Brands Briefing: Behind Bombas’ YouTube creator strategy

Winkler is one of many YouTube creators who have worked with Bombas on sponsored videos over the last year — a new strategy for the sock brand. Bombas had invested in YouTube before, mostly through traditional pre-roll or mid-roll ads, but it switched gears last April to partner with the ad platform Agentio to “get more new customer conversion through a different style of video,” Carolyn Dixon, performance marketing manager at Bombas, told Modern Retail.

Despite the huge reach of YouTube, the platform has actually historically been “underutilized” by brands, an April report by eMarketer found. According to eMarketer, “despite a 750% increase in ad spending over the past decade, YouTube will account for just 2.5% of global digital ad revenues this year [in 2025].” Digitally-native brands like August and Mad Rabbit have started to experiment more with YouTube Shorts, in particular, over the past few years, as many of them have already built their creative muscle for short-term videos through Instagram Reels and TikTok. Now, brands like Bombas are looking to get more creative with their YouTube advertising strategy.

Bombas matches with creators through Agentio’s platform and then sponsors a section of one of their videos. In turn, creators tape an ad for the brand, usually around 90 seconds or so, and insert the ad into their larger video. Other YouTube creators Bombas has worked with through the partnership include Gabi Belle and Joshua Weissman.

Bombas’ YouTube strategy is paying off. In just under a year, Bombas was featured in some 450 creator videos that generated more than 165 million views. On average, Bombas’ creator-led YouTube ads have an 83% view-through rate, higher than the average of 10-15% that’s reported by Google. What’s more, Bombas has achieved 90% net new customers through the creator-led ads. The reach has been “incredible” for Bombas, so much so that it’s making creator-led YouTube content an “evergreen” part of its marketing strategy going forward, Dixon said.

Sky Canaves, principal retail analyst at eMarketer, told Modern Retail that Bombas is one of the brands “realizing YouTube’s potential a little more fully.” Many brands have switched over to YouTube Shorts because they were worried about a TikTok ban in the U.S., and YouTube Shorts received a 700% spending boost in 2023. But, Canaves said, brands shouldn’t ignore YouTube’s more traditional offering of long-form creator videos and the monetization opportunities it can provide. In 2019, Bombas’ CMO Kate Huyett said that YouTube proved “to have a higher first-average order value than any other channel, which was unexpected.”

Unlike pre-roll ads, Bombas’ newer creator-led ads are edited into each video, so they’re not automatically skippable. “Brands are buying the real estate in the content,” Arthur Leopold, the founder and CEO of Agentio, told Modern Retail. “These integrations that you’ve seen across the Bombas campaign are going to be on YouTube in five years and 10 years and 20 years from now. That’s so powerful for a brand, as you think about the long-tail effect of people continuing to watch these videos.”

For Bombas, another perk of working with YouTube creators is that they have built-in audiences, many of whom set alerts to be notified of new videos. These audiences also tend to sit through entire videos from creators, which can help with view-through rates and the odds of YouTube’s algorithm picking up a video. “The people watching are invested in a creator and their story and the content they’re making, and they want to hear what they have to say about a brand,” Bombas’ Dixon said.

To drive this point home, Bombas gives its creators freedom to craft ads as they see fit. Creators receive basic guidelines, like how long an ad should be, but they’re allowed to create content in a way that will resonate with their viewers, Dixon explained. “The audience can tell if a creator is having fun with it,” she said. “It can break through the noise of just ad fatigue, in general.”

In one video ad for Bombas, Weissman, a food-focused creator who posted a video about “trying every chain restaurant burger in America,” began his Bombas ad by telling his audience, “Whether you’re cooking at home or on an adventure to find great food, you’re on your feet a lot.” Winkler also made a video ad about how she was wearing Bombas socks when she got engaged (a true story) and cheekily said, “Will these socks get you engaged? I’m not legally allowed to say.” Winkler told Modern Retail that this “free reins” approach has been refreshing. “I really wish I could see more of that from brands,” she said.

Indeed, brands like to preach about authenticity — but firmly telling creators what to say in an ad doesn’t help that sentiment get across, Canaves said. “Fans want to trust that creators aren’t selling out or shilling for a brand, if they have branded content,” she explained. “But [fans] also understand that brand sponsorships and relationships are necessary for creator survival. I think they’re open to seeing that presented in ways that remain true to the creator and their voice and fit in with their content. This is a great way to do that.” –Julia Waldow

By the numbers: Energy drinks

The energy drink boom shows no sign of slowing down in 2026 and beyond. There are already a number of formidable players in the space — Celsius, Monster and Red Bull — but newer entrants continue to raise significant amounts of money. Last week, two-year-old startup Gorgie announced one of the biggest food and beverage funding rounds this year. What’s more, other players are starting to show cracks amid a tough operating environment, as earnings from Celsius on Tuesday morning showed. Here’s a closer look at how the energy drink sector is doing, by the numbers. While inflation has hit the beverage category hard, the big players are still thriving.

• $24.5 million: Series A raised by energy drink startup Gorgie. The brand, founded by Lively founder Michelle Cordeiro Grant, previously raised $6.5 million in pre-seed funding in 2023. Gorgie also announced its most recent retail expansion in April, rolling out in 863 Target locations.
• $14.3 million: Funding round announced by Lucky Energy in March, which the brand described as an “oversubscribed Series A1.” Lucky Energy said in a press release that it has raised $40 million in total and plans to use the funding to expand to an additional 15,000 doors before the end of the year.
• $1.81 billion: Monster’s last quarterly sales, a 4.7% increase over last year. Analysts had estimated $1.80 billion. Monster Beverage reported improved quarterly sales, citing higher demand and promotional tactics bringing in price-conscious customers. It shows that, despite growing interest in clean energy brands, established giants are still leading by numbers.
• 7%: Year-over-year revenue decline reported by Celsius during its first quarter earnings on Tuesday morning. Celsius CEO John Fieldly said the company faced a “dynamic operating environment” this quarter, but said that the company was still confident in its growth strategy, pointing to the Alani Nu acquisition, continued gains in retail shelf space, and growth in international markets.
• 12.7 billion: The number of Red Bull cans sold in 2024. While revenue slowed down since 2020, the Austria-based company reported record-high profit last year. –Gabriela Barkho

Earnings to watch

It’s a big week for DTC earnings as Yeti, Figs, Warby Parker and Allbirds all report earnings this week. Here are some things to watch for as these companies release their earnings this week:

• Yeti is expected to provide an update on its efforts to diversify sourcing. When the drinkware giant hosted its last earnings call on Feb. 25, it was only looking at a 10% tariff on imports from China, something that Yeti expected would cost it less than $10 million that year. Now, of course, things have changed. Yeti was already planning on moving 80% of its production out of China this year, but now the company is facing greater urgency to do so. Analysts are expecting Yeti to report a decline in profits and a slight increase in revenue when it reports earnings on Thursday.
• Allbirds CEO Joe Vernachio has been hard at work over the past year trying to turn things around at the footwear brand — closing stores, shifting to a distributor model in its international markets, overhauling its product engine — but that hasn’t yet translated into a return to growth. Revenue is once again expected to be down on a percentage basis by double digits, and analysts are expecting a loss. Vernachio said during the last earnings call that he expected Allbirds to return to growth by the fourth quarter of 2025, so expect small updates from him that indicate Allbirds is heading in the right direction. There’s one crumb of comfort from a recent Placer.Ai report, which says that year-over-year visits per Allbirds store location were up 14.1% year over year.
• Warby Parker said during its last earnings call that it expects for retail to account for the majority of its growth in 2025 — and the company has a fine-tuned playbook in order to do so. First, Warby Parker is opening a record number of stores this year, with 45 locations. All of the new stores opened this year will offer eye exams, which have become a bigger area of focus for Warby Parker, as 75% of prescription glasses are purchased at the same place where an eye exam takes place. Warby Parker is also trying to drive more sales of progressive lenses, which it sees as a still relatively untapped opportunity for the company, and is introducing roughly 20 new frame collections this year to drive more interest from the fashion-focused consumer. Expect Warby Parker to provide data points on how this retail expansion is going, such as by breaking down its four-wall margins and what type of productivity it sees at its stores. –Anna Hensel

What we’re reading

• Hims & Hers has hired Nader Kabbani — an Amazon veteran who oversaw the acquisition of PillPack and the launch of Amazon pharmacy — as its new chief operations officer.
• SharkNinja has named former Ulta CMO Michelle Crossan-Matos as its first-ever chief growth officer, as the home appliance brand has seen significant growth in beauty.
• Heidi O’Neill is the latest executive to exit Nike. O’Neill, formerly the president of consumer and marketplace, was a significant driver of Nike’s DTC strategy.

What we’ve covered

• As of last week, Shein’s ad impressions on Google Shopping have dwindled to zero.
• How furniture brands like Havenly and RH are adjusting their growth strategies after being faced with the double whammy of tariffs and a depressed housing market.
• Why Aerflo, a startup that sells a portable sparkling water maker, decided to drop its prices.