How do you build a marketing machine that scales without breaking? In celebration of episode 100, Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CMO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (VP of Growth, HexClad) reveal the strategic priorities driving their brands’ growth in 2026 — straight out of their internal planning docs. From creating a bulletproof marketing operating system to cracking TikTok Shop, the trio goes deep on what’s moving the needle. They unpack why Ridge is betting big on retention as a product, why Jones Road is obsessed with creator-led social, and why all three brands believe that testing volume — not just testing smarter — is one of the highest-leverage inputs you can control. The conversation wraps with a candid breakdown of organic YouTube strategy and whether product seeding can replicate the success they’ve had on Instagram and TikTok.

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Rivo

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Richpanel

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Aftersell

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This week, the team breaks down how they’re testing creative and scaling systems. Volume still matters, but only when it’s paired with clearer concepts, stronger hypotheses, and better signal quality.

Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Global Head of Growth, HexClad) revisit the playbooks they built over the years and walk through what’s working right now.

The conversation gets tactical fast. They dig into what actually defines a concept (message × format), how they’re structuring Meta campaigns to balance throughput and learning, and why hybrid CBO setups that blur the line between testing and spending are becoming the new standard. From ABO vs. CBO tradeoffs to pixel consolidation and signal engineering, they unpack how promising ideas get enough budget to generate real data.

Then the focus shifts to creator pipelines, coaching feedback loops, and organic-to-paid workflows — including why Jones Road is building a creator-in-residence program to ship content daily, why HexClad is hiring a dedicated freelancer to source assets faster, and why Ridge treats its network of briefed creators as an internal function.

A clear theme runs through it all … performance shouldn’t pit quality against quantity. It should focus on infrastructure to produce high output while learning faster and growing with intention.

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamp

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Prescient AI

https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=MO&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Aftersell

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Haus

https://www.haus.io/operators

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Is your brand still creating content for a social media era that no longer exists?

Hosts Connor Rolain (HexClad), Cody Plofker (Jones Road Beauty), and Connor MacDonald (Ridge) dig into how they’re rethinking organic and paid social content strategy for 2026 — and why the old influencer playbook is officially broken.

Cody reveals the million-dollar organic social investment he pitched to his board and the creator-in-residence model he’s building from scratch. Connor MacDonald explains why Ridge is going all-in on high-volume, product-oriented creator content over signature-series brand plays. And Connor Rolain shares how HexClad is bridging its organic social team with paid media creative strategy through a simple Slack channel workflow.

The conversation covers TikTok Shop affiliate flywheels, the death of follower-based reach, running creator-hiring competitions, and when it actually makes sense to invest in episodic brand content.

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Motion Creative Strategy Bootcamphttps://motionapp.com/2026-creative-strategy-bootcamp-paid?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-strategy-bootcamp-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast

Aftersell

https://www.aftersell.com/operatorsRivohttps://www.rivo.io/operators

Prescient AI

https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=MO&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

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