Member Brief: DTC’s Second Life

Advertising spend is down, non-essential affiliate marketing is on life support, subscription strategies are nascent, and direct-to-consumer commerce is a rarity. Media is being forced to evolve, once more. And so are brands.

Direct to Consumer (DTC) Brands are Replacing Specialty Brands

And then — especially in the business press — because it furthered the narrative that even the hugest of consumer goods companies, long stuck in codependent relationships with the hugest of retailers, would start trying to sell more of their products direct.

Many early DTC companies that got big quickly contracted out the manufacturing of the physical products they were branding and selling. But that didn’t serve them well in the long run.