What We Learned from 50+ Conversations at Shoptalk

Aycee Gardner

The Real Problem

Almost every brand I spoke to had ideas. They knew they needed more creative, more testing, more consistency. But the issue wasn’t strategy — it was this: they didn’t have a system to turn ideas into output at scale. That gap shows up in predictable ways:  
  • 01 Small teams, big expectations One designer handling paid ads, organic content, website, email, and social — across multiple brands. Everything stretched thin, nothing getting the volume it needs to perform.
  • 02 Agencies involved, but still slow Turnaround times lagged, iteration was limited, and creative didn’t fully reflect the brand. Without real-time feedback loops or brand context, bottlenecks remain.
  • 03 Testing without a strategy Teams producing creative without structured frameworks or learning loops. Output becomes reactive and hard to scale.
  • 04 Growth without infrastructure Brands expanding into new markets, moving from wholesale to DTC, or entering TikTok and live selling — ready to grow, but their creative engine isn’t.
    Different businesses. Same core problem.

What We Were Doing There

BTS went into Shoptalk with a clear lens: understand where creative breaks — and show how we fix it. We co-hosted a dinner with Brandfuel.ai at Din Tai Fung. The best conversations didn’t happen on the show floor. They happened over soup dumplings — more candid, more strategic. It reinforced something we already believe: high-value conversations need smaller, more intentional environments.  

The Bigger Shift

If there’s one takeaway: creative is no longer just output. It’s infrastructure. The brands that win produce at volume, test consistently, learn quickly, and scale what works. Not the ones chasing one “perfect” ad. This is exactly the gap BTS solves — high-volume video and static creative, structured testing systems, and the speed to move fast without breaking internal teams. We plug in as the layer between ideas and execution. Shoptalk didn’t show me anything radically new. It confirmed what we’ve been seeing for a while: most brands know what they should be doing. They just don’t have the system to do it. That gap is the opportunity.
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