D2C Diaries The Future of Creative Strategy: How AI Is Transforming Performance Marketing in 2026
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Creative costs are climbing fast.
Meta’s changed how ads learn.
And AI is completely redefining what “creative strategy” means in 2026.
In this episode, Olly and Loukas dive into how brands can adapt to Meta’s creative similarity update, scale creative diversity without burning resources, and build systems that use AI as part of the production line — not a side tool.
They unpack what happens when 70% of your iterations get grouped under the same entity ID, why the role of an AI videographer is about to become one of the most important hires in performance marketing, and how tools like Sora, VEO 3.1, Nano Banana, and Gemini are reshaping the creative process.
From creative operations to prompt engineering, this episode breaks down what the next wave of performance marketing really looks like and why the future belongs to the brands who move fast and systemise smarter.
Watch Andrej Karpathy's podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXUZvyajciY
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We're excited to share that we are hiring creative strategists to join the UK's number one independent meta-agency, as recognised by Meta. Our team is known for being curious, innovative, and fast-growing, and we work with leading D2C brands like Heights, Mindful Chef, and Spacegoods and 47 Skin. If you're interested in being part of our dynamic team, please send me an email loukas@hambimedia.co.uk
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From the team behind Soar With Us and Hambi Media: http://www.soarwithus.co/
0:00 - Intro
01:08 - Club Neuro community event
03:10 - Film recommendation: “I swear”
04:40 - Creative diversity revisited
07:18 - The new iteration strategy
15:15 - Rise of AI production
19:40 - Andrej Karpathy podcast episode
23:35 - New AI drops
27:45 - Building our AI data warehouse
36:66 - How we're using VEO 3
45:20 - The future of creative operations + predictions
Follow Olly on socials:
LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/kPrqO
Twitter: https://x.com/oliverwhudson
Follow Loukas on socials:
LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B
Twitter: https://x.com/LoukasHambi
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