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In this week's post, what we’re telling brands going to market in 2026 to do — and why slowing down is your competitive advantage.
Here’s the cold, hard truth: If you’re launching a brand this year, you’re (probably) launching in a market that has absolutely no shortage of exceptional products, lean teams, compelling stories and smart founders.
Most brands dramatically underestimate how long it takes to get market attention, and wildly overestimate how much paid ads will solve for that.
Let me walk you through what we’re actually telling our clients to do…
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👋 Hey, I’m Brandon Blum. I’m the Founder and Managing Partner at New Edition - a Brooklyn-based creative agency for emerging consumer brands like GreenFi, Happier Grocery, Alice Mushrooms and many more.
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Retail drives top-of-funnel; DTC drives loyalty.
One of my favorite conversations is with CPG and/or eCommerce founders who've built beautiful websites. They've got their email flows designed. They've got retargeting pixels. They've got a story.
And then they realize: 90% of their customers want to see the product in a store before they buy it online.
If you’re selling a physical product, retail can’t be an after thought. It's likely the beginning of the customer journey for a large subset of your audience. And that’s fine.
Here's what I like to recommend: Go deeper, not wider.
Spend the 3–4 months before officially “launching” building relationships with retailers in one city. Not nationally. One city. New York City, LA, etc.
Go to events. Meet people in the industry. The right intros are out there and can make ALL the difference.
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Phase 1: Pre-Launch
Nobody cares when you launch. I’m sorry. But nobody cares.
What they do care about is momentum. And feeling like their missing out. And momentum begins building BEFORE you launch, not during or in the months after.
If you’re pre-launch, here’s some thoughts:
Start by identifying 10–15 key relationships that matter for your business.
Let’s use a generic CPG brand entering the market. If it were our client, I’d make sure to identify:
3 north-star retailers you want to crack (Whole Foods, local specialty shops, regional chains, etc.)
3–5 complementary brands or strategic partners who serve the same audience you do
2–3 media or community figures who have credibility in your space (podcast hosts, athletes, instagram accounts, etc.)
A handful of creators whose audience overlaps with your customer
And build a strategy for checking all of these boxes off.
One of the best ways to hit these goals? Hosting an in-person, recurring event series.
I know, I know. Events are hard. They take time, energy, resources. Is the ROI there?
In short, yes.
Launching a coffee sweetener alternative? Host a coffee meet up at a friend’s coffee shop.
Launching a baking mix for kids? Host a cooking class for parents and children.
Launching a new dating app? Host a happy hour.
It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. And you should leverage your resources to save on costs.
After a handful of these, you’ll get home and realize, holy sh*t, I actually am growing an audience who cares about what I’m building.
And that energy can carry and inspire you for a long time.
Phase 2: Launch (first 60-90 days)
Remember: You Only Launch Once. If you don’t feel ready, push the launch back.
A good launch is about activating everything you've been building for the last two months, all at once.
Your product sells out. Friends are posting. Your website is converting. Orders are coming in. It’s a pretty intoxicating moment, when done right.
If you can swing it, throw a launch event. You'll build genuine community momentum and create tons of social content—both from post-event photos and videos, plus organic posts from attendees in real-time.
One of the best ways to keep momentum going post-launch: a well-designed seeding campaign.
Send product to at least 3 different audience segments:
Your obvious audience (Gen Z, fitness-focused, health-obsessed—whatever matches your brand’s vibe)
An unexpected but real audience (older demographic, high-income households, parents—whoever's actually buying)
An adjacent audience (people buying similar products or in related spaces)
Send product to 25–30 creators in each segment per week. Track who posts, who drives engagement, and critically, who drives orders.
Last week’s newsletter was on this topic: How to Launch a Seeding Campaign for Your Brand
REMEMBER: LEVERAGE YOUR RETAILERS
Once you're in a store, leverage it relentlessly in your digital strategy.
Send creators there to capture content. Host private events there. Bring people into the store. Show the retailer you can drive traffic.
Not only is this the bones of a great retail partnership, but it also creates a bridge between discovery (retail) and loyalty (direct).
The funnel looks like: Retail trial → DTC repeat purchase → Loyalty/subscription.
Most brands try to skip the first step. Don’t skip it.
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In Summary
Launching a brand in 2026 is genuinely hard. The noise is real. The competition is fierce.
But here's what we've seen work: brands that are willing to slow down in the early phase. Brands that are willing to spend 8–12 weeks building real relationships before announcing anything. Brands that treat retail as their primary funnel, not a side hustle.
Everyone else is running paid ads with 10% CTRs and 5% conversion rates. You're going to walk into stores, get real people to try your product, and watch organic word-of-mouth do the heavy lifting.
That's not how it felt 5 years ago. But it's how it works right now. People online are tired.
Start with one city. Build depth. Get retail wins. Let the creators who genuinely love your product become your accelerant.
Everything else follows from there.
If you're thinking about a launch and want to talk strategy, send me a note at [email protected]. We work with 3–5 brands per quarter on their GTM. Happy to chat.
Until next week ✌️
