The 3 Things Brands Must Get Right to Win in 2026

[00:00:00] Richard Gaffin: Hey folks. Welcome to the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast. I'm your host, Richard Gaffin, Director of Digital Product Strategy here at Common Thread Collective. And joining me for the very first podcast of this brand New year 2026, is Mr. Luke Austin, who's our VP of Ecommerce Strategy here at CTC. Luke, what's going on?

[00:00:16] Richard Gaffin: Happy New Year. How was your break?

[00:00:18] Luke Austin: Oh, we are the, the break was great. Good time, good time with family. Had, you know, three variations of whatever virus made it circle around and creates new versions of itself within subsets of young children. So, but we're in a normal week, we're back into. A normal five day week and it feels, it feels good getting off the other side of, of of the past, past few weeks.

[00:00:43] Luke Austin: So energized excited for it. Routine is my, my happy place.

[00:00:49] Richard Gaffin: There you go. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, routine definitely gets more and more attractive as you get older. That's, that's what I've learned at a certain point. It's too much break and you gotta get back to it, but alright. Well, so what we're gonna talk [00:01:00] about then is getting back to it essentially, right? Which is what, a year ago, maybe I'll set up this context, a year ago.

[00:01:07] Richard Gaffin: Essentially this week we talked about, we had this very same discussion about what is it that brands need to do in 2025 to win. And a lot of that was around product diversification volume and frequency of product drops. Just kind of like creating net new things. This year it's a little bit different.

[00:01:22] Richard Gaffin: We have, we have three kind of specific things that we want to talk through in answer to this question. What do brands need to do, or the brands that are gonna win in 2026? What are sort of the three things that they're going to be focusing on? And so Luke's been thinking about this a lot in terms of kind of vis-a-vis our clients.

[00:01:38] Richard Gaffin: So, and we wanted to share some of that insights with you as we get into this brand new year here. So, Luke, why don't you set up kind of maybe broad strokes, like kind of what brought you to some of these conclusions that we're gonna get into in a second here.

[00:01:53] Luke Austin: But yeah, I think there's so many different ways we could have this conversation, but the three things. That [00:02:00] we are oriented around based on what we've seen over the course of 2025 and particularly the recent few months and coming outta Black Friday, Saturday, Monday, and the conversations that we're having with all the brands that we partner with heading into 26.

[00:02:13] Luke Austin: There, there's really three things that are connected that we're seeing as being essential for. Setting up for success into 2026 and having us really like the building blocks and foundation and focus area narratives for, for brands. And so I'll, I'll, I'll say them here and then we'll go kind of one by one and we can, and we can chat through.

[00:02:33] Luke Austin: But I think in 2026 it's gonna be critical for brands to have these three things working together. First is system integration. Second is creative consolidation. And then third is distribution expansion. And and so for, for each of these, I'll, I'll kind of tease out one by one and then we will, and then we'll dive in.

[00:02:54] Luke Austin: But system integration I, I thought about calling this like measurement, cohesion as well, but what, what I [00:03:00] mean by system integration is. I'll give an example, sort of a heuristic of what we're going through at CTC even in terms of our, our, our systems is going into this new year. There's so much work that gets done around the forecast and the projections and looking out into the future.

[00:03:15] Luke Austin: And we are. Constantly looking for ways that we can better more quickly get the signal that we need to be able to make the decision and get to action. Right? And the more time that we spend in this, like trying to understand the truth of what's happening and what the problem is to be solved, is less time spent actually pr solving the problem and the, and the action and that so much of our.

[00:03:38] Luke Austin: Of our conversations with our partners happen around this idea of it, the systems not being integrated, that they're operating within the team members, the platforms, the tools being disconnected, disjointed, and so we're gonna spend three hours talking about what's actually happening and what we're gonna trust, and what's the signal we're going to use rather than.

[00:03:58] Luke Austin: Agreeing on the framework, [00:04:00] surfacing the right signal that gives us the highest quality data point, and then being able to spend the most time producing action against, against that. So system integration, creative consolidation. What I mean by that is we, we have just seen really clearly in our data that one creative format in particular is just it just performs leaps and bounds higher than others and justifies investment into it at a much higher level than others.

[00:04:25] Luke Austin: And so I think brands that will win will focus more and more on resourcing their time. And output against an this creative format as much as possible. And then third distribution expansion. So, then once you, once you have this, you have an integrated system, you have creative consultants, sort of the best performing format, then what you're looking for is how can I get the most distribution possible against this really dialed in system and measurement framework, and then consolidate creative.

[00:04:49] Luke Austin: Through more ad channels. So I have this creative format and how do I get that distribute distributed, not just on meta, but on YouTube, shorts and app love? And how do I then [00:05:00] distribute expand distribution against more products? What are the, what, what is the next product or category subset that I need to think about amplifying within my.

[00:05:07] Luke Austin: Catalog and then retail channels as well. So we're on.com and we're on.com. And now we're thinking about Amazon or we're on Amazon already and Walmart and, and Target. And so ways that we can take the existing set of products and creative units and amplify those and distribution expansion, so system integration, creative consolidation or creative focus, and then distribution expansion.

[00:05:31] Richard Gaffin: So, I mean, it seems like, I, I'm trying to think maybe of, of like a, a way we can categorize these three things or like a common theme here. I mean, it sounds like it's a little bit of a, a mix of focusing in order to expand or something along those lines. It feels like what we're looking at is the next step for many of our clients.

[00:05:46] Richard Gaffin: The next step for many brands in ecomm. To expand to the next level is to be able to get their systems dialed in enough to begin that expansion process, which we've talked about in the past in various kind of contexts. The, the idea that [00:06:00] in some ways sometimes it's unwise to expand too quickly.

[00:06:03] Luke Austin: Yes.

[00:06:04] Richard Gaffin: We talk about that in terms of platform but also in terms of distribution. But what we're looking at here is that that's become necessary for a lot of brands and these are kind of the two tools that you need to get there. So anyway, that's, that's sort of my ramble about that. What do you see as kind of the, the overall trend line here?

[00:06:18] Richard Gaffin: Like why these three things this year?

[00:06:21] Luke Austin: Yeah. So the, I, I think that's right. And even a, a long channel expansion like we have at different times. Had different messaging as it relates to channel expansion and the, so the whole sort of idea that like, get to a hundred million dollars on meta and Google first before expanding elsewhere. Right.

[00:06:38] Luke Austin: And I, I think there's, there's merit to that and every brand sort of, sort of has to assess where they're at on in the degradation curve on each of the platforms and their team structure, their resourcing, et cetera, to be able to make this work. But the, the core idea is like, if you don't have clarity on.

[00:06:55] Luke Austin: A decision making and measurement framework. Then stop, [00:07:00] stop there first, right? Like, this is sort of a like step 1, 2, 3 like don't do the distribution expansion before you get your system integrated. 'cause then otherwise you don't know what's happening. And then don't do the distribution expansion into net new platforms before you have a system for creating the best performing creative format type that exists.

[00:07:18] Luke Austin: Then, you know, it's like sort of like do each of these things and then move on to the next, after you accomplish the, the prior step. And so. I think going into, going into this year, what we are seeing in terms of what we're building for our service is the most integrated system possible to allow brands to do more of the net new, the net new things in these, in these areas.

[00:07:45] Luke Austin: And so what we're seeing through the development of our, the tools and technology and team. The cooperation of AI within our service is that it's possible to do a lot more in a much more integrated, consolidated [00:08:00] system than ever before, which allows you to then expand into these new areas even earlier than was possible previously.

[00:08:07] Richard Gaffin: so, so unpack for us then a little bit about what that, what that looks like. I mean, it could be an example of ways you've seen this done well in the past or since it sounds like part of what we're doing is sort of developing a solution for this. Like what, what do you think like the practicals are of this sort of measurement system integration piece?

[00:08:24] Luke Austin: Yeah, so the, the system integration, the, the core workflow. That we've been sort of teasing this idea in, in different ways and we'll have some more have some more messaging around it, specifically of this idea of a, a profit engineer and this consolidated workflow. And what, what that system integration looks like is the workflow of these four things forecasting.

[00:08:49] Luke Austin: Down to measurement, media measurement then to creative output and analysis, then to MetaMedia buying. So those sort of four levels of, of system integration, [00:09:00] that, and for any direct consumer ecommerce business the workflow between those things. Is, there's just so much overlap. So forecasting, what is the expectation for revenue and spend and contribution margin this month and the new customer revenue, and what's my A MER target, right?

[00:09:16] Luke Austin: So forecasting. Then measurement is how much budget should I allocate between each of my ad channels based on that total spend amount? And then based on the efficiency expectation, the contribution margin, the a ER watch my ROAS targets be. So those are like. Just so directly connected. And then creative output.

[00:09:31] Luke Austin: How much creative do I need? And against what marketing moments and what products to be able to accomplish the goal. And that connects directly to the spend that I need to accomplish on each of my platforms, right? And so, and then, and then MetaMedia buying. What is the ad spend target for meta and what is the efficiency I need to accomplish that at and where, and then all the creative that I need to deploy in the platform, which is really going to be.

[00:09:53] Luke Austin: The, the target that you're setting, the structure of the account and the creative are gonna be really the, the main [00:10:00] impact areas, less so than the sort of tactical approach to the platform that are necessary. And so what we've seen is that related to each of these four things, forecasting, target setting, media measurement creative creative, creative strategy and output, and then and then MetaMedia buying.

[00:10:15] Luke Austin: Tho that is the, like, not having a defined or integrated system for those four things makes it really challenging to, to, to operate effectively for, for DDC brand because there's so much connection and overlap between those things that it invariably becomes like this. Okay. We're pacing off of our revenue forecast for this month.

[00:10:37] Luke Austin: What's, what's the issue? Well, what customer cohorts are coming from. Okay. What platform is coming from? Do we need more creative output as a result? Well, we don't really know the incrementality read, so like, should we look at this MTA platform to sort of assess it? And like, there's just like all four of those things when they live outside of each other in different platforms, in different team members lead to being able to uncover what the insight is to produce an action makes it [00:11:00] really challenging to do that.

[00:11:01] Luke Austin: And so what we're building and, and focused on is. The most integrated consolidated and cost effective version of that system. That covers forecasting, media measurement, creative strategy, and, and meta buying to be able to reduce the amount of time from insight to action as much as possible.

[00:11:20] Luke Austin: And so brands going into this year, I think we'll need to, the, the pressure as a result of the, the environment that we are in, the competitive landscape, the marginal profile, rising costs, et cetera. It just necessitates that brands ha are able to create a get, get to action sooner than later, right?

[00:11:41] Luke Austin: And spend less time around like, which platform are you gonna look at? Seven person Zoom meeting for two hours, sort of looking at this mt. A tool versus this Google sheet. We, we don't have time for that 'cause it's not producing incremental action. We need an agreed upon framework and system to be able to identify these opportunity areas.

[00:11:59] Richard Gaffin: No, that [00:12:00] makes sense. I mean, it seems kind of what you're talking about is the development of an actual single source of truth because that, that's something that people talk about a lot. But of course, one of the issues is there are many sources of truth and many sort of, kind of players on the board or whatever, with their own sources of truth.

[00:12:14] Richard Gaffin: And the idea behind this is to, in fact, consolidate, like you're saying, all of them into one, so that the conversation about what needs to be done next is like four minutes long, right? And then the rest of the conversation, the rest of the behavior is just action against that,

[00:12:29] Luke Austin: Yes. Yeah, and you really, and you really need, so you need clarity into like what's happening and why. And that needs to be you to be able to get to clarity. It's difficult. You need your revenue, you need your you need revenue data, you need new and returning customer cohort level data. You need cost.

[00:12:46] Luke Austin: You need cost level data, product costs, and operating costs. You need marketing and measurement level data. So like the, all each of these things is really challenging to get to, right? But yes, you need clarity to understand what's, what's, what's happening. Then you need accountability. You actually need to be [00:13:00] able to say like, okay, here's the person that is responsible for then fixing that problem or delivering that outcome.

[00:13:06] Luke Austin: And when it's at a disparate group of seven different people that sort of own like one seventh of the thing, you don't have accountability either, right? So that that needs to be consolidated and then. Capacity. Like you, the person that's responsible actually has to be able to solve, solve a problem as well, right?

[00:13:21] Luke Austin: Like they, they need to be able to have the tools and the experience and the knowledge available to them to actually be able to solve the problem. And so, yeah, a system that covers these areas of the, of the forecasting, target setting, process, measure. To creative and, and media and then being and then being able to have clarity, accountability, capacity around these things I think is, is, is is really critical.

[00:13:43] Luke Austin: Because the, the brands that we see winning are just, are just able to within, like do the thing that a lot of brands, it takes multiple days of. Zoom calls and slacks and email chains and back and forth to be able to do it in 10 minutes, be like, yeah, this is our, this is our issue. This, [00:14:00] this is the thing to solve.

[00:14:00] Luke Austin: Okay, let's go spend the next three hours solving that problem for the people responsible versus three hours uncovering what the thing is to be solved and not a high level of confidence. That's actually the thing because we have to sort of build a system and the framework for uncovering the opportunity in the midst of the, the, the problem.

[00:14:18] Richard Gaffin: no, that makes sense. I mean, it seems like basically the idea is to eliminate short term decision making essentially, so that you can free yourself up to. Maybe just think in the long term, right? So if, if you're not particularly on the leadership side, you're not spending three days going back and forth in Slack with juniors, essentially like trying to figure out what to do the next day, your job, which is ostensibly to be able to decide what you're gonna do in the next six months, the next two years, the next five years, you're freed up to do that kind of thing

[00:14:47] Luke Austin: Yes, exactly.

[00:14:49] Richard Gaffin: So let's let's jump into our second point here and see if there's anything we can tease out there. I mean, in, on the surface is fairly straightforward. UGC is the winner. But in terms of like how this [00:15:00] actually comes about, this creative consolidation, what does it look like in terms of, you know, and I, I know, I think we talked about this and maybe talked about with Taylor, but is like, does this mean no more stills?

[00:15:10] Richard Gaffin: Does this mean no more? Whatever, cinema graphs or whatever it was we were doing five years ago. Is it just all UGC or like what's the actual sort of like logistics of this?

[00:15:19] Luke Austin: Yeah. So, a couple of data points that are, that are leading us. And sort of surfacing this, this insight this is looking over the past couple months and more specifically around Black Friday, cyber Monday in that, in that shorter time period. But what we saw across our data set is pretty similar year of year growth in terms of spend against static and videos like, like almost equal.

[00:15:44] Luke Austin: But the efficiency. Of, of video on meta held constant year over year actually slightly increased, whereas the efficiency of static dropped more substantially. And so we're seeing that video relative to [00:16:00] static can hold efficiency at higher scales. Like the, the, the degradation curve of efficiency is like less steep on video generally.

[00:16:08] Luke Austin: And then connected to that is that. The UGC an individual UGC ad is nearly two times more likely to become a high spend winner than a standard ad. So this is like what we define as an ad that reaches a level of scale based on the spend threshold necessary for that specific. That specific brand.

[00:16:28] Luke Austin: So you just, you just see it as two times more likely to be able to get to, to be able to get to that level and, and get to that output. And so what we've seen overall is like, yes, creative output, higher amounts of creative output are necessary and that'll continue to be the case. But I think there's this I think there's this.

[00:16:47] Luke Austin: Every brand has a different disposition towards this idea, which is like, okay, well should, we should do like UUGC video, lofi UGC video should be like, for every one of those we create 10 sort of static [00:17:00] iterative images. Like let's have a balanced toolkit in that way. Right? Other brands like orient the majority of their ads towards lo-fi UGC video and like really low towards the branded things.

[00:17:10] Luke Austin: And what I would say is. I think it'll be helpful for more brands than not to take the, to take the approach of. We are just gonna go, we are for every, for every branded iterative ad that we make, we should make the same amount of UGC lofi, UGC video and do some low lofi, UUGC static as well in there, like may as well have it in the mix.

[00:17:31] Luke Austin: But going, starting off the year from a dispositional standpoint and to get the team sort of in this rhythm, I think will be helpful for brands of like. We are just going to increase the output of this ad tie because we see the ability for it to scale and produce a higher output. Just much more with it.

[00:17:47] Luke Austin: But it, it's gonna be a muscle, like you're gonna need to find the team members, the resourcing, the vendors. Like it's, it's gonna be a muscle that needs to be worked to be able to get to that level, but it, I think brands who go hard on that idea in [00:18:00] the first couple months out of the year. We'll then just build this, build this into their rhythm and, and have a better chance at winning the rest of the year with these assets that like it takes time to find.

[00:18:12] Luke Austin: And they don't, they don't all work for sure. But the, I I think this, this approach will be helpful for brands to be able to find that, because then what it does is it not only helps like your meta ad spend and accomplishing that goal, but it, it'll. Set you up to be able to take those assets and just distribute them in other ad channels as well, which we'll get to.

[00:18:33] Luke Austin: And you'll have a, a larger library to pull from.

[00:18:35] Richard Gaffin: Yeah, so again, almost like the first one, it's about setting up structure to allow yourself to win for the rest of the year. Because again, yeah, sourcing, sourcing creators is a thing that takes time. It's a relationship that you need to build. And so build it as soon as you possibly can. Quick, this is sort of a stray thought.

[00:18:51] Richard Gaffin: Any, is there any brand or brand category that you've seen where this is not the case where like UGC is not like two X better than [00:19:00] the other types of creative?

[00:19:08] Luke Austin: There, there are brands who have cracked the like meme style lo-fi, still creative really well. Which I think is another like, 'cause what this is getting at is like find a completely different creative format type that's platform native, that's like, that looks like it's socially native to the platform and ramp up the production of that.

[00:19:31] Luke Austin: So I think Lofi UGC video and then. And then meme style still creative. Like those, those would be the two. But, but any account that, like it's, I, I'm trying to think. It's, it's hard to think of any account that has that's performing really well and seeing, seeing growth that doesn't have one of those two as a, a big piece of what's, of what's driving the ad spend in, in the account.

[00:19:55] Richard Gaffin: Yeah, no, that makes, that makes sense fundamentally. Okay, cool. Let's, let's, let's jump to our third then, which is talking [00:20:00] about distribution expansion. So with some cohesion, consolidation comes the ability to expand. So talk a little bit about what this looks like, or maybe more importantly, like, why is this, why is this necessary?

[00:20:11] Richard Gaffin: Why now?

[00:20:12] Luke Austin: Yeah. So, what, so a couple, couple data points here as well. App Loving is the channel that we saw. App Loven landed a third share of wallet over Black Friday, cyber Monday, that cyber week time period. So meta Google and App loving. And so App Loving is is something we're focused on a lot in terms of finding additional distribution.

[00:20:30] Luke Austin: We're seeing YouTube and particularly YouTube shorts grow in terms of its contribution and share VLA and the performance. And at, at, at really high levels of incre fatality relative what the platform's reporting. And so, and it compliments sort of like you have this really good lo-fi UGC video and launching that on app loving and.

[00:20:50] Luke Austin: YouTube shorts is just a way to amplify the distribution of that asset. And so I think the channel distribution into those two areas. [00:21:00] Is is an opportunity for most brands heading into the year. And again, if you have a, a system that has a defined measurement framework where you're launching app oven in a geo holdout test structure, so in just a subset of geos, which means you need less spin to be able to get to Stat sig on the performance or YouTube short.

[00:21:18] Luke Austin: Same thing is you have a measurement framework and you have an incrementality solution that allows you to do that Then. Then amplifying on these additional channels, you have an agreed upon framework for assessing it that already exists. That doesn't require like something outside of your system and you have creative that works on that platform where like now the amount of resource and time and analysis that's like that it's gonna take away, at other times it may have been challenging to justify that versus just like, okay, just more creative into meta and like grow that engine.

[00:21:49] Luke Austin: But if you have those two pieces in place, then, then it, then it makes the lift in terms of the expansion and distribution much less. So platforms is, is is [00:22:00] one. And then the other area would be into products as well. So, if you have a system, again that can help you identify which products and categories are being underserved in your, sort of, in your in your catalog relative to others, then it help, then it can service for you.

[00:22:16] Luke Austin: Like these are the other products, the other categories that we're gonna. Launch and lean into more meaningfully. And and then having the creative output against those, so additional ad distribution on, on new channels additional products and categories that you're gonna layer on to sort of the core things that are already working.

[00:22:32] Luke Austin: And then expansion into additional retail channels as well. So, I think Amazon and then from Amazon into Walmart and Target and finding ways to. Expand the distribution into these additional areas. And again, I think the, the integrated system is core to all of this because as we know, there's interplay on, on these channels of the halo impact of your D two C spend on Amazon and and how much it's incremental versus sort of just taking away from your d [00:23:00] D two C existing revenue.

[00:23:02] Luke Austin: Where if you have the measurement framework and the tools that exist there then you're able to measure these things and you're able to. Understand what's working and why that makes the distribution and adding more complexity into the system, something that can actually be assessed effectively.

[00:23:17] Richard Gaffin: Yeah, no, that makes sense. I mean, I think like part of, part of what we've, the advice that we've given in the past around not jumping the gun on expansion has to do with the fact that when you expand into a new channel, you have to think about measurement. In a new way, all of a sudden you have to think about incrementality in a new way.

[00:23:32] Richard Gaffin: All of a sudden you have to sort of learn a new system every time that you expand with to, to varying degrees. But what we're talking about is like, if you have these first two pieces in place along with this sort of the general sort of forecasting to media buying kind of communication system that you're talking about, all of a sudden expansion to these new categories, the actual like, barrier to entry becomes much lower because you have systems in place to make sure to do that for you, I guess.

[00:23:55] Richard Gaffin: Okay. Does that make sense? Anything else that you want to hit? Like gimme, gimme your like sort of [00:24:00] general thoughts on 2026. Obviously I talked with Taylor at the end of the year and his was generally AI is gonna just take over everything and we'll have to sit in pods. What's your take on what 2026 is gonna look like?

[00:24:13] Luke Austin: Yeah. Well, I think sort of at the heart of this too, even in the system integration, consolidation is like, it's every week we're discovering. Ways in which our individual capacities can and should be amplified as a result of the technology enabling that to happen. And so I think like this, this forecasting measurement, creative.

[00:24:38] Luke Austin: Managing the MetaMedia, buying sort of workflow, living in a system comprised of multiple tools and technologies and multiple team members. Just like it, the bar is just being raised so quickly in terms of what a person is able to accomplish and accomplish more effectively enabled by the technology.

[00:24:59] Luke Austin: [00:25:00] That, that's just gonna, that's just gonna perpetuate. And so, now what I think is what I think that where, where we see the sort of beta and the value existing is like this idea of creating completely net new moments that grow the brand, that change the trajectory of the brand, right? These are thoughtful collaborations with.

[00:25:22] Luke Austin: Other businesses and product launches and the net new categories that right, like the, the creating the net new marketing moments and doing that in a way that's that's, that's thoughtful and incremental is the more challenging problem to solve and the thing that needs to get more and more time towards it.

[00:25:40] Luke Austin: Because as we're able to sort of like solve for the management of the. Of the business on a day-to-day basis, more effectively, efficiently, in a lower cost way. And it requires less people and can be more system-based. What that's gonna allow is more brands to spend more time doing these things that create, net new marketing moments, these launch that, that change the [00:26:00] trajectory of the business and are the more challenging problems to solve. And that, and that, that is what the necessity is going to be for, for brands, which is how can I focus more and more time and create more of these moments to change the tr direct, the trajectory of the business?

[00:26:15] Luke Austin: And how do I have a system for managing the business on a day-to-day basis that allows me. As as the leadership owner operator of the business to be able to focus more of the time, more of the resourcing, more of the rhythm on that output versus the like, what, what should we adjust the, the budget on in this campaign today?

[00:26:35] Luke Austin: Activity. And that's, and that's being empowered by the technology allowing sort of this like the, the predictability and the management of the business on a day-to-day basis. Like if. That, that to be done at a really, at a really high level. And if, and if that, and if that isn't the case for businesses, like that's the thing that we're doing, we're sitting in that space where we're pro providing predictable profit for businesses is, is [00:27:00] what we are focused on.

[00:27:01] Luke Austin: And if you don't have a system that allows you to predict what the outcome of your brain is going to be over every single month and over the course of this year. Within a range of a few percentile points against what your forecast is like, that's, that's a problem. Like you're spending too much time in, in that area.

[00:27:19] Luke Austin: That makes it really challenging to focus on the bigger swing things because you don't even have predictability of what next week's gonna look like.

[00:27:25] Richard Gaffin: Yeah.

[00:27:25] Luke Austin: So that needs to be solved for, that's what, that's what we're building around. To be able to enable enable the businesses that we work with to focus on those areas.

[00:27:34] Luke Austin: And I think what it's gonna do in 2026 is just gonna create a wider a wider distribution of outcomes in the market. Like, we're just gonna see, and we're, we're already, we've already started to see this over 2025, where brands will come in and like. We we can sort of like guess before we get their data into stat lists, like, okay, what do we, how do we think this brand is doing relative to their category?

[00:27:53] Luke Austin: And like, just sort of general thing, like year over year revenue contribution margin. Like, okay, they [00:28:00] we're betting that they've kept contribution margin flat because they've been disciplined on cost, but their revenues down probably 20% year over year based in the category, and they've had to pull back spend.

[00:28:08] Luke Austin: To be able to keep their contribution margin value. Oh yeah. That's there. So like we've seen that more and more, but then we've, we've been surprised more and more in recent months too, where these brands come in and we're like, they're, they're absolutely crushing it because and so I think that's what, what it's going to do is the, the distribution of what's possible is just gonna get wider and wider.

[00:28:25] Luke Austin: And we're gonna see more and more brands really struggling. We're seeing more and more brands really crushing it. And because of the amount of. Energy and resource that they're able to invest into these different activities and, and rhythms on a day-to-day basis. So, I think it'll be, I think it'll be exciting.

[00:28:42] Luke Austin: It just opens up the aperture of what's possible. But but the businesses that don't have that sort of, that stability in terms of that foundation, like that's it's gonna make it challenging to be able to keep up with the brands that are able to index more and more resource into those big swing moments because they just have the day-to-day handle.

[00:28:59] Richard Gaffin: Yeah, [00:29:00] no, that makes sense. It's like the potential has grown, but the difficulty level has increased as well. I think that's like a pretty clear just generally speaking, but also for 2026 for ecomm, like, I think we can boil this down to. Big ideas and big thinking big picture strategy, marketing calendar, that sort of thing has become incredibly important, upcoming.

[00:29:20] Richard Gaffin: And you need to make sure you have the things that you need in place to facilitate that or you're gonna have a problem. And so if that's something that you want to do with us as we build these sort of exciting things that create crystal clarity so that you can make these sort of big picture decisions, you know where to find us.

[00:29:36] Richard Gaffin: Common thread code.com. Smash that high risk button. If you are a brand in the eight, nine figure range, we'd love to chat with you more. Luke, any any final thoughts for us?

[00:29:46] Luke Austin: Get predictable.

[00:29:47] Richard Gaffin: Get predictable. That's right. We've been saying it for years, but now boy, it really matters folks, so, alright, well, Luke, appreciate it. Appreciate having you here. And to everyone else out there, happy New Year. Happy 2026, [00:30:00] let's go get 'em and we'll see you next time. Take care.