Generic CPG Digital Branding is Making the Marketing Disabled

Consumer Packaged Goods live and die by their brands. Yet in the digital world, CPG branding has faded into a sea of sameness, with brands echoing each other’s uninspired playbooks. 

Take Dua Lipa’s new skincare line: just another face in the celebrity crowd, blending in rather than standing out from the endless parade of star-backed products. There’s nothing to set it apart. The branding leans on tired buzzwords—organic, vegan, clinically tested, expert approved—topped off with a mysterious chemical blend that could belong to any label. 

Most digital ads are scattered across every social platform, with little thought for who’s actually watching. Nearly every CPG brand follows the same tired recipe. This is a creative crisis. Both legacy giants and upstart CPG brands are finding it increasingly challenging to break through and grow. 

So, what’s the marketing play? Should brands chase Gen Z, Gen Alpha, Boomers, or try to please everyone with a bland, catch-all message? 

What’s the reality of a big digital budget

In 2024, U.S. CPG brands invested nearly $50 billion in digital ads, outspending most other industries. But all that reach means little if brands blur together in the crowd. 

Regional reports indicate a concerning trend: CPG digital ads are losing their effectiveness, with brand recall declining and ad fatigue on the rise. The money is flowing, but the impact is drying up. 

Beyond slipping recall, the rush to new channels, such as retail media, is reshaping CPG branding. With retail media set to surpass TV ad revenue by 2028, creative freedom is shrinking as brands prioritize price tags and promotions over storytelling. 

Journey of generic becoming ‘default’ in CPG digital branding

Four forces have turned generic branding into the default setting for CPG digital campaigns. 

First, brands often mistake platform templates and format playbooks—such as short-form UGC, Reels-style edits, and programmatic CTV snippets—for strategy, rather than using them as creative tools. 

Second, the pressure to deliver quick wins—such as ROAS, clicks, and other short-term metrics—drowns out the value of bold, creative risks. 

Third, AI-powered production lines are replacing creative thinking instead of speeding it up, churning out a flood of lookalike ads. 

Finally, the rise of retail media has redirected budgets into formats designed for conversion, such as price-first tiles and shoppable units, at the expense of storytelling. The result is uniformity at scale. However, these four factors have overshadowed additional issues. We will examine these overlooked drivers and their significance in CPG branding.  

Cross-generational messaging where one size fits nobody 

CPG marketers attempt to cater to all demographics within a single creative. 

A core failure is how brands try to talk to every cohort with the same script. Older buyers seek clarity and value in products. Gen X looks for reliability. Millennials want product fit in life. Gen Z demands cultural specificity, speed, and authenticity. 

Ads that try to appeal to everyone often rely on broad, bland language and familiar tropes. As a result, no group engages, and long-term brand metrics stagnate. 

Repetitive ads do more than bore—they irritate, fueling the fire of ad fatigue 

Consumers are scrolling past predictable CPG creatives. Studies and industry reports indicate a rise in ad fatigue when campaigns are executed in silos and repetition is unmanaged. The Trade Desk’s regional research highlights that disconnected, single-channel buys drive higher fatigue. Brands that sequence and connect channels see better lift and lower waste. 

Tejinder Gill, Managing Director at The Trade Desk, stated in their omnichannel study that “brands that embrace connected omnichannel approaches can better manage frequency across channels and improve outcomes,” highlighting the direct link between fragmentation, repetition, and fatigue. 

What made the ‘sameness’ a global issue in CPG digital branding 

CPG leaders leaned into this model because of three structural forces. 

• Scale pressure — global brands must deliver measurable short-term ROI across thousands of SKUs. 
• Speed bias — programmatic and AI pipelines enable teams to produce multiple versions quickly; speed has become a proxy for agility. 
• Third, retail media incentives—conversion-focused placements and shiny performance reports—look great on CFO dashboards. 

What are the solutions to avoid the kill?

Fixes are operational and pragmatic. Marketers must separate creative tracks by objective and cohort, rather than recycling the same concept across every touchpoint. 

AI should speed localization and variant testing, not write the creative brief. A fixed percentage of digital budgets should be ring-fenced for creative experiments measured on brand lift, not just clicks. Finally, negotiate retail media placements that allow brand cues and sequencing rather than letting price thumbnails define the narrative.  

These changes offer a direct way to maintain brand memory and performance. 

Cut to the chase

CPG digital branding desperately needs fresh ideas and sharper differentiation. The problem isn’t budget—it’s a shortage of creative courage. Brands that cling to sameness will fade as bold competitors rise.