How Traditional CPG Brands Can Crack the Code of Social-First Marketing

In the marketing world, social media is hardly new, but the starting point of its current form can be traced back to a TikTok video from 2020 under the shadow of the pandemic: a man skateboarding while sipping Ocean Spray cranberry juice, with Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" playing in the background. This carefree scene was later expanded into a TV commercial by the cranberry juice producer, helped Ocean Spray products sell out quickly from shelves, and pushed "Dreams" back onto the Billboard charts, marking an early sign of TikTok-driven product trends.

Five years on, "TikTok-ification" has become mainstream in media, and CPG brands are accelerating their shift toward a social-first model. Top companies are allocating up to half of their advertising budgets to this channel and spending billions of dollars to acquire more agile upstart brands. This upgrade comes amid intensifying competition for Gen Z consumers, while marketers also contend with the further decline of linear TV—the primary lever for mass reach since the living-room screen was born.

"This is mainly about capturing the next generation and the fear of missing out (FOMO)," said Nick Valenti, CEO of agency Mādin, in an email. "Gen Z no longer actively seeks out information; it finds them through the feeds they immerse themselves in daily. Social is where they form taste, trust, and identity."

These moves are not just about budget shifts; more marketers are seeking agencies with deep social and influencer expertise, including appointing dedicated shops or setting up new in-house teams. This moment also carries an existential dimension: Can traditional CPG brands, rooted in strictly defined brand values and sometimes projecting a "squeaky-clean" image, let go of their need for control when facing a swarm of "gnat-like" upstarts that grew up social-native?

"Every year there are more success stories," said Evan Horowitz, co-founder and CEO of agency Movers+Shakers. "I think most brands can point to independent competitors that truly understand social and are eating into their market."

Analyzing the CPG shift toward social-first marketing

Research highlights that social media's long-term growth momentum is strong, and in recent years, the algorithm-recommended short-video format popularized by TikTok has also sparked widespread interest. According to WARC data, total U.S. social media ad spending in 2024 was approximately $79.4 billion, up more than 90% from 2020. This does not yet account for influencers—who have become Gen Z's top cultural trendsetters and increasingly brand founders themselves.

Although social media's upward trajectory has been steady, in 2025 CPG brands are more openly discussing social-first missions. Unilever—one of the largest players in the category—said in March it would shift half of its advertising budget to social and scale influencer partnerships 20-fold to reach consumers globally with greater precision.

"India has 19,000 postal codes, and Brazil has 5,764 municipalities. I want an influencer in every one of them," Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez said at the time, adding that he would push the plan "desperately" from his new role.

The company behind Dove and Hellmann's mayonnaise increased marketing investment by about $1 billion in 2024, reaching its highest level in over a decade, offering a reference point for the potential impact of such spending growth on social media and the creator economy. While other CPG brands have not made statements as striking as Unilever's, the social-first trend is heating up in other areas, from "unhinged" meme pages to quirky product collaborations and flavor designs aimed at sparking online buzz.

"I think most brands can point to independent competitors that truly understand social and are eating into their market."

—Evan Horowitz, CEO of Movers+Shakers

Those with deep pockets are also boosting social capabilities through dealmaking. For example, PepsiCo acquired prebiotic soda challenger Poppi for nearly $2 billion, while Unilever bought DTC soap maker Dr. Squatch for about $1.5 billion. In announcing the deal, Unilever highlighted Dr. Squatch's "viral social-first marketing strategy, collaborations with influencers and celebrities, and culturally relevant partnerships."

"The dynamic between brand control and creator authenticity has been completely reshaped by the success of challenger brands," Jason Weber, senior vice president of partnerships and head of sales at Open Influence, said in an email. "This model has been validated through major acquisitions in the space."

A social-first strategy is not just a budget issue

Mastering social-first marketing requires more than shifting budgets on a spreadsheet or acquiring smaller competitors. Unilever has also taken other steps that hint at where the entire category may be headed in its social-first evolution.

In July, the company launched an in-house graphic design unit called Sketch Pro, aimed at helping home care brands like Persil leverage cutting-edge generative AI technology from companies such as Google and Adobe to produce content at greater speed. Developed in partnership with IPG Studios, Sketch Pro is positioned as a shift from "traditional linear TV-first production to social-first storytelling," recognizing that emerging AI software could further accelerate an already fast content production pipeline.

"YouTube is currently the world's number one TV viewing platform with a 12.5% share," said Arthur Leopold, co-founder and CEO of Agentio. "What will it look like in five years, or even three, especially when AI tools drive content creation costs down to nearly zero?"

Other brands are also expanding their marketing agency rosters to better focus on social. PepsiCo's U.S. beverage unit in June more closely integrated its in-house agency with VaynerMedia to help brands like Pepsi and Mountain Dew maintain "cultural fluency" across platforms. Pepsi's share of the U.S. soda market continues to decline, and according to Beverage Digest data, Coke's Sprite jumped to third place earlier this year.

PepsiCo noted that "big brand moments"—meaning traditional media campaigns—will still be handled by existing agency partners, while the VaynerMedia collaboration is designed to support the "always-on" mindset that social requires.

Despite strong momentum at the top, moving toward social-first can be a long road for established CPG brands, as agencies often encounter resistance in areas like cost structures and creative production. Approval processes can be as slow as traditional media, a pace that cannot keep up when the social trend machine shifts almost overnight.

"There is too much friction in the process," said Leopold, whose company takes a programmatic approach to placing ads around creator content. "A single integration or post can take months of back-and-forth negotiation to go live, so paid media teams have historically steered clear of this type of content."

Brand reputation and 'flexibility' challenges remain

Traditional CPG marketers also need to confront the gap between the modern image they think they project and the level of risk they are actually willing to take. Are they open to social-first marketing that treads the edge of taste or includes innuendo? Are they willing to poke fun at political missteps or highly public rap beefs? Are they willing to hand creative control to influencers who might spark controversy? These questions cannot be solved simply by increasing ad budgets.

"Throwing money at it doesn't solve the organizational problems that prevent you from doing great work," said Horowitz of Movers+Shakers. "Many brands are now spending heavily on media buys across Meta and TikTok, but when you look at their creative, you just think, 'Wow, that's a waste of money.'"

Some CPGs have brand identities that are clearly defined and adaptable across channels. P&G's Old Spice, with its long history of absurdist humor, is practically a pioneer of the current "brain rot" content era; Unilever's Dove easily extends its "Real Beauty" platform to counter the bias of social platforms amplifying unrealistic standards of female appearance. Dove earlier this year launched its first fully creator-led marketing campaign, another manifestation of Fernandez's social-first commitment.

"The trouble with our industry is thinking everything has to become a meme account."

—Nick Miaritis, Chief Client Officer at VaynerMedia

Other brands have less "flexibility," a term Horowitz borrows from executives at agency client E.l.f. Cosmetics. Especially in the fast-moving consumer goods space, marketing often emphasizes product features, reliability, and value—attributes that do not necessarily become algorithm favorites and may require CMOs to apply more unconventional thinking.

"If you want the brand to show up differently, the brand has to show up differently. That's hard for traditional brands to accept, and for good reason: they have a lot of assets, a diverse customer base, and they need to protect those," Horowitz said.

Still, some brands may have more room to play than they initially realize. Consumer demand for recognizable assets like nostalgia and mascots remains high, providing avenues for bolder social content.

Georgia-Pacific in May revived its Brawny Man paper towel mascot, recasting him as a flannel-clad "muscle man" trying to fit into the cultural context of TikTok "get ready with me" videos and internet slang like "goblin mode." The campaign may carry an unintentional meta layer: a brand founded in the mid-1970s trying to fit better into the smartphone era.

Pushing the envelope on humor can also pay off. VaynerMedia recently ran a "March Madness" campaign with MiraLax featuring athlete ambassadors overcoming pre-game stomach issues. VaynerMedia has also drawn attention for helping Clorox craft a bolder social-first marketing strategy.

"Clorox's Pine-Sol business is different from its Brita business. First define what that 'box' is, then play freely within it," said Nick Miaritis, chief client officer at VaynerMedia. "The trouble with our industry is thinking everything has to become a meme account."

Lowering guardrails and embracing change

Social offers less certainty than linear TV in some respects—the medium through which CPGs built their reputations. Walled gardens abound, and there is no widely adopted standard measurement currency across the industry. Content moderation remains a moving target, with more platforms adopting community-notes-based oversight.

Social platforms may also undergo other internal and external changes that impact brands and creators. YouTube or Instagram could decide at any moment that certain content types or video formats have greater monetization potential. TikTok—the birthplace of the Ocean Spray moment—still faces the possibility of a U.S. ban, though that likelihood has been diminishing with each update from the Trump administration.

"At the end of the day, for a traditionally trained CMO or CFO, putting more money into marketing is still a risk because the metrics and creative guardrails are different and less mature than what they're used to," Horowitz said of social. "This is a fundamental shift in how we think about creative and media."

Even if many guardrails remain aspirational, taking a social-first step now may still be the right move for CPGs. If category giants like Unilever are racing to go all-in on social, the cost and level of competition to stand out in the future will only intensify.

"For traditional CPGs, the real risk is waiting."

—Nick Valenti, CEO of Mādin

"For traditional CPGs, the real risk is waiting," said Valenti of Mādin. "Measurement and brand safety tools help, but the deeper truth is behavioral: if you're not present where the next generation finds meaning, you don't exist to them."