For decades, the funnel was gospel. It offered marketers the comfort of order. The awareness leading to interest, interest to decision, decision to purchase. It was clean, predictable, safe. Every executive could sketch it on a slide and believe they understood how people bought.

That funnel served its purpose. But that world is gone.

Consumers don’t glide neatly anymore; they ricochet. A Forrester study shows the average buyer now interacts with 11 touchpoints before making a decision. The journey no longer looks like a narrowing triangle. It looks like a subway map at rush hour: Crowded, chaotic, lines crossing, moments colliding.

Picture it. A shopper sees a TikTok haul video that sparks impulse. The next morning on their commute, a radio ad reinforces the brand name. Curious, they Google reviews but stumble into a Reddit thread full of doubts. Days later, an Instagram ad reignites the spark with a perfectly styled photo. Driving through town, they notice a bold OOH billboard that keeps the brand top of mind. Finally, weeks later in a Discord group where trusted peers are sharing stories, the decision lands. That is today’s funnel: not a slide, but a pinball machine, where momentum is gained, lost, and regained across every surface, both digital and traditional alike.

For incumbents, this is unsettling. They built billion-dollar models on the assumption that audiences could be shepherded step by step. To them, chaos looks like risk. But for challengers, it’s the opening. In a pinball game, you don’t mourn the bumpers, you learn how to play them.

And here’s where creativity matters most. A strong visual spot like we did for Another Broken Egg Cafe, a full-page print ad, a TikTok clip, a Discord meme. Each is a spark. The funnel doesn’t work now because of rigid sequencing; it works because of ideas strong enough to travel across every surface they hit. AVANTI thrives in this space, building creative that holds its weight in broadcast and comes alive in micro-communities.

The truth is stark and the funnel is dead. What remains is agility and the ability to show up where trust lives, to be present in both mass media and niche channels, to adapt when paths zigzag. The brands that win in this era aren’t clinging to yesterday’s diagrams. They’re thriving in the mess, confident enough to meet people where they ricochet.