Brand vs performance is a false choice

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!

This week, we’re challenging the assumption that brand and performance should remain separate. Turns out, this division might be sabotaging both efforts more than we realize. 

—Elena  

  

  

Companies prioritizing performance over brand see their distinctiveness erode.          

Harvard Business Review research shows this shift toward measurable tactics often comes at the expense of long-term growth. One executive put it bluntly: "We're great at performance marketing, but our brand sucks." 

 

Why the Brand-Performance Divide Hurts Everyone                      

The tension between brand and performance is more than an organizational problem. It's fundamentally changing how marketing works, and the damage is starting to show up everywhere.

1. Misaligned incentives create internal competition. Brand teams optimize for awareness while performance teams chase conversions, leading to conflicting strategies that cancel each other out. 
   
   
2. Attribution models undervalue brand impact. When you only measure last-click results, you miss how brand building makes every performance dollar work harder. 
   
   
3. Nike proves the risks of going too far toward performance. Mark Ritson points to Nike as a cautionary tale. Their pivot toward performance marketing meant running on fumes from their past brand work until growth stalled. 
   
   
4. Measurement doesn't have to be either/or. Track short-term incrementality alongside brand equity metrics tied to revenue modeling for a complete picture. 
   
   

The fix isn't surface-level collaboration. It requires shared incentives, brand health measures tied to revenue, and one accountable owner for the entire plan. 

Listen in on our discussion.

 

“How Brand Building and Performance Marketing Can Work Together”     

This Harvard Business Review article explores how to tie both brand and performance efforts to a single metric for brand equity. The research shows that when companies pit these approaches against each other, both become less effective. 

Read the article.

 

The truth about marketing's purpose.         

"Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image." 

— David Ogilvy