Want to stop guessing when to spend your Meta budget during Black Friday and Cyber Monday? This episode breaks down exactly how to plan your ad spend hour by hour so you can hit your revenue goals without wasting a single dollar. Taylor Holiday and Luke Austin walk through the real data behind BFCM revenue flow, showing when sales actually spike, when performance dips, and how top DTC brands use hourly pacing to stay ahead. You’ll learn how to: Map your ad spend across Thanksgiving → Cyber Monda...
Oct 28, 2025•33 min
This is a special Friday episode feature of CTC's DTC Hotline: Most brands talk about hitting their Q4 goals — but few have a system to identify and close revenue gaps before they happen. In this episode of The DTC Hotline , Tony, Luke, and Richard break down how to spot and fill revenue shortfalls during the holidays, using the same daily frameworks CTC applies across top DTC brands. They’ll walk through: How to pinpoint whether your gap is in new or returning customers The daily cadence CTC us...
Oct 24, 2025•30 min
In this special episode of the Random Show, Taylor Holiday and Andrew Faris unpack a wide-ranging conversation—from AI’s potential to predict creative performance before launch, to the messy truth about equity splits, competition, and why most brands misunderstand “growth.” They debate: Whether LLMs could replace creative testing entirely How to design equity partnerships that actually reflect value Why cloning someone else’s playbook rarely creates monopoly outcomes The real incentives behind M...
Oct 23, 2025•1 hr 13 min
He left JP Morgan to build a sock brand and it worked. In this episode of podcast, Taylor sits down with Daniel Shim, founder of Ondo, the DTC brand reinventing no-show socks. They dig into how a finance background helped build a profitable ecommerce business, what it takes to stand out in a crowded category, and why growth isn’t just about scale — it’s about discipline. You’ll Learn How a banker turned founder built Ondo from scratch The product insight that made no-show socks work What it take...
Oct 21, 2025•32 min
Most brands treat retention and acquisition as separate strategies and that’s the problem. In this episode, we reveal why retention actually begins at acquisition and how understanding your customer lifecycle from day zero can unlock massive LTV growth. Josh Tay joins Richard to unpack how our Global Accelerator program integrates growth and lifecycle strategy into one unified system. From front-loading LTV to designing retention programs that fuel acquisition, this conversation shows how the be...
Oct 16, 2025•42 min
In this episode of the podcast, Taylor and Luke take you inside the system Common Thread Collective has built to define what modern media management really looks like in 2025. Media buying has evolved - incrementality, experimentation, MMM, and FP&A can’t live in silos anymore. Taylor and Luke break down how to turn these complex ideas into one cohesive, profit-first workflow that drives real business results. You’ll learn: Why data integrity is the foundation of profitable decision-making H...
Oct 14, 2025•50 min
Stop guessing — start scaling. In this episode of Podcast, Richard and Luke break down how one eight-figure brand completely rewrote its Q4 plan using the Profit System’s Spend Power Model and Creative Demand Model. You’ll see exactly how reallocating ad spend, optimizing contribution margin, and forecasting creative volume can unlock immediate profit gains in the next 30 days — without guessing or overspending. What you’ll learn: How to identify overspending using the Spend Power Model Why cutt...
Oct 09, 2025•35 min
Most brands blow their Q4 creator budget on one thing: holiday only content. In this episode of thPodcast, Richard sits down with Adrianne, Director of Creator Content, to break down why that’s a mistake and what to do instead. Learn CTC’s full framework for sourcing and scaling creator content that actually performs through Q4 and beyond. From building evergreen briefs to managing creator timelines, Adrianne walks through the exact checklist, examples, and ad structures her team uses to keep pi...
Oct 07, 2025•26 min
As Q4 kicks off, one of the biggest levers brands can pull is their offer strategy . In this episode, Richard Gaffin (Director of Digital Product Strategy) and Taylor Holiday (CEO) break down how to design offers that maximize both new customer acquisition and retention during Black Friday/Cyber Monday. They walk through insights from CTC’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday Offer Database —a collection of 679+ offers from top eComm brands—and explain how to tailor messaging across channels like paid soc...
Oct 02, 2025•27 min
In this special episode, we share Taylor Holiday’s keynote from Stord’s Summit. ( https://www.stord.com/ ) He unpacks the four eras of DTC—COVID’s boom, the lean “Ozempic era,” and what he calls the “Flow Era.” Drawing from CTC’s dataset, client stories, and industry benchmarks, Taylor explains why 2025 could mark the strongest period in DTC history. You’ll learn: Why the excess of capital and demand during COVID was both logical and unsustainable. How the “Ozempic era” forced brands to get lean...
Sep 30, 2025•49 min
In this episode of the E-Commerce Playbook , Taylor Holiday and Richard Gaffin dig into the Measurement Roadmap—CTC’s framework for deciding what to test, when to test it, and why it matters . They unpack why incrementality testing is so crucial, the massive swings it can reveal in platform reporting, and how brands can use repeated tests to progressively “shrink the error bars” around decision-making. From Meta’s 20% under-reporting benchmark to surprising Amazon lift results, Taylor shares con...
Sep 25, 2025•31 min
Most brands rush into new ad platforms before they’re ready. In this episode, Richard and Tony break down why channel expansion is less about “good or bad” and more about timing and fuel. They revisit the core sequence—master Meta, then Google—before adding channels like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, or Pinterest. And they go deep on why CTC is bullish on AppLovin, the mobile gaming ad platform that’s driving genuinely incremental growth for select brands. You’ll learn: The prerequisites for channe...
Sep 23, 2025•26 min
As Q4 approaches, creative demand becomes one of the biggest challenges for brands looking to scale efficiently. In this episode, Richard Gaffin (Director of Digital Product Strategy at CTC) sits down with Luke Austin (VP of E-Commerce Strategy) to unpack CTC’s new Creative Demand Model—a framework that quantifies exactly how much creative output brands need in order to hit their revenue and spend goals. They walk through real examples from CTC’s dataset, breaking down what separates the highest...
Sep 18, 2025•39 min
In this week’s episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Luke Austin (VP of Ecommerce Strategy at CTC) sits down with Mike McVerry, SVP of Ecommerce & International Sales at Urban Armor Gear (UAG) to unpack how the brand unlocked 40% YoY revenue growth and 43% contribution margin growth in 2025 … despite a shrinking market. Together, they break down: Why “spend more to grow more” wasn’t working for UAG - How the Profit System bridged the gap between finance and marketing- The role of contri...
Sep 16, 2025•41 min
In this special episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Luke Austin takes the reins and brings in two of CTC’s top-performing growth strategists—Lacie Geary and Brian Sakansky—for a deep dive into what it takes to build and execute a forecast with precision. You’ll get a rare look under the hood at CTC’s Profit System, including how we: Set and execute daily client-level forecasts for revenue, spend, and contribution margin Think about tradeoffs between efficiency vs. volume Use planning tool...
Sep 11, 2025•47 min
When should you really be spending more? Which days of the week drive the most revenue— for your brand ? In this episode, Richard is joined by Luke Austin (VP of Growth at Common Thread Collective) to walk through real client data and uncover just how different day-of-week and month-over-month effects can be across brands, even within the same vertical. You’ll learn: Why blindly scaling spend in Q4 might be a mistake How day-of-week effects can swing revenue potential by over 30% Why trying to “...
Sep 09, 2025•40 min
In this episode of The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday dig deeper into the Spending Power Model—breaking down why the next dollar you spend doesn’t always produce the same return. They explore concepts like the marginal frontier (the moment your next dollar becomes unprofitable), spending power, and how to balance short-term profitability with long-term growth. Taylor shows how to evaluate whether to optimize for revenue, contribution margin, or lifetime contributio...
Sep 04, 2025•29 min
In place of this week’s Tuesday ECPP episode, we’re featuring CTC’s newest podcast: The DTC Hotline . In this week’s episode, Richard Gaffin is joined by Tony “The Chopper” Chopp (VP of Paid Media) and Luke “The Weatherman” Austin (VP of eCommerce Strategy) to field real questions from operators and listeners—offering hot takes, cold truths, and unfiltered answers. They tackle: What to do when your historically strong Meta campaign suddenly stops working The “3 Ps” framework—payment, policy, pix...
Sep 02, 2025•37 min
In this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday dive deep into the practical use cases of Spend & aMER forecasting models—powerful tools that help brands set budgets with clarity, not guesswork. Taylor walks through real examples, showing how these models adjust for changing costs (like tariffs) and how gross margin shifts ripple through your entire P&L, media plan, and growth strategy. They also unpack why Black Friday/Cyber Monday cohorts often unde...
Aug 28, 2025•28 min
In this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday unpack the critical connection between forecasting models and creative production. Forecasting isn’t just about predicting numbers … it’s about building a marketing and creative plan that can actually deliver them.Taylor explains why most forecasts fail: brands treat them like predictions instead of action plans. The team breaks down how to bridge that gap by tying financial models to the marketing calendar, ide...
Aug 26, 2025•40 min
In this episode of The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast , Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday unpack why forecasting isn’t just about models—it’s about execution. They explore how the best brands combine data, marketing calendars, and disciplined ownership to create forecasts that actually hold up in the real world. Drawing from billions in client data, Taylor explains why finance-driven forecasts often fall short—and how integrating qualitative planning and real-time execution makes all the difference....
Aug 25, 2025•26 min
In this episode of The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday break down why so many e-commerce leaders rely on guesswork and ambition instead of reality—and how forecasting models like Spend & aMER can change that.Taylor compares these models to a DEXA scan: a clear, data-driven look at your business health. Together, they explain how accurate forecasting systems help you diagnose overspending or underspending, anticipate seasonal changes, and build a roadmap to profi...
Aug 19, 2025•28 min
In this week’s episode of The DTC Hotline, Richard Gaffin is joined once again by Tony “The Chopper” Chopp (VP of Paid Media) and Luke “The Weatherman” Austin (VP of eCommerce Strategy) to take real questions from eComm operators and Admission members—no fluff, just clear, hard-earned answers. They tackle: • What to do when “nothing works” on Meta (and why that diagnosis is often wrong) • How to spot the real business problem hiding behind poor ad performance • Why TikTok creative might crush wh...
Aug 15, 2025•36 min
In this episode of the E-Commerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin is joined by Luke Austin (VP of E-Commerce Strategy at CTC) and Steve Rekuc (Director of Data) to unpack one of CTC’s most powerful forecasting tools: the Spend & aMER Model. This model reveals whether your brand is overspending past the point of profitability—or underspending and leaving growth on the table. By layering in 40+ predictive models, seasonality, and LTV impacts, it provides the clearest roadmap to profitable gro...
Aug 14, 2025•37 min
Get an exclusive look behind the curtain with our VP of Strategy, Luke, as he breaks down how CTC is transforming profit-driven growth through clarity, measurement, and scalable systems. Discover how our incrementality tool, daily forecasting workflows, and creative growth frameworks come together in the “prism”—our metaphor for the integrated decision-making engine that fuels brand success.In This Episode, You’ll Learn:- How geo‑based incrementality tests are lowering ad spend risk and increasi...
Aug 12, 2025•23 min
In the debut of The DTC Hotline, Richard Gaffin is joined by Tony “The Chopper” Chopp (VP of Paid Media) and Luke “The Weatherman” Austin (VP of eCommerce Strategy) to take real questions from eComm operators and Admission members—no fluff, just unfiltered answers. They tackle: • Why your Meta cost caps aren’t spending (and what to do about it) • How much creative is really “a lot” in today’s ad environment • The best tools for competitor research and ad spying • What to do when LTV is low and r...
Aug 08, 2025•37 min
As brands approach the $1M–$10M revenue range, they often find themselves stuck—still hustling, but with slower growth and rising costs. That’s where CTC’s Global Accelerator comes in. In this episode, Richard Gaffin is joined by Joy Sharma and Jan Almuni to share the blueprint for how seven-figure brands break through to eight.They reveal the step-by-step playbook used across dozens of brands in the Accelerator program—and why the secret to scaling isn’t one big move, but the right next move at...
Aug 07, 2025•48 min
In this episode of the E-Commerce Playbook Podcast, Taylor Holiday and Richard Gaffin unpack the surprising success of last week’s episode—and explore what it reveals about content that actually resonates.What about the convo with Taylor and Andrew led to such a positive response?Turns out, the answer has less to do with tactics—and everything to do with time, unique perspective, and story.If you’re trying to build content that lasts (not just goes viral), this one’s for you. Ready to solve your...
Aug 05, 2025•34 min
After months of speculation, testing, and internal debate, CTC put Meta’s new Incremental Attribution Tool to the test—three times. In this episode, Richard Gaffin sits down with VP of Paid Media Tony Chopp to break down what really happened across those tests, including a final geo holdout study using actual Shopify revenue. The result? You’ll learn: - What CTC’s 3 incrementality tests revealed about Meta’s new attribution tool - Why Meta’s results may be overstating impact—especially on new cu...
Jul 31, 2025•20 min
In this episode of The Random Show, Taylor Holiday and Andrew Faris sit down for a moment of focus—because something big just happened.Common Thread Collective has a new growth partner. Taylor breaks down what the deal really means, why it isn’t a retirement plan, and how private equity views agencies differently than eComm brands.• Why service businesses generate more cash (and get better multiples)• How CTC nearly collapsed—and what saved it• The real reason agency owners burn out (and how to ...
Jul 29, 2025•1 hr 54 min
