The global business environment has recently had a tough go of it. Geopolitical conflict, trade protectionism, rewired supply chains, and mixed sentiment towards sustainability-driven investment have all forced companies to reconsider where and how they operate.
Whether you’re a start-up chasing additional and improved funding or a public company navigating quarterly expectations, the pressure to show results is constant. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article found that 61% of executives would cut discretionary spending to avoid missing earnings targets, and nearly half would delay a project even if it meant sacrificing long-term value.1 In periods of uncertainty, it’s only natural to default to what delivers results now. Preserve cash flow, protect your margins, and buffer against the shock.
But there’s a pattern we can’t ignore. That same article found that companies focused on the long term significantly outperformed their more short-term peers over the period 2001–2014:
Crucially, this held across economic cycles, including the 2008 financial crisis.
The study wasn’t specifically about marketing, but its lessons apply. Long-termism isn’t limited to infrastructure or capital planning—it extends to how companies think about growth and strategic investment. And in marketing, there are two primary levers: sales activation and brand building. Sales activation delivers short bursts of growth; returns from brand building play out over time.
In turbulent times, it is natural to prioritise growth through quick wins. And in many cases, that’s a matter of survival. Sales activation drives cash flow and keeps the business moving. Clicks, conversions, pipelines filled. But when it becomes the only lever pulled, things start to skew. You’re chasing demand, not generating it. Retargeting and performance ads work when there’s existing interest to convert, but they don’t build the kind of brand preference that endures through competitive cycles.
Brand building rewards consistency and grows in value the longer it’s developed. It is the work of defining what your company stands for, what story you’re telling, and why it matters to the people you want to reach. It gives people a reason to choose you, not just click on you. It’s how companies differentiate in saturated markets, expand into new segments, and stay relevant through change and disruption. And crucially, brand building doesn’t just capture existing demand—it creates it. Brand expands the pool, not just the funnel.
Still, brand is often the first thing to go when budgets tighten. It’s harder to measure, slower to return, and easy to postpone when targets loom. But that doesn’t mean it's inefficient. In fact, it may deliver some of the most disproportionate returns a company can make.
In their landmark analysis of the IPA Databank, Les Binet and Peter Field offer a telling example. In 2007, McDonald’s allocated its entire marketing budget to short-term promotions. By 2011, 28% of that spend had shifted to brand building. That same year, brand activity accounted for 60% of total indexed sales impact.3 The return wasn’t just measurable—it was disproportionate.
Marketing spend
Sales impact
And McDonald’s wasn’t an outlier. Their broader analysis found that the optimal balance of brand and activation expenditure is, on average, around 60:40.4 The exact ratio varies, but the pattern is consistent: activation converts, brand compounds.
Sales activation has an important role to play, but it shouldn’t be at brand building’s expense. Brand gives activation something to echo: a narrative, a point of view, a reason to choose. It’s what makes marketing scalable. Without brand building, short-term tactics risk drifting off-brand—or pulling in the wrong direction altogether.
That’s why we recommend separating investments. Not to silo the work, but to protect the balance. Brand and activation operate on different timelines, with different goals. But they should be grounded in a shared strategy and, most importantly, they should reinforce each other. When activation is guided by brand strategy, every click supports the bigger story. And even if short-term performance takes precedence for a while, you’re not working at cross-purposes. You won’t have to rebuild what you’ve quietly eroded.
Ultimately, it's about resilience and intention. Companies need to make it through, and sales activation can be effective. But short-term financial targets should not give license to ignore brand. Strong brands weather turbulence better and rebound faster. Brand can only be built over time, but it’s an investment well worth prioritising. According to Kantar’s 2024 BrandZ Global Report, strong brands have outpaced the S&P 500 by 88% over the past 18 years.5 Strong brands don’t just perform—they outperform.
In uncertain times, brand is not a discretionary spend—it’s a lever. Protect it. Invest in it. Because while growth may begin with urgency, it’s sustained by intention. Resilient companies think in years, not quarters. Play the long game.
