In this episode of Agency Alchemy, we speak with Sam Piliero, founder of The Moonlighters, a fast-growing performance marketing agency built for the $1–$10M e-commerce brand. From scaling BarkBox through an IPO to launching his own agency, Sam shares how he’s rewriting the rules of media buying—eschewing bloated teams, cutting wasted ad spend, and proving that founder-led content can outpace traditional agency marketing.

Sam digs into the challenges small but ambitious DTC brands face, why Facebook and Google’s “easy mode” can cripple growth, and how The Moonlighters’ one-to-one senior talent model is changing client relationships. Sam also offers candid thoughts on AI’s potential in media buying, the power of giving away the “secret sauce” on YouTube, and his vision for sustainable agency growth.

On this episode of Agency Alchemy, we sit down with Adam Biddle, CEO of GH05T, to explore how a career that started in music marketing—working with legends like Black Sabbath—evolved into leading one of the most forward-thinking social-first agencies in the corporate space. Adam shares how GH05T helps highly regulated industries like finance and insurance embrace creativity within strict boundaries, why honesty is the only way to set expectations with brands, and how his team is using AI through their proprietary tool, Ghostwriter, to scale community management without losing the human touch.