Retention in the Attention Economy: Lessons from Chubbies’ Head of Digital

Chubbies, the menswear brand known for its irreverent tone and community-driven marketing, has always punched above its weight by standing out in personality as much as in product. Founded on a mix of humor, nostalgia, and bold storytelling, the company has cultivated a loyal following without relying on the loyalty programmes and points schemes that dominate other retailers’ playbooks.

For Khanduja, retention is not a function you build in isolation. It is an outcome of authenticity, experimentation, and a relentless focus on treating customers like people rather than transactions. His perspective offers lessons for brands navigating the “attention economy” in 2025.

Balancing retention and acquisition like a portfolio

Marketers have long struggled with the balance between acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones. For Khanduja, the solution lies in thinking of the two like a portfolio: each requires investment, but the weighting must shift based on market signals and brand performance.

“Acquisition gets you growth, retention gets you longevity,” he explained. If you over-index on acquisition, you may post impressive short-term gains but risk building a leaky bucket where expensive customers churn. If you lean too heavily on retention, growth stalls because you are simply recycling the same audience.

At Chubbies, budgets flex between the two. Acquisition campaigns fuel discovery and keep the top of the funnel healthy. Retention efforts from email and SMS to community content ensure those customers don’t vanish after their first purchase. The balance is never static; it requires constant calibration based on CAC, LTV, and broader business goals.

The importance of retention has grown as the cost of paid media continues to rise. For challenger brands, simply buying growth through Meta and Google has become unsustainable. Retention is not only cheaper but more profitable, turning one-off buyers into long-term fans. For Chubbies, this means thinking not in silos but in systems: acquisition as the spark, retention as the fuel.

Testing into new platforms

If balancing budgets is one part of the equation, choosing the right channels is the other. With TikTok, TikTok Shop, and emerging retail media platforms reshaping consumer journeys, Khanduja is clear: no one has the playbook yet.

The Chubbies approach is to test, learn, and scale deliberately. “Start small, isolate spend, and pay close attention to behaviours,” he noted. Rather than scattering budget across every new opportunity, Chubbies runs controlled experiments. A two-week TikTok Shop push, for instance, is measured not by likes or views but by how it shifts blended ROAS, new customer volume, and repeat purchase rates.

This discipline guards against the trap of chasing hype. TikTok is powerful for discovery, its viral mechanics make it one of the fastest ways to get in front of new audiences. But TikTok Shop is still maturing. For Chubbies, it can drive trial, but retention must still be nurtured through owned channels.

The lesson is that brands don’t need to be everywhere. They need to be where their customers naturally spend time, and they need to invest with creative that is native to the platform. For Khanduja, testing into new spaces is less about chasing the latest trend and more about building confidence that the brand’s voice resonates authentically.

Retention is about voice, not vouchers

Many brands default to points, discounts, and loyalty ladders as the shorthand for retention. Chubbies takes a different path. Its loyalty is built on personality, not promotions.

The brand’s voice - playful, cheeky, and community-driven - acts as the glue that keeps customers engaged. Whether through irreverent subject lines in email campaigns, memes on social media, or tongue-in-cheek product launches, Chubbies speaks to its customers as if they were friends, not just buyers.

Discounts may produce spikes, but they rarely build lasting connection. For Chubbies, humor and relatability drive stickiness.

This philosophy reflects a broader shift in consumer expectations. In a market saturated with offers and loyalty schemes, what cuts through is voice - a brand that feels alive, authentic, and recognisable in every touchpoint. Chubbies has turned its tone into a moat, ensuring that retention is embedded in culture as much as in strategy.

Competing in the attention economy

Every brand today is competing not just with direct competitors but with the endless scroll of content that defines digital life. For Khanduja, the real battle is not over price or assortment, but over attention.

In this environment, transactional noise is the enemy. Bombarding customers with repetitive offers or generic messaging only accelerates fatigue. Chubbies takes the opposite approach: lean into familiarity, humor, and authenticity. Content is designed to entertain and engage first, with sales as a natural byproduct of that relationship.

This strategy acknowledges the reality that consumers don’t wake up wanting another marketing email or push notification. They want experiences that feel human. By positioning itself as a source of fun as well as fashion, Chubbies earns attention in a crowded feed and attention, in turn, becomes retention.

The lesson for other marketers is sobering: in the attention economy, the brands that survive are not the ones shouting loudest, but the ones customers actually want to hear from.

Lessons for the wider industry

Khanduja’s insights may be rooted in Chubbies’ unique brand DNA, but they carry implications for any marketer wrestling with retention.

• Think in systems, not silos. Acquisition and retention are not competing priorities; they are interdependent. Calibrate like a portfolio.

• Test before you scale. Treat new platforms as experiments, not mandates. Measure blended impact, not vanity metrics.

• Retention is cultural, not transactional. Loyalty is earned through voice, personality, and authenticity, not through points or gimmicks.

• Attention is scarce. Compete for it with relevance, creativity, and humanity, not with more noise.

For challenger brands especially, these lessons highlight the importance of clarity. Retention is not a department to build or a budget line to defend. It is the natural outcome of a brand that knows who it is, speaks consistently, and experiments with discipline.

Conclusion: The durability of authenticity

In his interview, Nishant Khanduja did not position retention as a secret weapon or a hidden trick. Instead, he reframed it as the by-product of doing the fundamentals well: balancing growth strategies, experimenting with focus, and never losing the brand’s voice.

For Chubbies, the retention story is not one of points collected or discounts redeemed. It is about a brand personality that has turned customers into a community.

As Khanduja put it, retention is not something you add on top of the business. It is something you earn by staying authentic in a world of distractions. And in today’s attention economy, that authenticity may be the most durable advantage of all.

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