The Rise of De-Influencers and The Backlash Economy Tobias Dahlberg October 02, 2025 – 2 min read Share this post Marketing The Most Expensive Blind Spot in Business: Misunderstanding Your ICP Most companies believe they know their customers. But if you push a little deeper, the illusion starts to crack. Ask a leadership team to describe their ideal customer and you’ll usually hear something like: “mid-sized companies,” “urban professionals,” or “health-conscious consumers.” That’s not insight. That’s a census. By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read Marketing If You Don't Understand Your Customers Better Than Your Competition, You Don't Deserve To Win. Let’s say the quiet part out loud. Most companies have a shockingly weak understanding of their ideal customers. Not vague. Not “room for improvement.” Weak. And I don’t mean they lack data. They often have plenty of data. What they lack is understanding. I see this constantly—across By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read Marketing You're Not Competing Against Drinks, You're Competing With Routines. In Brief Functional beverage brands think they’re fighting for shelf space. That's not the root issue. They’re fighting for a slot in someone’s day. And most are losing — not because the product is bad, but because it doesn’t stick. What Is Happening (Signals) * Consumers By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read Strategy Before You Scale It, Make Sure You've Earned It. In Brief: Pouring marketing and sales resource into a weak proposition doesn't accelerate growth. It accelerates the leak. The most expensive mistake in commercial strategy is scaling choice before you've earned it. When growth stalls, the instinct is almost universal. Do more. Reach further. Spend harder. By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read Strategy Why Your Value Proposition Is Losing You Customers You Should Be Winning In Brief: Most value propositions are too generic. They are written to explain what the company, brand, product, or service delivers. They should be written to win customer choice. The difference between those two things is costing more than most leadership teams realise. Value propositions exist at many levels of By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read Brand The Brand Strategy You Can't Actually Strategize In Brief: The cultural moment is rewarding brands that look like they've stopped trying. Which creates a problem. Because the moment you try to stop trying, everyone can tell. There is a memo going around marketing departments right now. It has different subject lines depending on the company, By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read Strategy Beyond Position & Proposition: Why Your Value Proposition Needs More Context In Brief: Growth happens at a level of specificity that most strategies never reach — in the precise moments where a specific person, with a specific intention, in a specific context decides. To grow, you must understand which Choice Spaces to battle for, and how to win in them. Most companies By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read Growth Are You Approaching Growth From The Wrong End? In Brief: Most growth strategies are financial targets dressed up as strategy. They start with a number and work backwards, followed by more action (more supply). Choice-Led Growth works from the other direction — and that sequence is everything. Somewhere in the next few weeks, a leadership team will gather in By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read The DTC Illusion: Why Most Brands Get It Wrong — And What the Best Actually Do In Brief Lots of brands have failed with DTC. And lots of brands have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. DTC didn’t fail. Bad DTC did. The model was never “sell direct and run ads.” The model — when it works — is: Build meaning → create demand → own the relationship → scale distribution By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
Marketing The Most Expensive Blind Spot in Business: Misunderstanding Your ICP Most companies believe they know their customers. But if you push a little deeper, the illusion starts to crack. Ask a leadership team to describe their ideal customer and you’ll usually hear something like: “mid-sized companies,” “urban professionals,” or “health-conscious consumers.” That’s not insight. That’s a census. By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
Marketing If You Don't Understand Your Customers Better Than Your Competition, You Don't Deserve To Win. Let’s say the quiet part out loud. Most companies have a shockingly weak understanding of their ideal customers. Not vague. Not “room for improvement.” Weak. And I don’t mean they lack data. They often have plenty of data. What they lack is understanding. I see this constantly—across By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read
Marketing You're Not Competing Against Drinks, You're Competing With Routines. In Brief Functional beverage brands think they’re fighting for shelf space. That's not the root issue. They’re fighting for a slot in someone’s day. And most are losing — not because the product is bad, but because it doesn’t stick. What Is Happening (Signals) * Consumers By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Strategy Before You Scale It, Make Sure You've Earned It. In Brief: Pouring marketing and sales resource into a weak proposition doesn't accelerate growth. It accelerates the leak. The most expensive mistake in commercial strategy is scaling choice before you've earned it. When growth stalls, the instinct is almost universal. Do more. Reach further. Spend harder. By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read
Strategy Why Your Value Proposition Is Losing You Customers You Should Be Winning In Brief: Most value propositions are too generic. They are written to explain what the company, brand, product, or service delivers. They should be written to win customer choice. The difference between those two things is costing more than most leadership teams realise. Value propositions exist at many levels of By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read
Brand The Brand Strategy You Can't Actually Strategize In Brief: The cultural moment is rewarding brands that look like they've stopped trying. Which creates a problem. Because the moment you try to stop trying, everyone can tell. There is a memo going around marketing departments right now. It has different subject lines depending on the company, By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read
Strategy Beyond Position & Proposition: Why Your Value Proposition Needs More Context In Brief: Growth happens at a level of specificity that most strategies never reach — in the precise moments where a specific person, with a specific intention, in a specific context decides. To grow, you must understand which Choice Spaces to battle for, and how to win in them. Most companies By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read
Growth Are You Approaching Growth From The Wrong End? In Brief: Most growth strategies are financial targets dressed up as strategy. They start with a number and work backwards, followed by more action (more supply). Choice-Led Growth works from the other direction — and that sequence is everything. Somewhere in the next few weeks, a leadership team will gather in By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
The DTC Illusion: Why Most Brands Get It Wrong — And What the Best Actually Do In Brief Lots of brands have failed with DTC. And lots of brands have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. DTC didn’t fail. Bad DTC did. The model was never “sell direct and run ads.” The model — when it works — is: Build meaning → create demand → own the relationship → scale distribution By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
