Ep 626: How Wolfe Sells Gifting to Everyone: Top of Funnel Testing, CTV, and AI

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupGifting is one of the biggest reasons people buy online, and most brands never build for it on purpose.Matt Heckathorn runs digital marketing at Wolfe, the company behind Gift Card Granny, PerfectGift.com, and GiftYa. His ICP is close to everyone, which kills the usual narrow-audience playbook and forces a different approach to growth.What you will learn:How a bottom-of-funnel team moved into CTV, programmatic, and out-of-home without losing measurementWhy CTV retargeting outperformed what Matt expected, and how scale made brand channels measurableHow Wolfe uses second-tier DMAs to test incrementality before spending upHow gift card fraud actually works at the physical retail level, and why it shapes the productWhere Wolfe is drawing its AI line: creative and fulfillment yes, fully agentic media buying not yetThe cost problem almost nobody is planning for as AI usage scalesWho this is for: DTC operators and growth leads working top of funnel, anyone selling into gifting, and marketers thinking through where AI fits in a real team.What to steal: The second-tier DMA incrementality test, the recipient-first product framing, and the human checkpoint on agentic media buying.Timestamps:00:00 The Future of AI in Marketing02:12 Reinventing the Gift Card Industry09:00 How Card-Linked Gifting Works15:12 Top of Funnel Messaging That Converts23:12 Building an AI-First Marketing TeamSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video