Longaxis 2025 wasn’t your typical marketing event. Held in NYC’s stylish Lower East Side, this AI in marketing conference brought together 100 of the sharpest minds in DTC marketing, retention, and lifecycle strategy to do more than just talk shop.

It felt like a movement because it was the epicenter of something big. It’s exactly where the future of AI and DTC was being born.

From hot takes on the role of retail AI to breakout sessions that challenged the norms of modern campaign strategy, Longaxis was packed with ideas that are already reshaping how today’s top brands are attacking their growth strategies.

With several sessions and interviews with experts in our arsenal, here are 3 of the biggest, spiciest takeaways from Backstroke’s inaugural Longaxis marketing event. 

Takeaway 1: AI Won’t Replace Marketers, But It Will Replace Marketers Who Don’t Use AI

If there was one dominant theme across every panel and hallway conversation, it was this:

AI is no longer optional . . . And leaders in DTC have entirely moved on from that conversation.

With 78% of e-commerce brands having already implemented AI in their work, what are the most forward-thinking and innovative DTC marketers doing with it right now? Today’s smartest brands are currently experimenting with how much they can automate, accelerate, and amplify using smart tools trained on customer behavior and creative data. 

As Backstroke CEO R. J. Talyor said in his keynote address, the future belongs to the 10x marketer. And AI is the tool to make any marketer truly 10x.

Across DTC marketing and AI for retail, Longaxis attendees said that their teams are using AI to:

• Rapidly prototype email and SMS content
• Predict high-value customer segments
• Test campaign variations in real time
• Adapt messaging by mood, intent, or timing

In short, AI in marketing isn’t about replacement. Rather, it’s about augmentation. The marketers who master AI will ship faster, learn faster, grow faster—and most importantly—win faster.

The Hot Takes:

• Marketers who treat AI like a toy or nuisance will get left behind.
• Marketers who treat it like a teammate are building the future.

Takeaway 2: “Best Practices” Are the Enemy of Breakthroughs

Here’s something we heard loud and clear: Best practices kill creativity.

At Longaxis, marketers pushed back hard on the copy-paste strategies that historically dominated so much of email and SMS. Everyone’s optimizing for the same open times, same CTA placements, same design formats—and it’s flattening out innovation.

This year’s smartest voices emphasized:

• Blending their own breakout concepts with AI-assisted execution to generate ideas outside the norm
• Using historical campaign data as a launchpad, not a limit
• Testing “crazy” ideas just to see what happens, then iterating on them to make their best assets work for their brands

The Hot Takes: 

• The brands with winning retention marketing strategies are the ones using AI to get weird, go off-script, and discover surprising wins.
• The most promising future lies in collaboration-AI can augment and inspire human creativity, enabling new forms of expression and problem-solving that neither humans nor computers could achieve alone.

Takeaway 3: Lifecycle Marketing Is No Longer a Flow. It’s a Feedback Loop!

The old approach to lifecycle marketing strategies? Build a flow, set it live, check in regularly.

News-flash: That’s over.

At Longaxis, it was clear that the best DTC teams treat lifecycle like a living system that’s dynamic, reactive, and constantly learning. Using findings within consumer data, they’re triggering AI messages not just based on behavior, but on deeper insights: emotional tone, engagement decay, and shifting intent. 

This comes at a great time as 70% of consumers expect retailers to provide AI-enhanced personalized experiences, with 63% stating they’re more likely to purchase from brands offering such experiences.

We saw examples of:

• Email content adapting based on recent purchases and product reviews
• Flows generating in seconds, in response to current events consumers care about
• Loyalty nudges triggered by likelihood, not static rules

The Hot Take: 

• Marketing trends for 2025 are clear. Static sequences are dead. Real-time feedback loops are in. 
• Forward-thinking brands use AI not just for efficiency, but to anticipate customer needs and deliver seamless, individualized experiences . . . all the time.

Longaxis Was Just the Beginning for DTC Marketing & Retail AI

Longaxis 2025 proved one thing: That the brands at the cutting edge of DTC marketing are blending human creativity with machine intelligence to build faster, more relevant, more engaging customer experiences.

Whether you're rethinking retention marketing strategies, exploring AI for retail, or building better lifecycle marketing, this AI-powered future isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s something that top DTC brands are investing in now and reaping the benefits of already.

So . . . Will you build your future alongside them or get left behind?