For many legacy industries, the challenge isn’t just adopting new channels. It’s rethinking how marketing actually works in a world where performance expectations are higher than ever.
In this episode of The Advertising Forum by Marketecture, AdTech God sat down with Alex Back, CEO and cofounder of Couch, to talk about why traditional categories are falling behind, what’s actually working today, and how CTV fits into a modern, performance-driven strategy.
A conversation with Alex Back, CEO and cofounder of Couch.com
Q: Why is the home furnishings industry still behind when it comes to marketing?
It’s an incredibly antiquated space.
A lot of it comes down to legacy ownership and the complexity of the business. Manufacturing furniture is hard. Running retail stores is hard. There are so many operational challenges that marketing often becomes an afterthought.
In many cases, you have massive organizations with only one person focused on marketing. It just hasn’t been a priority historically. But that’s starting to change as competition increases and new players enter the space.
Q: What’s actually working in modern marketing for this category—and what isn’t?
One of the biggest misconceptions is around influencer marketing.
For high-consideration purchases like furniture, traditional influencer strategies don’t really work. You can’t “influence” someone into needing a couch tomorrow.
What does work is a holistic approach.
You need to be everywhere once a customer has identified themselves as being in-market. Whether it’s TV, social, or search, the goal is to stay top of mind across channels.
It’s less about a single tactic and more about consistent presence.
Q: Why has traditional TV been so hard for retailers to justify?
It comes down to attribution.
Historically, retailers relied on one or two channels, so it was easier to connect cause and effect. Today, with so many touchpoints, it’s much harder to know exactly where a customer came from.
That challenge is even more pronounced in categories that are already risk-averse. If you can’t clearly prove something is working, it’s difficult to keep investing in it.
That’s why measurement and attribution continue to be such critical issues, even with CTV.
Q: How should retailers think about measuring success with CTV?
The key word is holistic.
Instead of evaluating channels in isolation, you have to look at the full picture. Success isn’t just one metric. It’s a combination of signals:
- Store traffic and walk-ins
- Customer conversations and mentions
- Engagement metrics like click-through rates
- Overall sales trends
You’re looking for signs that your mix is working, not expecting a single channel to drive immediate, direct conversions.
If total business performance is moving in the right direction, your media strategy is likely on the right track.
Q: What needs to change for CTV to become a true growth channel for retailers?
Creative and measurement both need to evolve.
CTV is primarily an awareness and consideration channel, so you need to design campaigns that generate signals you can actually track.
That means:
- Creating memorable, distinctive ads people will talk about
- Using tactics like QR codes to drive measurable actions
- Building landing pages tied to specific campaigns
- Giving yourself multiple ways to validate performance
The goal isn’t just to run ads. It’s to create enough signals to prove to yourself that it’s working.
Ready to see what outcome-driven CTV looks like in practice?
CTV isn’t just about reach. It’s about how it fits into a broader, holistic strategy that drives real business outcomes.
And for industries that have historically lagged in marketing innovation, that shift is becoming impossible to ignore.
If you’re thinking about how to modernize your media mix or better connect your investment to performance, CTV is an increasingly important piece of the puzzle.
Let’s connect to see how CTV can help drive growth for your business.
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