DTC Content Creation Process That Wins on Paid Social

How to 2x Your A/B Testing Output Without More Budget

“We used to try to win every day. Now we’re willing to sacrifice entire months.” What does it mean to optimize ad spend when there’s no universal answer? Michael Ting (GM of DTC, JAXXON) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) to challenge one of the most common assumptions in ecommerce email marketing and paid media: that there is a single optimized ad spend. There isn’t. The better question is what you’re trying to achieve and over what time horizon. Michael walks through how JAXXON uses cost per email signup to make confident budget decisions, spending aggressively into slow seasons and monetizing that list when it matters most. The conversation also covers decision quality frameworks, doubling AB testing velocity, and how daily performance reporting builds operator instinct over time. Powered By  Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026  https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast [https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast]  Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel [https://9ops.co/richpanel]  Aftersell https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops [https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops]  Haus https://www.haus.io/operators [https://www.haus.io/operators]  Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ [https://9operators.com/]

DTC Content Creation Process That Wins on Paid Social

“The digital deliverables have outpaced production company knowledge.” How do you build a repeatable content creation process without hiring a full agency? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) break down how they approach content production across every budget level; ranging from $50k brand shoot days to $100 iPhone clips that outperform everything else in the ad account.   The episode covers the full content production stack: multi-team shoot briefing, on-set creative strategy, and the in-house studio advantage. The trio also gets into clipping, AI-generated UGC, and whether dead internet theory is already shaping how products go viral. Powered By  Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026  https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast [https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast]  Haus https://www.haus.io/operators [https://www.haus.io/operators]  Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel [https://9ops.co/richpanel]  Aftersell https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops [https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops]  Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ [https://9operators.com/]

How AI Is Reshaping Ecommerce Growth Teams: HexClad & Jones Road

“We’re not hiring less because of AI. We just expect each hire to be more productive.”  Is AI shrinking your marketing team, or just changing who belongs on it?  Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) get into how two of the most operator-driven brands in ecommerce are rethinking their AI marketing team structure heading into the second half of 2026.  They cover which roles are compressing, which are expanding, and what it actually looks like to build a leaner growth team that outputs more. Cody breaks down the CRO program he runs with one person that used to require six. Connor explains why HexClad hired more people after building an AI-powered seeding system, not fewer. And both share how they think about headcount requests now, and what they make teams prove before saying yes.  Powered By  Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026  https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast [https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast] Aftersell  https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 [https://9ops.co/4i3bb5]  Haus https://www.haus.io/operators [https://www.haus.io/operators]  Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel [https://9ops.co/richpanel]  Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ [https://9operators.com/]

Meta Ads Catalog, TikTok Shops + GMV Max, and the Future of Creative

Can Meta and TikTok Shop be combined into a single playbook?  Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty) are fresh off the Meta Performance Marketing Summit and cover what the event signaled, where paid social is heading, and what most brands are still sleeping on.  They explain Meta betting big on product feed enrichment as the foundation for better AI-generated creative, and how GMV Max is quietly powering TikTok Shop’s top brands. The duo also reveals creators driving 60% of shop revenue, the Meta ads catalog, and TikTok Shop affiliate flywheels.  Powered By  Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026  https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast [https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast] Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel [https://9ops.co/richpanel] Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 [https://9ops.co/4i3bb5] Haus https://www.haus.io/operators [https://www.haus.io/operators] Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ [https://9operators.com/]

Live at Meta’s 2026 Performance Marketing Summit: Ads, AI & Audiences

“There’s going to be a world where you just tell them your product and your business goals and they do the rest.” What does Meta’s AI push mean for ecommerce brands trying to win on paid social right now? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) recorded this episode live at Meta’s Performance Marketing Summit 2026 where they break down everything Meta announced: AI infrastructure to catalog-powered creative and what brands need to do about it immediately. The conversation covers Meta’s shift toward catalog-first ad infrastructure and why clean product data is now table stakes, not a nice-to-have. They dig into how the media buyer role is converging with creative strategy, what a 24-hour full-funnel launch looks like in practice, and why the brands building creator ecosystems today are setting up a major moat for catalog creative tomorrow. Powered By Meta Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ [https://9operators.com/]