1/ Got to present a few weeks ago on “DTC Media & The Era of Delivery” at @stuartawillson’s Digital Dialogues: E-commerce Reimagined virtual conference. You can see the video linked, but threading here as well...

2/ I am obsessed with modern brands, Direct to Consumer media and the idea that we are in the “Era of Delivery”

3/ I’m also a big fan of @web, his writing & work at @2PMinc - in particular his stuff around linear commerce and modern brands. While this quote is more focused on retail, it’s hard to ignore the parallel among, and convergence of, all consumer brands, including those in media.

4/ Let’s dive into Modern Brands. For our purposes, let’s focus on Modern Retail/Commerce Brands, and Modern Media Brands….and the intersection of those things.

5/ In retail, throughout history, we saw the evolution from local gen store > big box dept store > internet big box destination > owned ecommerce stack (DTC).

In media we saw the evolution from print > radio > television > digital destination > email & podcast (DTC)

6/ Their most exponential growth has happened in the last decade, which has been the transformation of “internet big box” to DTC in retail, and “digital destination” to DTC in media.

7/ Let’s focus and talk about media...and why these things aren’t so different.

I want to take you back...alllll the way back….to 2010

8/ Media was Thriving in an “Era of Destination.” In the beginning of the consumer internet, we had desktops and destinations. I worked at Y! in 2010. We sold the homepage for hundreds of thousands every day bc it reaches hundreds of millions of people every day

9/ Newer media companies started to hit their stride, but with that success came an abundance of content sites. As access to the internet became more mobile, we saw a huge push for distributing content instead of housing it at a destination to better meet people where they were.

10/ Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit collected and disseminated the content created on NYT, Vox, CNN, etc. The platforms were in control...not the creators. There were 3 forces at play: Fragmentation, social media zeitgeist, capitalism. This is the “Era of Distribution”

11/ However, now, and in the last few years, we’ve hit an inflection point that is centered on curation. When you have this much content and this many ways to get it, you end up with a lot of noise in where you get content and how.

12/ The solution is curation and a more direct relationship with your audience. This is built on quality, trust and ease (similar to @web’s definition of modern brand - “well-designed, purposeful and familiar”).

13/ Right now we are in the “Era of Delivery” - truly meeting customers where they are, without (excess) intermediaries.

Email and podcasting represent the ideal solution.

14/ Direct to inbox and direct to your ears....all they require are apps already endemic to your primary device.

Email (and the inbox) is the new home screen and audio is the new interface.

15/ This moment in media is parallel to the one in retail and commerce. Modern brands across the board thrive because of the direct relationship (not data) they have with their consumers.

16/ DTC brands build relationships with their consumers. They are obsessed with building brand love/loyalty.

DTC media in the era of delivery does the same. Media companies are becoming strong brands by being able to build real brand obsession & next-level, two-way engagement.

17/ There’s a huge opportunity for a modern solution, consisting of modern brands - both retail and media. That opportunity is the full-funnel KPI ability of DTC media.

Newsletters have created a full funnel ad solution.

18/ When DTC media brands, partner with other DTC brands we’re able to accomplish in one spot what other platforms need multiple to achieve.

Awareness of a brand, product interest, and path to purchase in just one email. We already have 100% of the reader’s attention and trust.

19/ Modern Brands across retail and media will continue to look like, and partner with one another to unlock a new ecosystem that will fundamentally change everything.

That ecosystem will mean big wins for modern brands and consumers alike.