Today’s newsletter is a peek behind the curtain at one of the Operators’ most iconic brands …

🤑 Sean Frank shows you how Ridge attributes reliable revenue to ad views

🏆 Connor MacDonald shares the data + 5 lessons from Ridge’s best Q1 ever

🤖 Mike Manheimer follows up on Ridge’s AI SMS with an invitation

Plus, the top five headlines in consumer.

Sean Frank CEO, Ridge

How to attribute rev to your ad views

If someone views your:

Meta video
Snap story
Pinterest pin

Does not click.
Then buys days later.

Can you track the value of that view?

At Ridge, WE CAN.

Northbeam's “Clicks + deterministic views” attribution model (C+DV) matches impressions to orders using exact identifiers: order IDs, hashed emails, login data.

That is what NB says. I TRUST NB. We use it to deploy millions and million of dollars in ad spend.

This means, FINALLY-

You can see which upper-funnel campaigns are selling your widgets, stop over-crediting last-click, make better budget decisions, and escape the permanent underclass.

It works with NB's already absurd suite of tools …

- creative analytics
- product analytics
- profit benchmarking
- media mix modeling
- incrementality testing

Ridge is a big dog.
Other big dogs trust NB.

HexClad
Kitsch
Dr. Squatch
Manscaped
Grüns

If you want to attribute revenue across your funnel, I have no other recommendation.

NB is 1 of 1.

Connor MacDonald CMO, Ridge

Ridge’s Best Q1 Ever, YoY Channel Distribution Update

At Ridge, 2026 kicked off with a bang.

Q1 was our highest revenue non-Q4 quarter ever.

I’m not telling you that to brag. I’m telling you because I want to show you what’s working right now.

Here’s what changed, my thoughts on performance, and five reminders I’m taking into the rest of the year.

Meta: -12%

On paper, Meta shrinking from 58% to 51.6% of total budget looks like a step back. But we spent 25% more dollars YoY at an improved ROAS (+20%). I call that a win.

Heading into 2026, I thought Meta would increase as a percent of budget for brands due to …

• Creative volume
• Andromeda
• New attribution models

We didn’t see that at Ridge.

But I’d be surprised if we don’t drive more volume with Meta through the rest of 2026.

YouTube: +63%

YouTube is no longer an experiment; it’s always-on.

We went into 2025 with a goal to crack horizontal video and in-stream. We ended Q4 having done that. Now we’re reliably spending across both Shorts and in-stream.

Budget share grew from 8.7% to 14.2%. And ROAS jumped +247%, that’s the biggest gain of any channel YoY for Q1.

Our iROAS reports have also been strong across the board.

Twitter (X): +362%

I called X a sleeper hit at the end of Q4. Q1 backed that up.

Spend went from 1.6% to 5.3% of total budget, up 362% YoY, with ROAS improving +27%. The platform has been working consistently for us since October.

Plus, I’m excited about some updates that are coming to the ad platform in Q2.

TikTok: +339%

We’re a TikTok Shop brand now.

Spend grew from 0.5% to 1.6% of total budget. Even though the ROAS is inflated with a large % of growth coming from GMV Max, performance has continued to improve.

1.6% of budget is still very small. We’re trending in the right direction. But this remains one of our biggest opportunities heading into the rest of 2026.

AppLovin: -19%

Budget share dropped from 5.3% to 4.3%. That’s because AppLovin is still a seasonal channel for us.

I said at the end of Q4 that our goal was to make it evergreen. We haven’t cracked that yet. Right now it’s a gifting channel. Q4 is where it earns its keep. But as we head into Father’s Day, I expect spend to climb back to 8%+ of budget.

 5 Reminders on Channel Diversification 

I could talk for hours about channel diversification, when to diversify, where to diversify, how to diversify …

And on Marketing Operators, I have. Particularly, on this episode and the keynote from this masterclass.

Here, I’ll close with five reminders I’m taking into 2026.

1. Don’t Over-Diversify

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.

Too many channels at 1-2% of spend is a bad idea.

Each one requires:

• Creative iteration
• Measurement setup
• Ongoing optimization

Even at Ridge, there’s a huge difference in our channel diversity between product categories, based on maturity.

Most brands would be better served figuring out how to spend 2x on Meta before spreading themselves thin across six channels.

2. Alpha in Creative

Getting good at Meta is synonymous with getting good at content. That’s the 80/20.

Plus, great Meta creative travels far and wide. Vertical video moves across …

• AppLovin
• Shorts
• Reels
• Snapchat
• TikTok

… with minimal adaptation.

Get great at content on Meta. Then everything else gets easier.

3. Channel Diversity is Incremental

Every traffic source you build feeds Meta a richer signal.

• New audiences
• Seasoned pixel
• Better targeting

When Ridge launched TV, we saw an immediate lift in percent-new visitors and Meta reach — without changing a single thing inside our ad account.

4. Acquired Customers as Threshold

Not sure when you should diversify off of Meta?

Think in terms of customers acquired, not revenue generated.

The question is: how many customers do you need, and have you exhausted what Meta can do to get them?

5. YouTube Views as Objective

50% of YouTube viewing happens on TVs.

If you’re running purchase-optimized campaigns on YouTube and wondering why ROAS looks soft … that’s why.

Instead, optimize for views.

It matches the platform behavior, reaches colder audiences at much lower CPMs, and the incrementality shows up when you measure it correctly.

All in all, my plan is to …

• Scale TikTok Shop + spend
• Make AppLovin evergreen
• Keep pushing YouTube
• Find even more Meta volume

The through-line is conviction.

YouTube is always-on because the iROAS held up across multiple test cycles. X earned more budget because it performed in Q1.

Make every channel fight for its budget, and let the winners run.

Mike Manheimer CCO, Postscript

56-Min SMS + AI Masterclass With Top Operators

Last week Connor shared a real conversation from Ridge’s Shopper bot. It’s one of hundreds that take place every day without any human cost on Ridge’s side.

You can talk with Original Grain’s Shopper here.

But you might be wondering …

We got the answers!

We just finished a live 56-min session with Logan Dunn from Wyze and Jason Lee from Raycon.

Here’s a sneak peek …

• Human vs. AI SMS (the data)
• How to drive 5x more replies
• Real AI customer conversations
• 92% of tickets, no human
• The impact of AI on NPS
• How to measure SMS rev lift

Raycon and Wyze also get into what they would do differently if they were starting today. Whether you want to improve your SMS marketing with AI … or you want to start dipping your toes in, then we made this for you.

Watch it on-demand, right now; or bookmark it to watch later.

THE FEED

​New Product Launch Playbook Behind 9-Figure Brands​

​Rethinking SMS Marketing for Ecommerce: AI, RCS & LTV​

​GPT-5.5 Drops, Walmart Fires OpenAI, Meta Cuts 14,000​

The Trends

Curated by the editor of CPG Wire, the five top stories in commerce and DTC.

1. Purely Elizabeth Explores Sale: Instagram

Purely Elizabeth, a Boulder-based purveyor of better-for-you breakfast foods, hired Houlihan Lokey to explore a sale. The company is now doing more than $200M in sales and could be valued as high as $600M.

Elizabeth Stein launched the brand in 2009 with $5,000 in savings. Investors include SEMCAP, Swander Pace Capital, Fresh Del Monte, and Cloudbreak Capital.

2. Neutonic Secures $6M: Business Wire

Neutonic, a creator-led energy drink and supplements brand, closed a $6M funding round at a $60M valuation. Since launching in 2023, Neutonic has sold over 7.5 million cans and expects to generate more than $25M in revenue this year.

The company was founded by Chris Williamson and James Smith, two influential media personalities, as well as Luke Betts and Shan Hanif. Neutonic is available at 10,000 points of distribution in the U.S., UK, and Australia.

3. TIES Launches with $1.5M: PR Newswire

Austin-based men’s fertility brand TIES launched with $1.5M in seed funding. Founded by husband-and-wife team Luke & Camryn Novak, TIES is aiming to solve an alarming problem: sperm counts have declined more than 52% since 1973.

Their seed round was led by HumanCo, the health & wellness holding company founded by Jason Karp.

4. ARMRA Moves into RTDs: Trend Hunter

Premium colostrum brand ARMRA is entering the ready-to-drink beverage category with its new sparkling colostrum soda line. For now, available online; will debut at Sprouts over the summer.

Since launching in 2019, ARMRA has established itself as the leading player in the red-hot colostrum category.

5. Crazy Mountain Grabs $15M: GlobeNewswire

Crazy Mountain, the non-alcoholic beer brand founded by the trio behind Casamigos, closed a $15M seed round led by CAVU Consumer Partners. Coatue and Discovery Land Company also participated in the round. George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman launched Crazy Mountain in March.

The company is led by Steve Fechheimer who previously served as the CEO of New Belgium Brewing.

With thanks and anticipation,
Aaron Orendorff
🤓 Chief Executive Officer

P.S. (Disclaimer): Special thanks to Northbeam and Postscript for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

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