Measuring brand impact is the new imperative for advertising
Partner content
In our industry, performance is often boiled down to immediate results. Many overlook the most powerful driver of performance: the brand itself. Happydemics thinks this means a long-term, people-centric model.
When asked about the most effective strategy for driving growth, an overwhelming majority of chief marketing officers (87%) say the same thing: brand-building.
These experts know that a strong brand is an essential performance lever. Awareness, recognition, preference, consideration — these top-of-funnel assets have a direct impact on purchase decisions, both short and long term.
Yet, in advertising, performance is often boiled down to immediate results: clicks, conversions, sales. A short-term obsession driven by return-on-investment (ROI) pressures and massive media investments.
But by focusing solely on short-term metrics, media experts are missing out on a major ROI opportunity — one that typically emerges between five and 20 months after a campaign (source: Google/Warc).
Mixing emotion and data to measure what really matters
As Seth Godin put it: “Measurement is fabulous. But the danger is measuring what’s easy, not what’s important.”
Traditional attribution models struggle to capture the true impact of brand-building. By focusing on ad-centric KPIs like clicks, likes, completion rates and viewability, they often overlook the most powerful driver of performance: the brand itself.
An engagement or a lead is nice, but fleeting. The real power of great advertising lies in building a strong brand that creates lasting emotional connections in consumers’ minds.
A powerful brand doesn’t just drive sales or loyalty — it can also dramatically increase perceived value, allowing a product to command up to double the price of its competitors.
Capturing this emotional impact — and its contribution to both short- and long-term performance — means measuring the real effects on consumers. Who is responding? Which market segments are being moved?
And not all consumers react the same way. Many respond through offline behaviours that traditional models often miss.
This more emotional approach to measurement is deeper and more sustainable. Building a brand is not a one-off campaign — it’s a long-term shaping of consumer perception. Recentering on brand means embracing a long-term, people-centric vision.
From views to value: Building brands with people-centric metrics
With the rise of attention metrics, advertising must continue to evolve towards more human-centred models to stay relevant.
The real challenge? Ensuring a campaign is remembered, properly attributed to the brand and leaves a lasting impact in consumers’ minds — all the way to purchase.
In this context, classic funnel KPIs (awareness, preference, consideration) remain the most powerful indicators of brand-building and future growth:
More durable, because they measure the deep levers of impact and help anticipate long-term profitability.
More comprehensive, as they allow the evaluation of the full media plan with a consistent messaging exposure base, regardless of the channel.
More actionable, since they connect media performance directly to tangible marketing goals that everyone in the organisation can understand.
Beyond clicks: Brand lift as your growth engine
Leveraging these KPIs for paid media measurement is now a must. But how do you turn brand metrics into operational levers?
Brand-lift studies offer a powerful solution — measuring campaign impact on upper- and mid-funnel KPIs by combining ad data with direct audience feedback.
By tapping into sector-specific benchmarks and integrating long-term brand impact into ROI calculations, advertisers can make smarter, future-proofed investment decisions.
Embracing these new metrics isn’t just about optimising immediate performance — it’s about building sustainable growth in a fast-evolving media ecosystem.
It’s time to go beyond exposure: to measure not just moments, but the momentum of building a brand that stands the test of time.
Guillaume Laborde is general manager at Happydemics