D2C Diaries

Loukas Hambi and Olly Hudson
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Join Olly Hudson and Loukas Hambi in a laid-back yet insightful podcast, where we dive into the heart of D2C and e-commerce. With a combined experience of managing over £150 million in ad spend across Meta and TikTok and helping scale over 200 brands, we bring you a digestible blend of performance, operational, and creative wisdom.

  1. 23/12/2025

    The Ecommerce Playbook for 2026: Strategy, Trends, and Lessons from 2025

    If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0qBQFh0 In 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 Intro 01:48 Black Friday recap: $40M spend & what actually worked 04:18 Why brands forget to analyse BFCM cohorts 06:17 What this episode covers 07:15 What is Q5 (and why it matters)? 08:10 Why CPMs drop after Christmas 09:17 The “flash in the pan” New Year motivation window 10:25 Q5 creative framework: TOF vs BOF mistakes 13:05 Why brands go too bottom-of-funnel 14:00 Creative mix for Q5 (TOF / MOF / BOF) 16:03 Outcome-led offers that outperform discounts 17:14 What was happening in Jan 2025 19:12 Biggest leadership lessons from 2025 23:42 Prioritisation, planning & time-blocking 27:45 Process rollouts & buy-in mistakes 29:41 Why urgency compounds growth 32:01 D2C Diaries Awards 40:11 New brand of the year: IM8 41:24 DTC dominator of the year 48:31 Most viral campaign of 2025 56:11 Predictions for e-commerce in 2026 1:02:47 Brands to watch in 2026 1:04:03 Outro Follow 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/LoukasHambi Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c_diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    1h 5m

  2. 27/11/2025

    SEO Playbook for Ranking in ChatGPT & AI Search in 2026 | Thomas Phillips

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0p-Mxb0 SEO 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 loukas@hambimedia.co.uk From 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 SEO 00:07:50 Starting the DTC SEO agency 00:09:20 The rise of AI SEO and how to track it 00:14:00 AEO vs GEO: The 2 types of AI SEO 00:15:55 How to rank in Google’s AI Overviews 00:18:00 Why long-tail, question-based content still wins 00:22:35 How brands are ranking in AI search 00:25:45 How to get unbiased ChatGPT rankings 00:27:15 An increase in branded searches 00:28:40 Shopify X ChatGPT integration 00:30:10 How to rank long-term in AI search 00:32:00 Link building and credibility still drives SEO 00:42:20 SEO fundamentals top brands are doing 00:45:15 Where newer brands should start with search 00:49:10 The future of AI search + DTC landscape 00:57:25 AI usage across content 01:00:35 Key takeaways of AI SEO Follow Tom: https://www.instagram.com/thomasmrphillips https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomphillipsofficial/ https://x.com/thomasmrp https://www.dtcseoagency.com/ Follow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    1h 4m

  3. 20/11/2025

    The 2025 Growth Blueprint: How Soar With Us Rebuilt Culture, Operations & Forecasting to Scale

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0pQjYt0 In 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 Wayflyer They’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 From 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/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow Loukas on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    1h 10m

  4. 13/11/2025

    The Future of Creative Strategy: How AI Is Transforming Performance Marketing in 2026

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0pzLCJ0 Creative 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 loukas@hambimedia.co.uk --- From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/ 0:00 - Intro 01:08 - Club Neuro community event 03:10 - Film recommendation: “I swear” 04:40 - Creative diversity revisited 07:18 - The new iteration strategy 15:15 - Rise of AI production 19:40 - Andrej Karpathy podcast episode 23:35 - New AI drops 27:45 - Building our AI data warehouse 36:66 - How we're using VEO 3 45:20 - The future of creative operations + predictions Follow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow Loukas on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    55 min

  5. 06/11/2025

    Meta’s Creative Diversity Mastermind: The 2026 Playbook for Ad Performance

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0ppm8t0 Meta’s Creative Similarity Penalty just changed the rules - here’s how to protect your performance in 2026 In 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 efficiency This 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 Wayflyer They’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 loukas@hambimedia.co.uk --- From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: [www.soarwithus.co](http://www.soarwithus.co/) 00:00 Introduction to creative update 01:35 Wayflyer's Black Friday offer 03:10 What's changed on Meta 05:40 We're hiring 06:35 The creative diversity scale 08:10 Entity ID vs creative ID 09:25 Visual examples 12:07 Why does Entity ID matter? 13:43 How our testing has changed 15:07 The building blocks of creative differentiation 17:50 How to test 21:40 Creative vehicles we're leaning into 23:45 Iterating with visual differentiation + hooks 30:20 Static iteration examples 37:00 How we're adjusting our approach Follow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow Loukas on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    41 min

  6. 30/10/2025

    The D2C Reset: Creative Strategy, Incremental Reach, and What’s Working Now

    The D2C landscape has been completely rewritten in the last six months. Meta’s changing what it rewards. AI is reshaping how we research, test, and create. And the creative tactics that worked just half a year ago are already burning out. In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly and Loukas break down what’s actually driving performance right now and how smart brands are adapting to find incremental reach in a tougher, more competitive landscape. They dig into what Meta is really rewarding in 2025, why format and hook now matter more than volume, and how to build creative that signals to the algorithm - not just the audience. The conversation covers the building blocks of modern creative strategy, how they’re using Grok + Reddit for sharper audience research, and why founder ads, nostalgia, and demographic nuance are quietly outperforming trend chasing. They also unpack a new GMV MAX tactic that’s driving £6–7K/day for clients and discuss how subtle shifts in creative structure are helping brands scale sustainably. 🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nQz9n0 0:00 — Intro 2:03 — Liquid Death controversy explained 7:44 — Creative similarity and incremental reach 14:42 — Using AI (Grok/X) for persona and audience research 17:57 — Google Trends & keyword analysis for insight 22:58 — Tailoring creative for personas and demographics 29:07 — Messaging depth, market sophistication, and emotion 35:06 — Creative formats, founder ads, and persona-driven hooks 42:25 — TikTok Shop, AI content, and evolving creative execution 49:46 — Static ads, nostalgic hooks, and final takeaways From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: [www.soarwithus.co](http://www.soarwithus.co/) Follow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow Loukas on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    53 min

  7. 23/10/2025

    How Jack Rubin Scaled Purdy & Figg to 1 in 20 Homes with One Product

    Purdy & Figg has quietly become one of the most impressive DTC brands in the UK. 1 in 20 households now use the product. But what’s more impressive is how they've done it: One product. One market. One channel. For six years. In this episode, Jack breaks down how he's stayed this focused and why most brands burn growth by diversifying too early. We get into how Purdy & Figg became the blueprint for creative volume, running 180 shoots a year and scaling a performance team in-house before it was trendy. Now, he's pivoting again, this time toward creative *diversity*, building campaigns that stretch across YouTube, TV, podcasts and radio. He talks honestly about the real impact of brand spend, the cash flow pain of TV, and why DR alone will never build a lifestyle brand. There's deep insight here on CAC, media mix, testing frameworks, org structure and how to lead a DTC company without losing your grip on creative. This conversation lays out exactly how to scale performance and brand, without sacrificing either. 🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nQwsq0

    59 min

  8. 16/10/2025

    The New Meta Ad Playbook: Avoiding Creative Similarity on Meta

    D2C Diaries is proudly sponsored by Wayflyer Running an ecom brand and struggling with cash flow? Whether you're scaling ad spend or restocking bestsellers ahead of peak season, Wayflyer provides fast, non-dilutive funding tailored to e-commerce businesses. No equity. No months of waiting. Just the capital and insights you need to grow, on your terms. Check them out: https://tinyurl.com/4jfc8yej Creative similarity is quietly killing Meta ad performance and most brands have no idea it’s happening. In this episode of D2C Diaries, we dive into the biggest update to Meta’s creative delivery system since Andromeda: how visual similarity between ads is now being flagged and penalised, even when the creator, script, or copy is different. Read Olly's update here: https://x.com/oliverwhudson/status/1975537673470132358 This isn’t theory. We’ve seen the impact inside high-spend accounts over the past 6 months. Brands that look like they’re iterating are actually just reskinning. Meta sees it. And performance suffers. We share how one client went from £54k to £622k/week in spend by building persona-led creative that delivers stronger signals. We unpack what Meta really wants from your ad account in 2025 and why creative diversity now matters more than creative volume. We also break down the 3 new in-platform creative metrics Meta is rolling out (Creative Similarity, Fatigue, and Top Themes), how CPMR and New Visitor % are changing how we benchmark creative success, and why testing strategies need to evolve beyond micro iterations. Read Jason Yim's update here: https://x.com/jasonyimco/status/1975687580449710215 🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nQwmw0 0:00 Intro 2:51 How Meta reframed creative diversity 9:30 Asset similarity explained 10:35 Persona-led strategy  13:55 Volume vs quality of assets 15:25 Signal engineering: how Meta reads engagement 17:00 Tracking Meta performance 24:23 Creative strategy: vehicles, angles, and hooks 26:20 Concept-level variations and visual diversification 33:00 Meta introducing 3 new creative metrics 39:20 Brand consistency vs creative diversity 42:14 Creative production scale challenges 43:40 Sora’s leap in speed, cost, and realism 48:20 OpenAI + Shopify + Stripe integrations  50:20 Further AI advancements 55:35 Tactical Section: Black Friday prep  1:01:28 Final Thoughts  From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: www.soarwithus.co Follow Sam on socials: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-wright-324737216/ Follow Olly on socials: LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson Follow D2C Diaries on socials TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

    1h 4m
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About

Join Olly Hudson and Loukas Hambi in a laid-back yet insightful podcast, where we dive into the heart of D2C and e-commerce. With a combined experience of managing over £150 million in ad spend across Meta and TikTok and helping scale over 200 brands, we bring you a digestible blend of performance, operational, and creative wisdom.

Information

  • Creator
    Loukas Hambi and Olly Hudson
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    60
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 D2C Diaries
  • Show Website
    D2C Diaries

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