Brand vs. Performance? No more either/or!

Has the marketing of brands operating in Slovakia fallen into a similar trap to the one global brands are dealing with today? How are brands coping with an excessive reliance on performance advertising? Many studies in recent years,particularly the new study The Multiplier Effect (WARC, 2025) describe how this approach leads to stagnation and a so-called “doom loop,” where growth slows, ROI declines, and brands increasingly optimise for the wrong metrics.

The data is unequivocal. Analytic Partners, in a sample of 1,000 brands, showed that shifting from a pure performance strategy to a balanced mix with brand activity increases returns by up to 90%. The opposite move cutting brand investment results in an average 40% drop in ROI.

Major brands like Nike and Adidas have openly admitted that their excessive focus on performance and DTC sales slowed their growth and reduced their “brand heat.” The turnaround came only after they returned to big, creative equity-building campaigns.The American D2C mattress brand Saatva broke through its “performance plateau” only after reducing its dependence on paid search and investing in radio and TV. The result was growth in both revenue and margins at a time when the entire category was declining. Airbnb shifted its focus from performance to brand and today it has not only a stronger brand, but also more efficient performance, higher returns, and sustained growth without significantly increasing its budget.

The key finding of the study is that brand and performance complement and strengthen each other. A stronger brand lowers CAC (customer acquisition cost) and increases the efficiency of performance channels. Performance, in turn, helps the brand maintain relevance and activate demand.

The authors of these studies warn against splitting teams into “brand” and “performance” and emphasize that only an integrated approach works. Not brand + performance, but brand × performance. When brand and performance operate separately, their results simply add up. When they are integrated, each part multiplies the impact of the other. That is the real multiplier.

That’s why, under the Think Big Collective brand, we focus on optimising and balancing investments between brand building and performance marketing. With our Media Multiplier product, we help brands create effective communication and campaigns that deliver immediate results as well as long-term growth.

Our unique methodology includes Media Persons Profiling, where—using data from MML-TGI, IAB, and other relevant sources—we create an accurate profile of your customers, identify their behaviour, and determine the most effective communication channels. With this detailed understanding of your target audience, we then conduct a Brand Competitiveness Audit, comparing your spending, creative work, and strategies with your competitors to reveal clear strengths and opportunities for improvement.
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We identify your Share of Search, Share of Voice, and Share of Market, and based on these insights we design concrete strategies to help you gain an advantage in both attention and performance.

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One of the key pillars of our solutions is Media Architecture – Brand × Performance. Using our proprietary algorithm, we design the ideal media mix across TV, digital, audio, OOH, and retail media. This mix is always optimized for maximum reach and ideal frequency, while all campaigns are supported with unified omnichannel communication. We also ensure transparent impact measurement and rapid creative testing, enabling us to optimize campaigns in real time.

Media Multiplier also includes Media Service/Buying, where we manage the entire campaign process from media planning and buying to technical quality control. We guarantee the best conditions and ensure your campaign is perfectly timed and fully optimized. Every detail is handled, from the brief to the final evaluation, so you can fully maximise the value of your investment.

We also use Benchmarking to measure the performance of your campaigns across segments, media, and formats. Our robust BigQuery-based database allows us to compare your campaigns with historical results and provide an objective overview. With advanced tools such as Brand Lift Studies and AdVerification (MOAT, IAS), we precisely measure impact, viewability, and brand safety ensuring your campaigns are both effective and safe.

Within just one month from the first meeting, you can have an effective budget split between PPC and brand spending with immediate improvements in ROI, lower CAC, and overall higher campaign efficiency.

If you want to achieve a true multiplier effect an effective combination of brand and performance marketing the Media Multiplier product is the ideal next step. Our experts will help you define the strategic actions needed to reach your marketing goals, delivering higher performance, efficiency, and return on investment through optimized campaigns.