CPG brands are often beholden to large retailers' demands for fees and marketing spend. The rise of live shopping, a massive trend in Asia, provides a powerful direct-to-consumer channel that can rebalance negotiating power back toward the brands.
In the current "interest media" era, organic social posts are a free, real-time test of content relevance. Brands can eliminate wasted ad spend by only putting paid media behind content that has already demonstrated strong organic performance, guaranteeing a better return on investment.
As consumers shift from Google Search to AI assistants like Gemini, search optimization is changing. Gemini is heavily informed by YouTube Shorts content. Brands should invest significantly in creating Shorts to ensure their products appear in future AI-driven search queries and discovery.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram now prioritize content based on an interest graph, not a social graph. This means a post's relevance determines its reach, not the creator's follower count. Any single piece of content has the potential to go viral, leveling the playing field.
The marketing industry runs on flawed reports and data disconnected from real business outcomes. Executives often intuit the truth but are constrained by the system. The biggest opportunity lies in trusting common sense and real-world observation over these manufactured reports.
Society is splitting into two behavioral camps. One side embraces extreme digital immersion with AI, while the other seeks out analog experiences like concerts and events, partly as a reaction to digital anxiety. Brands need distinct strategies to engage consumers at both ends of this barbell.