What Does It Actually Take to Win BFCM? (Live from Q4 Summit, with Cody Plofker)

What does it actually take to win BFCM?

This week's episode comes straight from last week's Ecom Founders Q4 Summit in New York City, where Nik sat down with Cody Plofker, former CEO of Jones Road Beauty, for a live fireside chat.

Cody recently stepped down as CEO after years running the brand at Jones Road Beauty, and he's now building something new while staying on Jones Road's board. In this conversation, he gets refreshingly honest about what actually works heading into Black Friday, and what he'd do differently.

Cody breaks down why almost nobody discovering your brand on Black Friday is a first time visitor, which means the real work happens all year, not just in November.

He walks through how Jones Road used moments like Memorial Day and Labor Day as tune ups before their biggest offers, why he treats the whole Q4 calendar as a season instead of a single weekend, and the mistakes he's made on both sides of inventory planning (overbuying and underbuying both suck, just in different ways).

He also gets into his TV strategy and media mix, why he's skeptical of free ad credits even when they're tempting, how he thinks about the creative supply chain and budgeting around fifteen percent of spend toward creative, and why Q1 might actually be the real Q4 for wellness and subscription brands.

Whether you're deep in Black Friday planning right now or already thinking ahead to Q1, this one is packed with tactical, no fluff advice.

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