The Evolution of Customer Acquisition… CPG’s World Cup

By Jonathan Feeney and David Schick and David Katzman and Jack Hermann Published on June 2, 2026 PDF

CPG companies have been forced to shift their customer acquisition playbook over the last 5 years. We survey how several leaders described the shift in their customer acquisition strategies since 2021 publicly. Notably, e-commerce has roughly doubled as a share of sales across those who have commented publicly within the group, digital now accounts for the majority of advertising budgets at many companies, and first-party data has moved from an aspiration to a widely cited operational priority.

CPG leaders are broadly lagging challengers in owning their communities, not everyone is addressing it equally. We identify where incumbents tend to lag challengers operationally including user engagement, content velocity, DTC data pipelines, influencer infrastructure, and AI search visibility. These gaps are compounding over time. We think these explain some of the group’s struggles but reflect future opportunity. We see potential outperformance for leaders like Procter & Gamble, Reckitt-Benckiser and others who are sharing more granular details on their progress against this reality. Broadly, HPC & beverages are ahead of food.

This Thursday, June 4, we are hosting a virtual event on the topic: The World Cup Catalyst: Consumer Activation in the Age of Agentic AI with DISTINCT Technologies, to discuss how the world’s largest brands are preparing for the World Cup and what live data intelligence looks like in the age of agentic AI. DISTINCT is the Live Data Intelligence platform for global brands. The platform turns real-time consumer interactions into measurable ROI and predictive insight across every live brand moment. DISTINCT works with Fortune 500 brands across beverage, telecom, and consumer goods, including live activations tied to the World Cup. We hope to leave the call with a better sense of who’s winning & losing in this evolution ahead of the World Cup. Please Click to Register

CPG_Acquisition_2021_vs_Today Download

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