DTC Podcast

https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-641&utm_medium=podcastTo Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signuppilothouse.coDTC Twitter has spent the last few months arguing about volume versus strategy. Aves from Pilothouse thinks both camps are answering the wrong question. Eric brings her back for an all killer no filler on creative coverage: what it means now, how she decides what to make next, and the system she spent her summer building.For anyone who briefs creative, buys media, or signs off on either.What you get:Why a thousand Grok ads in a month spikes CPMs and stops finding your audience, and why one precious video every two weeks fails for the opposite reason.The three layers of coverage that matter now: right people, right product, right angles. Sizes and placements should be second nature by now.Persona coverage past your bread and butter. If the answer is always "a woman in her twenties," you are not covering the audience you need in order to grow.Product coverage, the layer most teams skip. Cross-referencing which SKUs bring people in cheapest against which ones are most efficient to ship, then testing returning-customer-only products at top of funnel to find margin nobody was looking for.Diagnosing by problem rather than format. Heavy cart abandonment usually means a trust gap, which points to whitelisting first and conversion-friction statics behind it. Creator-handle delivery ran 70% more efficient than the same creative from the brand.Selling the cloud when the economy tightens. Aspirational is outperforming pure problem agitation right now.Hyper relevancy. The echo chambers have gotten small enough that a meme Aves sees every third video is one you've never heard of, so the ad has to match the exact font, the audio they've been hearing, even the camera angle. She ran "kinda chic" in ads without ever learning what it means.Nobody is watching. Most people are lurking, and most of them are half-watching from the toilet or a waiting room. Aves watched a woman scroll Instagram through the entire Odyssey.Creative is the new targeting, five years of everyone saying it, and the spaghetti metaphor that finally explains it.Landing pages as the insurance policy on all of it. Spend two thousand dollars on a t-shirt and it still looks bad wrinkled.Ad copy. Aves writes hers first, before any visual, and uses no AI for it. One emoji-only ad carried by copy alone did over six figures in a weekend.Who this is for: creative strategists, media buyers, and founders heading into Q4 wondering why more ads stopped working.What to steal: the product coverage audit, the cart-abandonment-means-trust diagnosis, and starting your brief with copy instead of a visual idea.Timestamps:00:03:00 Creative Volume vs. Strategy00:05:00 Building Better Creative Coverage00:10:00 Creative for Full-Funnel Performance00:20:00 Why Creative Is the New Targeting00:28:00 Why Ad Copy Matters More Than EverSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF641Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

To Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupTyler Handley sold Inkbox to BIC for $65 million. His new company, Olauto, sells a $33 car air freshener, launched last September, is already profitable, and has zero employees. Four people, some contractors, and AI running the back office. The one thing they refuse to automate: when a customer emails, a human answers. Every time.The guy who built the software behind that is Mike Maleszyk, Tyler's friend since high school, who started HumanTouchCX after a support chatbot swore it was human but couldn't say what it had for lunch.If you run CX for a Shopify brand, or you're deciding right now which parts of your business AI should touch, this episode is the two of them drawing the line in public.Want the setup Olauto uses? HumanTouch is taking on its first 100 Founding Merchants, with white-glove onboarding and 24 months of locked pricing.What's inside:Why Braden reviews every automated reply "from hi to buy," and the one automation he had to be convinced to allow (off-hours only)Deflection rate, and what the merchants bragging about theirs are actually countingProduct questions as the worst place to put a bot: those customers are low funnel with a cart openThe Inkbox moderation story: 13 to 20 CX agents, custom tattoo uploads in a gray area no AI could judge, and the customer emails that started "why do you want this?"Article 50 of the EU AI Act, live since August 2nd: transparency, record keeping, and audit logs for every AI touchpoint if you sell into the EUTyler's vibe-coded ERP: why it hooks into Shopify and nothing else"Friend founding," and how four people split brand, supply chain, CX, and adsHewie, the AI that helps train your first CX hire off your own past tickets instead of your calendarWho this is for: DTC founders and CX leads between launch and $100M who are being pitched full automation from every direction.What to steal: Braden's rule. Automations answer the 65% (shipping status) during off hours only, and a human still has eyes on every single reply before the relationship is on the line.Timestamps:00:00 Building an AI-powered brand without losing the human touch05:00 Why AI customer service needs transparency12:00 The problem with optimizing customer support for deflection21:00 What the EU AI Act means for ecommerce brands28:00 How a four-person team uses AI to scale an ecommerce brandSubscribe 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

https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-640&utm_medium=podcastTo Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupHannah Fleming runs performance marketing at Carve Designs (carvedesigns.com), the Northern California swim and apparel brand founded in 2003 and acquired by Komar Brands in December 2025. Before Carve she spent years at Amer Sports on the digital team behind Salomon, Atomic, Suunto, Arc'teryx and Wilson.If you run retention or growth at a brand with a seasonal core product and a loyal base you have not fully mined, this one is for you.What's inside:The retention rebuild: what was already working at Carve after 20 years, and the one thing they were not doing with their customer dataMapping the full customer journey in Figma, then finding the gaps where nobody was talking to the customer and the places where they were talking too muchRFM segmentation as the floor, then layering category purchase behavior on top to move a swim buyer into denimThe cohort analysis that changed the media mix: dresses and accessories produced the highest-LTV customers, so those categories now lead the creative and seed the look-alikesDirect mail as a performance channel: 5 to 6 catalogs a year to prospects and past buyers, plus programmatic postcards that only drop if the email win-back does not convertEmployee-generated content, and how one test turned into a full content pipeline with the organic social team shooting UGC-style video on the catalog shootsConnected TV without a commercial budget: an agency turns UGC and EGC into the spot, the founder does the voiceover, and success is measured on cost per site visit with MMM picking up the Amazon haloLoyalty built on early access and product feedback instead of percent-off, with roughly 2x the LTV of a non-memberQ4 without heavy discounting: point multipliers and added value inside the tentpole momentsWhat she is using AI for right now, from LTV dashboards in Moby 2 to Orita surfacing customers when they are most likely to buyWho this is for: retention and lifecycle leads, growth marketers at seasonal brands, and operators who moved from a big portfolio company to an SMB.What to steal: run LTV by first-purchase category before you plan next season's creative mix. And give partnership content 6 to 12 months before you call it. Hannah says that is how long it took at Carve before influencer content started working.Follow Hannah: LinkedIn, Hannah Fleming | carvedesigns.comTimestamps:00:00 Building Loyalty Beyond Discounts05:00 Using Customer Segmentation for Retention10:00 Direct Mail as a Performance Channel16:00 Building a High-Value Loyalty Program24:00 Testing Direct Mail and Connected TVSubscribe 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

https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-639&utm_medium=podcastTo Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMedia owns the traffic. Brand owns the site. The page in between belongs to nobody, and it's been sitting in a Notion doc called landing page priorities Q3 since 2022.Eric brings Daniel from Pilothouse back for an all killer no filler on the post-click experience: why it stayed generic for a decade, what changed in the last twelve months, and what the team is seeing in its pilots with Black Crow AI.For media buyers, creative strategists, and founders whose ads are working and whose conversion rate isn't.What you get:The middle child problem. Media assumes brand is loving the page, brand assumes media is, and nobody has touched it since 2022.Why this was never a priority question. Personalizing creative is cheap. Personalizing destinations used to mean five pages through design, dev, QA, and deploy, which took literal months. So teams built one page, pointed everything at it, and updated it once a year.The 65-inch OLED analogy. You walk into a store, tell the salesperson exactly what you want, and they hand you the catalog. That's what a generic PDP does to someone who just clicked a very specific ad.The creative is the brief. The ad unit becomes the input for the storefront: the copy, the image, the targeting, the interests, all of it read and matched.What the pilots are showing: roughly 20 to 21% lift in conversion rates, on storefronts now taking about half the budget rather than one test ad set off in the corner.Where Black Crow adds something a general purpose model doesn't. Persistent ID across sessions means the page knows you're back and can serve a different experience.The technical prerequisites that actually gate this: Shopify, and enough Meta budget to test a difference. Brand and creative prerequisites matter less.Brand safety. These aren't fully dynamic pages. You can lock images and titles and adjust on the fly.Which brands it suits so far: a few concentrated top SKUs rather than a long tail catalog.The third party cookie, revisited. Daniel's verdict on the biggest talking point of 2022: what a nothing burger.Why the strategist now owns this. No IT ticket, no web team queue. That's the difference between now and twelve months ago.Who this is for: performance marketers and DTC founders who have solved pre-click and never touched what happens after.What to steal: treating your best ad as the brief for its own landing page, and the Shopify plus testable budget prerequisite check before you invest in any of this.Timestamps:00:03:00 Why the post-click experience matters00:07:00 Personalized landing pages lift conversion rates00:10:00 AI-powered landing page personalization00:15:00 Matching landing pages to ad creative00:21:00 Using ad creative as the landing page briefSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF639Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupA brand doing $10 to $15 million a year puts 15 to 20 percent of revenue back into marketing. At $100 to $500 million it drops to roughly 8 to 10 percent. Past a billion it is 2 to 3 percent. Justin Jefferson has a view across 450 brands and $45 billion in media investment, and those numbers are the opening for a harder conversation about where the money should go.If you run growth: this is the episode about defending a slow-payback bet to a finance team that closes books quarterly.If you sit closer to the P&L: Justin explains discounting future marketing revenue back to present value, so marketing and finance can argue about the same number.What Justin gets into:Spend-to-revenue benchmarks at $10 to 15M, $100 to 500M, $500M to $1B, and past $1BMarginal ROI against blended ROI, and why a 1.4 return can hide a next dollar worth 60 centsThe brand that went zero to a hundred on top of funnel, lost sales volume in year one, cut budget in response, and then had nothing left to capture the demand it had createdThe golf apparel brand that moved deliberately into CTV, linear, and audio: roughly flat in year one, about 23 percent growth in year twoWhy Amazon search is often the most overspent line in a budget, and where he sees real incrementality on Amazon insteadThe gap he sees between top and bottom of funnel returns: roughly 180 against 120 to 140Why brands growing 5 percent or more changed their channel mix significantly more year over year than flat onesWho this is for: operators between $10M and $500M who have squeezed Meta and Google as far as they go and need a defensible case for spending where the attribution is fuzzy.What to steal: report return on the next dollar by channel alongside blended ROI. Most teams have only ever seen the second number.Harness the Halo is a six-part series from DTC and Keen about the spend that doesn't pay you back the same day, and the measurement that gives you room to make it. Episode 1 sets the state of the market. The next five are the bets themselves, told by the operators who made them and the people who signed off.Timestamps:00:00 Why Marketing Mix Modeling Is Changing03:00 Why Meta and Google Are Getting Harder to Scale07:00 When Brands Should Invest in Top-of-Funnel13:00 How to Measure and Predict Marketing Performance19:00 How the Marketing Halo Drives GrowthSubscribe 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

https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-638&utm_medium=podcastSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdam Gillman co-founded Hiya Health (hiyahealth.com), the kids' vitamin brand that launched in March 2020, stayed bootstrapped, and sold to USANA at the end of 2024 at a reported $260M valuation. He and his co-founder Darren still run it, and 2026 is the year Hiya finally hit retail shelves at Target.If you're a founder or operator building a subscription DTC brand, this episode is a start-to-exit walkthrough from someone who did it without a single VC check.What's inside:The "single SKU phase": why Hiya sold one multivitamin for 2.5 years before launching anything else, and what had to be true before product twoAttacking gummies head-on: porous form factors that kill vitamin content, and sugar as "candy in disguise"How new SKUs stayed accretive instead of cannibalistic as the catalog grewWhy influencer was the backbone of a channel mix that hit 25% month-over-month growth in stretches from 2023 to 2025, including creators Hiya has worked with for 3 to 4 years"We want this to sit on your counter, not inside of your cabinet": the packaging and sticker-pack decision that quietly built enterprise valueDisney, Barbie, and Marvel collabs done properly: rebuilding the entire customer experience per license, to the point that existing subscribers repurchased product they already hadThe exit itself: open bidding process, why he can't imagine doing it without an investment bank, and the leverage of not needing to sellLightning round: the metric founders obsess over too much (revenue growth), the one they ignore (gross margin to CAC), and the e-commerce trend he thinks has peaked (creative velocity for its own sake)Who this is for: subscription DTC founders, operators fighting rising CACs, and anyone who wants to see what a bootstrapped nine-figure exit actually looks like from the inside.What to steal: Adam's channel discipline. Under $20M in revenue, put the majority of your effort into making one channel work before touching the next one.Follow Adam: @AdamGillman on X | hiyahealth.comTimestamps:00:00 Building Hiya From a Single SKU08:00 Expanding Products Through Customer Trust18:00 Why Brand Building Creates Enterprise Value23:00 Scaling Growth With Influencer Marketing35:00 Creative Velocity, CAC and Sustainable GrowthSubscribe 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

https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-637&utm_medium=podcastSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signuppilothouse.coEvery year around this time, Eric and Jacob record some version of this episode. This is their seventh Black Friday together, and the through-line hasn't changed: brands sprint through summer, look up at the end of October, and realize the Halloween sale and Black Friday are on top of them with none of the groundwork done.If you run meaningful spend on Meta, this is the checklist to work through before the CPM doubling kicks in.What you get:Stocking the pond. Low-cost lead gen and engagement campaigns at 5% of budget (or less), optimized to engagement instead of purchase, so Meta buys you cheap eyeballs now that become warm retargeting audiences in November.The giveaway playbook, start to finish: partner bundle (the beer brand and the beef jerky brand), a $750 prize, a squeeze page, leads firing on signup, and an October 15 end date. The FOMO purchases from non-winners are typically what push the giveaway spend into the green before the dripping even starts.The audience-window answer: engagement audiences hold up to 180 days, purchaser lists now build to roughly 720. Engage someone in August and you can still recall them for Black Friday.Warming the algorithm: start ramping spend two months out, 10 to 15% a week, instead of a 500% budget jump on November 1.Value-based lookalikes in the Andromeda era. Export your top 500 purchasers by lifetime spend, upload, build the 1% lookalike. Less central than it used to be, still working.The CAPI audit: if your events manager shows a 5 or 6 out of 10, you're not sending enough parameters back. Click IDs, event IDs, name, email, phone. Target an 8 or 9.The invoicing trap. Meta has moved brands to monthly invoicing, and an unpaid invoice can pause your account until it's resolved. Check your payment settings and your spend limit now, and set the limit way above what you plan to spend.Offer architecture: why tariff-squeezed brands can finally offer again, sitewide vs. tiered thresholds, which catalog shapes suit which structure, and why you test at 5 or 10% off in an end-of-summer sale instead of guessing at 40 in November.Creative as the gift guide: "perfect gift for your wife" hooks, unboxing reels, catalog frames with Christmas theming, and countdown urgency tied to real shipping cutoffs. No smoke and mirrors.ASC structure: one broad Advantage Plus campaign with the full catalog, plus manual bottom-funnel catalog campaigns per collection so you have levers to pull during peak windows.And Lennying a campaign. Eric's Of Mice and Men metaphor for over-managing an account to death, plus Jacob on why human interventions during volatile weeks add to the volatility.Who this is for: media buyers, retention leads, and founders who want their November spend converting instead of prospecting.What to steal: the 5% engagement budget, the giveaway structure with a pre-BFCM end date, the CAPI parameter audit, and the payment-settings check you should do today.Timestamps:00:00 Pre-Warming Your Q4 Audience05:00 Building Leads Before Black Friday11:00 How to Warm Up Meta’s Algorithm18:00 Testing Your Q4 Offers Early28:00 Managing Meta Performance VolatilitySubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF637Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-636&utm_medium=podcastSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupFifteen videos in a shoot day. A writer's room where creators cross-edit each other's scripts. Hair, makeup, and wardrobe walkthroughs before anyone hits record. This is what organic content looks like at Kiyoko Beauty (kiyoko.ca), the curated Asian beauty retailer that hit 8 figures in 5 years, bootstrapped, while all three co-founders kept their full-time jobs.Gillian Liu walks through the whole machine, from a part-time student's 3M-view TikTok to a production calendar planned a month out.If you run content, growth, or a retail business on thin margins, this episode is worth a notebook.What's inside:The full production process: concepts and formats planned a month ahead, scripting against a reference hook library, a writer's room because "sometimes you're in it too much by yourself," script read-throughs with talent, then batch shoot days. "It's not vibes at all."Her comparison for why the pros post consistently: comedians who have joke-writing down to a science.The hiring filter for content roles: "What's your screen time? Show me." Her most recent hire clocks 8 hours a day. Gillian's reaction: "That's it?"Where it started: a student with 1,000 followers, found via Instagram DM, told to post three times a week with no direction. Three months in, one video hit 3M views on a niche product only Kiyoko carried, and site sessions 10x'd overnight.Platform roles: TikTok reaches strangers, Instagram converts them through stories and community, YouTube Shorts reposts overperform, and Red Note gets Gillian recognized on the street by the Chinese Canadian community.The math forcing all of this: retailer margins. A Meta top-of-funnel ad runs ~$10 CPM; organic works out to under a dollar. Paid has been bottom-of-funnel Google only for five years.The curation model itself: pay brand premium on COGS, then harvest demand created by other people's marketing budgets.Merchandising by data: Amazon US/Canada volume, Korea's top sellers, brand heads-ups on strategic SKUs, and Shopify's "search queries with no results" report.Brands as partners: one runs a 50/50 ad split with Kiyoko, others commission content monthly and pay in inventory value.The early jank: a $2,000 first order, a free Shopify theme, shipping from a co-founder's basement, and buying out-of-stock items from the Asian grocery store down the street.Why three co-founders kept their 9 to 5s (cash flow first, risk second), plus two warehouse moves in five months and the new California fulfillment center.Who this is for: content leads and founders doing organic at scale, and any operator whose margins can't support paid top of funnel.What to steal: her writer's room. Have creators cross-edit each other's scripts before anything gets shot.Visit the brand: kiyoko.caTimestamps:00:00 Building an Eight-Figure Brand While Working Full-Time06:10 The Organic Content Strategy That Changed Everything10:02 How Kiyoko Produces Viral Content at Scale17:07 Merchandising and Choosing Winning Products28:03 Why Organic Beats Paid for Customer AcquisitionSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signuppilothouse.coMeta has been up and down since the outage a few weeks back, and the timeline is full of advertisers feeling it. So Eric pulled three of Pilothouse's most senior people onto the after-hours couch: Abby and Aves from the creative and strategy side, and Taylor from the Meta side, for a live conversation about what to do when the platform wobbles.If you buy media on Meta, or you're a founder whose revenue leans on it, this is the difference between a bad two weeks and a bad quarter.What you get:The tactical spin cycle. Performance dips, panic sets in, and buyers ship 15 more ads built off the ones already dying. That amplifies poor delivery and raises CPMs. "Amplification of what's not working is never the route forward."The full list of panic moves to skip: un-strategic ad volume, rushed channel expansion, rescue promos that train customers (and Meta) to expect discounts, account rebuilds, the "fresh pixel" request, and firing your agency.The diagnosis question: Meta crumbled, so what part of the business fell through? No new customers points one direction. No conversions points at email and retention first. The gap picks the channel.Stocking the pond. Why every brand should already know its next channel, and how to tell a reach problem (Pinterest) from a conversion problem (TikTok Shop) before you spend a dollar.The iOS 14.5 precedent: partial blindness, no drastic changes, better measurement on the other side.Pausing ads without tanking the account. Fractional touchpoints, checking median customer-journey length in your MTA before making the swing, and why Meta usually has a reason for pushing spend where it does.Creative is the targeting. Millennial moms who look identical on paper but speak completely different visual languages by region. Butter yellow instead of white. A luxury brand that sells milestone moments instead of USPs."This is an ad and it's so stupid." Why absurdist, self-aware ads are out-earning earnest millennial branding with marketing-aware customers.Where AI belongs (reporting, automation, surfacing phrases from your own data) and where it doesn't (creative direction, insights, your next steps). Plus the term for what happens when you outsource the thinking: cognitive debt.Who this is for: media buyers, creative strategists, and founders running meaningful spend on Meta right now.What to steal: the diagnosis question, the pause-decision checklist, and the competitor-review mining tactic for finding customer language.Timestamps:00:00 Meta Volatility and Common Mistakes08:56 Building a More Resilient Growth Strategy17:45 Should You Pause Underperforming Ads?21:53 How to Research Customers Better with AI35:40 AI, Creative Strategy & Content VolumeSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF635Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupBar Bruhis spent ten years building SaaS for Shopify brands. He helped start one of the first email capture tools in 2015, then co-founded KnoCommerce, the post-purchase survey tool 6,500 brands use. In December he finally took his own leap: Boostcous (boostcous.com), the first protein couscous. Six months later he's about to cross 10,000 orders, bootstrapped, with a team of two.Try it: boostcous.com. The tagline says it all: "Finally a carb that pulls its weight." (An AI copywriting agent wrote that. More on this below.)If you're sitting on a product idea you haven't launched, or you're a CPG founder trying to turn DTC numbers into retail meetings, this episode is the working playbook.What's inside:Why couscous: protein pasta has Banza, Brami, and Goodles. Couscous had nobody. Chickpea, lentil, and pea flour, gluten free, protein and fiber naturally derived from the legumes themselves.The launch: a front-page story in the local Carbondale paper and free pickup from his garage. The first 400 to 500 orders were handed over face to face, and he asked every customer why they bought.First-order profitable on Meta with a product almost nobody has ever bought online. "That doesn't really happen" in CPG.The KnoCommerce lessons applied to his own brand: "what almost prevented you from buying today" for CRO, and "which retail stores would you like to see Boostcous in" as ammo for buyer meetings. The pitch: in the last 30 days, this many of our customers asked for your store by name.The first one-star review, after 155 five-stars. He emailed her, got on a call, learned she was cooking it wrong, and updated the packaging. She rewrote the review herself as a five-star essay.Where AI actually helps a two-person brand (product seeding draft orders, static ads, most of the website photos, sell sheets built from survey and review data) and his warning: "we swung the pendulum a little too far at first." Calling customers stays human.Expo West on a $0 badge. He got the ticket by pitching his podcast, and the Gelson's deal came from walking the floor.His read on the protein trend: protein soda and protein sprinkles exist now. Naturally derived protein in foods you already eat is the part that lasts.Who this is for: founders sitting on a long-gestating idea, CPG operators heading into retail, and SaaS people wondering what their skills are worth on the brand side.What to steal: add two questions to your post-purchase survey today. "What almost prevented you from buying?" fixes your site. "Which retail stores would you like to see us in?" fills your retail pipeline with proof buyers can't ignore.Try Boostcous: boostcous.comTimestamps:00:00 Building a First-Order Profitable CPG Brand07:24 Launch Strategy That Validated Product-Market Fit11:50 Using Post-Purchase Surveys to Drive Growth18:08 Turning DTC Success Into Retail Expansion31:12 Advice for Launching Your First Ecommerce BrandSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupLiam Robinson and Nate Vankoughnet were two of Pilothouse's first employees and spent years scaling some of its biggest accounts on Meta. Now they've spun out Marlbank Digital (website coming soon), a Meta-only agency built for the brands Pilothouse moved past as it went upmarket: pre-launch up to $100K/month.Want them in your ad account? Email [email protected] or [email protected]. No website yet. They've been busy in client accounts.If you're a founder running your own Meta ads, or the one marketer at a brand doing under $100K a month, this episode is a working session on why your account structure is probably answering the wrong question.What's inside:The Meta hierarchy of needs: unit economics at the base ("you'd be surprised how many people need a 3.5 ROAS to barely break even"), marketing strategy in the middle, creative at the top. Most brands skip the middle.Circumstance testing, their replacement for jumping straight to creative: articulate your product's real distinction, find the cultural currents it's relevant to, then map the specific moments it fits into someone's life. Each moment becomes a campaign.A full anonymized case study: the ceramic to-go cup brand that couldn't scale on pretty product shots or the eco angle, and unlocked the account with one question: "Would you use a metal mug at home?" Selling an upgrade to existing to-go cup users beat converting the single-use crowd, and the commute became the winning niche.What this looks like in the account: open audiences, existing customers excluded, CBO single ad set, 4 to 6 ads per set, creative held constant so circumstance is the variable.Why one ad usually takes 80% of an ad set's spend, and how to structure launches around that.The four foundations they ask for before a brand spends a dollar: a decent website, email flows, some social presence, and Meta.Plus the origin story: the agency is named after the small Ontario town where they spent a summer hand-building tree stands for a bow-hunting brand.Who this is for: ecom founders and marketers between pre-launch and $100K/month, and anyone whose Meta account is a graveyard of creative tests that never compounded.What to steal: before your next creative batch, write down your product's distinctions, then list every circumstance where it slots into a customer's day. Test those against each other first.Work with Liam and Nate: [email protected] / [email protected] | marlbank.coTimestamps:00:00 Why Meta Marketing Has Changed02:01 The Story Behind Marlbank Digital08:14 Why Foundational Marketing Beats Meta Tactics13:15 The Ceramic Cup Case Study20:10 How to Structure Circumstance Testing on MetaSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF633Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMelissa Dusendang ran a summer contract at SheFit to "manage the chaos" for one marketing director. She never left. Years later she runs ecommerce and operations, and her actual job is stopping the company from lying to itself with its own data.If you own the P&L, the dashboard, or the customer experience, this one is for you. Melissa sits in the finance meeting thinking about how a tax decision hits checkout, and in the marketing meeting thinking about which numbers are secretly inflated. She calls it being a puzzle person. Eric calls her a silo obliterator.Why TikTok Shop can quietly wreck your new-versus-returning customer math. Masked and missing emails on marketplace orders mean Shopify can count repeat buyers as new, so "we 2x'd new customers" can really mean you gave existing customers a discount.The attribution question to ask before anyone reports a ROAS or MER number, so two teams aren't arguing about goals while measuring different things.How SheFit found its best-selling ad hooks inside customer reviews and comments, and why phrases like "my boobs don't move" outperform copy the team writes.The Emerge Sports Bra story: how customer comments drove a custom-strap design (skinny straps on smaller sizes, wider straps on larger sizes) that sold out on launch.Why real women feeling the "aha moment" when they lift the straps is SheFit's top new-customer acquisition move, run through micro-influencers and ambassadors instead of a gym-only ad.Her honest read on TikTok Shop: better customer control than Amazon, but a margin eroder that can turn a premium brand into a "always on sale" brand.Who this is for: Ecommerce and ops leaders, founders wearing five hats, CX and community managers, and anyone trying to get finance, marketing, and product to agree on what the numbers mean.What to steal: Pull your own review and comment language and use it as ad copy verbatim. Before your next growth review, write down which attribution model each number is using. And check whether your marketplace orders are inflating your new-customer count.Timestamps:0:00 Why TikTok Shop metrics can be misleading5:18 Breaking down silos across ecommerce teams10:01 Why customer language beats marketing copy15:09 Building products from customer feedback23:21 Using AI and social listening for better decisionsSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAppLovin just opened to everyone, and most DTC operators still do not know how it actually works. Jacob runs Meta at Pilothouse, which has spent on AppLovin for nearly two years, back when it was invite only.He breaks down what he sees in real client accounts: the product price points that work, the creative volume it takes to scale, and the end card, a full-screen animated step between the ad and the product page that has no equivalent on Meta.What you get:The $50 rule. Why products in the $30 to $150 range win, why below $20 gets tough on margin, and why $1,000 products are a bad fit for someone mid-game.The end card. What it is, why it acts like a second landing page, and the basketball-into-the-hoop trick for matching the ad to the app.Creative volume. Start with about 10 videos, add 10 to 20 a week, and what the ramp looks like at $50k/day.First-hour buying. Around 80% of purchases land in the first hour, and the other 20% almost always convert on a different video.The learning phase. Why you confirm tracking, then leave it alone for a week, sometimes two.Who this is for: DTC operators and media buyers weighing AppLovin as a third channel next to Meta and Google.What to steal: the creative-volume cadence, the end-card structure, and the measurement discipline to prove new-customer CPA instead of trusting platform ROAS.Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:00 AppLovin vs Meta Performance05:20 Best Products & Creative Strategy11:10 Measuring Incrementality & New Customers17:10 Scaling with Creative Volume23:00 Halo Effect & Campaign Best PracticesSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF631Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost brands treat unauthorized sellers and copycats as a cost of doing business. Mario Simonyan treats them as your biggest untapped revenue source.Mario is a former Amazon seller turned brand protection attorney. He started selling kitchenware and artificial turf doormats out of his driveway during law school, got ripped off, and discovered that not a single attorney he called understood how marketplaces actually work. So he built the firm he wished he'd had.In this episode he breaks down how one eight-figure fitness brand walked away from 1.5M a year on Amazon after attorneys and enforcement agencies failed them, and how his team got them back to 95% control of their listings. He explains why cease and desist letters get burned in people's fireplaces, why sellers fear account suspension far more than lawsuits, and the three-pillar approach his firm uses to get marketplaces to do the enforcing.He also goes into the dark side: the seller who allegedly flew a duffel bag of cash to Costa Rica to bribe an Amazon employee, the competitor who planted the word cocaine in a rival's backend keywords to trigger an automatic ban, and the copycat running a cloned website doing a million dollars a month off someone else's brand.Request a 100% free, custom Brand Audit Report from ESQgo here: https://esqgo.submitrequests.com/brand-audit-report?utm_source=dtc_newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter_sponsorshipWhat you'll learn:Why 15 to 25% of your revenue may be leaking to sellers you've never heard ofThe trademark material difference argument that removes sellers moving genuine productThe three pillars: IP, marketplace policy, and regulatory compliance, and why using only one is why most enforcement failsWhy an unauthorized seller priced higher than you is still an emergencyHow brand protection raises your multiple when you sell the businessWho this is for: Brand owners and operators doing 5M or more who sell on Amazon, Walmart, or any marketplace with a shared buy box.What to steal: The 500% ROI framing, the material difference memorandum, and the free brand audit at esqgo.com to see what you're actually losing.Timestamps:0:00 Intro0:53 How unauthorized sellers steal 15–25% of revenue4:09 The Amazon strategy that actually removes unauthorized sellers11:56 Why brand protection is a revenue driver, not a cost17:47 The 3-pillar framework for Amazon brand protection31:02 How to find marketplace revenue leakageSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAri Murray runs DTC, Amazon and customer experience at Salt & Stone. She came from Sharma Brands, and before that worked on influencer and celebrity brands including a Kardashian line and Halsey's beauty brand. She started as a customer service agent.In this episode she breaks down why the old brand-versus-performance argument is collapsing. Customers now shop with a chatbot in the loop. Those bots read your reviews, your Reddit threads, and your actual customer experience. You cannot hack that, which means product quality and brand protection have become growth levers.She also gets specific on creative: what "socially native" really means, why she is chasing ads that don't look like ads, and the protein powder ad where the product is the seventh ingredient in someone's recipe.For: DTC founders, growth leads, creative strategists, retention and CRO teams, brand marketers.In this episode:Why she left the agency side for Salt & StoneWhy Salt & Stone has never acted like a deodorant brandAI visibility, Reddit indexing, and why you can't hide from real customer feedbackThe collapse of the middle of the funnel in agentic shoppingWhy she doesn't feel a desperate need to move spend out of MetaHow they actually measure incrementality (holdouts, Status, Northbeam, Triple Whale, hunting for an MMM)Socially native creative, and why splitting a hook five ways is played outWhy a brand with boundaries makes better adsWhat makes a brand feel cheapWhat makes a brand deserve to be iconicSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupJordan Gordon runs CRO and retention at Pilothouse and hosts TWBERP, The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast. He has audited somewhere in the range of 400 to 500 brands and been inside more Klaviyo accounts than almost anyone in DTC.In this All Killer No Filler episode he breaks down why most email programs are structurally backwards. 85% of campaign revenue comes from people who have visited your site recently, and yet most campaigns are sent to anyone who opened an email in the last 180 days. You are risking your entire sending reputation to chase the 15%.Then he gets to the good part: a flow he says he has basically never seen a brand run, and why it is the most valuable one you can build.For: ecommerce founders, retention leads, email marketers, CRO teams, agency operators.In this episode:Why free traffic is the "forever job" and paid is the spikeWhy small counts hide truths (nobody hits fold 10, but the people who do are your buyers)The 85/15 rule of campaign revenueHow brands blow up a Klaviyo account: too many campaigns, too-broad segments, and the sunset flow that sends to ten years of dead addresses in one goWhy recent repeat buyers are whales you should not over-messageCampaigns are zero-intent messages, so they can only ever be about newness or offersThe essentials core flow: triggered by site visit, not lifecycle, selling your hero SKU to people who came for something elseSending less in a margin-compressed Q4Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF629Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost DTC brands put the bulk of their paid budget where attention is thinnest. Viewers spend about 99 minutes per session on Connected TV and 8 minutes per session on social, yet only 9% of standard marketing budgets go to CTV. This episode is about closing that gap on CTV with the same measurement & targeting you get on social (starting at $7 CPMs!)Emily Huo built ad businesses at X (Twitter), Reddit, and Spotify, and now runs SMB advertising at Paramount. She walks through how a DTC brand actually gets onto Survivor, Landman, or RuPaul's Drag Race, what to spend, and how to know if it worked.Sign up for Paramount Ads Manager today. Get your brand on TV tomorrow.This episode, we get into:The seasonal play: build awareness over the summer, retarget in the fall, convert in Q4Why you start broad on targeting and let the data tell you who is really watching, not the persona you imported from MetaThe pixel setup that ties a TV impression to a site visit, a lead, or a purchaseThe geo holdout test for measuring halo effect with no third-party toolsWhy a 30-second unskippable spot changes how you tell a brand story when you are not a household name yetBudgeting: carve out 10% as experimental, expect a three-month ramp, scale from thereWho this is for: DTC founders and growth marketers who have maxed out social, anyone planning Q4 now, and operators curious whether CTV is real or just a hot label.What to steal: the install-pixel-now, build-in-summer, convert-in-Q4 sequence, and the broad-then-narrow targeting approach.Timestamps:0:00 Emily Huo's Journey to Paramount3:10 Why CTV Is Growing So Fast8:07 CTV Targeting vs Meta Ads12:14 CTV Budget & Testing Strategy23:18 Measuring the Halo EffectSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupDan bootstrapped Unbound Merino from a Reddit-fueled obsession with merino wool into a brand approaching nine figures in lifetime revenue, with a warehouse sale, a growing women's line, and zero outside funding.In his second appearance on the DTC Podcast, the Unbound co-founder gets specific about what actually moved the business over the last three years, why he almost lost 80% of his sales in a single day, and why he now cares more about the product and the friendships than any growth hack.What you'll learn:Why the ads Dan loves flop and the cringe ones scale, and how he made peace with itThe creative volume system that unlocked Meta scaling in 2023, and why Meta stopped working the same wayHow word of mouth (15% of new customers) and a 50/50 women's line changed the growth modelThe de minimis and tariff shock that nearly ended the company, and the scramble to open a Dallas warehouse before Liberation DayHow Unbound uses a custom AI wired into Shopify, its ERP, Asana, Slack, and Drive to triangulate why products get returnedWhy 5% of sales now come from ChatGPT and Claude, and what that means for discoveryWho this is for: bootstrapped founders, DTC operators, and anyone selling a premium product who is tired of renting customers from Meta.What to steal: the reorder-first mindset, the creative iteration loop, and the tariff survival playbook.Timestamps:00:00 Building a $90M travel apparel brand02:12 Scaling Meta with creative volume08:00 Why product quality beats acquisition tactics16:00 How tariffs nearly killed the business32:05 AI as a business advisor and data analystSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupThis week on All Killer No Filler, we're giving you a preview of Agency Confidential, the new podcast from our co-founder Jeff, and this episode's is a truly killer.Jeff sits down with Nick Shackelford, who's everywhere in DTC. Three agencies (Structured, Konstant, Lucid), an events business, and a decade of showing up on every feed, stage, and group chat. Jeff calls him the Coca-Cola of ecommerce. Eric calls him the Drake of DTC.But halfway through, Nick stops and shares something he says he's never told publicly. Last July, cash got tight and he had to bridge the gap on one of his companies. Not with a loan or a raise, but by getting paid as a public agency owner to talk about SaaS products. Ten years of being a face turned into a cash-flow lever almost no other owner has.Then it gets stranger. That same decade of posts and videos is now training data for every LLM on earth. Ask ChatGPT or Claude about DTC agencies and Nick, Structured, Konstant, and Geek Out all come up. A personal brand he built to win deal flow quietly became free distribution in a channel that didn't exist when he started.They get into the real cost of being the face, why building a faceless brand (like DTC and Pilothouse) trades built-in pull for durability, AI in the agency space, and why Nick thinks the market's about to splinter back into specialists.What they cover:The never-shared story of how Nick bridged a cash-flow gap in a rough monthWhy a personal brand is a lever most agency owners don't haveHow ten years of content became free distribution in AI searchThe real cost and risk of being the face of your agencyFace vs. faceless: durability, transferability, and selling the businessWhere Nick thinks the agency market is heading in 2026Who this is for: Agency owners, DTC operators, and founders weighing whether to build in public or build something that doesn't hinge on one person's face.Catch the preview here, and if you like it, go subscribe to Agency Confidential for the full episode.Timestamps:00:00 Nick Shackelford on building agencies and personal brands02:19 How Nick built three agencies and scaled operations11:59 Why AI is changing agency work and client communication27:56 How a personal brand became a business advantage39:18 Why AI will bring back specialized agenciesSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothousehttps://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF627Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMeta used to let you pick your customer in the backend. Those days are over. Post-Andromeda, the creative itself carries the targeting signal, which means the old spray-and-pray playbook now works against you.Rafael Gi spent a decade in traditional creative agencies, then led marketing at a nine-figure apparel brand, and now runs strategic growth and partnerships at Pilothouse. In this one he breaks down why the algorithm is forcing marketers to be good marketers again, and what that looks like in an ad account.What he gets into:Why "creative is targeting" is now literal, not a slogan, and how Meta reads your creative for who to serve it toSalience and memory structures: how brands like Volvo, Red Bull, and AG1 got remembered, and how to build the sameThe spend discrepancy that caps scaling brands: 80 percent of budget chasing 20 percent of revenueWhy structuring an ad account by product instead of by persona burns money and buries your messageThe shift from "all revenue is good revenue" to winning the customer instead of selling the productHow to evolve one message into new occasions without breaking the memory you have already builtWho this is for: DTC founders and operators between eight and nine figures who are seeing diminishing returns on creative volume and cannot figure out why more ads are not buying more growth.What to steal: the "one tank of gas, twelve cars" test for whether your budget is spread too thin, and the account-structure fix that lines your media budget up with where your revenue comes from.Timestamps:00:00 Why Meta's Andromeda Changed Marketing02:34 Creative Is the New Targeting05:55 Building Brand Salience That Lasts14:32 How to Fix Creative Strategy at Scale24:42 Applying Salience to Better Meta AdsSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF625Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost list-growth advice assumes you have a website people visit. Cove Soda doesn't. They sell zero sugar soda in roughly 7,000 retail doors with no real DTC store, which means no site traffic, no purchase pop-ups, and no easy email capture.Zoe Kahn runs marketing for Cove as interim VP. In this episode she breaks down how a retail-first brand still builds a direct, owned channel, why she treats in-person events as the acquisition surface, and how she competes in a soda aisle that already has Olipop and Poppi running Super Bowl ads.What you'll get:The event tactic that grows an email and SMS list without DTC: trade a full can for an opt-inHow to segment by geography so US news goes to US fans and Canadian news goes to Canadian fansHow she picks which events to sample at, and why marketing assets in a state change the mathUsing Amazon attribution links to test creative and copy when you have no DTCA clear take on why an oversaturated category is not a reason to quitThe early-career mistake that shipped roughly 700 wrong orders, and what it taught herWho this is for: retail-first and omnichannel operators, beverage and CPG founders, retention and lifecycle marketers, and anyone who has been told they can't build a list without DTC.What to steal: the can-for-email swap at events, geographic list segmentation, and an event-selection checklist built on demographic fit and asset location.0:00 Intro3:16 Building a Canadian Brand in the US7:55 How Cove Soda Stands Out in a Crowded Market10:09 Using QR Codes to Grow Email and SMS Lists17:50 Practical AI Workflows for Marketing TeamsSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupGoogle search is changing under everyone's feet. AI overviews are eating the top of the funnel, exact match stopped being exact years ago, and shoppers now type full paragraphs instead of two keywords. Doug, who leads Google at Pilothouse, breaks down what actually came out of Google Marketing Live 2026 and what DTC operators should do about it.He runs the Google paid side for DTC brands at Pilothouse, so this is the operator read, not the press release.What you get:Why transactional shopping queries still convert while top-of-funnel search moves into AI overviewsWhat AI Max for Shopping means for how your products get matched to conversational queriesWhy your Merchant Center feed is the most undervalued performance lever you controlHow far Claude or Gemini can get you on a feed audit, and where you still need a humanWhy "keywordless" is the direction, and what targeting intent looks like nowThe measurement gap on YouTube and demand generation, and what Google is testing to close itWho this is for: DTC founders and operators running or buying Google Ads, plus anyone trying to understand AI's effect on Shopping and search.What to steal: audit your product feed before you touch anything else. Most brands copy-paste their site into the feed or rely on an automated integration and leave half the attributes empty. That is the cheap win.Timestamps:0:00 Intro1:47 Google Ads and AI Search Changes5:30 Biggest Google Marketing Live 2026 Announcements7:50 Why Google Shopping Feed Optimization Matters12:04 Why the Future of Search Is Keywordless15:45 Measuring Demand Generation on YouTubeSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF623Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Most brands expand into the US and treat it like the same business with a different shipping label. Outway learned it is not.Taylor Fraser is the Chief Growth Officer at Outway, the Canadian performance sock brand. In this episode he breaks down why Outway now runs Canada and the US as two distinct businesses, why he dropped retargeting on Meta entirely, and why a sub eight-figure brand cannot optimize its website to growth.What you'll learn:Why Outway swapped the CMO role for a Chief Growth Officer and split growth into performance, retention, and e-commerceWhy Canadian and US customers buy so differently, and how Outway split the two businesses on the backend and frontendWhy the team runs no retargeting and lets the algorithm handle itWhy simple store-wide discounts beat clever BOGO offers, and why the mystery pair became a "golden handcuffs" attachWhy you cannot CRO your way to growth under a certain revenue line, and what to do insteadWhy Outway rides external moments like Mother's Day and Prime Day instead of manufacturing its own salesHow the team uses AI daily for reporting, data pulls, and custom dashboardsWho this is for: DTC operators, growth and performance marketers, and founders selling across more than one country.What to steal: the two-businesses framework for cross-border selling, and the decision to stop manufacturing fake sales and ride moments customers already care about.Timestamps:00:00 Meta Doesn't Need Retargeting Campaigns13:06 How Andromeda Changed Meta Ads18:11 The Creative Volume Debate21:08 Why Scaling in the U.S. Is Harder Than Canada35:20 Why More Ads Beat CRO for GrowthSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupBraydon from Pilothouse joins for a fast AI check-in on what the team is actually shipping right now. Not theory. The exact tools, prompts, and workflows behind their current creative output.If you run growth or creative at a DTC brand or agency, this is a look at how one team is collapsing production time on landing pages, video ads, and founder content using AI.The sub-agent "council" prompt: rewrite a landing page eight ways, with each sub-agent playing a role (copywriter, CEO, customer, CRO expert), then have the council rate the versions and a final decision maker pick the winner.How to keep Claude fast on long projects: ask the chat to summarize itself into a markdown file, then carry that into a fresh chat instead of letting one thread balloon.Higgsfield as a model aggregator: one place to run VO3, Kling, ElevenLabs, and image models, with one-click image-to-video and multiple aspect ratios.The founder avatar workflow: build a 30-second explainer with B-roll and slow zooms, clone the founder's voice in ElevenLabs, and ship it the same afternoon.Why Braydon leans into obviously-AI creative (claymation, Pixar-style) instead of trying to pass synthetic people as real.How Meta's Andromeda rewards ads that improve the scroll, and why social boosting organic winners is finding new scale.Who this is for:DTC operators, growth marketers, and agency creative leads who want a current, practical AI workflow rather than a hype reel.What to steal:The sub-agent council prompt, the Higgsfield image-to-video and voice-clone pipeline, and the social boosting approach to finding ad winners.Timestamps:00:29 Fable AI and One-Shot Development06:54 Higgsfield for AI Creative Production10:33 New AI Advertising Disclosure Rules13:15 AI Search, SEO, and Answer Engines14:33 How Andromeda Rewards Better Ad ExperiencesSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF621Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupThis episode, Kemberly Gong, VP of Marketing at Contentful, joins Eric to walk through what some marketing leaders are calling “The Great Content Collapse”, and what marketers can actually do about it.The setup: 60% of Google searches now result in zero click-through, and replaced by GenAI models like AI overviews. LLMs already account for 5% of traffic and climbing. Marketing budgets are flat or shrinking. Companies are flooding consumers with AI slop to hit KPIs. And consumers can smell it. 50% lose trust in a brand when they think the content was written by AI.Explore Contentful: https://www.contentful.com/?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=fy27-q2-global-tl_awareness&utm_content=gcc What you'll learn:What is the "great content collapse" and why traditional content strategy is breakingAEO vs SEO: where they overlap and where they divergeWhy agentic agents prefer structured, query-aligned content with third-party validationHow buyer behavior is changing and what marketing teams can do to stay aheadWhere brands over-rely on AI and how to keep the human voiceThe 30-day content audit for the agentic webThe Pets Deli case: 50% conversion lift from one personalization changeThe Ruggable BFCM case: 7x CTR and 25% conversion lift from personalized hero banners + homepagesHow Bossard scaled its content across 18 languages and 38 countries with AI workflows using personalization softwareWhat On Running does to drive 40% of sales onlinePlus: Kemberly Gong's 30-day content audit checklist for the agentic web.Timestamps:00:00 The Great Content Collapse05:38 AEO vs SEO Explained10:08 Why Personalization Wins in 202613:27 Where AI Actually Helps Marketing Teams22:23 Building Brand Trust Across ChannelsSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupOrigin owns its entire supply chain. The thread, the brass, the leather, the denim, all of it made or sourced in America, in their own factories. That sounds like a constraint. Justin Parker explains why it is actually the brand's biggest growth lever.Justin runs e-commerce at Origin, the American-made apparel brand born in jiu-jitsu gear and now backed in part by Jocko Willink. He sits at the intersection of marketing, ops, and manufacturing, and that vantage point is exactly what makes the AI stack so powerful for him.What you will learn:How owning manufacturing let Origin pull a planned-for-June product into the line overnight when a hoodie went viral in JanuaryWhy Origin uploaded its 20-page production tech packs into Moby, and how that turned a marketing tool into something that diagnoses manufacturing defectsHow they run 100% internal media buying through an agentic media buyer, and the one question Justin asks it: "what in your context made you decide to pause this ad?"Why branded search spend got flagged as non-incremental, and how goal-setting changes what the AI doesHow the e-commerce team stopped hiring internally while the rest of the business keeps net hiringWhere Justin thinks the role is going next: agent orchestration and one centralized goal pushed down to every business unitWho this is for: DTC founders and operators, e-commerce and growth leads, anyone figuring out how to actually deploy AI agents inside a real business.What to steal: Justin's approach to context loading. The output you get from any AI tool is capped by the context you feed it. He spent an afternoon uploading product blueprints one PDF at a time, and it changed what the tool could do.Timestamps:0:00 Origin's Unexpected Maduro Viral Moment2:01 Building an American-Made Supply Chain7:00 Pricing Premium Products in a Competitive Market15:02 How Vertical Integration Creates a Growth Advantage22:18 Inside Moby AI and Agentic Media BuyingSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost brands are quietly killing themselves with growth hacks. Swapping button colors, chasing this week's ROI, discounting to hit the number.Duncan, Strategy Lead at Pilothouse, makes the case that this is the worst creative strategy there is, and walks through what actually builds a brand that lasts.Duncan runs strategy at Pilothouse, where brand and performance are treated as one system instead of warring departments. He explains why Meta's Andromeda shift is quietly ending the era of high-volume AI slop creative, and what replaces it.What you will learn:Why the growth-hack mentality leads to a discount death spiral and erodes brand valueWhat Meta's Andromeda infrastructure changed, and why it forces advertisers toward thoughtful creative over high-frequency iterationHow to integrate brand and performance instead of picking oneWhy siloed agencies fight over attribution while the customer journey falls through the cracksThe one question to ask any agency before you hire them: "Where will growth come from this year?"Who this is for: DTC founders, brand and growth leads, and anyone choosing between agencies or trying to make brand and performance work together.What to steal: the agency-selection test. If a partner can only answer with optimizations, they are a vendor. If they can tell you where growth comes from this year, they are a strategist.Timestamps:00:00 Why Growth Hacking Is Breaking Brands03:00 Meta Andromeda Changed Creative Strategy06:00 The Problem With Optimizing Only for ROAS12:00 Building Customer Journeys Beyond Attribution20:00 Measuring Channels by Their Actual JobSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF619Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupRecorded live at The Whalies.Enterprise brands are past the prompt-and-generate phase of AI. The conversation has moved to connected data, agentic media buying, personalization, attribution, and the quiet operational wins that actually move the P&L.Eric Dyck sits down with Justin Parker (Origin), Ashley Kick (DÔEN), and Martha Ann Pavoni (Universal Ads) to unpack how leading ecommerce brands are embedding AI across the commerce stack — without losing trust, measurement, or human judgment.This episode is brought to you by Triple Whale. Much of the panel centers on Moby 2, Triple Whale's agentic operator for insights and media buying — Justin Parker runs all but three of his Meta campaigns through it and has been in the beta since the start.Learn more: Triple WhaleIn this episode:Why business context — not the model — is the missing ingredient in most AI implementationsHow DÔEN rolls out AI one workflow at a time to measure real incremental liftWhat happens when AI runs all but three of your Meta campaignsWhy connected TV and incrementality are eclipsing the clickThe retargeting decision where AI flatly contradicted itself a week laterWhere human oversight still matters most — and how to size it to riskWhat to steal:Build a trusted source of truth before you layer AI on topTest AI one workflow at a time so you can actually attribute the liftPoint AI at analysis and reporting first; hand it bigger decisions laterScale human-in-the-loop in proportion to dollars and customer exposureFor DTC operators managing multi-channel growth who need more output without adding headcount.Timestamps:0:00 AI Is Only As Good As The Data Behind It2:03 How Enterprise Brands Roll Out AI Without Breaking Things8:16 Why Some Brands Refuse To Use AI Creative18:28 Inside Agentic Media Buying And AI-Powered Marketing Teams30:03 The Biggest AI Opportunity Most Brands Are MissingSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost founders want to be first in a category. Justin Soleimani and Zach Dannett did the opposite, and built Tumble into one of the standout washable rug brands without raising a dollar.In this episode, the Tumble co-founders and Co-CEOs break down how they entered a category Ruggable created, fixed the product complaints they found buried in thousands of reviews, and validated the whole thing on Indiegogo before opening a Shopify store. Then they get into the part most founders never have to survive: moving their entire supply chain out of China in 30 days when tariffs went from 25% to 175%.What's covered:Why they launched with 120 SKUs and used crowdfunding as a demand-forecasting tool, not just a fundraiserThe lot-number QC system that let them kill 90%+ of product defects within two yearsHow pre-orders and Shopify payouts gave them a negative cash conversion cycle while bootstrappingWhy they didn't hire a single full-time employee until they were well past $20M in revenueThe China-to-Thailand pivot and accidental Canada launch during the tariff crisisTheir YouTube incrementality test that ran head-to-head against Meta, and tiedJustin's contrarian take on vibe coding: automate manual tasks, don't rip out your tech stackWho this is for: Bootstrapped DTC founders, operators obsessed with margin and cash flow, and anyone building a physical-product brand in a competitive category.What to steal: The crowdfunding-as-validation playbook, the lot-tracking QC system, and the asset-light structure that let them move a supply chain overnight.Timestamps:00:00 Why Great Competitors Make You Better03:00 Launching 120 SKUs Through Crowdfunding10:00 Product Feedback at Scale18:00 Growing Past $20M With No Employees23:00 Surviving Tariffs and Moving ManufacturingSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupThis Friday on AKNF we're handing over the feed for a special preview of The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast.Your email account doesn't break all at once. It rots. Open rates slide, a quarter of your sends quietly route to spam, your list keeps growing while the people who actually click disappear. Jordan Gordon calls that a pooched account, and in this episode he lays out the full ten-step recovery his team runs when a brand hands them one.If you own a DTC brand or run its email and retention, this is the playbook for the moment results go sluggish and your first instinct is to send more, the exact move that dug the hole.What's inside:How to tell whether you're in spam or your audience has simply checked outWhy opens are the weakest predictor of a future visit, and what to segment on insteadThe rewarm vs. soft rewarm decision, and how 5,000 addresses beat 150,000Why two campaigns a week plus real flows beats 22 sends a monthThe email-only promotion that rebuilds engagement and deliverability at onceTreating SMS like a paid channel with a real cost per clickThe stale-repeat-buyer metric that tells you recovery is workingWho this is for: DTC founders, operators, and email marketers inheriting or rescuing an underperforming Klaviyo account.What to steal: the open-rate floor, the two-campaigns-a-week cadence, and the stale-repeat-buyer segment you can build in Klaviyo this afternoon.Liked the preview? Subscribe to The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast.Timestamps:00:00 Fixing a Pooched Email Account03:02 Set Realistic Expectations for Recovery07:43 When to Rewarm Your Email List11:47 Why Opens Are a Bad Metric18:36 Email-Only Promotions to Boost Engagement24:25 The Stale Repeat Buyer MetricSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF617Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupRecorded live at True Classic HQ in Calabasas the day before the Whalies, this episode brings together two of the leaders most aggressively reshaping how ecommerce gets built.Ben Diamond is the CEO and co-founder of True Classic, the apparel brand that went from zero to over a billion in revenue in seven years and now ships to 190 countries. Maxx Blank is the co-founder and COO of Triple Whale, the AI operating system for ecommerce that he started with co-founder AJ Orbach, now running parts of media buying, creative, and conversion testing for over 60,000 brands.The conversation gets into the move that's reshaping the category: True Classic now runs 100 percent of its Meta spend through an autonomous media buyer, Moby 2, with AI agents acting as a CMO and creative strategist, reallocating budget daily based on whether the brand needs profit, inventory clearance, or launch defense.Maxx walks through what changed between Moby 1 and Moby 2, why the SaaS apocalypse doesn't touch infrastructure businesses, and the bigger industry shift from Software as a Service to Results as a Service. Ben talks about cutting millions in production costs by replacing in-office product photography with AI, the cultural mandate at True Classic to embrace AI, and where human judgment still belongs.If you're an operator wondering how far to push agentic into your business, or a founder wondering what the next decade of ecommerce actually looks like, this is the conversation for you.Find more about Triple Whale: https://www.triplewhale.com/?utm_source=dtc-newsletter&utm_medium=inf&utm_campaign=mkt-whaliesdtc-affiliate-426&utm_content=dtc Timestamps:00:00 AI Is Transforming Ecommerce Faster Than Ever02:14 What Moby 2 Actually Does for Brands11:20 Why True Classic Went All-In on AI16:10 Cutting Millions in Creative Production Costs24:38 The Future of One-to-One Marketing at Scale43:20 Predictions for the Future of Ecommerce and AISubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupNeuro didn't fight for checkout shelf space first. They built a nine-figure online business through TikTok Shop, creator marketing, Amazon, and DTC, then used that momentum to walk into Walmart, Costco, CVS, and 7-Eleven with demand already proven.In this episode of the DTC Podcast, Eric talks with Brian Evangelista, Chief Commercial Officer at Neuro, about creating a category that didn't exist, running an affiliate program with tens of thousands of creators, and what actually changes when a digitally native brand wakes up as a real retail business.Built for DTC founders scaling from $5M–$100M who are trying to turn ecom momentum into retail distribution.We also get into:Why TikTok Shop worked so well early on, and what changed when it got pay-to-playHow creator incentives shifted once GMV Max rolled outThe retail launch strategy behind Walmart, Costco, CVS, and 7-ElevenWhy retail completely reshapes your P&L, ops, and marketing stackThe hidden operational tax of moving from DTC into omnichannelHow Neuro frames category creation vs stealing shareThe strategy behind the "Your Gum Is Dumb" sloth campaignWhy brand marketing started making sense only after retail expansionWho this episode is for: DTC founders, retail operators, consumer brand marketers, TikTok Shop teams, and brands considering omnichannel expansion.What to steal:Build demand digitally before asking retail to believe in your categoryUse creator momentum as proof for retail buyersTreat retail launches like media moments, not inventory placementSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupThe consideration phase is collapsing thanks to LLM shopping.Awareness still happens on Meta. Conversion still happens on a PDP. But the comparison and research middle, the part brands have spent a decade optimizing, is increasingly happening inside an LLM the customer already trusts.20% of holiday shoppers used an LLM in their purchase path last Q4. Google I/O just demoed one-tap concert tickets from a photo. Amazon folded Rufus into Alexa for Shopping. The behavior is moving fast enough that operators need to start preparing for Q4 now.Eric sits down with Aves and Daniel from Pilothouse to unpack what's actually happening and the work brands can start this quarter.Inside the episode:Why customers trust their LLM more than your adDaniel on why he stopped going to Amazon to compare vitaminsThe persona mismatch that hurts brands more than it used toWhy reviews and earned media matter more than your landing pageWhat changes for abandon cart and retargetingTwo operator-tested audits to see if your brand shows up in ChatGPT, Claude, and GeminiFor founders and operators who want to be recommended when the customer asks.What to Steal:Three things you can do this week.Run the prompt audit. Take your top five Google queries, run them through ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Track who gets recommended, who gets cited, and whether you show up at all. Daniel uses this as his baseline before any other AI-visibility work.Pick one brand truth and repeat it everywhere. Scattershot positioning loses to consistent positioning. If every ad pitches a different angle to a different persona, an LLM has nothing coherent to summarize about you.Add dates to your blog posts and PR pages. Recency factors into LLM citation. Old content gets de-prioritized even when it's accurate.Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF615Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupCharlie Cole watched FTD go from a $1.8 billion publicly traded company to a $60 million bankruptcy auction in eight months. His first day as CEO was March 23, 2020, the first day of national lockdown.Before that he ran digital at Tumi, Samsonite, Lucky Brand, and Shift Nutrition. Today he's interim Chief Digital Officer at Thuma.This episode is a tactical sit-down on what actually drives growth right now in a Meta + AI world.In this episode:Why "creative is the new targeting" is only half the answerThe exact death spiral most DTC brands follow on the way to margin collapse (no sale, semi-annual sale, sale page, sitewide 20%, Amazon, done)How Charlie engineered personas at FTD across customer, consumer, and eventThe florist's choice insight: highest NPS in the category, by 20-40%The 2011 Dr. Oz campaign that nailed funnel congruency before anyone called it thatWhy personalization was a misnomer until about two years agoThe three "swimsuit for vacation" shoppers who should never see the same pageWhy YouTube is still massively underutilized, and why most brands run it wrongThe product question that decides whether any of this mattersWho it's for: DTC founders and operators scaling from $10M to $250M who want to grow without turning their brand into a discount machine.What to steal:Build acquisition around your highest-LTV segments, not your lowest CACTreat creative and landing pages as one system, not two teamsStop letting platforms grade their own homework on attributionAudit where you sit on the discount death spiral before it owns youTimestamps:0:00 Career Journey Into Ecommerce2:48 Inside the FTD Turnaround14:20 How Customer Behavior Changed During COVID23:18 Creative Is The New Targeting36:05 AI’s Biggest Ecommerce Unlock43:02 Why Most Brands Test Creative WrongSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupBraydon's back on AKNF with the most tactical AI-for-agencies episode we've recorded.Eric opens with a Jeff Shannon line worth the whole listen: AI right now is a giant stack of two-by-fours that everyone got handed for free. By itself, it's not a chair, it's not a house, it's not a sofa. The value shows up when someone actually builds something with it.Then Braydon walks through what he's been building.Inside: connecting Claude to Motion to audit ad-to-landing-page mismatches, then having Claude vibe-code a new PDP in HTML in 6 hours instead of a week in Instapage. The Microsoft Clarity connector that nobody's talking about (free heatmaps, free recordings, API access). The Higgsfield connector for generating raw 4K assets through Claude with Nano Banana Pro and Seedance. Why Claude Design is worth experimenting with for brand-sensitive clients. And a peek behind the curtain at Gary and Blanche, the AI media buyer and creative strategist Jeff is running on DTC's own Meta account.Plus: why the em-dash is dead, the semicolon problem nobody's solved, and the actual reason Claude reads cleaner than ChatGPT for enterprise work.If you've been "playing with AI" and want to actually build something with it, this is the episode.Catch the DTC and Pilothouse crew at The Whalies May 19 in LA.Timestamps:00:00 AI Is Raw Material02:36 Why AI Needs Human Builders04:18 Claude Building Landing Pages10:02 AI-Powered Heatmap Analysis16:36 Higgsfield + Claude Creative WorkflowSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF613Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupKatie Sturino built Megababe with 60,000 followers, two co-founders who'd never had chafe, and an MOQ of 20,000 units stacked in her parents' garage. Eight years later it's profitable, in Target, Walmart, CVS, Nordstrom, Anthropologie, and on Amazon. Never raised a dollar. Never grew less than 33% year over year.In this episode Katie walks through how she built a category that didn't exist. Manufacturers didn't know what chafe was. Press didn't know what chafe was. The Today Show hit on June 30, 2017 and they sold out every unit by July 1. Then the real work started.Inside: why retail is when the grind begins (not when you've made it), why she still ranks "people just dealing with it" as her biggest competitor, the husband-given marketing fix that solved deodorant aisle confusion in one sticker, the accidental Amazon Super Bowl ad placement, why their hemorrhoid product is a top seller on Amazon, and the moment her sister convinced her soap was worth doing.Plus the new "I'm Not Fine Index" campaign, why NYC taxi ads outperform every digital channel they run, and the one piece of advice Katie has for anyone shipping a product in 2026.Catch the DTC and Pilothouse crew at The Whalies May 19 in LA.Timestamps:0:00 Building a brand around chafe2:58 How Megababe started11:00 Selling out after the Today Show14:10 Retail growth at Target and Walmart20:05 Why Megababe started advertising27:10 Building a real brand voiceSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAbby and Taylor from Pilothouse settle the loudest debate in media buying right now: does velocity equal strategy?Short answer: no. Long answer: this whole episode.Inside, Abby (art) and Taylor (science) break down what a real creative system looks like under Andromeda, how to spot AI slop in an ad library at a glance, and why the squint test is still the fastest way to audit your output. They get into the frequency spike that hit when one apparel brand over-segmented celebrity drops, why Taylor still runs legacy Advantage+ Shopping campaigns three years later, and how a Nick DiGiovanni partnership ran at 0.5 ROAS on platform but pulled a 6 ROAS once Northbeam's 60-day window kicked in.Plus: why gifting ads should still target women, three exercises to run on your ad account before Q4, and the difference between feeding the algorithm and spamming the button.If you're making 50 ads a week and not sure any of them are doing a job, this one's for you.Catch the Pilothouse and DTC crew at The Whalies May 19 in LA, and our DTC operator dinner May 20.Timestamps:0:00 Why velocity isn’t strategy2:38 The problem with endless ad variations5:12 Best Meta account structures today8:07 How to audit creative quality14:08 Building a real creative systemSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF611Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupGet your tickets to The Whalies: triplewhale.com/whalies?i=dtc&utm_source=dtc-newsletter&utm_medium=inf&utm_campaign=mkt-whaliesdtc-affiliate-426&utm_content=dtc Full Glass Wine Co.Neha Kumar joins the podcast to break down how Full Glass Wine Co. acquired 7 DTC wine companies, integrated them under one operating system, and scaled to a $200M platform in under two years.This wasn’t a “buy brands and hope” strategy. Neha explains how COVID-era DTC brands overbought inventory, ignored unit economics, and optimized for growth over profitability — creating one of the biggest acquisition opportunities in modern ecommerce.For DTC founders scaling from $5M–$50M who want to improve retention, fix unit economics, and build operational leverage across brands.Inside the episode:Why subscription models quietly broke a lot of DTC wine businesses The exact operational changes Full Glass uses to make acquisitions profitable in 60–120 days How they centralized shipping, finance, SMS, and retention while preserving each brand’s identity Why retention, not acquisition, became the core growth engine The hidden downside of emailing subscription customers too often How Wink’s 7M-email quiz funnel became a massive acquisition asset Why customer segmentation matters more than product assortment in brand acquisitions The “three legs of the tripod” framework for building durable DTC companies: marketing, finance, and operations Neha’s “Year of Yes” mindset shift inspired by Willy Wonka that changed how she built companies Who this is for:Operators, retention marketers, DTC founders, PE-backed ecommerce brands, acquisition entrepreneurs, and anyone trying to scale profitably after the cheap-CAC era ended.What to steal:Move from monthly shipments to higher-AOV quarterly bundles to fix shipping economics Centralize infrastructure, not brand voice Treat retention like the business engine, not an afterthought Timestamps:0:00 Intro to Full Glass Wine Co2:18 Why DTC wine brands struggled after COVID6:12 How Winc collapsed from inventory overload8:05 The 3-part formula for profitable DTC brands10:05 What Full Glass looks for in acquisitions13:05 Centralizing customer service across wine brands15:02 Building brands around customer identity17:42 The Willy Wonka “year of yes” mindset21:58 What happens after acquiring a company24:45 Why subscription models don’t work for wine29:12 Storytelling vs transactional retention emails32:18 How Full Glass approaches retention marketing35:05 Managing inventory and cash flow in wine37:15 Trusting intuition as an operator40:18 How Full Glass is using AI internally42:05 Are the next generation of entrepreneurs ready?45:00 What’s next for Full Glass Wine CoSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupGet your tickets to The Whalies: triplewhale.com/whalies?i=dtc&utm_source=dtc-newsletter&utm_medium=inf&utm_campaign=mkt-whaliesdtc-affiliate-426&utm_content=dtc Meta attribution has changed, and most brands are still reading performance the same way they were a year ago.Jacob, Head of Socials at Pilothouse, walks through what’s different now. Click-only attribution, incremental measurement, and how those shifts affect the way conversions show up in your dashboard.If you’ve noticed numbers feeling off lately, this will help you understand why and what to actually pay attention to.For DTC founders and marketers spending $50K–$500K/month on Meta who want to understand what’s actually driving conversions.What click-only attribution removes from reporting How incremental attribution works in practice (without the fluff) Why conversion numbers feel different even when performance hasn’t changed much Where Meta data and third-party tools start to diverge How Pilothouse is thinking about reporting and decision-making now Who this is for:DTC operators, performance marketers, founders scaling paid socialWhat to steal:Check incremental conversions alongside total before making changes Look at channel performance in context of total revenue, not in isolation Use Meta data as one input, not the final answer Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:28 Meta’s New Attribution Shift05:03 How Incremental Attribution Works08:11 Conversion Windows and Optimization10:15 Why Better Signals Improve Meta Performance13:02 Agentic Ads Explained16:02 AI Business Agents and Customer Conversations18:05 Setting Up Meta’s AI Agents19:28 AI Ad Automation and Testing Strategies21:14 Q2 Meta Performance Trends23:02 Why Meta Reduced Over-AttributionSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF609Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupWe surveyed 540+ DTC operators on how they plan and forecast. This episode, we break down the data and see why most brands are stuck reacting. We’re joined by Laura Thompson, co-founder of Three Ships Beauty, one of the few who's figured out how to run a tight, fast, 8-figure brand without drifting into chaos, and Mike Chiasson, Senior Solutions Engineer from Keen Decision Systems, to pressure-test the Three Ships Beauty playbook against the data.Grab your free copy of the report here: https://www.directtoconsumer.co/thereactiveloopreportIn this episode:The biggest gaps in how DTC brands planWhy "revenue is a lagging indicator"The bottom-up forecasting Three Ships usesThe KPI ownership system across the whole teamWhen scenario planning is worth the time, and when it's just noiseIf you’re a DTC operator past $5M who wants to stop reacting and start running a solid plan, this episode is a must listen.Timestamps0:00 Planning vs reacting in ecommerce2:03 Why most brands only plan 1–6 months ahead4:02 Bottom-up forecasting vs top-down forecasting6:06 Scenario planning and external market risks9:02 When media spend actually works harder11:01 The reactive loop hurting DTC brands14:03 Why brands over-invest in bottom funnel15:06 Weekly KPI reviews and forecasting systems18:02 The danger of reacting to noisy data20:04 Leading vs lagging indicators in ecommerce23:02 How talent impacts business performance24:58 Product launch delays and forecasting pivots26:53 Scenario planning for tariffs and supply chain risk31:55 Should brands worry about oil shocks?35:34 The biggest gap between planning and execution38:02 KPI systems that drive accountability42:16 The right way to plan for growth44:02 Why reactive brands fall behindSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupGet your tickets to The Whalies: triplewhale.com/whalies?i=dtc&utm_source=dtc-newsletter&utm_medium=inf&utm_campaign=mkt-whaliesdtc-affiliate-426&utm_content=dtc Helen Smith built Roo & You from hand-sewn mask lanyards in 2020 into a 100,000+ customer brand, and didn't touch paid ads for the first 3.5 years. In this episode she walks through the Facebook community that became her growth engine, how she landed Warner Bros and Harry Potter as a licensing partner without a media buyer, and what scaling through a tariff war actually looks like behind the scenes.For DTC founders scaling from $1M to $10M who want to lower CAC and build a real retention moat.What we cover:The mask lanyard side hustle that funded her first container of play couchesHow a private Facebook group became Roo & You's primary growth engineThe one-strike kindness rule that keeps the community aliveCold-DMing Warner Bros on LinkedIn (and getting a yes)Why licensing is a marketing channel, not a revenue playAdding tariffs as a line item instead of a stealth price hikeLaunching an affiliate program in November for existing customersWho this is for: Founders leaning too hard on paid, or operators who want to build a community moat before they scale spend.What to steal:Show up in other people's communities for months before launching your ownSet strict community rules on day one, not after things go sidewaysMake tariffs a visible line item to keep customer trust intactHand affiliate codes to existing customers before paying creators who've never used the productTimestamps:00:00 Building a brand through community02:00 Using data to make better decisions04:00 Handling tariffs and margin pressure06:00 Launching through Facebook groups08:00 Early demand and product expansion10:00 Finding manufacturers and testing products12:00 Pricing, value, and product longevity14:00 Organic growth without paid ads16:00 Transitioning into paid advertising18:00 Leveraging community for content and growth20:00 Licensing deals and brand partnerships24:00 Structuring better partnership agreements27:00 Challenges with licensing approvals29:00 Why partnerships are for marketing not growth30:00 Founder confidence and building in public37:00 Expanding into the US market40:00 Choosing the right marketing agency42:00 Turning customers into advocates47:00 Advice for founders building a brandSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupGet your tickets to The Whalies: triplewhale.com/whalies?i=dtc&utm_source=dtc-newsletter&utm_medium=inf&utm_campaign=mkt-whaliesdtc-affiliate-426&utm_content=dtc Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus is already in ~40% of shopping sessions, and according to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, customers who use it are 60–100% more likely to purchase.Most brands haven’t adjusted.Tyler Mazur (Head of Amazon @ Pilothouse) breaks down what Rufus is actually changing inside Amazon — from how products get discovered to how listings are interpreted across text, images, and context.For DTC founders and Amazon operators who want to stay visible as AI-driven discovery becomes the defaultWhat we cover:What Rufus is actually doing inside the Amazon shopping experience Why product discovery is shifting from keywords → problems The marketing words that add zero value (and what to say instead) Why Rufus reads your product images for context How backend keywords should be used now A simple 3-part plan to improve visibility this week Who this is for:Brands selling on Amazon that want an edge beyond just spending more on adsWhat to steal:Replace vague adjectives with real use-case language Add context everywhere: PDP, backend, images Make your listings easier for AI to understand, not just humansSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF607Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signuphttp://coyuchi.comCoyuchi is a premium bedding brand with a long purchase cycle and high AOV. That changes how you approach growth, attribution, and retention.Vicki Williams-Grahan (Brand President) explains how they tested Meta’s impact by turning it off, how they think about LTV in a low-frequency category, and why product selection inside ads matters as much as creative.For DTC operators scaling high-AOV brands with long purchase cycles who need to rethink CAC, LTV, and attribution.In this episode:What happened when they turned off Meta for 6 weeks Why Google Analytics 4 underreported performance vs platform data How segmentation (via Decile) changed acquisition Why entry-level products lowered overall performance How they use daily forecasting and contribution profit Who this is for:Operators in high-AOV categories (home, furniture, luxury, etc.)What to steal:Run incrementality tests (or dim market tests) Prioritize high-LTV acquisition, not just conversion rate Track contribution profit daily Timestamps00:00 Introduction and evolving customer profile02:00 Coyuchi brand overview and DTC shift04:30 Challenges of high AOV and long purchase cycles07:00 Customer segmentation and tools like Decile09:30 Meta ads experiment and going dark13:00 Attribution insights and incrementality testing15:00 Daily forecasting and contribution profit focus17:30 Product strategy and high LTV vs entry products21:30 Retention storytelling and non-sales emails25:00 Brand repositioning beyond sustainability32:00 Bringing paid social in-house and creative speed35:00 Using AI in marketing and creative testing36:30 Channel testing including podcasts and CTVSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMeta changed attribution in March — and suddenly every brand’s ROAS looks worse.Chris Richards from Pilothouse breaks down what actually happened, why performance appears to have dropped 30–45%, and how brands should respond without damaging long-term growth.For DTC founders and operators scaling from $5M–$50M who rely on Meta as a core channel.In this episode:What Meta’s attribution change actually did Why social proof no longer shows up the same way How to interpret rising CPA and falling ROAS Why MER is a better north star right now The risk of over-retargeting after performance dips Who this is for:DTC founders, CMOs, and media buyers trying to make sense of Meta performanceWhat to steal:Shift from ROAS to MER as your primary KPI Keep funding top-of-funnel even when numbers look worse Use consistent attribution (MTA) to guide spend decisions Timestamps00:00 Meta attribution change explained02:00 Click vs engaged attribution breakdown04:00 Impact on ROAS and CPA metrics06:00 Social proof and ad performance insights08:00 Why engagement optimization can backfire10:00 Importance of multi-touch attribution tools12:00 How campaign strategy is shifting14:00 MER as a new performance north star16:00 Omnichannel and ecosystem thinking18:00 Meta automation and future attribution trends20:00 What brands should do right now22:00 Strategy mistakes and growth risksSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF605Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAffiliate is getting a lot more attention in DTC right now, and for good reason. In this episode, Yash Chavan, Founder and CEO of SATHI & SARAL, breaks down why the channel looks so attractive on paper, where it falls apart in practice, and what brands can do to make it perform like a real growth engine.Claim your free trial and 20% across all pricing plans at mysathi.io. Don't forget to use the code DTC! Request your free trial: http://www.mysathi.io/?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=dtc&utm_campaign=dtc-podcastWe get into:Why affiliate is attractive to operators and finance teamsHow last-click attribution distorts performance dataWhat affiliate fraud actually looks like inside a real programHow to think about multi-touch attribution by product categoryWhy gamification matters if you want creators to stay activeHow affiliate fits alongside Meta, TikTok, and retargetingWhat to steal:Run a fraud scan on your current affiliate program and check for leaked codesBuild commission tiers and milestone bonuses to keep strong creators engagedChoose an attribution model based on how your product actually gets boughtIf you’re a DTC marketer, founder, or growth lead trying to lower CAC, improve measurement, and build a more durable acquisition program, this episode is essential listening.Timestamps00:00 Affiliate marketing explained02:00 Why affiliate is hard to scale04:00 The problem with last-click attribution06:00 Affiliate fraud examples and risks09:00 Influencers shifting to affiliate models11:00 Why reels + links change everything13:00 How modern affiliate tracking works16:00 Multi-touch attribution strategies19:00 Retargeting affiliate traffic21:00 Gamifying affiliate programs24:00 How to start and scale affiliates27:00 Program hygiene and key metrics30:00 Where affiliate fits in your funnel33:00 The future of affiliate marketingSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signuphttps://lexingtonbakes.com/Lex Evan built Lexington Bakes after years of baking for friends who kept telling him the same thing: they didn’t usually like desserts like this, but they loved his. That turned into a bootstrapped brand built on better ingredients, frozen and refrigerated distribution, and a refusal to follow the usual packaged dessert playbook.For CPG founders and DTC operators trying to improve conversion, CAC, and retail sell-through without watering down the product.In this episode, Lex breaks down:How Lexington Bakes went from a holiday presale to about 200 retail stores Why premium products can fail when value is not obvious at first glance How changing format, sizing, and offer structure helped bring CAC from roughly $180 down to $25 on a new-customer offer What “radical ingredient transparency” actually looks like in packaged food Why a product rename turned a weak SKU into one of the brand’s best retail performers Who this is for:DTC founders, CPG operators, grocery brands, and marketers working on pricing, offer design, retention, or retail expansion.What to steal:Build first-order offers around how cautious buyers actually shop Make value obvious without forcing customers to do math Use plain-language product naming until the brand has enough equity to get more creative Timestamps:00:00 From zero to shipping 500 brownies02:30 Why Lexington Bakes started05:00 No preservatives and cold chain strategy07:00 Manufacturing challenges and scaling09:30 Radical ingredient transparency explained13:00 Product evolution and Lexington Bakes 4.017:00 Pricing psychology and shelf perception21:00 Fixing DTC conversion and CAC24:00 Intro offer strategy and LTV thinking29:00 Retail behavior and repeat purchase patterns34:30 Naming mistake and SKU turnaround39:00 2026 growth strategy and manufacturing focusSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost brands test YouTube, don’t see conversions, and shut it off.The problem isn’t the channel. It’s how they’re measuring it.Dougie from Pilothouse breaks down how YouTube actually drives growth for DTC brands, and why cost per brand search is one of the most useful signals to track early.For DTC founders and growth marketers spending $50K+/month and looking for a channel beyond Meta.What we get into:Why conversions lag on YouTube The 4-week window to judge early performance How cost per brand search shows real intent Budget levels needed to generate signal Targeting mistakes that kill campaigns Who this is for:Brands hitting a ceiling on Meta and testing new acquisition channelsWhat to steal:Track brand search before and after launching YouTube Use cost per brand search to judge efficiency Run geo tests to validate lift Timestamps0:00 YouTube as awareness vs conversion channel2:00 Why DTC brands fail testing YouTube4:00 Creative and audience readiness for YouTube6:00 Why YouTube attribution is broken8:00 Cost per brand search as key metric10:00 YouTube campaign setup basics12:00 Targeting mistakes and audience signals14:00 Excluding existing customers properly16:00 Setting expectations and measuring success18:00 Budget requirements and testing timelines20:00 Fixing struggling YouTube accounts22:00 Low quality placements and wasted spend24:00 Creative strategy and frequency on YouTube26:00 The first 5 seconds rule for adsSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF603Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupBradley Sutton from Helium 10 joins the pod to break down how serious brands should be thinking about Amazon now: not as a backup channel, but as a core retail growth engine. We get into where Amazon fits in an omni-channel stack, how PPC has gotten way more complex, why Walmart and TikTok Shop matter more than most brands admit, and where sellers can actually use AI for efficiency.Sign Up for Helium 10: https://www.helium10.com/?utm_source=DTC&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=homepageIn this episode, we cover:Why Amazon has shifted from “nice to have” to a core acquisition and retention channelHow top sellers use PPC automation, dayparting, and keyword harvesting to manage spend without blowing budgetWhat Helium 10 actually helps with, from product research and listing optimization to competitive intel and campaign managementWhy TikTok Shop and Walmart aren’t side quests anymoreHow to think about Rufus, AI shopping tools, and what actually matters right nowIf you’re a DTC founder or an ecommerce operator scaling across Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok Shop and you want cleaner CAC, better retail media performance, and fewer wasted ad dollars, this episode is a must listen.Helium 10 is a platform that brings research, operations, Amazon advertising, and performance insights together so you can scale faster across marketplaces.Timestamps00:00 Amazon beyond a traffic source02:00 Amazon as a core growth channel03:30 Multi-channel fulfillment and expansion06:30 Why Amazon ads are now critical08:00 Organic vs paid growth on Amazon12:00 Product research and competitor analysis15:00 Validating demand before launching19:00 Amazon vs TikTok vs Walmart strategy23:00 AI impact on Amazon shopping behavior28:00 Branded keyword bidding strategy32:00 Automation and dayparting for ads36:00 Biggest mistakes Amazon advertisers makeSubscribe 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

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupKim Chappell is Chief Brand Officer at Bobbie, the mom-founded infant formula brand that’s crossed $100M in revenue and is trying to change how formula gets talked about in America. In this episode, she breaks down how Bobbie built a brand parents are proud to buy in a category that used to be driven by guilt, and why trust beats sheer creative volume when the old Meta scale-button playbook stops working. For DTC founders, CMOs, and performance marketers scaling a trust-heavy product in a crowded category.Inside the episode:Why Bobbie treated infant formula as a culture problem, not just a product problem How the team thinks about brand vs performance now that the old Meta-only growth playbook has weakened What “learn more” looks like when your customer journey is messy, delayed, and omnichannel How Bobbie chooses the few advocacy lanes it can credibly own, then actually follows through Why the Cardi B partnership worked, and how it turned celebrity into conversation share, trust, and policy momentum Who this is for: Operators building in regulated, trust-sensitive, or education-heavy categories where brand has to do real work before performance can convert.What to steal:Put performance, organic, creator, and lifecycle under one brand story Treat education as part of conversion, not a nice-to-have Pick fewer cultural or political lanes, but show up with receipts when you enter them Timestamps00:00 Performance marketing has changed03:00 Building Bobbie from scratch06:00 Removing the stigma around formula08:00 Why Bobbie understood the customer10:00 Transparency as brand strategy12:00 Brand vs performance15:00 The omnichannel customer journey18:00 Choosing the right advocacy lanes21:00 Community-led brand action23:00 Building awareness in a small market26:00 How the Cardi B partnership happened29:00 Measuring the campaign’s impactSubscribe 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