Retention Edge E19: The Truth About Agencies, YouTube Ads, and AI Creative

Hope your BFCM has been a smashing success.

We took a week off last week, but we’re back with another episode of The Retention Edge Podcast.

In this episode, we hosted Chris Brewer from OMG Commerce. Chris has spent 15+ helping ecommerce brands (primarily brands doing 8 & 9 figures per year) scale through Google Ads, Amazon Ads, email marketing, YouTube and more.

He came with the goods — real insights on how to choose the right agency, scale demand gen, and tap into channels like YouTube (which is still relatively untapped by DTC brands).

Here’s the quick rundown on what we discussed on the pod:

How to Choose & Evaluate an Agency (and Avoid the Common Pitfalls)

A lot of brands think their bad agency experiences mean the agency was the problem — but as Chris points out, most issues actually start with the way the brand hired them.

Too many teams fall in love with a charismatic founder on stage, sign quickly, and only later realize the day-to-day team isn’t the same person who sold them the vision.

Chris’ advice is simple: hire an agency with the same rigor you’d use for an internal role. That means interviewing them properly, understanding how they operate, and — most importantly — talking to former clients, not just happy current ones.

Demand Gen Mistakes: TikTok, Meta & the Urgency Trap

A lot of brands misread their demand gen success — especially on TikTok.

A campaign may look like it’s performing, but if the only reason it’s working is a massive 40% discount, that’s not real demand. It’s just margin lost.

Brands also forget to look for cross-channel lift: are TikTok viewers searching the brand on Google? Are they buying on Amazon? If not, the channel isn’t actually growing the pie.

Chris warns that many brands rush into channels with urgency — especially YouTube — pushing creative that isn’t built for the platform and then concluding “it didn’t work.” In reality, the setup was flawed.

What Actually Works on YouTube: Creative, Formats & Expectations

When Google Shopping rolled out, Chris and his co-founder Brett Curry became one of the earliest educators and practitioners in the space. This early foothold laid the foundation for their later expansion into YouTube performance marketing.

Today, YouTube is one of their most developed and recognized areas.

From years of experimentation, they found that YouTube requires purpose-built creative. 

Meta-style ads rarely perform well because the pacing, storytelling, and user mindset are completely different.

Brands need to think in terms of YouTube-native formats — manifesto videos, UGC mashups, demonstration videos, narrative explainers — and they need multiple versions to find a winner.

AI Content, Trust, and the Coming Consumer Backlash

No discussion is complete today without touching on AI.

Chris makes a strong argument that brands are sleepwalking into a trust crisis with AI.

Consumers already express frustration when they spot AI-generated videos or obviously fake “influencers,” and that skepticism will only grow. He warns that some big DTC brands are running AI UGC without realizing how risky it is — ethically, legally, and reputationally.

Watch or listen to the pod below:

You can also find it on Spotify. Wherever you listen, don’t forget to like, rate, review, comment, subscribe. Each interaction helps us bring more experts on to share their wisdom (always free, btw).

You can learn more about Chris’ agency OMG Commerce here, and connect with Chris on LinkedIn here.

I’ll be back later in the week with the latest from around the ecom world, plus our regular deep dives into retention and sustainable growth strategies.

Talk soon,

Pietro and The Retention Edge Team

PS: thinking about launching your own app? Go to our website to get a preview of your app for free, or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn to talk about it.