D2C Diaries

If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0qBQFh0In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas break down the biggest lessons from 2025 and what they believe will be the single biggest changes shaping e-commerce in 2026.They recap a huge Black Friday (nearly $40M spent on Meta in November), explain why Q5 (Boxing Day → early January) is the most underutilised growth window of the year, and share a clear creative framework for capturing short-lived New Year motivation without defaulting to lazy discounting.The conversation also goes deep on leadership and operating lessons from scaling Soar - feedback loops, urgency, prioritisation, process mistakes - before closing with the D2C Diaries Awards, standout brands and campaigns, and predictions for where channels, creative, and acquisitions are heading next.If you’re a founder, operator, or marketer planning for January and beyond, this episode is essential listening.00:00 Intro01:48 Black Friday recap: $40M spend & what actually worked04:18 Why brands forget to analyse BFCM cohorts06:17 What this episode covers07:15 What is Q5 (and why it matters)?08:10 Why CPMs drop after Christmas09:17 The “flash in the pan” New Year motivation window10:25 Q5 creative framework: TOF vs BOF mistakes13:05 Why brands go too bottom-of-funnel14:00 Creative mix for Q5 (TOF / MOF / BOF)16:03 Outcome-led offers that outperform discounts17:14 What was happening in Jan 202519:12 Biggest leadership lessons from 202523:42 Prioritisation, planning & time-blocking27:45 Process rollouts & buy-in mistakes29:41 Why urgency compounds growth32:01 D2C Diaries Awards40:11 New brand of the year: IM841:24 DTC dominator of the year48:31 Most viral campaign of 202556:11 Predictions for e-commerce in 20261:02:47 Brands to watch in 20261:04:03 OutroFollow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olly-hudson/Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c_diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/ 

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0p-Mxb0SEO made £13.9M. ChatGPT made £175K. So why is everyone chasing AI?In this episode, Olly sits down with Thomas Phillips, founder of DTC SEO Agency and a veteran of 17 brand exits, to cut through the noise around AI SEO.Tom breaks down how one of their clients generated £175K in revenue from ChatGPT at a 19.7% conversion rate, yet that same brand made £13.9M from traditional SEO in the same 90-day window. The kicker? The strategy behind both is almost identical.From backlinks and content depth to digital PR and entity trust, Tom explains why the fundamentals of ranking haven’t changed. AI has just added a shiny new label. If you're chasing AI visibility without nailing your SEO baseline, you’re prioritising tactics over foundations.---We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Space Good 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email [email protected] the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/00:00:00 Intro to Thomas Phillips 00:04:30 The journey to 17 brand exits using SEO00:07:50 Starting the DTC SEO agency00:09:20 The rise of AI SEO and how to track it00:14:00 AEO vs GEO: The 2 types of AI SEO00:15:55 How to rank in Google’s AI Overviews00:18:00 Why long-tail, question-based content still wins00:22:35 How brands are ranking in AI search00:25:45 How to get unbiased ChatGPT rankings00:27:15 An increase in branded searches00:28:40 Shopify X ChatGPT integration00:30:10 How to rank long-term in AI search00:32:00 Link building and credibility still drives SEO00:42:20 SEO fundamentals top brands are doing00:45:15 Where newer brands should start with search00:49:10 The future of AI search + DTC landscape00:57:25 AI usage across content01:00:35 Key takeaways of AI SEOFollow Tom:https://www.instagram.com/thomasmrphillipshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tomphillipsofficial/https://x.com/thomasmrphttps://www.dtcseoagency.com/Follow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0pQjYt0In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas sit down with Matt Lewis, Managing Director of Soar Group and the very first hire in the business, to break down the real operating system behind Soar’s growth.The rebuilds, the mistakes, the hard lessons, and the frameworks that turned 2025 into Soar’s strongest year yet.If you’re a founder, operator, agency owner, or business leader, this is one of the most valuable conversations we’ve recorded. It’s a deep dive into culture, leadership, operations, forecasting, talent density, and how fast-growing companies actually scale from the inside.Matt has been part of Soar from day one and has scaled the group to nearly 80 people. His perspective is rare, tactical, and brutally transparent.Perfect for anyone building a team, scaling an organisation, or trying to create a high-performance culture.---D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerThey’re offering $25,000 in upfront capital for just $1,800 to help you ramp up your efforts leading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This funding can be crucial for covering unexpected costs and ensuring you can double down on your best-performing ads while staying stocked. Timing is everything, so don’t miss out! https://kntn.ly/55cfeeffFrom the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/Follow Matt Lewis:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-d-lewis/Follow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0pzLCJ0Creative costs are climbing fast.Meta’s changed how ads learn.And AI is completely redefining what “creative strategy” means in 2026.In this episode, Olly and Loukas dive into how brands can adapt to Meta’s creative similarity update, scale creative diversity without burning resources, and build systems that use AI as part of the production line — not a side tool.They unpack what happens when 70% of your iterations get grouped under the same entity ID, why the role of an AI videographer is about to become one of the most important hires in performance marketing, and how tools like Sora, VEO 3.1, Nano Banana, and Gemini are reshaping the creative process.From creative operations to prompt engineering, this episode breaks down what the next wave of performance marketing really looks like and why the future belongs to the brands who move fast and systemise smarter.Watch Andrej Karpathy's podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXUZvyajciY---We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Spacegoods and 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email [email protected] the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/0:00 - Intro01:08 - Club Neuro community event03:10 - Film recommendation: “I swear”04:40 - Creative diversity revisited07:18 - The new iteration strategy15:15 - Rise of AI production19:40 - Andrej Karpathy podcast episode23:35 - New AI drops27:45 - Building our AI data warehouse36:66 - How we're using VEO 345:20 - The future of creative operations + predictionsFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0ppm8t0Meta’s Creative Similarity Penalty just changed the rules - here’s how to protect your performance in 2026In one of the biggest creative updates since Andromeda, Meta has changed the way your ads are evaluated and most brands are getting silently penalised.This episode of D2C Diaries is a deep dive into Meta’s new Creative Similarity Algorithm, powered by Entity ID and Creative ID tracking.We tested 20 ads for a top-spending brand. Meta flagged 15 of them as identical, even though they featured different creators, different hooks, and different formats.Why? Because they looked visually similar and that now triggers Meta’s Entity ID grouping, which kills:- Incremental reach- Fresh delivery- Performance learning- CPM efficiencyThis changes everything about how DTC brands should approach ad iteration, creative testing, and campaign planning in 2026.This is the most comprehensive breakdown of Meta’s creative diversity update you’ll find, packed with examples, agency-tested frameworks, and tactical steps you can implement immediately.---D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by WayflyerThey’re offering $25,000 in upfront capital for just $1,800 to help you ramp up your efforts leading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This funding can be crucial for covering unexpected costs and ensuring you can double down on your best-performing ads while staying stocked. Timing is everything, so don’t miss out! https://kntn.ly/55cfeeff---We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Space Good 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email [email protected] the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: [www.soarwithus.co](http://www.soarwithus.co/)00:00 Introduction to creative update01:35 Wayflyer's Black Friday offer03:10 What's changed on Meta05:40 We're hiring06:35 The creative diversity scale08:10 Entity ID vs creative ID09:25 Visual examples12:07 Why does Entity ID matter?13:43 How our testing has changed15:07 The building blocks of creative differentiation17:50 How to test21:40 Creative vehicles we're leaning into23:45 Iterating with visual differentiation + hooks30:20 Static iteration examples37:00 How we're adjusting our approachFollow Olly on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqOTwitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudsonFollow Loukas on socials:LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8BTwitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambiFollow D2C Diaries on socialsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diariesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/