This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Global 500 2025 report.
Chief Commercial Officer,
Brand Finance
"How can we make the case for greater investment in building our brand?” It’s a question that has become increasingly complex as the marketing landscape evolves. While iconic campaigns like the Guinness surfer advert once epitomised brand building, today’s strategies are more intricate, requiring a nuanced understanding of both long-term and short-term marketing goals.
The changing landscape of brand building
Historically, building a brand often meant investing in high-impact communications and advertisements. Today, however, the tools and strategies available have multiplied exponentially. Marketing technology now enables detailed measurement and automation, offering businesses an appealing ability to track outcomes like leads and sales. These ‘performance marketing’ tactics provide immediate, quantifiable results, making them highly attractive to business leaders.
In contrast, brand building requires a long-term approach, often without immediate or direct measurability. It focuses on shaping perceptions, creating emotional connections, and fostering loyalty - elements that cannot be easily tracked through dashboards. For less frequent, high-involvement purchases like cars or IT infrastructure upgrades, brand marketing builds mental availability and familiarity for when buyers are ready to enter the market. In contrast, for more frequent purchases, such as chocolate bars, brand marketing can simultaneously drive immediate sales while reinforcing long-term relevance. These dynamics, coupled with advancements in marketing science -such as the understanding of System 1 (intuitive) and System 2 (rational) thinking -reinforce the vital role of brand building in driving sustainable growth.
The evidence: brands drive financial performance
Data consistently supports the argument that strong brands outperform their peers. Between 2016 and 2024, analysis conducted by LGIM, Legal & General’s asset management arm, on the top 100 global brands in our study, achieved, on average:
- 24% higher shareholder yield,
- 18% higher return on equity, and
- 18% higher operating margins compared to mega-cap peers in the MSCI World Index.
Balancing brand and performance marketing
Brand and performance marketing serve distinct but complementary purposes. Performance marketing delivers quick wins, such as clicks or sales, while brand marketing creates sustained awareness, loyalty, and emotional resonance.
Research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) highlights that the most effective marketing strategies allocate 60% of resources to brand marketing and 40% to performance marketing, in consumer industries, and 45% / 55% respectively in business to business. Campaigns that achieve this balance often see higher conversion rates and long-term business growth.
Lessons from leaders
Some organisations have already recognised the need to rebalance their marketing efforts, demonstrating the long-term benefits of prioritising brand equity over short-term performance metrics.
Nike's CEO, Elliot Hill, has explicitly stated that the company is "shifting dollars from performance marketing to brand marketing." This strategy centres on innovation and differentiation in its key markets. Despite experiencing business declines in recent times under the previous CEO, Nike's brand value has shown resilience, sitting at USD29.4 billion in 2025. Similarly, Adidas CEO, Bjørn Gulden, has made substantial efforts to safeguard its brand equity by reducing dependence on short-term performance campaigns.
Airbnb presents a particularly compelling case. During the pandemic, the company drastically reduced its marketing spend, pivoting from performance-focused strategies to brand marketing. This decision, highlighted by the launch of its "Made Possible by Hosts" campaign in 2021, allowed Airbnb to achieve record financial performance while improving marketing efficiency.
From a low point of USD2.4 billion in 2016, Airbnb's brand value surged to USD7.0 billion in 2025, demonstrating how an investment in brand storytelling can yield exceptional results even amidst challenging circumstances.
Building a business case for brand investment
To secure buy-in for brand investment, companies must craft a compelling, evidence-based business case. There are four key ingredients of a successful case:
1. A holistic approach
An effective business case takes a multidimensional approach, presenting evidence from various angles. This includes referencing macro-level insights, such as industry benchmarks and broader market studies, alongside detailed case studies that demonstrate how similar investments have delivered tangible results. Additionally, tailoring the analysis to the organisation’s unique context ensures relevance and increases credibility.
2. Business model specific
Every business operates with its own set of value levers - key factors that directly influence performance. A compelling business case connects brand investment to these drivers, whether they are focused on customer acquisition, revenue growth, market share, or operational efficiency. This alignment ensures the proposal resonates with leadership by demonstrating a clear and measurable impact on core objectives.
3. Collaborative development
Collaboration is essential throughout the process of building the business case. Engaging key stakeholders early to agree on assumptions and define baseline scenarios fosters alignment and trust. By involving decision-makers in shaping the case, companies can secure their buy-in before the final proposal is presented, ensuring that the rationale and methodology are understood and supported.
4. Range-based analysis
Decision-makers often prefer to see potential outcomes framed within a range rather than relying on a single forecast. Presenting best-case, worst-case, and expected scenarios demonstrates a thoughtful and rigorous approach to risk management. This method helps illustrate the potential upside of the investment while mitigating concerns about downside risks, providing a more balanced view of the proposal’s impact.
Case Study: LSEG's brand architecture overhaul
At Brand Finance, we worked with LSEG as part of their process to simplify its brand architecture, which was addressing challenges caused by a fragmented portfolio of over 25 brands, which were costly and time-consuming to build equity in. Stakeholders struggled to understand the company’s identity, and navigate its full offering; for example, only a minority of customers were aware that FTSE Russell was part of LSEG.
A common perception was that LSEG was solely a London-based stock exchange, when in fact the exchange only contributes around 3% of the group's revenue. By focusing on the master brand, the goal was to grow familiarity with LSEG’s breadth of services, enhance marketing efficiency, and better communicate its position as a global financial infrastructure leader.
Brand Finance was engaged to validate the required budget for the transition to the new strategy. Our solution was to evaluate the financial impact of consolidating the brand portfolio, advising on the optimal weight and timing of investment to maximise ROI. This approach supported LSEG’s move towards a master brand strategy, improving market clarity and strengthening LSEG’s position beyond its stock exchange roots. The rebrand was underpinned by a detailed business case, demonstrating the strategic importance of the investment and the expected returns. Following a targeted and multi-channel launch, early stakeholder research shows positive outcomes, with the campaign surpassing targets and enhancing brand recognition.
While the rebrand remains an ongoing multi-year effort, it highlights the importance of a robust business case in giving internal stakeholders the confidence to invest and showcases the impact of a strategic, cohesive brand approach in driving business growth.
Looking ahead
As we start the year, trends indicate a growing emphasis on performance marketing, driven by economic uncertainty and pressure for immediate returns. However, brands that prioritise long-term investment in brand building are likely to emerge stronger, more differentiated, and better positioned for sustained growth.
The challenge lies in bridging the gap—educating stakeholders on the tangible financial benefits of brand investment while leveraging tools, data, and strategies that demonstrate its value in a measurable, actionable way.
By taking a strategic, informed approach, companies can unlock the true potential of their brands, driving business success and shareholder value in the years to come.
