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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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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Performance creative consultant Dara Denney joins the show to break down how modern brands are approaching creative strategy in 2026. The conversation opens with the shifting role of content creators versus strategists, and why creative velocity, operations, and in-house production are increasingly shaping how brands scale.

From there, they dig into how AI is actually being used inside creative workflows - where it speeds up research and briefing, and where human judgment still matters, especially around roadmapping and idea selection. The group also explores the growing convergence of organic and paid, including how organic performance signals influence paid creative, why upper-funnel content belongs in performance accounts, and when “organic-first” ideas can still drive results.

The episode wraps with a candid discussion on performance measurement beyond short-term ROAS, touching on creative diversity, upper-funnel impact, and how operators think about long-term growth when building scalable content systems.

If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with a chance of it being discussed on the show: https://forms.gle/1W7nKoNK5Zakm1Xv6

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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

https://www.aftersell.com/operators

Haus

https://haus.io/operators

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This episode breaks down a key 2026 initiative: when and how to diversify your media mix, grounded in real operator decision-making rather than theory. The conversation uses HexClad’s approach as a case study, exploring the data signals that indicate it’s time to expand channels, how teams test incrementality, and how operators manage rising measurement complexity - especially when scaling internationally.

Along the way, the team explains how the “Rocks” system supports this kind of decision-making, from setting clear priorities and aligning teams to establishing cadence and ownership. They also unpack how KPIs are chosen at different stages, how retention-focused Rocks anchor growth efforts, and how insights from Japanese market data inform smarter media mix expansion.

If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with a chance of it being discussed on the show: https://forms.gle/1W7nKoNK5Zakm1Xv6

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:03:27 - Hexclad's 2026 Rocks

00:23:08 - Signals for Channel Expansion

00:32:23 - Expansion Playbook & Strategy

00:43:17 - New US Channels

00:55:59 - Sequencing & Complexity

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Motion.

⁠⁠⁠https://motionapp.com/pricing?utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast&utm_medium=paidsponsor&utm_campaign=march-2024-ad-reads⁠⁠⁠https://motionapp.com/creative-trends

Rivo.

https://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

Aftersell.

https://www.aftersell.com/operators

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