Advertise on podcast: Marketing Operators

“It looks bad in Meta and you’re freaking out, but blended is good.”  How far ahead of pace should you be before adding budget on Black Friday?  Austin Harrison (CEO, Northbeam) and Andrew Kaszuba (Head of Insights, Northbeam) join Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road Beauty) to break down how ecommerce brands track Black Friday hourly and decide when to push or pull budget.  Northbeam’s median brand pulls 42% of Black Friday revenue from earlier touchpoints. When Meta fell short during BFCM 2024, Ridge’s numbers justified pushing AppLovin to about 40% of spend. A strong midday read tempts brands to pour in more, and the extra money can wreck efficiency. Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://9ops.co/weareproppel  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://9ops.co/haus  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“With Andromeda, we can look at the entire universe.”  What should marketers focus on now that Meta’s ad algorithm handles targeting?  Sukhesh Miryala (Director of Product Management, Meta) sits down with Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) to open up how Meta picks a winner for every impression.  Rising CPMs don’t always mean your last change backfired. Meta’s ad prices reflect supply and demand, while Andromeda lets its delivery system consider more ads for each impression. As automation improves, the marketer’s job shifts toward defining what a valuable outcome looks like, supplying reliable data, and building diverse creative that helps Meta find the right match.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“All of these products eventually are going to come together.” Who calls the shots once Meta’s AI takes over?  Nik Ketkar (Director of Product Management, Meta) sits down with Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) to map Meta’s plan for AI-run media buying.  Half of a buyer’s job is still setup, structure, and budget tweaks. Meta wants that half gone, folded into Advantage+ and Ads Creative Studio. Once the AI proposes every move, buyers have to decide how much control to keep. The richer the inputs they feed it, the easier that control is to hand over.  Interested in trying Meta's Ads Creative Studio or the other automation products Nik discusses in this episode? Fill out this form: https://9ops.co/meta-adscreativestudio Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“We weren’t doing a good job showing the value.”  Where does a new brand find trust when it can’t claim a bestseller like HexClad?  Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) compare a scaled HexClad funnel with one from the weeks-old Winks. Step by step, they trace how each one builds trust across ads, landers, offers, and upsells.  Winks has a premium product, yet customers couldn’t see why it was worth the price. HexClad earns that trust before the click, with Japanese creators and a bestseller hook. The weeks-old brand has to build the same trust with a fraction of the proof.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/  https://x.com/M__Operators  https://www.instagram.com/marketingoperators/

“Two of our winners have entered for free. They never purchased anything from us.” How did Ridge turn a 6-week Tony Hawk partnership into an 8-figure sweepstakes lift?  Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) break down how sweepstakes campaigns became eight-figure growth engines for their brands. They cover celebrity deal structures, creative production, and revenue lift across every category.  Tony Hawk’s deal doubled Ridge’s TV response rates and pushed partner-page ads to 40% of Meta spend. HexClad gets the same proof differently, running year-over-year holdouts and entry tiers that reward bigger purchases. Both track how sweepstakes shoppers scatter into unexpected categories, forcing a rethink of acquisition strategy.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“There’s so much that I took for granted. It’s such a different playbook.” What happens when two operators who’ve helped build nine-figure brands start again at zero? Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (advisor and former CEO, Jones Road) compare notes on two new launches: Ridge’s Gut Culture and Cody’s Winks. They get into six hard lessons from the early days. (1) Building with a lean team. (2) Earning credibility when nobody knows the brand. (3) Finding a message that gets clicks. (4) Testing offers before the data is conclusive. (5) Making subscription economics work. (6) Dealing with high ad costs. Cody shares what’s happening at Winks just weeks after launch; Connor explains what Ridge learned from six months of building Gut Culture. Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

Why do experienced operators still overcorrect on average order value?  Varun Kundra (Co-founder, Aftersell by Rokt) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road) to break down the pricing missteps that quietly cost real revenue and the metric worth watching instead.  The hosts compare years of pricing tests at Ridge and Jones Road. They cover three ways to bundle for more revenue per order. Varun explains why image heavy upsells beat plain offers, plus a subscription upgrade converting at 20% to 30%. Connor and Varun wrap with a teardown of Winks, the brand behind Operators Build.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“We just had a hundred thousand people buy in the last 60 days.”  What does the future of retention marketing actually look like by 2027?  Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) unpack what Postscript’s AI memories mean for retention marketing’s future. They map out a 2027 playbook built on personalized experiences, even as TikTok Shop’s creator economy hits a breaking point.  Postscript is building unified profiles instead of fragmented SMS data. That shift promises holdout testing and customer lifetime value tracking. RCS already shows early lift in live tests. Meanwhile TikTok Shop’s incentive structure is pushing affiliates toward burnout.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“Don’t let perfect measurement get in the way of good marketing”  How do Ridge, HexClad and Jones Road each structure Black Friday, Cyber offers differently?  Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) share how holiday marketing campaigns pull their ecommerce brands in completely different directions.  Shark Ninja becomes the opening case study, spending big on creator activations without measuring returns. The hosts counter with their own tactics, mixing steep weekend deal drops with full brand rebuilds between sales. The riskiest move this season turns out to be a discount that costs a brand its most loyal customers. Cody dives into Winks, a fresh sleep brand he and four other 9-figure executives are building from the ground up, and introduces Operators Build, the show capturing the entire journey from scratch. Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/  Operators Build  https://9ops.co/ops-build-ytplaylist Winks  https://getwinks.com/

“It is so incredibly easy to not drive incremental results the week of Black Friday.” Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) share how they are approaching Q4 planning. Before scaling Black Friday, Cyber Monday spend, both HexClad and Ridge test incrementality with real control groups. That same discipline shapes their AMER vs CAC debate, since neither wants to scale spend that isn’t truly incremental. Also, AG1’s new gummy launch steps up, and so does its cannibalization risk.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Proppel  https://9ops.co/weareproppel  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

What changes when a single marketer creates as much value as an entire department?  Reza Khadjavi (Founder & CEO, Motion) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road) to explain why he built Runneth, an AI agent meant to eventually replace Motion’s own product. He walks through the context engineering behind that shift and what it means for marketers.  Motion scrapped its own revenue targets right after a record quarter, betting the whole company on AI agents. Reza explains how markdown files and organized repositories turn those agents into something closer to a new hire. His advice: skip the Mac Mini, move to the cloud, and put close to 10% of payroll behind AI.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Proppel  https://9ops.co/weareproppel  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

How much can filtering a collection page actually lift average order value? What about cart, checkout, and post-purchase? Varun Kundra (Co-founder, Aftersell) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) to unpack how ecommerce brands raise AOV. Four levers make that possible: collection page tests, product bundles, post purchase upsells, and cross brand advertising.  HexClad’s new collection page lifted revenue per user by 7% and AOV by $10. Single silhouette bundles need no extra education, but new pairings like Japanese cookware still do. Varun ties it back to Aftersell and Rokt Thanks. Together they’ve generated over $1B in upsell revenue at a take rate under 1%.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://www.weareproppel.com/operators  More from Operators  Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“I just don’t hear a lot of good reasons why this can’t be automated”.  Can an algorithm allocate ad budget better than a human media buyer?  Olivia Kory (CMO & Strategy Officer, Haus) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) to unpack incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, and early agentic media buying. Geo lift holdouts and attribution debiasing point toward a future of automated budget decisions.  Olivia shows how A/B testing replaced ROAS benchmarks at Haus. Control groups and treatment cells now anchor every incrementality read. Connor Rolain also shares how one conversion campaign test reshaped HexClad’s Meta strategy. The team ties it all back to multi-touch attribution for faster decisions.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel  Proppel  https://9ops.co/weareproppel  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  More from Operators Operators Portal  https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“It was the most fun role I think I’ll ever do”.  How do visionary founders build teams to protect their time for big ideas?  Katie Cirulli (Chief Emerging Brands Officer & fmr. President, Grüns) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road). She joined Grüns as employee four and rose from Chief of Staff to her current role. Before that, she spent years at McKinsey and Meta. She explains why founders need integrators, and how AI powers Grüns.  She walks through the chief of staff role she built with Chad Janis. The CPM arbitrage test was an early swing that never scaled, unlike the LTO strategy that followed. Grüns now runs five emerging brands through dedicated marketing pods. Paid media, creative, and CRO, all guided by the same paper wall mindset.  Powered By  Motion  https://9ops.co/motion-runneth  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://9ops.co/weareproppel  Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/

“Borrow cultural equity executed with real partnership compounds faster than anything built in-house.”  What happens when a legacy brand like Lexus stops buying reach and starts buying culture?  Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) trace how Lexus is using Colin and Samir to reach an audience Lexus already has. One idea drives the partnership: reach your audience better. Cody argues AI generated UGC misses the point entirely. Connor Rolain reveals the four and a half percent lift from a recent cart upsell holdout test. Retention marketing gets the final word on why so few brands measure it properly.  Powered By  Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026  https://9ops.co/motionapp-creativebenchmarks2026 Aftersell  https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops  Haus  https://www.haus.io/operators  NeonPixel  https://9ops.co/neonpixel  Richpanel  https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops  Proppel  https://9ops.co/weareproppel  Operators Newsletter  https://9operators.com/