Excellent thought piece - I made very similar experiences. In 2019 when Adidas announced a redistribution of budgets towards brand it was embarrassing how black and white the opinions were. Some announced "The return of the brand" while others condmened this shift in strategy. Data suggests that successful companies always have something between a 40:60 to 60:40 mix between brand and performance. It depends also very much on the stage of the company. Especially start ups are rightfully more drawn towards performance as ressources are limited and they are trying to survive. But in the long run, there is no success without a strong brand.
"Treating performance marketing and brand building as a short-term/long-term trade-off is dangerously wrong. It’s wrong because both performance marketing and brand building impact current revenue and long-term value. It’s dangerous because it asks CEOs to accept less of a good thing (say, demand conversion from performance marketing) to make room for more of another good thing (long-term value growth from brand building). This is what “balance” really means, and it only exacerbates the tension between the two by trapping them in an unhealthy competition for budget." https://hbr.org/2023/05/how-brand-building-and-performance-marketing-can-work-together
Excellent thought piece - I made very similar experiences. In 2019 when Adidas announced a redistribution of budgets towards brand it was embarrassing how black and white the opinions were. Some announced "The return of the brand" while others condmened this shift in strategy. Data suggests that successful companies always have something between a 40:60 to 60:40 mix between brand and performance. It depends also very much on the stage of the company. Especially start ups are rightfully more drawn towards performance as ressources are limited and they are trying to survive. But in the long run, there is no success without a strong brand.
"Treating performance marketing and brand building as a short-term/long-term trade-off is dangerously wrong. It’s wrong because both performance marketing and brand building impact current revenue and long-term value. It’s dangerous because it asks CEOs to accept less of a good thing (say, demand conversion from performance marketing) to make room for more of another good thing (long-term value growth from brand building). This is what “balance” really means, and it only exacerbates the tension between the two by trapping them in an unhealthy competition for budget." https://hbr.org/2023/05/how-brand-building-and-performance-marketing-can-work-together