Why omnichannel is the new growth engine for food & beverage marketers

Omnichannel advertising has become an engine for brand growth for food and beverage brands. It’s not only a way to respond to a changing marketplace — it offers one of the most effective strategies for maintaining reach, relevance, and measurable performance in today’s media ecosystem. 

The new reality: Consumers move fluidly across channels

Savvy marketers know that today’s shoppers do not follow a neat, linear path from awareness to purchase. They encounter brands while commuting, scrolling, listening, streaming, shopping, and searching — all within a single day. Dozens of micro‑moments shape the average food or beverage decision: a digital billboard seen on the way to work, a podcast ad during a workout, a recipe video in the evening, a promotional offer on mobile just before hitting the checkout button. 

Traditional single‑channel planning simply can’t keep up with this pace or complexity. The brands that outperform are those that treat the consumer journey as a connected ecosystem rather than a series of isolated impressions. 

Why omnichannel can deliver what CPG brands need most 

Food and beverage marketers, especially, operate under unique pressures: the need for both mass reach and tight frequency control, the importance of brand equity in habitual categories, and the challenge of tying digital ad exposure to real‑world sales. Omnichannel can directly address those needs by letting advertisers: 

1. Maintain reach across high-attention environments 
   High‑impact channels like digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) and digital audio are increasingly influential touchpoints for CPG brands. DOOH reaches consumers in physical moments of transit or shopping, while digital audio provides engagement that can be more intimate or habitual like listening to a podcast while commuting or a playlist at the gym. When combined with channels like mobile, online video (OLV), and connected TV (CTV) they create a unified presence that helps keep your brand top of mind. 

2. Adapt creative and messaging to context 
   Food and beverage decisions can be emotional and contextual. The creative that works on a digital billboard during a morning commute is different from what resonates in a streaming environment at night. Planning for omnichannel allows you to tailor creative messaging by channel, environment, time of day, and audience mindset. 

3. Connect brand moments to real-world outcomes 
   Most food and beverage purchases are still happening in store, but most advertising spend is digital. In fact, this year, e‑commerce will account for only 24% of global retail sales, meaning roughly 76% of purchases remain in physical stores worldwide.¹ Historically, that disconnect made it difficult to understand which media moments were actually driving sales. The Trade Desk’s Kokai platform helps you connect the dots. Powered by high-quality data, omnichannel optimisation gives marketers a way for their channels to work harder together, rather than in silos, to increase performance potential. 

4. Build resilience in a rapidly evolving ecosystem 
   Regulatory environments, retail landscapes, and privacy standards are all evolving. Channels that were once reliable may now face new limitations, while others may emerge as more essential than expected. Omnichannel strategies are inherently diversified, which can make them more resilient to change. They don’t rely on any single channel, tactic, or creative approach to deliver results. 

Digital audio and DOOH: Two channels defining the new omnichannel baseline

While every category benefits from a connected approach, digital audio and DOOH have become foundational for food and beverage advertisers in particular: 

• Digital audio builds familiarity and frequency, reaching consumers during workouts, commutes, chores, and daily routines. 

• DOOH delivers immediate visibility in moments that are close to the point of sale, making it especially influential for habitual, impulse, and convenience‑driven categories. 

Together, the channels can amplify each other, creating a strong balance of attention and reinforcement that flows naturally into the rest of the channels across the open internet. 

With digital audio and DOOH ads setting the stage, mobile, CTV, and online video can carry forward brand storytelling, product benefits, and moments of inspiration — creating a fully connected experience throughout a potential shopper’s day. 

The omnichannel advantage: From exposure to impact

The ultimate value of omnichannel isn’t just reach — it’s connectivity. When your ads run across screens and formats, they can be more easily measured together, giving you true visibility into how each element contributes to outcomes. Rather than evaluating isolated impressions, you can understand: 

• Which channel combinations drive incremental sales 

• How frequency builds over time 

• Which creative variations perform best in which environments 

• How audiences move through the brand journey for your products 

For food and beverage brands, this level of insight can be transformative. 

Looking ahead: A future built on connection, not fragmentation 

Thriving in the food and beverage category in 2026 and beyond means ad campaigns designed around how people actually live, move, and make decisions — not around the limits of legacy channel planning. Omnichannel is not a work-around for regulatory shifts or even a short-term tactic; it’s a long-term strategy for building a meaningful brand presence, measurable business outcomes, and resilience in a fast-changing environment. 

Want to learn more about how The Trade Desk’s advanced omnichannel solutions can serve as the growth engine to your marketing strategies? Contact us or reach out to your representative today. 

<sub>Sources: 
1. Gitnux, Global Retail Industry Statistics, Feb. 10, 2026. 
2. Spotify Advertising Research, U.S. NCS, January 2020 – March 2023. 
3. WhatsApp sees 87% uplift in reach through audience-focused digital out-of-home targeting</sub>