Helix Sleep has refocused a lot of the data-driven strategy to LTV and launched several new brands, among them the AllForm sofas.

Alex Reed, co-founder and CMO of D2C cleaning product brand Truman's, is one of the only marketers to give an honest and nuanced answer to my cynicism about "brand love." He gets it. There really is no love lost between most of us and the spray we use to clean our counter top. Nevertheless, Truman's is trying to build a different kind of CPG relationship with consumers without ad-bombing Instagram.

Tara McGowan, founder and CEO of nonprofit ACRONYM, says Democrats regained the mantle of digital innovators in this cycle.