Marketing Operators

Mina Zandbar (VP of Global eCommerce & Digital Growth at Mattel) and Avi Moskowitz (Co-Founder & CEO) of PrettyDamnQuick, join hosts Connor MacDonald + Cody Plofker to explore ecommerce growth from two very different vantage points — one inside an 80-year-old, multi-billion dollar toy company; the other, building the infrastructure that helps brands stop leaking revenue at checkout. 
Together, they reveal how your business can better use first-party data, AI, and smarter checkout experiences to improve customer trust and sell more. 
Avi explains how optimizing logistics and personalization inside checkout unlocks profit revenue, while Mina shares how Mattel builds agile, data-driven teams and connects directly with its global community of customers and collectors. 
The end result? A top-to-bottom analysis of your entire customer journey … to scale faster. 

PrettyDamnQuick
https://prettydamnquick.com/?utm_source=partnerships&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=theoperators&utm_term=podnotes

Try Checkout Index
https://checkoutindex.prettydamnquick.com/?utm_source=partnerships&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=theoperators&utm_term=podnotes

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamp 
https://motionapp.com/2026-creative-strategy-bootcamp-paid?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-strategy-bootcamp-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast 

Haus 
https://www.haus.io/operators 

Prescient AI 
https://www.prescientai.com/operators 

Richpanel 
https://9ops.co/richpanel 

Aftersell 
https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 

Operators Newsletter 
https://9operators.com/

Are your new product launches driving incremental revenue or just shifting money around? 

Connor Rolain, Head of Growth at HexClad, and Connor MacDonald, CMO at Ridge, dig into one of the most under-discussed challenges in DTC: how and when to introduce new products into your paid acquisition channels. From HexClad’s cocktail shaker launch to Ridge’s tattoo-inspired wallet designs, they break down real decisions they’re making right now.

Geo lift tests, channel holdouts, MER vs. ad-level performance, blended business unit analysis, and cross-category buying. The conversation centers on operationalizing category expansion in paid — building frameworks for when to scale, when to hold, and how to make smarter allocation decisions across categories.

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamp
https://motionapp.com/2026-creative-strategy-bootcamp-paid?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-strategy-bootcamp-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast

Prescient AI
https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel
https://9ops.co/richpanel

Aftersell
https://9ops.co/4i3bb5

Haus
https://www.haus.io/operators

Operators Newsletter
https://9operators.com/

How do you build a marketing machine that scales without breaking? In celebration of episode 100, Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CMO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (VP of Growth, HexClad) reveal the strategic priorities driving their brands’ growth in 2026 — straight out of their internal planning docs. From creating a bulletproof marketing operating system to cracking TikTok Shop, the trio goes deep on what’s moving the needle. They unpack why Ridge is betting big on retention as a product, why Jones Road is obsessed with creator-led social, and why all three brands believe that testing volume — not just testing smarter — is one of the highest-leverage inputs you can control. The conversation wraps with a candid breakdown of organic YouTube strategy and whether product seeding can replicate the success they’ve had on Instagram and TikTok.

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamp
https://motionapp.com/2026-creative-strategy-bootcamp-paid?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-strategy-bootcamp-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast

Rivo
https://www.rivo.io/operators

Prescient AI
https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel
https://9ops.co/richpanel

Aftersell
https://9ops.co/4i3bb5

Operators Newsletter
https://9operators.com/

This week, the team breaks down how they’re testing creative and scaling systems. Volume still matters, but only when it’s paired with clearer concepts, stronger hypotheses, and better signal quality. 

Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Global Head of Growth, HexClad) revisit the playbooks they built over the years and walk through what’s working right now.

The conversation gets tactical fast. They dig into what actually defines a concept (message × format), how they’re structuring Meta campaigns to balance throughput and learning, and why hybrid CBO setups that blur the line between testing and spending are becoming the new standard. From ABO vs. CBO tradeoffs to pixel consolidation and signal engineering, they unpack how promising ideas get enough budget to generate real data.  

Then the focus shifts to creator pipelines, coaching feedback loops, and organic-to-paid workflows — including why Jones Road is building a creator-in-residence program to ship content daily, why HexClad is hiring a dedicated freelancer to source assets faster, and why Ridge treats its network of briefed creators as an internal function. 

A clear theme runs through it all … performance shouldn’t pit quality against quantity. It should focus on infrastructure to produce high output while learning faster and growing with intention.

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamp
https://motionapp.com/2026-creative-strategy-bootcamp-paid?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-strategy-bootcamp-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast

Prescient AI
https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel
https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=MO&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Aftersell
https://www.aftersell.com/operators

Haus
https://www.haus.io/operators

Get the 9 Operators Newsletter
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Is your brand still creating content for a social media era that no longer exists?

Hosts Connor Rolain (HexClad), Cody Plofker (Jones Road Beauty), and Connor MacDonald (Ridge) dig into how they’re rethinking organic and paid social content strategy for 2026 — and why the old influencer playbook is officially broken.

Cody reveals the million-dollar organic social investment he pitched to his board and the creator-in-residence model he’s building from scratch. Connor MacDonald explains why Ridge is going all-in on high-volume, product-oriented creator content over signature-series brand plays. And Connor Rolain shares how HexClad is bridging its organic social team with paid media creative strategy through a simple Slack channel workflow.
The conversation covers TikTok Shop affiliate flywheels, the death of follower-based reach, running creator-hiring competitions, and when it actually makes sense to invest in episodic brand content.

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamphttps://motionapp.com/2026-creative-strategy-bootcamp-paid?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-strategy-bootcamp-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast

Aftersell
https://www.aftersell.com/operatorsRivohttps://www.rivo.io/operators

Prescient AI
https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel
https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=MO&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Get the 9 Operators Newsletter
https://9operators.com/