For years, marketing chiefs have fought a familiar boardroom battle: prove the value of brand marketing in a world obsessed with short-term results. Now, a new study from TransUnion and MMA Global suggests CMOs may finally have the ammunition they need.

According to the whitepaper, Giving Marketing the Credit it Deserves, traditional measurement methods have undervalued the sales impact of brand campaigns by up to 83%. The research validates a framework known as Brand as Performance (BaP)—first introduced by MMA in 2022—that links brand-building directly to customer acquisition, retention, and revenue.

Brand as Performance: The Missing Link

The takeaway is simple: brand isn’t just a feel-good play. When properly measured, brand marketing boosts new customer acquisition, multiplies conversions, and compounds long-term growth far more effectively than performance-only tactics.

Matt Spiegel, EVP of TruAudience Growth Strategy at TransUnion, calls BaP a “language and evidence” CMOs can use to protect budgets and win boardroom support. Greg Stuart, CEO of MMA Global, was more blunt: “It is the kind of evidence the industry has been missing.”

The whitepaper isn’t just theory—it draws from real-world campaigns by major U.S. brands including Ally, Kroger, and Campbell’s.

Key Findings at a Glance

• Brand’s impact has been massively undervalued — up to 83% under old models.

• Marketing drives favorability — with lifts of up to +24%, even for well-established brands.

• Favorability drives conversion — favorable consumers buy 4–5x more than skeptics.

• Brand’s effect compounds — long-term results are 1.8x to 6x stronger than short-term.

• Brand-first strategies deliver growth — Ally, for example, saw +16% new customers and +29% more accounts.

Ally CMO Andrea Brimmer summed it up: “This work proved that a brand-first strategy not only builds equity, but also drives measurable business results — more customers, more accounts, and stronger long-term growth than chasing short-term wins.”

Why It Matters

The findings arrive at a critical moment. Under economic pressure, many companies have shifted budgets toward immediate, measurable tactics like digital performance ads, often at the expense of brand spend. But if BaP holds up across industries, CMOs now have proof that brand budgets aren’t just defensible—they may be the smarter long-term growth play.

And in an environment where AI-driven targeting, data privacy rules, and platform fragmentation make performance marketing harder to optimize, brand strength may be the one asset no competitor can copy.

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