In 2024, performance marketing dominated CMO agendas, with 75% citing short-term growth as their top priority. But the tide is turning. A CNN and MTM study found that 81% of marketers now prioritize brand awareness and long-term growth: nine in ten plan to launch or expand brand campaigns in the coming year. Performance is still the engine, but branding is moving into the driver’s seat.

How Branding Has Evolved: From Logos to Experiences

Branding has evolved far beyond logos and taglines. In the early 20th century, branding was primarily visual and product-focused: think Coca-Cola's iconic script logo since the late 19^th century or Ford's promise of affordability with the Model T. By the 1980s and 1990s, emotional appeal and lifestyle associations began to dominate, as brands like Nike and Apple wove aspirational narratives into their identity.

The digital era ushered in a new frontier. As Forbes notes, the rise of social media shifted control from brands to consumers, requiring brands to be more transparent, responsive, and values-driven. Authenticity and consistency became critical as customers began interacting with brands across multiple platforms, in real-time.

Today, branding is experiential. It extends across every customer touchpoint, from website UX to post-purchase engagement. According to Business Insider, GenZ and Millennials increasingly seek brands that align with their values, such as sustainability, inclusivity, or ethical sourcing, over mere product features.

As a result, modern branding is as much about what a company does as what it says. It requires continuous adaptation, real cultural relevance, and active participation in social discourse to build trust and loyalty in an increasingly skeptical consumer landscape.

Why Companies with Strong Branding Outperform in Competitive Markets?

Strong branding delivers measurable business value. Brands with positive equity enjoy reduced price sensitivity, increased customer retention, and greater resilience during market downturns. Customers aren’t just buying a product: they’re buying into a promise, an identity, and an experience.

This dynamic plays out in practice. A Business Insider report highlights how real estate services firm JLL significantly improved performance by investing in brand alignment. By unifying brand messaging and measurement across regions, JLL tripled its marketing pipeline contribution and quadrupled revenue attribution, all while reducing resource use by 11%.

In saturated markets, branding acts as a decision-making shortcut. When features and pricing are comparable, customers lean on emotional cues and familiarity. As behavioral economist Dan Ariely explains in Predictably irrational, people don’t always make rational choices; they’re influenced by expectations, emotions, social norms, and mental shortcuts that systematically skew their judgment. A high-performing product may win in the moment, but a strong brand wins in memory and repeat consideration by creating associations that feel familiar, trustworthy, and emotionally rewarding.

Performance Marketing Alone Doesn’t Drive Growth

Over the past decade, performance marketing promised scale, speed, and measurable ROI, making it essential for growth-driven brands. Yet, its effectiveness is no longer guaranteed. Customer acquisition costs have steadily risen, while conversion rates have declined, even for the most optimized campaigns. WARC reports that performance marketing’s impact has dropped by 62% in the past amid subdued consumer demand, with creativity severely underutilized in this space.

WARC’s 2025 CMO Guide to Brand-Building in the Performance Era reveals that brands overly dependent on short-term performance channels can see revenue returns fall by 20% to 50%. These aren’t minor set backs: they highlight a structural inefficiency that worsens as markets saturate and consumers grow fatigued.

Performance marketing remains a vital tool, but it cannot deliver sustained growth alone. According to The Multiplier Effect, the strongest advertising returns come when brand equity is fully integrated with performance tactics. This combined approach accelerates commercial outcomes, unlocking exponential growth and maximizing return on spend.

The Business Impact of Branding in 2025 and Beyond

The impact of branding goes well beyond simple awareness: it drives measurable growth and competitive resilience. As Forbes notes, “a powerful brand can not only differentiate your business from the competition but also build customer loyalty and drive growth.” Companies that invest consistently in brand-building are better positioned to withstand market volatility and stand out in increasingly commoditized categories.

WARC’s 2025 CMO Guide also highlights a clear shift in marketers’ strategies: increasing brand investment within media mixes. The report recommends allocating at least 30% of budgets to brand campaigns, with 40–60% cited as a best-practice range. Brands that recalibrate from performance-heavy portfolios to more integrated strategies can see revenue returns rise by 25% to 100%, with a median uplift of 90%, underscoring how brand-building amplifies both short-term impact and long-term growth.

How to Combine Brand and Performance Marketing  

The most effective marketing today doesn’t separate brand from performance: it blends them. When aligned, they multiply each other’s impact.

Performance is still the engine

It delivers speed, scale, and measurable results. When optimized, it unlocks major impact. Read how we helped a luxury retailer unlock $30Min additional profit by optimizing their performance marketing.

Branding amplifies performance

Strong brand equity lowers customer acquisition costs, improves conversion rates, and boosts lifetime value. As Forbes reports, brands that cultivate meaningful, personal relationships with consumers, like Get Joy and Thalia, can build loyalty and reduce churn, helping them sidestep the rising costs of acquisition.

Performance informs brand strategy

Real-time insights from performance channels can refine brand tone, messaging, and targeting. As Capgemini highlights, a data-driven approach brings structure to campaigns, making them more engaging and effective through precisely targeted, context-rich real-time interactions.

Unified messaging drives results

Whether in a display ad or an organic TikTok, consistency in voice and values multiplies impact. McKinsey & Company finds that companies taking a full-funnel approach, integrating brand and performance marketing, tend to unlock more value and grow relevance with customers without increasing marketing spend.

Building a Brand-Led Marketing Strategy

Modern growth strategies demand more than quick wins: they require embedding brand purpose, emotional storytelling, and measurable impact into every layer of performance marketing.

a. Clarify your brand positioning. What do you stand for, and why should anyone care?

b. Embed brand in your performance strategy. Use paid channels to reinforce brand attributes, not just drive clicks.

c. Lead with emotion and story. Consumers remember how you make them feel more than what you sell.

d. Measure what matters. Tools like brand lift studies, share of voice analysis, and customer sentiment tracking can turn brand growth into a quantifiable metric. You can analyze user behavior to identify products of interest. Read how we helped a $4B fashion brand break down their followers’ interests on social media.

Branding and Performance Work Better Together

In 2025, performance drives quick, measurable results, but branding builds lasting trust and loyalty. Together, they lower acquisition costs and boost growth. Integrated strategies combine speed with emotional connection, making branding and performance essential partners, not alternatives.

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About Crealytics

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Crealytics is an award-winning full-funnel digital marketing agency fueling the profitable growth of over 100 well-known B2C and B2B businesses, including ASOS, The Hut Group, Staples and Urban Outfitters. A global company with an inclusive team of 100+ international employees, we operate from our hubs in Berlin, New York, Chicago, London, and Mumbai.