By Megan Davey, General Manager, Initiative Melbourne
The headline may seem obvious, but it’s something our industry forgets all the time: if no one sees or remembers your ad, it doesn’t matter how efficient the campaign was – it’s still invisible.
Agencies have spent years chasing lower costs and better efficiency through improved CPMs, CPTs and cost per reach. In the process, advertising has become a spreadsheet problem rather than a creative opportunity to build real connections with consumers.
If what we actually want is to create lasting, meaningful relationships with audiences, we have to offer real value in return. Yet, as we double down on efficiency, we risk optimising our work into oblivion – making it so refined, it’s forgettable.
The efficiency trap
I call this the “efficiency trap.” On paper, it looks great. It promises cost savings and shiny performance metrics, but too often it delivers bland creative that fails to drive real growth.
Over the past decade, we’ve moved from broad-reaching campaigns to hyper-targeted precision marketing.
As we enter an era dominated by advanced technology, there’s a growing risk – as Mark Sage writes in Known Buyer Bias – that brands could “optimise themselves into irrelevance.” I agree with Sage: we need balance.
Here’s the reality. Technology has given us incredible targeting power, but it’s useless if what we deliver doesn’t make an impact on the people we’re trying to engage.
Emotion outperforms efficiency
Les Binet and Peter Field’s landmark IPA study, The Long and the Short of It, proves that emotional, long-term brand building drives more growth than short-term sales activation.
Their optimal mix – 60% brand building, 40% sales activation – shows one simple truth: emotion wins.
WARC also reported that brands with high cultural resonance grew 25% faster than competitors in 2023, and the top three culturally resonant brands grew at twice that rate.
Just look at Nike’s 2018 Colin Kaepernick campaign.
It wasn’t the cheapest or most efficient media buy, but it hit people on a deeper level – tapping into culture, values and emotion. The result? Not only a surge in brand loyalty and conversation, but a 31% jump in sales. That’s an impact no CPM metric could measure.
I’m not suggesting we ditch efficiency altogether. I’m suggesting we expand our definition of success to include culture, emotion and meaning.
The smartest brands understand that efficiency is just one piece of the puzzle – culturally distinctive experiences are what build memories and influence decisions long after a campaign ends.
To break free from the efficiency trap, without abandoning accountability, agencies need a framework that balances business goals with distinctiveness:
Commercial outcomes: What are the business objectives?
Memory metrics: How will distinctive memory structures be measured?
Cultural relevance: Will media choices create meaningful cultural connections?
Efficiency benchmarks: What level of efficiency delivers sustainable ROI?
In this model, efficiency still matters – but it serves the bigger picture, not the other way around.
The courage to stand out
Thanks to technology convergence, we can now measure delivery metrics and distinctiveness and cultural impact.
So the question isn’t, “How can we make our media more efficient?” It’s, “How can our media create unique experiences that actually drive growth?”
That shift takes courage. It means challenging KPIs, trying bolder ideas, and measuring success in more meaningful ways.
The brands best positioned for success won’t be the ones with the most efficient media plans. They’ll be the ones brave enough to stand out – the brands that understand efficiency without cultural resonance doesn’t move people.
Somewhere along the way, in our obsession with optimisation, we’ve forgotten what media is meant to do: capture attention, stir emotion, and influence behaviour.
It’s time to get back to that – and make work that’s not just efficient, but impossible to ignore. Something to think about as we plan for 2026 and beyond.