Media returns peak with roughly half to sixty per cent of the budget in brand building
StatBrand Strategy
For European e-commerce brands, media ROI peaks when roughly 47-59% of investment goes to brand building, which the report's executive summary rounds to 40-60%. Pushing performance beyond about 59% of the mix sends returns down sharply, and the lowest ROI in the dataset sits at 83% performance.
Source
The Effectiveness Equation - Google Market Insights EMEA, with Kantar, Nielsen, Ekimetrics, Ipsos MMA, the Behavioural Architects and WARC (2025)
Michal Protasiuk, Ahmet Bas, Jonas Christensen, Vanessa Bruns, Emily Allen and Jonny Protheroe (Google Market Insights, EMEA)
Figure 12, p. 39, The Effectiveness Equation (2025), Ipsos MMA meta-analysis of 11 European markets, 2020-2023
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PrincipleMarketing measures itself on only one side of the profit equationStatMost organisations have no agreed definition of what marketing effectiveness meansStatBrands with pricing power command roughly twice the price of brands without itStatPricing power comes from meaningful difference, not from salienceCaseA UK skincare brand turned a 2% revenue increase into 7% by lowering its price elasticity firstPrinciplePromotion-heavy communication raises price sensitivity; balanced brand building lowers itStatPricing power and resistance to price rises correlate strongly and measurablyStatHalf of advertising's sales effect arrives after the fourth monthStatRaising brand awareness lifts short-term sales as well as long-term onesWarningWinning back share costs nearly twice what cutting the budget savedWarningEvery dark quarter costs future revenue that takes years to rebuildWarningShifting a shrinking budget into performance can destroy the returns performance depends on