“Did the campaign move the needle?” It’s the first question I’m asked when we present campaign results. Rightly so, if you’re spending millions on advertising, you want to know whether it’s working. But in all the excitement about impact on the brand, whether awareness, consideration, preference or otherwise, we often skip the first fundamental question:

Through DVJ’s Brand Growth platform, we interview over 2,000 marketers across 12 markets in Europe and the US every year. These conversations offer a fascinating pulse check on the marketing mindset. Over the years, one theme has stood out: caution. We’re seeing more and more emphasis on immediate returns, tighter efficiency targets, and a steadfast belief in consistency above all else.

It’s one of the least inspiring but most important truths in marketing: big brands have an unfair advantage. Not because they shout louder or spend recklessly, but because they’ve already built something smaller brands are still chasing: existing ad stock to fall back on . The pivotal work from Paul Dyson, amplified by Mark Ritson, already a similar case: brand size is the most important factor for campaign impact. In his meta-analyses across thousands of campaigns, he found

Marketers have always craved one thing from their media investments: effectiveness. Are we getting results? Are we driving brand growth? And, most frustrating of all, are we spending too much, or not enough? Yet despite this obsession, most marketers are still steering their media using outdated KPIs. GRPs and spend are the go-to metrics, but here’s the thing: they don’t tell us what we actually need to know .

Research study on attention and brand recall for social reel, social feed and pre-roll advertising Nowadays, many brand managers will admit that one of their biggest challenges is determining how to effectively reach the youngest members of their target audience – i.e., "Millennial" or "Gen-Z" consumers – through advertising campaigns. According to a recent report by the World Advertising Research Center, consumers that fall within one of these demographic groups typically s

Advertising has always been an industry driven by human creativity. But anyone paying attention to the marketing landscape recently has seen a major shift: artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the way we approach creative work. At Cannes Lions, the industry-wide conversation was clear: AI isn't just the latest buzz, but a transformative force reshaping the advertising process. And with tech companies such as Google, Meta and TikTok having increasing presence at the

When Advertising Consistency Kills Curiosity Distinctive Brand Assets (DBAs) have become the go-to tactic for many marketers. And rightly so. The theory is sound: use consistent, recognisable cues like colours, logos, sounds and characters to help people quickly identify your brand in a cluttered media world. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute has made a strong case, and brands have listened. Recognition drives recall, and recall is a prerequisite for effectiveness.

When Adidas moved all their media spend to digital in an effort to become “digital first,” it seemed like the obvious move. Consumers were flocking to online platforms, traditional media was supposedly dying, and everyone was preaching digital transformation. But a few years later, Adidas quietly reversed that decision. Why? Because it didn’t work. Their brand salience suffered, and their business results showed it. The campaign didn’t break through the clutter the way they h

In today’s media landscape, attention is fleeting and memory is selective. With every second of airtime, brands fight not only to be...