The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast

Hosted ByTaylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin

2020 transformed the world of ecommerce forever. For the modern DTC brand, the rewards have never been greater. But the waters have also never been choppier, and the way forward has never been more uncertain. So how do you navigate this dangerous new reality? No matter how you do it, you’d better not do it alone. That’s where the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast comes in — join Common Thread Collective’s Taylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin as they bring you guiding insights from across CTC’s portfolio of growing DTC businesses. Whether you need a clear view on the macro issues affecting the world.

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The Ecommerce Playbook | Our 120-Hour AI Media Buying Test for Black Friday

November 5, 2026 The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast 00:19:11
The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast
The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast
The Ecommerce Playbook | Our 120-Hour AI Media Buying Test for Black Friday
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Our team made more than 12,000 bid and budget adjustments across our portfolio during Cyber Five last year. For Black Friday 2026, we’re testing whether AI-assisted Meta media buying can make those decisions more consistent, timely, and aligned with business targets.

McCay Rasmussen, our Senior Paid Media Manager, joins Richard Gaffin to explain the system we’re building for all 120 hours from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. It compares performance with hourly revenue expectations, identifies gaps, and uses business context to determine what should happen next.

McCay illustrates the approach with our portfolio data suggesting roughly 27% of Black Friday revenue would arrive by 8am. That becomes a checkpoint for evaluating pacing, with a traffic-light framework helping distinguish a smaller shortfall from one that needs a larger response.

In this episode:

  • How an authorized AI agent could adjust a campaign’s budget at 4am while the team is offline

  • Why contribution margin, marketing efficiency ratio (MER), and incremental ROAS inform account decisions

  • Setting limits on automated changes and alerts for human review

  • Reviewing the timing and impact of last year’s bid and budget adjustments

  • Preparing for changes in demand after Black Friday and Cyber Monday peaks

The practical starting point is your own forecast. McCay explains how historical hourly revenue and your promotional calendar can establish expectations before you define which decisions to automate.

Show Notes: