The very successful Chubbies brand (most radical shorts known to mankind have arrived to take men out of the "Capri" age of shortswear) has truly evolved over time, with thoughtful strategy in growth and marketing.  Founder/CMO/CTO Tom Montgomery shares an inside look into the thinking, strategy, and ambition of Chubbies with Marc Raco and guest hosts Joe Yakuel (Agency Within) and Catherine Schepis (American Fashion Podcast, and Lean Canvas Advisory). Recorded in the MouthMedia Network studios. To hear more from speakers like Joe and Tom, check out CommerceNext on July 31st & August 1st in NYC. In this episode: How Chubbies has evolved over time, from a brand focused on men’s shorts and embracing the weekend as an escape at the start of the brand in 2008 during recession, to adjusting itself as a full clothing line including tops, outerwear, and branding reflecting the current working world where we can work 24/7 if that’s what’s necessary and the “weekend” is less concrete a concept for some Why community is so important to Chubbies, and how the brand embraced social media from the start and utilized its marketing budget to be able to compete with much larger brands The importance of being a part of the community you create around your brand, and not being content with setting it up and stepping back Utilizing relatable concepts of wellness, healthy mental space, and relaxation to build a healthy, positive, and inclusive community How Tom utilizes data and assessment of social media engagement to refine future content to keep the community active Keeping the brand ethos alive through content that isn’t intended to drive sales or advertise product, such as the “Weekender” emails that are sent out on Fridays Having fun with content, such as the time Chubbies published an open letter to Abercrombie & Fitch urging them to stop selling cargo shorts or realizing it was cheaper to produce and mail out beer koozies to grow the fanbase that it would be to “buy” Facebook fans Why the biddable marketing landscape on Facebook has been advantageous to Chubbies, and why that has made other attribution models more challenging on other social media platforms  How Chubbies has tested the implementation of influencers, and why this year has been a stronger year for engagement through influencers, and why it’s important for Chubbies that influencers act more like fans of the brand than salespeople giving out promo codes Testing new channels, through pulse testing and holdout groups, and what Tom is looking for when testing these channels’ attribution statistics How the data from social interactions are used to monitor the content and product Chubbies is releasing to adjust marketing or even adjust product lines The value of user-submitted photos wearing the products, and how these customer photos led to Chubbies breaking away from just producing shorts and to vary the brand’s color palette  Plus, we go off the grid and find out about some of Tom’s best/worst vacation experiences, his favorite Chubbies product that didn’t connect with consumers, and why it’s important to stay humble See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.