Shifting a shrinking budget into performance can destroy the returns performance depends on

Cutting the budget is one mistake; reallocating what remains to performance is another. One brand with a strong marketing history pivoted sharply to performance channels under economic pressure and saw marketing ROI drop 44% within two quarters, because the brand building that made performance effective had been removed.

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)

p. 60, The Effectiveness Equation (2025), Google/Ipsos MMA case study analysis, retailer, multiple European markets, 2021

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PrincipleMarketing measures itself on only one side of the profit equation StatMost organisations have no agreed definition of what marketing effectiveness means StatBrands with pricing power command roughly twice the price of brands without it StatPricing power comes from meaningful difference, not from salience CaseA UK skincare brand turned a 2% revenue increase into 7% by lowering its price elasticity first PrinciplePromotion-heavy communication raises price sensitivity; balanced brand building lowers it StatPricing power and resistance to price rises correlate strongly and measurably StatHalf of advertising's sales effect arrives after the fourth month StatMedia returns peak with roughly half to sixty per cent of the budget in brand building StatRaising brand awareness lifts short-term sales as well as long-term ones WarningWinning back share costs nearly twice what cutting the budget saved WarningEvery dark quarter costs future revenue that takes years to rebuild