How Chubbies Broke the ROAS Addiction

What do you do when your ROAS starts looking great, but your growth stalls?

Preston Rutherford, co-founder of Chubbies and founder of Marathon, joins Destaney to talk about one of the biggest challenges performance marketers face: knowing when it’s time to shift from pure demand capture to true demand creation.

In this episode, Preston shares the real story behind how Chubbies scaled, where ROAS started to break down, and why building a brand that people remember is more important than ever, especially in a world where AI, Amazon, and TikTok are changing how people discover and decide.

We cover:

• Why ROAS became a crutch (and how to break the addiction)
• How to think like a CFO without losing creative soul
• Brand search volume, incrementality, and blended CAC
• The role of shortcuts in AI-driven discovery
• Why great creative wins in a commoditized world
• Preston’s playbook for brands ready to scale sustainably

Learn more about:

Chubbies - https://www.chubbiesshorts.com

Marathon Data - https://www.marathondataco.com/

BTR Media - www.btrmedia.com

Connect with Preston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/prestonr/

Connect with Destaney - https://www.linkedin.com/in/destaney-wishon/

Listen to all episodes: btrmedia.com/resources/podcast

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.