D2C Diaries

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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.

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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 [email protected]

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/

🚨🚀 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.

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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/

🚨🚀 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 [email protected]

---

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/

🚨🚀 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.

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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 [email protected]

---

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/

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/

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

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/

How to Scale DTC Brands with Third-Party Ads

Struggling to scale Meta ads without killing your CPA? In this episode of D2C Diaries, Olly breaks down the exact whitelisting and partnership ad strategies we’re using across 8 figure ad accounts to unlock First-Time Impression Ratio (FTI) and drive incremental reach.

This internal training reveals why Meta’s Andromeda algorithm update makes creative and third-party identity the new targeting, how to build high-performing whitelisting ad funnels, and what most DTC brands get wrong when trying to scale on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll learn how to use creator-led content, publisher positioning, and partnership ads to lower CPMs, improve engagement, and grow your customer base profitably.

Whether you’re running ads for a DTC brand or managing a performance team, this is a plug-and-play strategy for scaling Meta spend without burning efficiency.

Watch the full Meta ad strategy training now to see how we do it.

00:00 What this session covers
02:17 How Meta has changed
03:18 What Meta Andromeda is
06:07 What FTI is and how to track it
11:30 The FTI funnel
12:30 Why now is the time to adopt third-party ads
13:48 The 3 types of third-party delivery on Meta
23:45 What best-in-class looks like: 3 funnel examples
29:10 Brands doing this well (and why to study them)
30:05 Tactical ways to execute for your brand
34:05 Results you'll see when done right
35:13 How to measure success (FTI, CPM, visitor % etc)
37:30 5 action points to takeaway

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

Most founders obsess over CAC, ad spend and creative testing, but almost no one talks about the thing that actually drives LTV: Product.

In this episode, we sit down with Holly Beadle, CEO of Hera, who took over a legacy fashion brand right before Black Friday and had to rebuild it from the ground up. Just product, operations, and a brutal growth ceiling to solve.

You won’t hear any fluff here. Just the raw truth about:
- What happens when you scale before you’re ready
- How product scaled the brand
- The real role of CX, refunds, and fulfilment in retention
- How Holly thinks about launches, core categories, and loyalty
- What most operators get wrong when they inherit a brand

This isn’t a growth-hack playbook. It’s a look behind the curtain of what rebuilding a real DTC brand actually looks like, especially when product is the lever that works.

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nv7p90

0:00 Hera’s origins & acquisition story
4:14 Early days at Gymshark + MyProtein 
6:02 Taking over Hera: product vs. CEO role
8:43 Talent development at The Hut Group
10:30 Hera acquisition: first steps & early struggles
16:19 Product development & trend forecasting
19:47 80/20 rule in product
21:24 Acquisition vs. retention through product
23:57 3 key product tips for founders
29:04 The friction between product & marketing
32:23 Entering new markets & territory growth
36:33 Marketing mix post-acquisition: paid vs. organic
42:12 Influencer collabs + Partnerships
47:08 Growth strategy + Black Friday
52:56 Building the team & hiring for scrappiness
57:06 AI in the business
59:04 A day in the life as CEO & being a parent
1:04:53 Vision for Hera over the next 3–5 years

Follow Holly and Hera
https://www.instagram.com/holly.beadlex/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-beadle-4308b037/
https://heraclothing.com/

Follow Loukas on socials:
LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B
Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi

Follow Olly on socials:
LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO
Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson

Before pet food was “DTC sexy,” Pure Pet Food was scaling with zero ad spend.

In this episode, Matt and Joe unpack how they built early traction through scrappy tactics like event pitching, awards, and PR - not Meta. With just a £300 council grant and no industry experience, they grew the brand to £1M+ in revenue without touching paid media.

They share how that foundation led to VC backing and how they leveraged Meta spend, a custom subscription stack, and retention-first thinking to push past 8 figures.

If you’re early-stage and trying to scale without burning cash, or already spending and want to scale smarter, this one’s for you.

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your free audit here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0nkf8h0

00:00 Meet Pure Pet Food
04:35 Early failures + finding purpose
12:09 Early adoption into the pet food category
14:30 The rise of subscription pet food
16:50 How they were scouted for Dragons Den 
19:20 Pitch experience 
23:45 The impact post-air date
25:40 Inflection point for the business
28:03 Scrappy techniques
29:30 Hiring proactive team members
32:20 Raising investment
36:50 Understanding the game of venture
39:55 Overraising = pressure to 10x
42:10 How they unlocked Meta
49:15 In-house growth restructure 
50:40 Scaling and testing 
54:35 Retention & subscription flywheel
56:55 Post-purchase flows & feedback
1:02:20 Future vision for Pure Pet Food
1:04:50 Will they exit?

Follow Pure Pet Food
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathew-cockroft-78bb2489/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemitchellcreative/
https://www.purepetfood.com

Follow Loukas on socials:
LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B
Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi

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/