Vagabond Digital 

As the CEO of Vagabond Digital, a dynamic and fast-growing agency specialising in paid media and social strategies, I lead a highly ambitious team and collaborate with an extensive network of skilled freelancers. Together, we are dedicated to crafting innovative campaigns that seamlessly integrate direct response and brand building.

At Vagabond Digital, we excel in leveraging our expertise to create, develop, and optimise paid search and social initiatives for clients across diverse industries. Our primary goal is to generate tangible results by strategically positioning advertisements directly in front of our clients' desired audiences, driving sales and generating valuable leads for their businesses.

With a relentless focus on achieving exceptional outcomes, we combine data-driven insights with creative ingenuity to deliver compelling campaigns that captivate audiences, spark engagement, and ultimately drive conversions. Our unwavering commitment to staying at the forefront of industry trends and technologies ensures that our clients benefit from cutting-edge strategies that consistently exceed expectations.

If you're seeking a forward-thinking agency partner that possesses a deep understanding of paid media and social platforms, and a passion for driving business growth through innovative marketing techniques, please feel free to DM me.

CEO & Founder

PPC & Paid Social Freelancer

SQ Digital

After excelling in my previous role of PPC Consultant I was offered the role Head of PPC in which I was tasked with managing and growing the PPC department. I successfully hired, trained and grew the team to be one of the most effective within the company. By focusing on R&D combined with tried and tested methods we were able to exceed all targets and the hard work culminated in several industry awards. 

In tandem with managing the team I was integral to winning new business and nurturing the accounts once on board. I hosted several workshops with Google which garnered lots of positive feedback and led me to creating my very own PPC Agency.

Head of PPC

In this role I got to grips with the basics and advanced best practices in PPC marketing. Taking control of some key accounts I pushed myself to learn outside of work as much as I could about business and marketing so that I could look at problems from different angles in order to provide better solutions.

PPC Consultant 

In the past we used to advertise broad messages to broad audiences on billboards and newspaper spreads but now, thanks to the advent of PPC (pay-per-click) and social advertising, we’re able to advertise specific messages to specific audiences to achieve a much greater impact - which is where I come in. I put brands and businesses directly in front of their target audience with highly targeted paid advertising campaigns on platforms such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat in order to drive sales and leads.

About me:

I’m a super ambitious, motivated and dedicated business leader passionate about all things business and marketing. I get a kick out of problem solving, thinking outside the box, learning new things and creating value for businesses. I’m also an advocate for remote working, a healthier planet and a happy balance.

Whilst I have a knowledge and interest in all things marketing, I chose to specialise in PPC advertising because I see it as The Business End of Digital Marketing. So I founded Vagabond Digital to help businesses and brands put their products and services directly in front of their target audience. We use a combination of automation and brain power to successfully drive sales and leads into businesses of all sectors. We’re a little different in that we’re a remote business, which means we have neither office locations nor restrictions. This enables us to work with the most impressive talent around the globe, offer flexibility to our staff and improve communication channels - all the while delivering a premium service to our clients.

We offer flat rate fees, great value for money and a high level of expertise.

I’d love to hear from anyone interested in marketing, collaborating or growing their business. Drop me a message and we can arrange a virtual coffee chat - tj@vagabonddigital.co.uk

The books I recommend most often: 

Shoe Dog, Tools of Titans, Think and Grow Rich and for some fiction - East of Eden.

TJ Lee

I’m about to become a dad. And I’ll be honest - I’ve got no idea what happens to my head the day it happens.

Everyone keeps saying *“everything will change”*.

But they never say how.

Right now, I’m in this weird space between two lives:

→ Still working like a maniac.
→ Still chasing the next milestone.
→ Still focused on growing Vagabond.

But I know there’s something coming that will shake all of that. I just don’t know which way it will push me.

Will it give me perspective - make me slow down, enjoy life, realise none of this matters as much as I thought?

Or…

Will it light an even bigger fire, push me to build something bigger, stronger, so my kid never has to worry about anything?

Logistically, I’m already confused:

🕖 When do I work?
🏋🏼‍♂️ When do I train?
👶🏻 When do I switch off?

(Do founders even get to “switch off”?)

The only thing I *do* know:

I want to be present. I want to be a good dad.

And I still want to build something I’m proud of.

Figuring out how those two worlds collide…

That’s the part no one teaches you.

So, to the founders already in this phase - how did it change you?

Did you slow down?

Or did you double down?

I’m honestly curious.

Founder and Chief Vagabond at Vagabond Digital | Paid Media Expert | Growing the world’s best businesses inc. Allbeauty, Fragrance Direct and more

This has been one of the toughest years I’ve seen in agency life.

Not just for us - across the industry.

Budgets have tightened.
Decision-makers have slowed.
And more brands are pulling work in-house.

We felt it firsthand. Two of our biggest accounts moved their performance teams internally.

Great relationships. Strong results. Still gone.

And that’s the game nobody tells you about when you start an agency:

You can do a brilliant job… and still lose the client.

But here’s the truth I’ve made peace with:

Clients will come and go. Retention isn’t guaranteed.

But your resilience has to be.

Because while some doors close, new ones open - if you’re ready.

We’ve all lost clients before. We’ll lose them again.

But we’ll also win bigger ones.

That’s agency life.

Stay steady. Keep swinging.

Q4 is where it all turns.

As a founder, your job title changes every time your business does.

One year, you’re doing client work.
The next, you’re fixing finance issues.
Then suddenly - you’re the Head of Sales again.

Right now, that’s exactly where I am. After years of jumping between CEO tasks (partnerships, marketing, strategy)…

…I’ve gone all in on sales.

Why?

Because that’s what the business needs.

And here’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from mentorship and experience:

Nobody will ever sell your business as well as you can. I even asked my board director recently whether I should hire a salesperson.

“Not yet. Clear everything *except sales off your plate.* Get a PA. Delegate ops. Let your team run delivery.”

“Your time is most valuable in front of prospects - not spreadsheets.”

He’s right.

A founder’s real superpower isn’t operations - it’s conviction.

You built the thing. You know the mission. You can sell the vision better than anyone.

So here’s where I’ve landed:

✅ Delegate admin
✅ Empower your senior team
✅ Step back from the ‘doing’

⚡ Double down on selling the business

Until you’ve hit serious scale - *you* are the best closer in your company.

The hardest part of running an agency? Not sales. Not clients. Hiring.

I’ve hired 30+ people, interviewed close to 100, and skimmed through thousands of CVs.

And still - it’s a gamble every time.

But over the years, I’ve boiled it down to four non-negotiables:

—

1️⃣ Work ethic

I don’t care how “talented” you are.

If you clock in mentally at 9:05 and check out at 4:55, it won’t work here. 

(Sorry, not sorry, if that’s not the right thing to say these days…)

—

2️⃣ Expertise (relative to level)

I don’t expect juniors to be experts. 

I do expect seniors to know their craft inside-out. Self-awareness matters.

—

3️⃣ Culture fit

No egos or passengers. 

You can be brilliant, but if you’re a nightmare to work with, you’re out.

—

4️⃣ Accountability

Mistakes aren’t the problem. Hiding them is. 

Own it, fix it, move forward.

—

Hiring isn’t about filling a seat.

It’s about betting on someone to move with you (not just work for you).

Founders: your criteria might differ, but if you’re not clear on what you value…

You’ll hire for speed, and pay for it later.

I studied scriptwriting. Delivered Chinese takeaways. Now I run a 30-person agency.

My career path wasn’t linear.

And that’s the point. 

Resilience isn’t about sticking to the plan, it’s about pushing forward *when the plan falls apart*.

Clients leave.
Cash gets tight.
Team dynamics change.

But you show up anyway.

The people who win are the ones who:

→ Keep moving
→ Stay focused
→ Block out the noise
→ Surround themselves with good people

Spielberg once said: Don’t blink.

That’s how I treat business.

Eyes forward. No panic. Keep building.

Don’t blink.

I’m not the best marketer at Vagabond.

And that’s exactly how it should be.

When I first started, clients bought into me.

My skills. My ideas. My ability to run ads and social. But if 5 years later, I was still the smartest marketer in the room?

We’d have a serious problem.

Because building an agency isn’t about clinging onto being “the best.” It’s about surrounding yourself with people who are better.

That means:
👉🏻 Creatives who think in ways I never could.
👉🏻 Paid media specialists who know the platforms inside out.
👉🏻 Social teams who are sharper, faster, and more up to date than I am.

My job now is not to be the best marketer. It’s to build the best team of marketers.

Scaling a business forces you to let go.

To stop trying to do it all.

To trade ego for growth.

If you want to grow, hire people better than you.

And get out of their way.

If you’re chasing euphoria every time you win in business… you’re setting yourself up to lose.

When I first started Vagabond, I used to get a huge buzz from every “win.”

A new client. A big campaign. A team hire.

But the problem is, if you get addicted to the highs… you’ll get crushed by the lows.

And business certainly has its lows.

Clients leave and cashflow gets tight. People quit. Results dry up.

If you’re defined by one side of the rollercoaster, you’ll get wrecked by the other.

That’s why I try to stay level.

I celebrate wins, of course. But I don’t let them define me.

And when the sh*t hits the fan, I don’t let that define me either.

Staying steady is how you stay resilient. It’s how you show up consistently.

It’s how you survive long enough to actually *build* something.

The highs and lows are just noise.

What matters is how you handle the middle.

Social content looks effortless. But behind every "casual" post is a machine most people never see.

Shot lists. 
Mood boards. 
Content calendars mapped weeks in advance. 
Last-minute pivots when something isn't working.
Coordination between creative teams, account managers, and clients. 
Multiple takes to get the "spontaneous" moment just right.
Countless revisions. 
More revisions. 

The brands that make it look easy have systems.

At Vagabond, we've built processes that handle the complexity so the final product feels natural.

Pre-production planning that accounts for every variable. Streamlined workflows that keep projects moving. Quality control that catches issues before they become problems.

The goal isn't to eliminate the work. It's to make the work invisible.

Because when social content truly connects, nobody should see the effort behind it.

The D2C playbook is broken.

For years, brands built entire businesses on cheap Facebook ads.

Those days are over.

CPMs have doubled on Meta and TikTok. Big brands flooded in, driving up competition and costs.
iOS 14 killed precise targeting. Lookalike audiences and retargeting became guesswork overnight.

Ad fatigue is real. Consumers scroll past, block ads, or just don't trust overly salesy content anymore.

This summer, we've worked with more D2C brands flipping the script entirely.

Instead of paid-first with organic as an afterthought, they're going organic-first with paid as support.

Authentic content that builds genuine connections. 
Community-led growth that creates actual brand loyalty.
User-generated content that doesn't feel like advertising. 

Of course, paid still works. But it's no longer the affordable growth lever it once was.

The brands getting ahead now treat organic social as essential infrastructure, not a nice extra.

They're building brand equity and long-term loyalty instead of chasing cheap clicks.

The D2C brands still betting everything on paid acquisition? 

Will get left behind.

Soar With Us

Full service digital marketing agency helping DTC e-commerce companies scale to 7 and 8 figures through done-for-you paid traffic, retention and funnel optimisation.

Supporting over 100 brands, including:
- The Essence Vault
- Space Goods
- Tallow & Ash
- UN:IK Clothing

Founder

For You Advertising

Specialist DTC growth agency helping brands take advantage of the rapid expansion of TikTok. Providing platform-specific content and paid advertising services to 6, 7 and 8 figure brands across all major territories.

Co-Founder

Launch With Us

Facebook, Instagram & TikTok Advertising Agency helping early stage startups go from 0 to 1 with paid advertising.

JAQ Group Holdings

Marketing for one of the UK's fastest growing E-commerce groups. Working across a diverse portfolio of disruptive brands in multiple verticals.

Prospect Path

Digital Marketing Intern

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

2x DTC Agency Founder 

We scale brands to 7 and 8 figures with paid traffic, retention and funnel optimisation.

In 2025, having a great product is one thing…

But scaling a brand to £10M is a another.

You need a simple roadmap for profitably attracting and converting customers, at scale.

Because when you get that right…

- You stand out from competitors in the market
- You build a community around your brand
- You acquire customers at will (profitably)
- You turn customers into raving fans 

Giving you complete control over your growth.

We help our clients do exactly that with our proven system that guarantees growth.

1. Initial diagnostic to identify bottlenecks in your business
2. Developing a bespoke growth strategy for your brand
3. Creative ideation and production 
4. Unique UGC collaborations
5. Targeted advertising (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat)
6. Email marketing 

And having generated over £100M+ in sales across 200+ brands, we’ve know the ecommerce game inside out.

🚀 Mystery Shirt In A Box grew from £5K to £2.6M in just one year with our help
🚀 The Essence Vault is hitting 7 figure months in its second year since launch
🚀 Vintage Threads tripled their revenue working with us with a 6x ROAS
🚀 AIRfreshh went from 0% to 52% of revenue from email in 2 months!
🚀 Bene Culture saw their revenue grow 6x in 6 months with our help
🚀 The Oodie generated £2M on TikTok alone in their first year
🚀 UN:IK’s first quarter of 2023 was 88% on 2022
🚀 Liam and Co. increased their LTV by 22%


Don’t put up with unpredictable, unsustainable or underwhelming growth any more.

If you want to see how we could help scale your brand, send me a DM saying ‘SOAR’

If you're not ready yet, I post daily educational content to give you all the secrets.

Olly Hudson

This brand hit a $100M+ run rate in 11 months.

IM8 Health are scaling like no other DTC wellness brand we’ve seen.

- $100M+ run rate
- +74% QoQ growth (Q3)
- 80% subscription rate on new customers
- AOV jumped from $110 to $150 (driven by new product launch)
- Gross margin expanded from 52% to 60%
- EBITDA losses dropped from $40M → $8M

The strategy? Exceptional.

A few months ago, we broke down IM8’s entire growth machine. So with the new updated valuation, I thought I’d share it again for those who haven’t downloaded it yet:

- Paid ads (Meta + Google)
- Top 3 Lander pages
- Subscription funnel
- Email + retention strategy
- Ambassador programme
- Organic & community
- Bundle offer setup
- Scientific brand positioning

It’s one of the sharpest wellness brand builds we’ve seen.

Want the full teardown?

1. Like this post
2. Comment “IM8”
3. Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you the board

Reposts = bumped to the top of the list.

DTC Growth Expert For 8 & 9 Figure Brands | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising

We broke down the funnel of a brand that sells a product every 5 seconds on TikTok Shop.

WONDERSKIN is quietly building one of the most effective DTC machines on TikTok Shop.

- 670K+ units sold (UK only)
- >20,000+ affiliate creators
- 5,000+ creative variants tested
- Seamless affiliate + Shop integration
- TikTok-native product launches (built to demo)

The playbook? Omnipresence through creator scale.

This funnel breakdown shows you how they structured their content, affiliates and offers to drive real revenue, not just views. 

If you’re running an ecom brand, this is your shortcut to building a TikTok system that sells.

- Uncover top DTC TikTok Shop strategies.
- Understand where content should sit in your funnel.
- Learn from the best to convert more customers on TikTok

TikTok called it a “halo effect” – with spillover to Amazon and beyond.

It’s a masterclass in TikTok-first DTC.

Want the full teardown?

1. Like this post
2. Comment “Wonderskin”
3. Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you the board

Reposts = bumped to the top of the list.

1 founder’s ad concept drove £2 million in revenue.

We didn’t need more creatives. We just rebuilt the same story into 12 variations across 4 formats.

Here’s the exact framework we used (and we’ve put it all into a cheat sheet).

When a founder story hits, it hits hard.

But what actually drives performance isn’t just the story.

It’s how you structure, package, and scale it across the funnel.

So we broke down our full process into a new resource:

🚨The High-Performance Founder Content Cheat Sheet

Inside, you’ll get:
- ✅ The 9-step emotional arc every founder ad should follow
- ✅ Proven hook frameworks to stop the scroll cold
- ✅ Best-in-class examples 
- ✅ Key questions to unlock founder story gold
- ✅ The anatomy of a winning founder-led concept
- ✅ Best practices for scripting, shooting, and editing
- ✅ How to scale one narrative into 15+ variations
- ✅ Why this format keeps outperforming statics, UGC, and DR ads

If you're a founder (or scaling a brand where the founder is the USP), 👆 this is how you turn story into scale.

Want it?
Like this post
Comment “founder” and I’ll send it over 

(Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you)

LinkedIn

JSESSIONID

LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn

li_at

Talks about #dtc, #paidads, #ecommerce, #emailmarketing, and #digitalmarketing

This one piece of advice? I ignored it and built the UK’s leading DTC agency.

“Don’t hire your mates.”

We did the opposite. And this happened:

→ £400M+ in revenue generated
→ £150M+ in paid spend
→ 250+ DTC brands scaled

It started with two lads from Tadcaster Grammar School, me and Joe.

We grew up in Yorkshire, talked about building businesses when we were as young as 12, and ended up launching Soar With Us from a spare room during COVID.

When it came to hiring… we didn’t follow the agency playbook.

We hired our best mates - the same lads I was in Year 7 with.

Now?
- 3x Co-Founders
- A Managing Director
- Head of Sales
- Head of Marketing
- Content Manager

👆 All best mates from the same school.

All still in the trenches together, scaling the UK’s fastest-growing creative growth partner for DTC brands.

Most agencies break because leadership isn’t aligned.

Ours works because we’ve had 20 years of calling each other out and still showing up the next day.

It’s not always smooth.

The disagreements are louder when you’ve grown up together. But so is the loyalty.

And when your business depends on creative, data and finance moving fast and in sync, that trust becomes your unfair advantage.

Ignore the playbook. Back the people who back you.

Building DTC brands to 8 and 9 figures | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising | Triple Whale's "Agency of The Year" Winner

We built 144 ads from just 4 personas.

Everyone’s obsessed with testing more hooks. But the real unlock isn’t volume, it’s relevance.

Your ads need to look and feel fundamentally different, starting with who you’re speaking to.

Here’s how to do it properly 👇

Step 1️⃣: Research (qualitative > quantitative)
Before you start writing, you collect inputs.

Start here:
- Customer reviews: How people describe the product
- TikTok comments: How people respond to content. 
- Competitor ads: Use TikTok Creative Center. Filter by CTR + 6s view rate. Look at what angles are repeated across top performers.
- Category trends: What’s being overused? What emotional appeals feel stale?
- Platform data: Identify creative formats that actually perform natively on different platforms.

You’re mapping how humans behave around your product category. That’s where creative strategy starts.

---

Step 2️⃣: Build the persona
Personas are built from patterns in what people say, feel, and do. Not demographics.
For each cluster of behaviours you find, define:
- Pain points & desires
- Discovery behaviour: How they find products like yours
- Scepticism & triggers: What makes them hesitate, what pushes them to act.
- Emotional drivers 👉 pick one primary driver per persona.
- Buying mindset: Impulsive vs rational. 
These become the foundation for truly differentiated creative.

---

Step 3️⃣: Map persona → angle
The angle is how you enter the conversation already happening in that person’s head.

Examples
Skeptic persona: Lead with proof, credibility, and repetition.
Aspirational persona: Lead with identity and transformation.
Pain-aware persona: Lead with frustration, relief, and contrast.
Rational persona: Lead with logic, clarity, and maths.

---

Step 4️⃣: Translate angle → hook
You already know what they care about, now compress it into the first 3 seconds.
- Skeptic: “I thought this brand was full of s*** until I tried it.”
- Aspirational: “You know that feeling when something just feels premium?”
- Pain-aware: “I was tired of wasting money on stuff that doesn’t work.”
- Rational: “If you like products that actually do what they say, this is one.”
The goal: make the viewer say “That’s me.”

---

Step 5️⃣: Match persona → creator
- Skeptic persona: Use authority-led creators (founders, reviewers, experts).
- Aspirational persona: Use aspirational creators (taste, aesthetic, lifestyle).
- Pain-aware persona: Use relatable UGC creators (everyday consumers).
- Rational persona: Use calm, factual explainers (tutorial/demo format).

---

Step 6️⃣: Systemise it
Each persona = a creative system, not a single ad.
Build it like this:
- 3 core angles per persona
- 3 hooks per angle
- 4 formats per hook
That’s: 4 personas × 3 angles × 3 hooks × 4 formats = 144 unique ads

Every one visually distinct enough to avoid Entity ID grouping. Every one mapped to a specific buyer type.

That’s how your research → insights → creative → results loop compounds.

After BFCM, the brands that keep winning are the ones who shift their creative strategy… fast.

We’ve packaged the exact framework we use for 8-figure clients and we’re giving it away.

Most brands coast into December. But it's actually the second highest intent window of the year.

The catch? You can’t run Black Friday logic through a Christmas lens.

Our new playbook breaks down exactly how to pivot your strategy to keep performance high after the spike, built for scaling DTC brands running Meta at volume.

Inside:

✅ Gifting-focused hooks → think “For Her” not “50% Off”.

✅ How to reposition bestsellers as gifts 

✅ Building Christmas-specific product sets (e.g. Secret Santa, Limited Box Sets)

✅ Emotional gifting: campaigns that feel personal (e.g. “the gift they’ll remember”)

✅ The delivery deadline triggers that drive action and tactics for post-shipping-cutoff monetisation

✅ Creative testing tactics for Meta: why old tricks (like banner swaps) no longer work

✅ Screenshot gallery of best-in-class post-BFCM creative (from DTC brands across sectors)

We break it all down in our new resource:
→ Beyond Black Friday: The Creative Refresh

Want it?
Like this post
Comment “BF” and I’ll send it over!

This is how we found a collagen ad framework that pulled £120k off £40k spend in 7 days.

If you want better ads? Stop studying the ads.

Start reverse-engineering what TikTok’s already delivering for free.

Most brands are looking in the wrong place for winning ad ideas.

Here’s a better strategy: instead of copying your competitor’s paid ads, reverse-engineer what’s already going viral organically.

Here’s how we do it (and how you can too):

👇

We start with TikTok - just manual scroll.

Search the core problem your product solves.

If it’s electrolytes? Type in “hydration” or “electrolyte hack”.

Then sort by:
- Views
- Comments
- Watch-through rate (check if people are duetting or stitching it too)

But here’s the part most skip:

👉 Don’t just copy what they’re saying. Study how they’re saying it.

Look for:
- First-person story?
- Supermarket breakdown?
- POV-style skit?
- Us vs Them comparison?

These formats are gold. They’ve been stress-tested by the algorithm, not just by an ad account.

Then we take the winning format and rebuild it from scratch (same bones, new skin) for our brand or client.

This is how we found a collagen ad framework that pulled £120k off £40k spend in 7 days.

And if you want to validate whether a viral organic video is worth repurposing?

We’ve been testing a new platform that analyses each video frame-by-frame across 100+ creative signals (hook strength, pacing, visual variety, tone of voice) and flags what’s likely to support delivery vs. what might hold it back.

If you want better ads 👆 this is how you turn ideas into winning frameworks.

Want access?
Like this post
Comment “viral” and I’ll send it over"

👇 This is what it takes to build a successful agency and keep it growing.

Sometimes you look around a room and realise you’re building something bigger than the numbers, bigger than the campaigns, bigger than the output.

You’re building with people who inspire you to raise your standards, challenge your thinking, and show up sharper than you did the day before.

The kind of people who give more than they take.

Who treat the work like it matters.

Who bring energy when things are flat, and clarity when things get chaotic.

And when you find yourself surrounded by that, you don’t take it lightly.

This year, at our Black Friday social, we brought all four Soar Group agencies together to celebrate everything we’ve achieved.

Looking around a room of 80 people, I felt it more than ever.

And next year, we build on it.

Not just the output.
But the identity.
The team.
The us.

Ready to level up, together.

Every ad account that “won’t spend” is telling you the same thing:

Your creative is too similar.

Because Meta GEM doesn’t optimise based on which ad performs best.

It optimises based on what each asset teaches the system.

And when your creative inputs lack differentiation across message, persona, or format, you limit the algorithm’s ability to find new buyers.

This is where most brands plateau - because their inputs no longer generate new signals.

Here’s what GEM actually is and how leading brands are adapting their setup to scale inside this new system:

1️⃣ Meta GEM is a foundational model for ads.
It’s built like an LLM, trained on trillions of interactions, across Facebook and Instagram.

It learns from:
– Every ad you run
– Every organic post
– Every signal users leave behind

The goal? Optimise every impression in real time.

2️⃣ Since rollout, GEM has quietly driven real lifts:
+5% in Instagram conversions
+3% in Facebook Feed
2x improvement in model scaling efficiency (Q3 2025)

But not every account benefits equally.
What you feed the model dictates how well it works for you.

3️⃣ Why this matters:
GEM changes how ads are selected, ranked, and delivered.

It doesn’t just look at a user’s past few clicks.

It analyses sequence-level behaviour over weeks and months, then makes delivery decisions across platforms and formats, not in silos.

4️⃣ What powers GEM:
If someone watches Reels on IG but clicks shopping ads on Facebook, GEM uses that to inform how and where your ad gets served.

Platform learning is now connected.

Creative needs to travel well across environments.

5️⃣ This brings us to the big unlock:
Your creative is now your strategy.
Campaign structure used to be the lever.
Today, the lever is creative signal density.
Every piece of content you publish teaches GEM what type of user buys and what doesn’t.

6️⃣ To scale, you need diversity across:
– Persona
– Format
– Funnel stage
– Message style

7️⃣ Organic content is now an asset, not a nice-to-have.
If you’re testing angles via Reels, UGC, or statics before you launch paid...

You’re giving GEM more data to work with.

If not? You’re flying blind, while the model waits for real engagement to learn from.

8️⃣ The most successful brands we work with now build their systems like this:
– Broad targeting only
– Weekly creative updates
– 10–15 radically different assets live at once
– Performance tracked via signal KPIs (scroll depth, hold rate, etc.)
– Organic > Paid flow embedded into the process

9️⃣ So if performance is soft or spend won’t scale...
It’s not because the algorithm “isn’t spending.”
It’s because the system doesn’t have enough differentiated signals to learn who your next buyer is.
That's the wall many brands are hitting.

🔟 Meta GEM is here.
The question is whether your setup is aligned with it.
Because in this new system:
→ The real media buyer is the model
→ And the best creative doesn’t just convert, it teaches

This is the difference between coasting into Q4… and actually compounding your BFCM gains👇

We speak to 5+ brands a day right now stuck in the same loop:

- Ad performance is finally coming back
- Angles are working again
- Stock is moving faster than forecast
- And they’re still under-spending

Why?

Not because they don’t want to scale. Because they’re caught in one of these bottlenecks:

Packaging supplier won’t ship until last month’s invoice clears

Stripe's holding £110k from Singles Day, with a 7-day delay

Just dropped £60k to restock bestsellers and now can’t fuel the ads

3PL invoiced early, payroll’s due, and the bank balance isn’t ready

Shopify, Klaviyo, Triple Whale… all auto-billed in the same 48hrs

We’ve seen brands doing £500k+/month forced to pull back during BFCM, not because the offer flopped, but because cashflow killed momentum.

Wayflyer solves that.

They’ve backed 5,000+ brands like Cuts, Wild, True Classic, and Dock & Bay with funding that moves as fast as your marketing needs to.

Right now they’re offering $25,000 in upfront capital for just $1.8k total cost over 6 months.

That’s 1.2% per month.

No equity. No hidden fees. Just liquidity when it matters.

Here’s what that gives you:

✅ Scale your best ads this week
✅ Reorder fast-sellers before they stock out
✅ Pay creators & media buyers before revenue lands

BFCM isn’t just about launch day.

The brands that win build a cushion, move fast, and never pause when performance is up.

👉 Apply now and $25k could land in your account next week https://kntn.ly/89550b6f

Wayflyer

This is the clearest execution of proven conversion principles I’ve seen in a customisable Shopify theme.

Most brands don’t have an ad problem. They have a conversion problem.

No amount of strong creative or media buying can outperform a store that isn’t built to convert.

That’s why I’m backing this.

SURGE is a brand new Shopify theme, built on 13 years of CRO data and thousands of A/B test results.

It’s made by a team we trust.

I’ve known Oliver Kenyon for years. Founder of ConversionWise, the CRO agency we’ve worked alongside across dozens of mutual clients and campaigns.

These are the people behind:
- Hundreds of winning test frameworks
- Millions in additional revenue
- CRO strategies we’ve seen scale 6–9 figure brands

SURGE is the first theme we’ve seen that’s truly built for performance.

Proven layouts. Data-backed sections. Every component stress-tested in live campaigns.

We’ve seen what happens when you combine CRO and acquisition properly.

This is that - productised.

It’s the cleanest way to make your traffic convert better, your ROAS climb, and your entire funnel work harder.

Launches 5th December at 9am EST

Only 500 licenses available in the first drop.

👉 https://kntn.ly/054652d3

12+ Years of CRO and landing pages for Ecom brands | Clients include Portland Leather, GFUEL, BOOM! By Cindy Joseph, MOOD.

ConversionWise

I’ll die on this hill: if you’re a founder, you need to be in your ads.

Nothing builds trust or stops the scroll faster, but it’s easy to get the execution wrong.

If you want founder-led ads that actually scale, you need more than just a “hey I’m the founder” story.

You need a narrative arc. You need emotional contrast. You need why, not just what.

👇Here are 10 questions we use to extract stories that build trust and convert cold audiences:

1️⃣ What’s your name and role in [BRAND/ PRODUCT]? 

2️⃣ What was the defining moment or personal experience that inspired you to start [BRAND/ PRODUCT]? Can you share the story behind it? 
> Was it a personal struggle, a gap in the market, or an "aha" moment? 

3️⃣Describe what the [market] was like before [BRAND/ PRODUCT], and the problems you experienced personally? 
>What challenges did you face in finding the right CBD solutions? Were there common frustrations that others also seemed to experience? What did you feel was missing from the industry?

4️⃣ Describe how this made you feel? 
>How did your experience with these CBD challenges impact your daily life, confidence, or overall well-being?

5️⃣ How did your early experiences with [PAIN POINT] and the lack of effective solutions affect you? 
>Did you feel frustrated, overlooked, or determined to find a solution? How did these emotions shape your decision to take action?

6️⃣ Can you describe the research and development process that went into formulating the unique ingredients of [BRAND/ PRODUCT]? 
>What challenges did you encounter along the way? What steps did you take to ensure the product was different and effective? Were there any roadblocks or surprising discoveries during the formulation process?

7️⃣ Can you describe the emotions you felt during the early stages of building the brand and creating your first product? 
>What were some of the challenges you faced? Think about the early days - were you excited, nervous, overwhelmed? What obstacles did you overcome to bring your vision to life?

8️⃣ Can you recall a specific moment or experience that validated your decision to start [BRAND/ PRODUCT]?
>How did it make you feel? Was there a breakthrough moment, a piece of customer feedback, or an achievement that reassured you that you were on the right path?

9️⃣ What sets [BRAND/ PRODUCT] apart from other brands in terms of the impact it has on customers' lives? How do you ensure that the product continues to meet and exceed their expectations? 

🔟 Were there any pivotal moments during the development phase when you realised the potential impact this product could have on people's lives? How did it make you feel? 
>Was there a specific test, review, or milestone that made you see the bigger picture of how [BRAND/ PRODUCT] could change lives?

We’ve used this exact structure to help founders unlock ads that scaled past 7 figures, without looking or sounding like ads.

If your founder content isn’t performing, it’s probably missing narrative.

Your favourite athlete, actor, or founder didn’t get there by accident - they followed a system you never got to see.

Shohei Ohtani is the perfect example.

At 15, he built a 64-cell “dream sheet” with one goal at the centre: become the #1 draft pick.

Let that sink in.

Most of us at 15 weren’t even thinking about our future. He was building an operating system for his.

He used something called the Harada Method - a Japanese performance framework built around clarity, accountability, and daily execution.

You start by writing your main goal in the centre of a grid. For Ohtani, it was simple: Be the #1 draft pick for all 8 NPB teams.

Then you map out 8 pillars that support that goal. His were:

- Body
- Control
- Sharpness
- Speed
- Pitch variance
- Personality
- Karma/luck
- Mental toughness

A solid mix of physical, mental, and character-based pillars which are already smarter than 99% of goal-setting.

But he didn’t stop there.

Each of those 8 pillars got broken into 8 daily actions. 64 behaviours, mapped, tracked and executed.

Even for something like “Karma,” he made it tangible:

- Show respect to umpires
- Pick up rubbish
- Be positive
- Be someone people want to support

It’s a reminder that the people who consistently win *don’t just want it more,* they build systems that make it inevitable.

And it made me look at my own patterns.

I’ve had seasons where I’ve coasted (big goals, good intentions, but no system) and eventually, progress stalls.

And I’ve had seasons where I got serious about structure (daily actions, clear priorities, less noise) and the results always follow.

Not because I suddenly tried harder, but because I built the conditions for progress to happen without needing to overthink it.

That’s what Ohtani nailed.

And I’ve been trying to do a lighter version of the same thing this year, not to over-optimise everything, but to make sure I can achieve my goals for 2026.

If you’re feeling stuck right now, I doubt it’s a talent problem.

It’s probably just this: you haven’t built your system yet.

I came across a site called GoalPillars that builds these 64-cell maps automatically. Been playing around with it and surprisingly useful for turning a big goal into something you can actually execute on. I've attached examples of some of the templates they have.

If you run a DTC brand and performance has been inconsistent lately on Meta, you're not alone.

👨‍💻 Jason Yim announced on X that behind the scenes, Meta has quietly rolled out one of the biggest shifts to its ad delivery system since Andromeda earlier this year: a new AI model called GEM.

GEM = Generative Ads Recommendation Model

It powers how ads get shown across Facebook, Instagram, and Reels and it works very differently to the systems most creative teams are still building for.

At a high level, it learns from everything. Not just what people click, but what they scroll past. Watch time. Organic posts. Even how users behave across platforms.

This has huge implications for how brands brief, test, and structure creative.

Here's how you can adapt to GEM and unlock stronger delivery across Facebook + IG ↓

1️⃣ Build for signal quality, not just quantity.
GEM doesn’t just learn from clicks. It learns from scroll depth, watch time, post reactions, bounce rate, across both paid and organic.

That means every asset trains the algorithm. Not just the top performers.

2️⃣ Diversify for discovery.
The more varied the message, persona, and visual style, the more surface area GEM has to find new audiences.

We advise clients to think in terms of signal inputs:
→ Different angles
→ Distinct personas
→ Varied formats (carousel, UGC, statics, founder-led)

3️⃣ Think cross-platform.
Facebook and IG used to optimise separately.
Now GEM learns across both, so if a message performs well organically on IG, it could improve Feed delivery on Facebook.
Track performance per platform to inform where + how to scale.

4️⃣ Treat organic content as training data.
GEM pulls from both ads + organic.
We’re increasingly testing angles organically first and using that data to shape paid versions.

Story-led Reels, native statics, UGC with problem-aware hooks… these give GEM more useful signals before you spend big.

So when a brand says, “We’ve got loads of creatives. Meta just isn’t spending properly.”

We’re asking: “What signals are you feeding it?”

Because GEM doesn’t care about how good your creative looks.

It cares about whether your creative helps it make better predictions.

Client Solutions @ Meta | AI Solutions for Marketing

One of Thomas Phillips clients generated £175K from ChatGPT traffic at 19.7% CVR.

In the same 90 days, organic search brought in £13.9M.

Everyone’s talking about AI SEO. But the brands actually winning aren’t reinventing the wheel.

To rank in Google’s AI Overviews, you still need:

– Clear, consistent USPs across every touchpoint
– Credibility from sources
– Structured, in-depth content that answers real buyer questions

The interface is changing. The playbook isn’t.

🎙 Full episode with Tom Phillips just dropped - https://lnkd.in/euiG8uZb

We spent years obsessing over growth and not enough time building the systems to support it.

This week’s episode is a special one.

We sat down with Matt Lewis, Soar Group’s Managing Director - and the first person to ever join the business - to unpack the real operating system behind Soar.

The first conversation happened in a Costa in Tadcaster (the town we wrew up in) while we were both still at uni. I was trying to convince him not to take a grad scheme at PwC and to join me and Joe instead.

He said no. Then came back.

Since then, he’s been the single biggest lever in building Soar into a multi-brand agency group approaching 80 people.

Not just in growth, but in how we operate, plan, communicate, and scale culture across brands.

Behind the scenes, Matt has helped architect the structure that’s held all of this together.

Because the truth is: scaling is messy. It’s not about perfect playbooks, it’s about clarity, iteration, and staying relentlessly aligned.

If you run a team, an agency, or a brand... this one will land.

🎧 Full episode just dropped: https://lnkd.in/eUWKeZqi

Managing Director of Soar With Us | Building DTC Brands To 8 & 9 Figures | Co-Founder of Calm Collective

If 70% of your ad variations are still getting grouped under the same entity ID, then AI might be your quickest unlock.

Meta’s updates around entity IDs mean surface-level changes aren’t enough.

So if you're not rethinking creative ops with AI at the centre, you're going to hit a ceiling fast.

In this episode, we broke down how we’re scaling output without scaling team load:

– The AI videographer role every brand/agency should have in 2026
– Using Gemini to analyse video and direct creative strategy
– How tools like Nano, Sora and VEO are driving asset volume
– The real future of creative departments

If you're trying to scale creative next year, AI isn’t a shortcut.

It’s how you keep quality high while hitting volume goals.

📺 Full ep just dropped: https://lnkd.in/egac7Mt6

We’ve spent over £100M on Meta.

And if there’s one thing you need to takeaway, it’s this:

The old Meta rewarded targeting.
The new Meta rewards signals.

If your creative doesn’t match user behaviour in the first 3 seconds, it won’t scale.

Meta’s changed. Quietly, and completely.

Here’s how the last 10 years rewired the platform and what that means for scaling in 2025:

- 2007: Ads launched. You could scale profitably with a decent pixel.
- 2012–2016: Tools got smarter, tracking got sharper.
- 2018: CBO marked the start of automation.
- 2020: iOS14 hit. Signal loss flipped the game.
- 2021–2023: Targeting got broad. Performance shifted away from media buying.
- 2024: ASC took over. Every brand running the same structure.
- 2025: Andromeda launched. Meta knows what the user wants, if you give it the creative signals.

Creative is now the most important growth lever on platform.

But it’s not just about more creative.

→ It’s about diverse formats
→ Strategic volume
→ And content designed to match how users actually consume today.

The game hasn’t broken, it’s evolved.

Scaling now is less about exploiting targeting, and more about building systems that give the algorithm the right signals at speed.

This shift is why we re-engineered how we make and test creative, to match how Meta actually works in 2025.

How has your team actually adapted to creative-first scaling this year?

Scaling to 8 figures on TikTok Shop in 2026? This is your cheat code.

We’re breaking down the strategy behind $23M in TikTok spend, plus a full BFCM debrief.

I’ll be joining Peter Nettesheim for a webinar to uncover the key strategies on how to scale your brand from 7 to 8 figures on TikTok Shop.

📅 Date: December 9th

⏰ Time: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (UK time, GMT, UTC+0)

Webinar Content:

✅ Step-by-step TikTok Shop blueprint
✅ Insights behind $23M+ in TikTok ad spend
✅ The TikTok first creatives strategy to scale from 7 to 8 figures
✅ How to optimise for short-form high converting creatives on TikTok
✅ Key insights from BFCM 2025: what worked and how to position for 2026

Only 100 seats available - register now! www.shorturl.at/9KNJU

Thomas Phillips has exited 17 SEO-built brands. This is what most brands miss about AI SEO:

Ranking in ChatGPT still comes down to the same playbook that’s worked for a decade.

I sat down with Tom Phillips (founder of DTC SEO, agency) to talk through what’s actually driving results right now in search.

1️⃣ There are two types of AI SEO: AEO and GEO.
Most of the brands chasing AI search today are forgetting the fundamentals.
Tom breaks it into two layers:

→ AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) = your on-site content
→ GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) = your off-site mentions, backlinks, entity building

The format’s changed. The work hasn’t.

If you're not mentioned across the web consistently, ChatGPT won't trust or surface your brand.

2️⃣ To rank in AI Overviews, you need clarity + credibility.
This isn’t about gaming the algorithm. It’s about being consistently positioned everywhere.

✅ Your USPs need to match across platforms
✅ You need credible authority sources
✅ Your content must answer real questions in structured, crawlable ways

This is how LLMs decide who’s worth surfacing.

3️⃣ AI Overviews don’t show up for everything.
Don’t panic if you’re not seeing your product in the AI box.
It all depends on the intent.

Informational keywords → AI Overview
Transactional keywords → paid + organic listings

If you search ‘buy black wallet,’ you’ll still see ads and product listings.” But search something like ‘what’s the best leather for a black wallet?’ and that’s where AI Overview comes in.

AI Overviews mostly show for research-style queries - not transactional ones.

4️⃣ SEO is still driving 98% of revenue.
Tom sees the numbers across dozens of brands.
“ChatGPT traffic is converting, but it’s 0.09% of revenue for a $100M brand. Organic search is still the foundation.”

5️⃣ The real value of SEO? Defensibility.
When your brand is 100% reliant on paid… you’re always on edge.
A single meta glitch, and the lights go out.
SEO adds resilience to your P&L and enterprise value to your business.

Bottom line:
Don’t let AI become a distraction.
The SEO that drives results in 2026 is still built on the same principles that worked in 2016.

🎙 Full episode with Tom Phillips now live: https://lnkd.in/euiG8uZb

taplio

The Battle

TJ Lee

Olly Hudson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreTJ Lee's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreOlly Hudson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

TJ Lee

Olly Hudson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}TJ Lee's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreOlly Hudson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTJ Lee's LinkedIn Performance