fills the gaps, then let Meta sequence it.

The algorithm is smarter than your media buyer. 

Your job is giving it the right assets to work with.

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This is the biggest opportunity on Meta right now (almost no one is leveraging it yet)

Persona-based customer journeys...

And the ones that are implementing are seeing performance like it's 2016.

Here's the framework:

First, breakdown your customer file into 3-8 personas.

The two biggest variables that separate your personas:

1. Why do they actually buy?

For Utility products: What problem are they solving?
For Aesthetic products: What identity/emotion are they trying to achieve

Example, Utility: You sell a weight loss supplement to women.

(I'll be using this example for the remainder of the post)

Some buy it to look better to feel more confident to go on more dates.

Others buy to lose weight so they can play with their kids easier.

Same product. Different motivation. Different journey. Different persona.

2. What emotions is this persona most susceptible to?

Use Ocean personality framework (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism).

The mom wanting to play with her kids? 

Possibly higher agreeableness + conscientiousness.

She's relationship-focused. Feels responsible for being present.

Your ads therefore should leverage nurturance. Family bonds. Missing moments with her kids.

Match emotion to persona. That's conversion.

After you map out your personas (buying reasons, emotional triggers, demographics, behaviors), identify what they need to believe to BE TRUE to buy.

From a first principles standpoint: 

That weight loss supplement buyer who wants to play with her kids needs to believe:

1. Losing weight = playing with kids easier
2. Your product will help her lose weight
3. No side effects 
4. The value > the cost

If she believes all four, she buys.

Your creative strategy needs to build the beliefs through the susceptible emotions and allow Meta to sequence each touchpoint.

All while providing visual and messaging variety to appeal to the vast sub segments within each persona. 

Meaning creating different:

- Concepts
- Ad formats
- Mediums
- Production styles, etc.

All to reinforce the first principle beliefs that need to be held true to initiate a conversion. 

Why this works:

Sequential Learning optimizes for journey clusters, not individual ads.

Meta wants persona-specific creative across the funnel so it can sequence intelligently.

Most brands can't execute because it requires restructuring creative, measurement, and media buying.

That's the gap.

Map your personas → emphasize the "why" and emotional states → identify first principles beliefs to make the why true → build creative by persona and funnel position → test persona clusters by funnel postion → scale winners.

This is key to profitable scale on Meta in 2026.

How to Make VIRAL Persona Led Ads on Meta at Scale

(Leveraging Sequential Learning)

Meta's algorithm now optimizes for complete customer journeys across personas.

Meaning, you need a full funnel of creative for every persona, at every buying stage stage.

Writing 3-8 creative variations per persona while maintaining voice consistency?

That's where creative teams break down.

But there is a solution:

AI Persona Projects.

One Claude Project (or Gemini Gem or ChatGPT GPT) for each persona.

Load it with your brand intelligence. 

Then use it two ways:

1. Emulate the Persona for brainstorming angles and concepts. 

Ask your persona questions directly. 

"What would make you stop scrolling?" 
"How would you describe this to a friend?"

2. Write As Them for copy, text overlays, and video scripts calibrated to that persona's psychology and voice.

How It Actually Works:

You create a dedicated project for each persona.

When you need to make content for that persona, you open that specific project.

Building TOF low market sophistication ads for the self-purchasing millennial? 

Open her project. Chat with her and have her write the copy.

Switching to MOF ads for the luxury mom? 

Switch to her project.

This is your brainstorming partner for angles, your writer for scripts, your consistency engine for voice across your entire creative library and team.

What You Get in This Giveaway:

→ 4 Fill-in-the-Blank Templates (Persona Bible, Brand Foundation, Copy Framework)

→ Pre-Built AI Humanizer (eliminates generic AI-isms from output)

→ Complete Setup Tutorial (best questions to ask, troubleshooting when output is off)

→ Sample documents showing what "done" looks like

Why This Works:

We've tested this across premium brands in apparel, food, tech, and gear.

Results: 

Better ROAS. Lower CAC and higher creative output volume.

This is the difference between guessing what resonates and having a reference system that maintains voice consistency at scale.

It's one of the few AI use cases that's production-ready. 

As the outputs are 90% ready to go live...

Easy for anyone learn, use and keep using, (most use it daily). 

No special tools required.

Just create the files and you're running.

Ultimately solving the big question:

"How do I actually build persona-led creative for Meta's Sequential Learning?"

Here's how to get everything:

1. Like this post
2. Comment "Persona" below
3. Make sure we're connected, Peter Quadrel

You'll get all the templates, the humanizer, and the complete tutorial in your inbox.

This giveaway is only available for 72 hours.

20 Meta Hot Takes Few Media Buyers Admit...

1. High CPMs are good     

2. Hook rate has minimal impact on revenue     

3. Incrementality is the only truth  

4. Broad targeting will always outperform over the long run     

5. You have to choose between predictable volume or predictable efficiency (control vs. lowest)  

6. 3rd party attribution in ‘21 was a scam     

7. You need 70%+ margins or a 2-3X 12 month LTV to really scale     

8. Statics are the most efficient way to test new angles  

9. The majority of metrics on the platform are useless  

10. Spend is the greatest indicator of performance

11. Audience exclusions are just suggestions

12. Incremental attribution > 7DC

13. Test on lowest scale on cost control

14. Offer strategy > creative strategy

15. Low production usually beats high prod. 

16. Organic feeds outperform ad libraries for inspo

17. Partnership ads are the best way to get net new reach

18. Creative volume is a vanity metric/agenda pushed by Big Creative

19. Increasing TAM is the solution to an endemic rise in CPAs

20. Make it a gummy subscription and you'll win

Meta's CMO just said measurement doesn't matter.

(And he's right.)

But there's a lot more nuance...

Alex Schultz, CMO & VP of Analytics at Meta said in his new book:

"If you need a data scientist and a microscope to determine if your marketing had an impact, well then, it didn't."

Here's the full context:

Schultz literally ran both marketing AND analytics at Meta.

Self-described "numbers nerd" who championed measurement his entire career.

But when he took over as CMO, teams started measuring everything to impress him. 

One team tried to statistically measure the impact of a 100-person client event.

Impossible, but they tried anyway.

During Meta's 2022-2023 budget cuts, teams became obsessed with proving ROI to protect budgets. 

Result? 

Killed creativity and risk-taking.

They delivered on core jobs but missed upside.

His actual take:

"Not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything that can be measured matters. Don't let perfect measurement be the enemy of great impact."

He even says: 

"I don't trust a team that never fails in their goals. Either they're measuring wrong or the goals they set are far too easy to reach."

You try to measure everything. 

You're under pressure to make every dollar count.

But when you account for true lifetime value (~80 years), word-of-mouth runoff effects, all the touchpoints people need to become customers, and how to spread credit among channels...

You can do all the data science you want. 

All the holdout tests. 

All the incrementality studies.

But at the end of the day, we're doing billboard ads.

It's an image on a screen. 

People scroll past. 

Might influence the sale, might not.

Incrementality studies change month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, seasonally. 

Holdout tests can miss long-tail LTV curves. 

Attribution models break with lengthy consideration cycles.

Schultz's actual approach:

→ Keep it simple. One North Star metric. Everything else is telemetry. 
→ Measure what can be measured really well 
→ Be clear when something can't be measured 
→ If you do the first well, you'll be trusted on the second

At the end of the day look at revenue. Look at spend.

The brands winning right now aren't the ones with the most complex attribution models.

They're the ones who launch fast enough to see obvious results, test creative aggressively where winners are unmistakable, scale channels where revenue impact is clear, and kill what's not working before needing 6 weeks of analysis.

If you need a PhD to explain your marketing ROI to your CFO, you probably don't have ROI.

Most Premium/Luxury Brand's Ads Fail Because They're Trying Too Hard to Sell...

Here's what actually works: black and white. 

No flashy colors. 

No aggressive CTAs. 

Just strategic creative that understands customer journey architecture.

Ad 1: The Monaco Association Play (Top of Funnel)

The blurred Rolex poster. 

The Monaco circuit. 

The aerospace-grade copy. All triggering association bias.

You're not selling a phone case. 

You're associating your product with a lifestyle, a persona, a world.

Meta's algorithm picks up on these visual cues. 

The F1 car, the Monaco setting, it knows. 

And it serves this to people already in that psychographic profile.

Notice what you don't see: the actual product. 

Just a glimpse of the case. 

That's intentional. 

A feed puller ad designed to spark curiosity, not close a sale. 

First-touch, not last-click.

Ad 2: The Visceral Simplicity Approach (Top of Funnel)

"No more cold feet."

One clear benefit. 

One striking visceral image you can literally feel. 

EU-made alpaca socks frozen in ice.

The visceral imagery principle: you don't just see the product, you experience it through the creative. 

The cold, the texture, the warmth you'd get from the solution.

Most brands would plaster this with feature callouts, guarantees, pricing. 

That's middle-funnel thinking in a top-funnel moment. 

You lose the organic feed presence that makes people actually engage.

Ad 3: The Investment Reframe (Bottom of Funnel)

"14k Solid Gold. Investment."

Price justification without being defensive about price. 

It reframes the purchase through multiple psychological mechanisms:

→ Anchoring: Gold's current market value creates inherent value perception 
→ Dual investment: Meaning plus material value
→ Temporal framing: "Becoming more personal with time" triggers endowment effect 

"Real luxury is in the details and the legacy it leaves behind."

Double meaning. Product craftsmanship plus relationship significance.

How fashion and jewelry brands actually create bottom-of-funnel content without resorting to discount codes and countdown timers.

The Pattern Most Brands Miss:

You can't build customer journeys with one ad type.

You need:

→ Top-of-funnel organic feed pullers (not sales pitches) 
→ Mid-funnel educational/social proof content
→ Bottom-of-funnel conversion optimization (without cheapening the brand)

Most premium brands I audit have 90% top-of-funnel lifestyle content and nothing to actually convert warm audiences.

Or worse: they try to sell in every ad and kill their organic reach.

The performance is found in the journey you build through a planned sequence of creatives.

9 Meta Truths Media Buyers Hate to Admit:

1. Spend is the MOST important metric.

Not ROAS. Not purchase value. 

Spend = Meta's confidence in your asset. 

It's the output of all their AI and data.

Most scaling mistakes happen because people ignore where Meta actually puts their money.

2. Run your own retargeting for $300+ products.

Don't let Meta handle it automatically. 

With proper setup, you get actual incremental value, not just pulled-forward sales.

3. 7-day click + incremental attribution wins on average.

Tested across dozens of accounts. 

Consistently outperforms other setups for most brands.

4. 90% of metrics are useless.

Hook rates, CTR, cost per click not even correlated with revenue.

Plot twist: Higher CPMs actually correlate with BETTER performance.

5. Your scaling problem is promotional content.

Your ads only appeal to people who already know your product. 

Top-funnel creative should blend into feeds organically.

Test: If your ads would work as organic posts, they're probably good ads.

6. Media buying = budget control.

CBO, ABO, cost controls are just different ways to control dollar flow per asset.

7. You don't need fancy tools until mid-eight figures.

CAPI + Meta attribution = enough data. 

Triple Whale att. will just confuse you.

8. Success is 80% product-market fit + offer + angle.

Everything else is optimization theatrics.

9. Most bad performance = you don't understand your market.

Not about design or production quality. 

You don't know what customers actually care about.

Talk to real people more. Read more reddit.

Tweak ads less.

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The Battle

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Peter Quadrel

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Olly Hudson's LinkedIn Performance

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