Privacy regulations and technological changes have reduced the effectiveness and driven up the cost of paid digital marketing, meaning brands spent more than three times the amount to acquire each customer in 2022 than in 2013. A new era has arrived, requiring brands to rethink how they reach new consumers and engage with existing ones. Instead of pushing content to pre-selected groups, as was so effective over the last decade, the key now is to pull in customers with a fast-paced stream of creative campaigns. Once brands have access to valuable first-party data, they can prioritise channels that deliver a strong return on investment and enable them to build deep, long-lasting relationships and foster communities among customers. Brands will need to find different ways to differentiate their marketing strategies, broadening their social platform use beyond bottom of funnel ads, and focus on creativity and quality of the customer experience.