We Audited 40+ 8-Figure DTC Ad Accounts in 2026. Here's What's Broken and How to Fix It

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.

If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.

Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback https://incard.co?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod

Meta performance has been rough since March and if you're feeling it, you're not alone. Olly and Loukas are back for a solo episode breaking down exactly what's gone wrong on the platform and, more importantly, what's actually working across the 40+ audits they ran in Q2.

They cover the five most common account errors they're seeing right now (most of which are quick fixes), why creative diversity has become the single biggest unlock for scaling spend, and how to run a proper gap analysis across persona, messaging, valence zones, emotional drivers, and vehicle type before you produce another asset.

Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic, on Invest Like the Best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEEZPpx8qow

Brian Chesky on Invest Like the Best - AI Founder mode https://youtu.be/eURcW5_uS60

Creative Forecasting resource: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjPt20

00:00 Intro: news and what we've been watching

17:32 State of Meta: why Q2 has been tough across the board

20:18 5 common account errors (attribution, audiences, funnel coverage, concentration, landing pages)

28:09 What's working: The Hudson Method and creator flywheels

36:36 Creative volume, gap analysis and diversifying across personas, valence & vehicle

48:42 Hit rate case study: micro personas and psychological messaging in action

50:58 Iterations, borrowing frameworks from non-competing brands

55:24 Landing pages, quiz funnels and AOV engineering

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap:  https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjzrY0 

Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson

Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston

Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi

Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/