eCommerce Evolution

Most brands think they've "tried YouTube" — a few bucks a day, no real strategy, and they wrote it off. Brett Curry disagrees, and he's got the data to back it up. In this live talk from a Google NYC event packed with 8- and 9-figure D2C and omnichannel brands, Brett breaks down the seven plays that separate the 10% of brands actually winning on YouTube from everyone else still guessing.

Inside the episode:

• Why a 190-test study across 74 brands found YouTube's real incremental ROAS runs 3.5x to 10x higher than what shows up in-platform — and why that's a competitive advantage if you're willing to measure it
• How Arctic drove a 230% search lift and a 25% retail sales lift at Walmart from ads that converted zero people on Arctic's own website
• The media mix shift (30–70% awareness/view-based spend) that beat pure demand gen in a women's apparel brand's own incrementality tests
• Why Native Deodorant's run from ~$100M to over $1B in sales at 20% EBITDA leaned hard on top-of-funnel YouTube, and how Dr. Squatch's early YouTube ads set up its $1.5B exit
• The "mashup" formula (think Opopop and What the Foundation) for turning your best Meta and TikTok ads into YouTube winners — and the exact checklist (30+ seconds, voiceover, clear CTA) for knowing which social ads can go straight to YouTube as-is

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro: Live from Google NYC, Brett's "7 Ways to Scale with YouTube Ads" talk and why most brands still get YouTube wrong

[02:59] What is YouTube? 98% trust in creators, "TV + search had a baby," the CTV watch-time lead, unique reach, and YouTube's many viewing modes

[08:08] YouTube-built brands: Dr. Squatch's $1.5B exit and Native's run to $1B in sales

[10:06] Play #1, Incrementality: causal measurement, user vs. geo holdouts, branded search, and Haus's ~3.5x in-platform underreporting finding

[15:52] Play #2, Omnichannel support: the extra +1x from retail, Arctic's CDI/BDI analysis, 19 test markets, 230% search lift, and 25% Walmart lift

[22:00] The snack brand that paused YouTube: Amazon sales and branded search drop within days, then recover once ads resume

[22:50] Play #3, YouTube-first creative: the hook, demo, social proof, CTA formula, plus UGC mashups and brand-formance ads

[26:08] Creative breakdowns, Arctic: the Chase Fly ceramic demo mashup and the Walmart-only brand ad that drove zero D2C sales but big retail lift

[33:18] Creative breakdowns, Native, What the Foundation & Opopop: diverse UGC, founder-led mashups, and 9x16 vs. 16x9 edits

[40:48] Play #4, The creative feedback loop: view rate → hook, CTR → convince, CVR → audience, and why average watch time per impression matters

[44:55] Plays #5 & #6, Campaign structure and porting social ads: Demand Gen plus awareness/view-based campaigns, and what a Meta/TikTok ad needs to run as-is

[48:53] Play #7, Operationalize testing: snapshot vs. photo album, the GPA analogy, the lift trifecta, attributed brand search, and test-over-test comparisons

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Ezra Firestone has built and sold multiple 8-figure e-commerce brands, from Boom by Cindy Joseph to Overtone, and he's done it by breaking a few rules most operators are too scared to touch — leaning into fear as a marketing lever, killing "me-too" products before they launch, and building an entire brand around a founder who's no longer here to run it. In this conversation, he gets specific: the exact margin math he uses before launching anything new, the content system that's replaced single-creator dependence, and why some of his best-performing ads never mention the product at all.

Inside the episode:

• What actually happened to Boom's ads and community after founder Cindy Joseph passed away — and the moment Ezra knew it was time to stop running her voice in every email
• The "Brittany script" experiment: how one winning paid-creator ad got remade in a British accent, and why customer ambassadors, paid creators, and influencers all need a different kind of script
• Why Boom runs ads about menopause without selling a single menopause product
• Ezra's margin rule for launching anything new (buy for $1, sell for $7) — and the $800K soap brand that broke it
• The "novel, not better" pattern behind Boomstick, Safe Sleeve, and a dentist-branded dog dental chew
• The line Ezra repeats to his team so nobody hides bad news from him: "I will never charge you an emotional price for the truth"

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro: Brett Curry on a live, wide-ranging interview with Ezra Firestone

[01:43] Life gets better with age: Boom's anti "anti-aging" philosophy

[03:58] Enjoying your life is a skill: Gratitude, attention, and "Be Here Now"

[09:12] Why your wellbeing drives your business: Mindset as the foundation for growth

[10:33] Martial arts and opening a dojo: Changing your state and serving the community

[14:02] Losing a founder-led brand's face: Cindy Joseph, Boom, and finding new voices

[21:41] Talk about the experience, not the product: Menopause messaging and community angles

[23:03] Product and offer innovation: Boomstick, SafeSleeve, Overtone, and the 1:7 margin rule

[29:10] Messaging that makes people feel: Emotion drives action, and using fear with integrity

[37:29] Product company + media company: "New and fancy" and creative storytelling

[40:13] Building a culture of truth: Diversity of thought, no emotional tax, and attracting the right people

[44:02] Navigate, don't drive: Delegating, Bezos-style "wandering" time, and wrap-up

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

• Ezra’s LinkedIn: /ezrafirestone/

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

He was making $10 a post from Adidas on Instagram in 2013. Today, Bill Rom and his partner Josh are running a bootstrapped apparel brand doing $220 million this year — and projecting up to $400 million next year. Bill breaks down the exact financial wake-up call that let them scale aggressively, why they still do 10-15% of their own screen printing at $200M+ in revenue, and how they became a genuine culture moment (mascots, memes, and Aiden Ross wearing their shorts included).

Inside the episode:

• The fractional CFO hire in 2022 that revealed they were making just $60 in profit on every first purchase — and why that clarity changed how aggressively they'd spend
• How their average new-customer value climbed past $400 in the first 12 months, and why that number justified riskier channel bets
• The in-person activation playbook (spin-to-win wheels, velocity challenges) they started back in 2016 that Bill calls Gen Z's biggest unfair advantage today
• Why Baseball Lifestyle 101 now outsells Nike and Adidas per square foot at Dick's Sporting Goods, and how that pushed them into a $600K/month YouTube and linear TV strategy
• The "asymmetrical bet" rule Bill uses to decide when it's smart to lose money for 60 days in exchange for a 10x return in 90
• How building relationships with creators like Eric Sim (rather than paying for one-off deals) landed them a shoe collab with Adidas

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro — Brett Curry sets up the live NYC interview with Bill Rom of Baseball Lifestyle 101

[02:16] Meet Bill Rom — $220M this year, $340–400M projected next year across D2C and wholesale

[02:40] The breakout moment — From Instagram media account to apparel brand; the College World Series fire marshal story

[04:53] Knowing your numbers — The fractional CFO, $60 first-purchase profit, and scaling from $5M to $220M+

[06:51] Beyond first-purchase math — Cohort analysis, LTV climbing past $400, and running your own race

[10:29] What they got right early — Building an email list, posting hourly for five years, and in-person activations

[14:59] Sponsor break — OMG Commerce

[16:08] Why YouTube is the future — Evergreen content vs. TikTok, 80K subscribers, and YouTube as the #1 streaming service

[19:46] Going big on commercials, CTV & linear — Working with Jacques and the "spend 10x your creative cost" rule

[21:33] Investing in culture & creators — Jackson Olson, Eric Sim, King Ajuko, and building content muscle in-house

[25:11] The Adidas collab — How it happened and why they won't let top creators go to Nike or Adidas

[27:26] Asymmetrical risk for asymmetrical returns — "Lose money for 60 days to 10X in 90" and wrap-up

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Bill’s LinkedIn: /bill-rom-54653744/

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Cody Plofker (Jones Road Beauty, Marketing Operators podcast) has run YouTube ads that stay live for two to three years without fatiguing — while most paid social creative burns out in a week. In this episode, he breaks down exactly how Jones Road builds YouTube creative that works, why incrementality is the only measurement system he trusts, and how to use it to win budget arguments with a board that only looks at last-click.

Inside the episode:

• The YouTube creative mistake most brands make: too polished, not punchy enough — and why grittier, longer-form ads (60-90 seconds, even 2 minutes) often outperform short, clean ones
• Why audio hooks matter more on YouTube than visual hooks — because half your views are happening on a TV with the sound on
• How Jones Road keeps the same YouTube ad running for 2-3 years without fatigue, while Meta and TikTok creative burns out in a week
• The "16x9 conversion" trick for turning existing vertical social assets into YouTube ads without a new shoot
• Why incrementality is the only causal measurement system — and how Cody uses it to win budget fights with the board over channels that "don't look good" on click attribution
• How Jones Road found their YouTube post-treatment window kept "exploding" over time — the opposite of Meta, where results are mostly baked in fast

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro — Brett Curry sets up the interview with Cody Plofker at OMG Commerce's NYC event

[02:45] Where YouTube fits in the marketing mix — a quasi-brand, quasi-direct-response channel

[03:24] Judging YouTube creative — hooks, pacing, and why longer ads can outperform

[07:31] Educational content and Jones Road's creative journey — from UGC to produced TV

[09:41] Foundation Stick launch — creator shoots and top-down vs. bottom-up production

[12:41] Why Cody co-hosts the Marketing Operators podcast

[15:30] Measuring YouTube properly — the 16x9 conversion trick and halo effects

[18:22] Incrementality vs. MTA vs. MMM — the case for causal measurement

[22:54] Reading individual tests and building an incrementality testing roadmap

[26:18] What's next for Cody — AI, new projects, and life after Jones Road

[28:37] Audience Q&A — roadmaps, baselining, and Jones Road's early YouTube hurdles

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Cody's LinkedIn: /cody-plofker/

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Andrew Youderian disappears into a cave for six weeks every year to crunch data from 300+ seven, eight, and nine-figure store owners — and comes back with the most honest read on the state of e-commerce you'll find anywhere. This year's survey has a few takeaways that sting: AI adoption hit 73% but produced zero measurable financial edge in 2025, Amazon has quietly slipped from growth engine to supplemental channel, and the single biggest profit lever isn't a tactic at all. Brett and Andrew dig into what the numbers actually say — and what operators should do about it before everyone else catches on.

Inside the episode:

• Why Amazon's share of revenue has fallen back to 2017 levels even as more brands sell there — and the "build a brand, sell on Amazon second" shift behind it
• The 92% vs. 17% gap: how store owners really feel about selling DTC versus Amazon (and why the P&L explains it — 47% COGS vs. 58%)
• The AI gut-check: 73% of brands "meaningfully adopted" it, so Andrew pulled their actual sales data instead of asking for ROI — here's what he found
• The financial-mastery cliff: going from a 4-out-of-5 to a 5-out-of-5 on financial fluency jumps net margins from 9.7% to 14.3% and net income growth ~50%
• The warehouse stat that became Andrew's most viral thread: own your warehouse and grow ~4%, lease or 3PL it and grow 30–35%
• The optimist vs. pessimist breakdown — conversion rate, inventory turns, and fixed overhead — and what separates the two camps
• Why the future belongs to "small, durable brands" — and why the days of hacking distribution are over

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro clip — Andrew on treating AI adoption as a growth tool that didn't pan out in the data

[00:26] Welcome & introducing Andrew Youderian of eCommerce Fuel

[01:31] Backstory — How Brett and Andrew connected, and eCommerce Fuel's origins

[03:41] Inside the annual survey — Methodology and respondent profile

[05:27] Amazon findings — Declining revenue share, low seller satisfaction, and P&L economics vs D2C

[11:22] The Amazon land-grab era ending — 97% of brands now use paid traffic

[17:34] CAC, moats, and the Dan Kennedy quote — Spending more to win the long game

[20:19] Amazon as a checkout, not a discovery engine — The 40% off-platform sales stat

[24:53] AI adoption findings — No financial edge despite 75% adoption

[28:26] The nuance on AI — Vibe-coding pitfalls and where AI is actually helping

[31:20] Financial intelligence — Why jumping from a 4 to a 5 out of 5 skyrockets margins

[39:43] 2026 outlook — Optimists vs. pessimists, and the future of durable small brands

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Andrew’s LinkedIn: /andrew-youderian-ba74a623/

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Most brands treat their subscriber portal like a settings page. Turns out, it's actually their highest-risk revenue moment — 70% of subscribers who log in are there to cancel, skip, or bail. Piyush Jain, CEO of Loop Subscriptions, has the data from 1,900+ D2C brands to prove it, and the playbook to stop it.

Inside the episode:

• How OSEA Malibu cut churn from 10% to 5% without offering a single discount — using a free travel kit timed to the exact order where most subscribers were dropping off
• The "Mystery Reward" pop-up that intercepts high-intent cancellations in real time — and reduces churn by another 23% for brands using it
• Why 20–25% of cancellations happen within days of your upcoming order email — and how Four Sigmatic engineered a 40% save rate on their cancellation flow
• How Good Protein drives 25% of total subscription revenue from upsells — and why second-order subscribers are worth 2x more than first-order ones
• Non-traditional subscription plays for brands outside consumables: from air purifier filter programs to digital membership add-ons

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro — Mystery Rewards & The Portal Churn Problem

[00:22] Show Introduction & Guest Welcome — Piyush Jain of Loop Subscriptions

[02:29] Why 70% of Portal Visitors Want to Cancel or Skip

[04:09] Case Study: OSEA Malibu Cuts Churn in Half With Gift Rewards

[06:59] Mystery Rewards — Gamifying the Portal for High-Risk Subscribers

[10:55] Streaks & Loyalty Gamification — The Duolingo-Inspired Approach

[14:22] Zero-Day Churn — When Customers Subscribe Just for the Discount

[19:43] Cancellation Flows — How FourSigmatic Saves 40% of Cancellations

[21:42] Increasing Product Consumption to Reduce Churn

[25:03] Second-Order Subscribers — Why They're 2X More Valuable

[29:13] Upselling as a Zero-CAC Revenue Channel — The Good Protein Story

[34:20] Non-Traditional Subscriptions — Air Purifiers, Shoes & Digital Memberships

[39:07] How to Increase Subscription Take Rate on the PDP

[42:42] Wrap-Up & How to Connect With Loop Subscriptions

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Piyush’s LinkedIn: /piyush-jn/

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Most e-commerce brands pour everything into getting customers to checkout — and then hand them a generic, one-size-fits-all experience that quietly kills the sale. Avi Moskowitz, co-founder of PDQ, has processed millions of checkouts across top Shopify brands (including Jones Road Beauty), and his diagnosis is blunt: cart abandonment isn't a technical problem. It's an emotional one. And it's leaving $270 billion on the table every year.

Inside the episode:

• Why your checkout is the one place segmentation goes to die — and how personalizing it by customer type (first-time, returning, high-value) can drive an 18% AOV lift or double-digit conversion jumps
• The "WISMO problem": why more than 50% of order-related support tickets arrive the same day the order was placed — and what it tells you about the trust gap you're creating at checkout
• The free shipping threshold mistake almost every brand is making (hint: they copied a competitor who also just guessed)
• Surprising checkout wins from PDQ's testing: why moving the economy shipping option down one slot meaningfully increased revenue per session — without a single new ad or product
• How to think about every order as its own P&L — factoring in CAC, COGS, fulfillm

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

Chapters:

[00:00] Intro — The $270B checkout abandonment problem

[00:22] Welcome & Guest Introduction: Avi Moskowitz, Co-Founder of PDQ

[01:52] Avi's Background: From Craft Beer to SaaS Founder

[03:23] COVID Timing & The eCommerce Wake-Up Call

[05:09] The Root Cause of Cart Abandonment: Trust, Not Technology

[07:27] How PDQ Solves the Checkout Confidence Gap

[14:30] Reducing Friction: Shipping, Delivery Dates & Upsells

[23:00] Free Shipping Thresholds & AOV Optimization

[34:00] Building a Checkout That Converts Like Amazon

[43:24] Thinking in Mini P&Ls: Per-Order Profit Optimization

[46:26] Personalized Checkout Logic at the Customer Level

[48:24] Where to Find PDQ & Get Your Free Checkout Audit

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Avi's LinkedIn: /moskowitzavi

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Chris Hall — the Ecom Cowboy, former All-American offensive lineman at UT Austin, and the guy who scaled Bruce Bolt to one of Shopify's fastest-growing stores as a team of one — is as entertaining as he is tactical. But underneath the hat and the accent is a marketer who has been thinking hard about what separates the people who survive this AI moment from the ones who don't. His take: the button-pushers are already gone. The marketers who build and manage agents — and who also make bold analog bets — are the ones who get more valuable every quarter.

Inside the episode:

• Why the "team of one" marketer is actually more viable than ever — and the Claude-powered workflow Chris used to handle ads, email, SMS, reporting, and organic social simultaneously at Bruce Bolt
• How BattleBox turned Whatnot into their #2 revenue channel (surpassing Amazon) — with net-new customers, not cannibalized .com sales — and why most DTC brands are still completely asleep on it
• The AI stack Chris is actually using: Claude for strategy and execution, Wideframe for agentic video editing, Kive for AI product imagery so clean that seven-figure brands are running it as their entire Instagram feed
• Why "get sweaty on camera" is one of the highest-leverage moves a marketer can make right now — and the skill it builds that AI literally cannot replicate
• The two anti-AI bets Chris thinks every brand and operator needs to make in 2026 — and why they work because of AI, not in spite of it

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

‍Chapters:

[0:00] Welcome & Introducing the Ecom Cowboy

[1:53] Origin of the Ecom Cowboy Brand & Name

[2:17] Chris Hall's Football Career at UT & Blocking Von Miller

[4:43] From the NFL to Nonprofits to E-Commerce

[6:45] Inside Bruce Bolt: One of Shopify's Fastest Growing Stores

[9:07] The Future of Marketing Jobs in an AI World

[14:26] What Marketers Must Do to Stay Relevant in 2026

[17:32] Getting Claude-Pilled: Building Your Agentic Workforce

[21:44] Running an Entire Marketing Team with AI Agents

[27:34] Chris Hall's Full AI Stack (Wideframe, Higgsfield & More)

[31:36] AI Productivity Hacks: Daily Reports, WhisperFlow & Skills

[36:40] The Anti-AI Bet: Live Streaming & IRL Activations

[39:11] Why Every Brand Should Be on Whatnot Right Now

[47:29] Wrapping Up & How to Find Chris Hall Daily

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Chris' LinkedIn: /chrislukehall

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Most D2C brands have tried YouTube ads. Almost none of them are getting credit for what those ads are actually doing. Brett Curry, CEO of OMG Commerce and the guy behind YouTube growth for brands like Native, Arctic, and Dude Wipes, makes the case that in-platform reporting is under-counting YouTube's real impact by roughly 70% — and that the brands leaning in right now are about to widen the gap on everyone still dabbling.

This one goes deep: incrementality testing, omnichannel attribution, creative frameworks, and why your Meta winners almost certainly won't survive on YouTube.

Inside the episode:

• Why a 1.0 in-platform ROAS on YouTube is probably a 3.4 in reality — and the 190-test incrementality study behind that number
• How Arctic drove a 25% Walmart sales lift (and 230% branded search lift) by running YouTube in select markets — measured scientifically against matched control markets
• The three creative types that actually work on YouTube: hero/brand films, single-creator UGC, and the specific criteria your Meta winners need to meet before you bother testing them
• How to diagnose a broken YouTube ad using just three metrics: view rate, click-through rate, and average watch time per impression — and what each one tells you to fix
• Why campaign structure for retail lift looks completely different than for D2C sales — and how to set up for both at once

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

—

‍Chapters:

[0:00] Introduction: Why Most Brands Still Suck at YouTube

[1:51] Audience Poll: Who's Actually Winning on YouTube?

[3:15] The Core Problem: Bringing a Meta Mindset to YouTube

[4:05] YouTube as Trust: Creators, TV, and Time Spent

[8:14] Incrementality 101: Measuring the Real Impact of Your Ads

[11:22] How Incremental Is YouTube? The 3.4x ROAS Reality

[15:28] Going Omnichannel: Using YouTube to Drive Retail and Amazon Sales

[19:13] Arctic Case Study: Measuring YouTube's Impact on Walmart Sales

[24:09] Creative Diversity: The Essential Elements of a YouTube Ad

[27:16] Creative Breakdown: Single Influencer, Hero, and Mashup Ad Examples

[38:05] Creative Story Arc: How to Hook Viewers and Drive Action

[40:24] Creative Feedback Loops: What Data to Watch and Why

[46:09] Campaign Structure: How to Buy Media Based on Your Goals

[51:56] Measure, Model, Maximize: The Trifecta of YouTube Measurement

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

YouTube ads veteran Brett Curry (OMG Commerce) and TikTok Shop expert Jordan West (Social Commerce Club) went back and forth live on what's actually moving the needle for D2C brands right now — and some of their takes are going to sting. Most brands are still treating Google spend as a given, measuring YouTube with click-based attribution that was never built for it, and ignoring a TikTok Shop launch strategy that flips the creator dynamic entirely.

Inside the episode:

• The YouTube Shorts formula that's working in 2026 — why Brett reversed his position, and the 4 things a video must have (including minimum length) before you waste money testing it
• The Blitz methodology explained — how Social Commerce Club seeds hundreds of creators in a 24–48 hour window to manufacture momentum and make big creators come to you instead of the other way around
• Why Jordan thinks most Google spend is a non-incremental tax — and the channel hierarchy he'd use for every D2C brand over $10M
• The TikTok Shop–to–Shopify halo effect — the data Jordan's team is seeing that almost nobody is talking about yet
• "My brand is too premium for TikTok Shop" — Jordan's reframe on why that objection is almost always wrong, and what to ask instead

Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!

Chapters:

[0:00] Introduction: Brett Curry & Jordan West Swap Podcasts

[1:09] Why YouTube CPMs Are the Most Underpriced in the Industry

[5:00] What's Working on YouTube Shorts: The Framework for Winning Creative

[7:57] TikTok Shop Deep Dive: Jordan's Obsession with Demand Generation

[10:01] Like, Know, and Trust: Why YouTube Is the Ultimate Brand-Building Platform

[11:28] Ad Break: OMG Commerce Omnichannel Growth

[12:37] The Blitz Methodology: How Social Commerce Club Concentrates Creator Signal

[16:46] Moments vs. Blitzes Explained: Definitions and How They Drive Momentum

[19:42] How Far Can Brands Actually Scale on YouTube?

[21:53] Why MTA Tools Underreport YouTube: The Case for Incrementality Testing

[22:58] The Problem with Multi-Touch Attribution: Jordan's New Halo Tracking Concept

[25:17] Incrementality Explained with a Retail Store Analogy

[28:43] Rapid Fire YouTube Questions: Mashup Creatives and Repurposing Creator Content

[30:53] YouTube Targeting Strategy: Why You Still Need to Feed the Algorithm Signal

[32:22] Which Brands Should Be on YouTube But Aren't?

[33:09] Hot Take: The Right Ad Spend Hierarchy for D2C Brands

[34:43] YouTube vs. Meta by Product Type: Apparel, Problem-Solution, and Omnichannel

[37:15] If TV Works, YouTube Should Work: The CTV and Linear TV Connection

[38:10] Is Your Brand Too Premium for TikTok Shop? Jordan's Answer

[39:42] Why TikTok Shop Is a Fundamentally Different Beast Than TikTok Ads

[41:05] Wrap-Up: Where to Find Brett and Jordan

Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: / thebrettcurry

YouTube: / @omgcommerce

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links: Jordan's LinkedIn: jordan-west-marketer/ ‍

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D’Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more