For its first CTV campaign, Jennifer Aniston’s DTC haircare brand LolaVie had a few non-negotiables. The campaign had to be simple. It had to demonstrate measurable impact. And it had to be full-funnel.

LolaVie used Roku Ads Manager to test and optimize creatives — reaching millions of potential customers at all stages of their purchase journeys. Roku Ads Manager helped the brand convey LolaVie’s playful voice while helping drive omnichannel sales across both ecommerce and retail touchpoints.

The campaign included an Action Ad overlay that let viewers shop directly from their TVs by clicking OK on their Roku remote. This guided them to the website to buy LolaVie products.

Discover how Roku Ads Manager helped LolaVie drive big sales and customer growth with self-serve TV ads.

The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Anniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.

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A client said something memorable during our call: “We have 80,000 contacts we have not emailed in a year. Let’s wake them up.”

That is how domains get damaged. Not from one bad email, but from one large “catch up” send that triggers all alarms simultaneously. If you're sitting on a dormant list, the move isn't bravery. It’s control.

A common cold emailing trend for 2026 is emerging: inbox providers are penalizing spikes and rewarding consistent engagement.

Teams that “go dark” and then blast a list later learn this the hard way. This week alone, I saw two accounts with clean infrastructure get throttled after a big send to old contacts. Not because the copy was offensive, but because the audience was cold and the volume jump looked unnatural. The teams winning in 2026 treat old lists like high-risk inventory. They verify, segment by recency, and ramp based on engagement signals. When we follow that playbook, we keep the inbox stable and still pull pipeline out of lists that everyone else is afraid to touch. The trend is not more clever copy.

It is more disciplined in how you re-enter the inbox.

What this means: If you want to revive a dormant email list, you need a ramp-up plan, not a rebrand. Start with the most engaged people first, then work your way back up to volume.

Why it works: Old lists are filled with risk: invalid addresses, spam traps, and people who no longer remember you. When you hit all these issues at once, it leads to bounces and spam complaints, which quickly hurt your domain reputation. A gradual approach keeps engagement signals strong and helps maintain inbox placement.

The data: When we conduct a controlled reactivation ramp, we usually experience fewer deliverability shocks and higher reply rates than with a single “winback blast.” In a recent reactivation of a B2B list that had been inactive for 9 to 14 months, we started with the most recent engagers, kept the initial week small, and only scaled when engagement remained strong. The outcome: spam complaints stayed close to zero, bounces remained below 2%, and replies ranged from 2% to 3% once we gained momentum. The same list sent in one large batch would have been a deliverability risk.

How to use it this week: Here is the 4-step ramp we run.

Copy-ready line you can steal:

MarTech explains how to re-engage inactive lists safely, emphasizing the importance of avoiding sudden volume spikes and focusing on list de-risking and gradual increases.

Takeaway:

Dormant lists are high-risk sends, period. Treat them as a separate channel with their own rules. For your next campaign, start with recent activity, verify thoroughly, and only scale when engagement remains strong.

Elite Business argues that cold email still works, but only when the basics are in place: quality data, technical setup, and content based on how recipients actually behave.

Takeaway:

Most teams blame copy because it is the easiest thing to change. In 2026, the bigger wins will come from data quality and infrastructure discipline. What this means for your next campaign: validate your list, control frequency, and stop measuring success by clicks alone.

In this interview, I go over what actually works right now and explain why “cold email does not work” is often a self-inflicted wound. I discuss the biggest mistakes, why links in the first email hurt deliverability, why spintax is more important now, and the simple framework we use for copy that gets replies.

Takeaway:

You don't need more tactics. You need fewer mistakes. For your next campaign: remove links from email 1, tighten your list, and make the first ask a simple, easy-to-answer question.