Pivot to traditional: Direct-to-consumer brands sour on Facebook ads

For a while now, Facebook ads have been quintessential cornerstones of direct-to-consumer brands’ customer acquisition strategy. With the ability to micro-target segments, and track and test different ads for optimization, Facebook was the natural way to go for brands who sought direct access to their audience. However, with rising costs and an overcrowded marketplace – there are now over 6 million active advertisers on Facebook, compared to 1 million in 2012 – many companies are now looking to cheaper options like Instagram Stories and more traditional forms of advertising, including out-of-home ads, TV, and direct mail.

In a comment to Digiday, Vivaldi Chief Creative Officer Tom Ajello pithily noted that “All in all, DTC brands use Facebook as a shopping catalog, which in essence is right. But when the catalog gets filled with too many interesting things it turns into Skymall. And we all know what happened to Skymall.”