Funnels are the wrong tool if you care about human beings.

99% of brands use them in their marketing.

Funnels treat you like volume flowing through a pipe. The only real question is how much comes out the bottom. Once you see human beings as “traffic,” you stop seeing faces, stories, ancestry. That's not just a marketing problem. That's a spiritual problem.

Here’s why we're replacing the funnel with a “Third Wave Elevator.”

1. From corralling people to carrying people

The traditional funnel story goes like this:

• You “enter the top” through an ad or a post
• You're moved through awareness, interest, decision, action
• Every step is designed to keep you sliding forward until you hit “buy now”

From the brand’s side, you're a number in a spreadsheet.

From your side, it feels like being pushed down a chute at a factory farm.

Most of us don't want to be treated that way. You don't want more pressure. You want more clarity. You want help making a good decision for your body, your home, your family.

That's the shift we're making.

From corralling to carrying.

2. Why we refuse to treat our tribe like factory‑farmed cattle

Let’s be honest about how modern marketing works.

• Pressure tactics to make you hurry
• Fake urgency to keep you from thinking
• Behavior hacks that are designed to slip under your radar

It's the human version of a factory farm. Efficient, and built for volume.

I spend time with people who live closer to the land. Hunters, foragers, folks who still think in terms of stewardship, not extraction. Nobody in that world would say, “How many animals can I ram through this system today?” They ask, “How do I honor what I'm taking responsibility for?”

You deserve that same mindset.

You're not cattle in a factory funnel.

You're part of a tribe we're accountable to.

We're not shoving you through a chute to hit a number on a dashboard.

3. Third Wave marketing: from shouting, to funnels, to a shared way of life

Most marketing today still lives in the first two waves.

Wave one was shouting from the stage.

Mass ads, one‑way broadcasts, almost no relationship. Whoever could shout the loudest, won.

Wave two tuned the funnel.

More data, more targeting, better tracking. It got “smarter,” but the same basic question stayed in place. How do we squeeze more revenue out of this list of people.

In Wave three, the question changes from “How do we get them to buy” to “How do we help them grow.”

That's a different spiritual center. The focus isn't just revenue. The focus is more humans living closer to nature, in stronger bodies, with clearer minds and deeper discernment.

In other words, a way of life.

4. The Elevator model: informed, sovereign humans choosing their floor

So if we're not using a funnel, what are we using?

This is where the Elevator comes in.

An elevator moves because you decide to step in. You can see the floors. You choose which button to press. You can get off at any level, any time.

That's how I want our relationship with you to feel.

In practice, here’s what we're building:

• Education floors

  Foundational principles of nourishment, sleep, movement, water, exposure to the elements, media literacy. Short, clear lessons you can actually use.

• Story floors

  Ancestry, personal experience, voices from the community. Real people, real results, real struggle.

• Practice floors

  Rituals and habits you can weave into daily life. Morning stacks. Bedtime rhythms. Seasonal shifts.

• Product floors

  Tools that support the way of life you're already building. Not “miracle powders.” Food‑grade support that belongs in a real pantry.

You choose which floor you want to visit today. Learn. Try something. Go deeper.

Inside Surthrival, our Chief Marketing Officer, David Whipple, has built what he calls the Third Wave + Elevator model. It's his answer to the old funnel mindset. A way to grow businesses while still honoring people as sovereign, intelligent humans. What you're reading here is the backbone of how we’re approaching every email we send to you.

5. The journey doesn’t end at “Thank you for your order”

In a funnel, the story ends at the sale.

You click “buy,” a celebration fires in someone’s analytics dashboard, and the system goes looking for the next person to push through.

In real life, that's where stewardship begins.

Your body gets involved. Your home and pantry get involved. Now we're talking about what you put in your mouth, how you sleep, how you recover from training, how you show up for your kids.

So for us, “thank you for your order” isn't the finish line. it's a door to the next floor.

We don’t obsess over “lifetime value of a customer” as our north star. We're looking at the lifetime of a relationship.

6. Marketing as a way of life, not a one‑time campaign

From a survival perspective, you can think in simple basics.

Shelter, water, fire, food.

If those four are off, everything else suffers.

In the same way, your life has basics.

• Food and water
• Light and darkness
• Sleep and movement
• The people you walk with
• The media you allow into your mind

What we're doing isn't just pitch you products. We want to walk with you as you build a more ancestral way of living inside a modern world.

That means more clarity about what’ll help you become stronger, more resilient, more present.

We’d rather be a steady friend by the fire than a voice shouting at you from a billboard.

7. What this means for you as part of the tribe

So what does all this mean for you?

It means:

• More teaching, fewer tactics
• Honest invitations, not high‑pressure offers
• Stories, skills, and protocols you can test yourself

We'll keep building new "floors" for you in 2026.

Today, your only task is to quietly pick yours.

Maybe you reflect on how brands talk to you.

Maybe you open up a product page and ask, “Does this support the kind of life I'm building, or am I just chasing a feeling.”

Maybe you share this note with one other person in your circle.

Any of those count as riding the elevator.

An invitation to ride with us

So here’s where we land.

• Funnels push people down
• Elevators lift people up

We want our marketing to match what we talk about in every other area. Stewardship. Ancestry. Accountability. Real nourishment.

We’ll keep sharing education, stories, and practices that help you make better, more sovereign decisions about what goes into your body and your home. We’ll also invite you to the next floor when it makes sense.

You decide if and when to step in.

You decide how high you want to go.

We’re grateful to be on this journey with you.

Cheers,

Daniel