Alpaca VC’s First-Ever Brand Discovery Report: Customer Acquisition and the State of Omni-Channel Retail

Discovery is one of the most critical challenges today’s brands must overcome. But how? Download the full Brand Discovery Report here.

By: Aubrie Pagano + Naomi Goez

Just when it seemed like it couldn’t get any harder for brands to find and keep customers, the FTC proposed a bill two weeks ago that would potentially prohibit marketers from creating auto opt-in marketing flows on their website. It’s not an over-statement to say it’s been a bad few years for marketers.

A quick history of brand marketing in the last three years:

• A bat. Covid. 11% of global goods stuck in port
• Apple releases iOS 14.5 and gives users the option to block activity tracking, and unsurprisingly, only 5%-15% of global iPhone users opt out.
• Third party data dies.
• CPM’s sky-rocket as high as 185% YOY.
• $500B of excess inventory ensues.
• Congress threatens to ban TikTok, one of the only discovery arbitrage channels left.
• SVB collapses and no one wants to invest in brands anymore.
• Hi, hello, it’s April 2023.

I thank the stars every day that I was not building my brand over these last years. I also wonder how brands will continue to find customers as the cards stack against them…