By Paige Wheaton, Chief Investment Officer, Initiative
As inflation continues to erode household budgets and consumer confidence remains fragile, the pressure on marketers to justify every dollar of spend is intensifying. CMOs are operating in an environment where budgets are under rigorous scrutiny, and traditional ROI metrics often fail to capture the full, long-term value of a brand’s marketing efforts.
In this landscape, marketers must re-evaluate what efficiency and effectiveness truly mean. Efficiency alone – doing more with less can reduce waste, but without effectiveness delivering impact it rarely builds lasting brand value. The imperative now is to unlock smarter spending that delivers measurable business outcomes across the full customer journey.
At the centre of this transformation is precision media – a strategy that prioritises outcome-driven planning over channel-first thinking. The shift requires a fundamental change in how agencies and brands collaborate, starting with clearly defined success metrics that are aligned to the brand’s broader objectives. These may not always be conventional metrics like CPA (cost per acquisition) or ROAS (return on ad spend), instead, they might focus on brand uplift, market share, or behavioural change.
This approach reflects a broader industry trend. According to a WARC, 2024 report on media effectiveness, the most successful campaigns are increasingly those that take a full-funnel approach, balancing both short-term performance and long-term brand building.
While “performance media” has traditionally been associated with bottom-funnel conversions, precision media takes a broader, more strategic view. It ensures the right investments are made at the right stages of the funnel, using sophisticated targeting, first-party data, and predictive analytics to create high-impact, measurable moments.
Formats such as addressable TV, programmatic digital out-of-home and digital audio are no longer used solely for awareness, they are now measurable channels capable of driving both brand and retail outcomes. Research from the IAB shows that addressable advertising, when paired with strong creative, drives up to 30% greater brand lift compared to traditional linear approaches.
Media mix modelling has long served as the cornerstone of marketing measurement. But it’s no longer enough. The most progressive brands are embracing full-funnel modelling, a more nuanced method that evaluates media impact across every touchpoint, from awareness to loyalty. This enables marketers to connect media spend with brand preference, consideration, and ultimately, business growth.
A 2023 study by McKinsey emphasised the advantage of full-funnel planning, showing that companies integrating brand and performance efforts were 15% more likely to gain market share year-over-year.
Importantly, this smarter planning model doesn’t rely solely on increased media budgets. In many cases, the most effective strategies leverage underutilised assets within a brand’s owned, earned, and shared ecosystem. When tightly integrated with paid media, especially via partnerships and sponsorships, these assets amplify performance without requiring additional spend.
A Forrester report on media innovation supports this approach, noting that brands using a connected media strategy across PESO channels (paid, earned, shared, owned) saw a 20% increase in ROI over 12 months (Forrester, 2023).
The payoff is clear. Smarter, precision-led planning ensures media dollars work harder, not only increasing reach, but improving relevance. That translates into tangible business results including higher conversion rates, improved cost efficiency, and stronger brand equity.
It also allows brands to maintain a critical balance: delivering short-term performance while building long-term brand value. Marketers who lean too far into short-term tactics may experience initial gains but risk long-term decline. Precision planning, backed by robust data and strategic measurement, helps mitigate this risk.
Finally, smarter spending fosters internal alignment and stakeholder confidence. When marketers can demonstrate incremental value across multiple dimensions- brand, performance, loyalty – they reinforce marketing’s role as a strategic growth driver.
In an era where every dollar must prove its worth, the best-performing brands aren’t simply cutting costs, they’re redefining how they invest. Precision media, full-funnel planning, and smarter asset integration are no longer optional; they’re essential.
With the right agency partner and a commitment to outcome-based planning, this future isn’t hypothetical, it’s already here. For marketers willing to adapt, smarter spend won’t just protect value in a downturn, it will create lasting competitive advantage.
Top image: Paige Wheaton