All Posts By

BJ Bueno

Great Marketers Drive the Business and Build the Brand

There’s a big debate happening in marketing right now.

Some people argue that a marketer’s main job is to drive the business — bring in sales, hit the numbers, boost short-term performance.

Others say it’s to build the brand — create emotional connections, increase loyalty, and make the company culturally relevant.

But honestly? I think we’re all asking the wrong question.

Because today, successful marketers have to do both. It’s not “either-or” — it’s “and.”

Let me explain why.

The Pressures We’re All Facing

Let’s be real: the pressure on businesses right now is intense.
We’re dealing with economic uncertainty, a culture that’s constantly shifting, fast-changing technologies, and consumers who want more for less. And on top of that, there’s relentless internal pressure to deliver results — quickly.

Thanks to the rise of digital tools and analytics, marketers today have endless data at their fingertips. It’s no surprise that a lot of effort goes into short-term tactics: driving conversions, hitting targets, and showing immediate ROI.

These “push” strategies definitely work — they can move product and hit goals. But they’re also expensive to maintain and, over time, don’t necessarily deepen a consumer’s relationship with the brand. That leaves brands vulnerable: if someone else comes along offering a lower price or a flashier promotion, those customers might walk.

Brand Building Is About More Than Looking Good

On the flip side, there’s often this idea that brand building is a fluffy, “nice-to-have” part of marketing — the pretty campaigns, the big emotional ads, the creative work that’s hard to tie directly to numbers.

But here’s where we bring in the cult branding perspective.

When you build a strong, distinctive brand, you’re not just making cool ads — you’re creating pricing power. You’re setting yourself apart in a way that makes people want to pay more for you, trust you, and buy from you again and again.

Think about a brand you personally love. Chances are, you pay more for it than you would for a generic version — and you probably buy it more often. That’s not just habit; that’s an emotional connection. That’s loyalty.

Cult brands understand this deeply. They know how to create symbols, rituals, and stories that pull people in, turn them into fans, and make them feel part of something bigger. And that pays off, not just in awareness, but in real dollars and long-term growth.

Balancing Today’s Sales with Tomorrow’s Loyalty

Here’s the secret: marketing isn’t about picking sides between sales and brand. It’s about balancing them.

The best brands don’t just chase the next transaction or the next viral moment. They find smart, creative ways to connect short-term wins with long-term health.

They hit their sales goals and make work that people talk about.
They bring in new customers and win awards for creativity.
They execute flawlessly and shape culture.

This is where a smart marketing strategy comes in. Cult brands don’t treat performance marketing and brand marketing like two separate departments. They integrate them. They let brand purpose guide their creative work, and they let data sharpen their storytelling. Every touchpoint — from a social ad to a product launch — reinforces what they stand for and why they matter.

Embracing the “AND”

So, next time you hear someone ask, “Is marketing’s job to drive the business or build the brand?” push back.

The brands that win today do both.
They move hearts and wallets.
They deliver short-term numbers and build long-term meaning.

When you embrace the AND — instead of choosing between performance and purpose — you unlock a much more rewarding journey for yourself, your team, and your brand.
P.S. Want to see what bold creativity looks like in action (without sitting through another dull pitch deck)? Cult. Creative. is our latest live deck—packed with killer ideas, unforgettable ads. View it in Google Slides—no downloads, just instant inspiration. [Request access here.]

May 13, 2025 by

Marketing Myth: TV Ads Don’t Work Like They Used To

We’ve all heard it:

“TV advertising isn’t what it used to be.”

In the age of TikTok, YouTube, and programmatic everything, it’s easy to think TV is yesterday’s news — expensive, clunky, and hard to measure compared to sleek, digital-first campaigns.

But here’s the truth:
TV has actually gotten more effective over time.

And yet, marketers are spending less on it than the numbers suggest they should.

Let’s dig into why.

The Attention vs. Spend Gap

According to eMarketer, U.S. adults still spend around 2.5 hours a day watching live or time-shifted TV. That’s almost the same as the 2.7 hours they spend on their smartphones.

So why are we throwing so many ad dollars into digital, while TV gets less love?

One reason: TV can feel like a black box.

Digital’s easy — you set your budget, target your audience, watch the clicks roll in, and track every move.

TV, on the other hand, is pricey, the buying process is complicated, and measuring results isn’t as immediate.

For a lot of marketers, that makes it feel risky.

But here’s where smart brands — especially those building cult-like followings — see the opportunity.

What TV Still Does Better

Let’s break it down.

✅ It Drives Short-Term Sales
Yep, TV still moves the needle right now. Direct-response ads on TV, combined with digital or retail pushes, can create a real sales lift. TV also boosts things like search activity and web traffic.

✅ It Builds Long-Term Brand Power
This is where TV really shines. Research (like Binet & Field’s famous studies) shows that long-term emotional advertising consistently beats short-term, purely performance-driven campaigns.
Why? Because great TV ads stick in people’s heads, shape how they feel about your brand, and make you the first name they think of when they’re ready to buy.

✅ It Creates Cultural Moments
Digital ads are hyper-targeted, but they rarely create the big, shared moments that TV does. Think Super Bowl commercials, big product launches, or national campaigns — these become part of the cultural conversation in a way few digital ads ever do.

So Why Are Brands Pulling Back?

A lot of marketers simply don’t know how to make TV work today.

The landscape has changed — the upfronts, the scatter market, programmatic TV — it’s a lot. Add to that the fact that you can’t always track TV’s impact in real time, and many brands decide it’s easier to just keep pouring money into digital.

But here’s what cult brands understand:
Building lasting customer loyalty isn’t about what’s easiest to measure — it’s about what sticks in people’s hearts and minds.

How to Win with TV Today

If you want TV to become your most powerful marketing tool, you have to fully embrace what it’s good at — both the short-term and long-term play.

Here’s how:

1️⃣ Make Creative That Actually Connects
Don’t just shout offers. Tell stories. Build meaning. Use symbols and emotions that your audience can connect to. That’s what creates loyalty.

2️⃣ Balance Now and Later
Yes, you can run performance spots that drive immediate action — but don’t forget the big, emotional brand-building campaigns that set you up for long-term growth.

3️⃣ Mix TV and Digital
TV doesn’t live in a vacuum. It boosts your digital performance, drives social engagement, and primes search. Think of it as part of your overall ecosystem, not a standalone channel.

4️⃣ Experiment with Modern TV Tools
It’s not just about old-school linear anymore. Connected TV (CTV), addressable, programmatic — there are so many new ways to target and measure that can make TV smarter and more efficient.

The Bottom Line

People don’t just buy products — they buy meaning, emotion, identity.

And TV, when done right, delivers all three at scale.

So maybe it’s time to stop thinking of TV as outdated or risky — and start seeing it as the most underused weapon in your marketing arsenal.

Ready to rethink TV?

P.S. If this resonated with you, don’t miss our latest white paper: Cult. Creative. It features cutting-edge research on building culturally magnetic brands in the age of distraction—plus a curated collection of some of the best TV spots ever made to inspire you and your team. You won’t download a PDF—you’ll view it live, right in Google Slides. Click here and request access to explore the work.

May 11, 2025 by

Branding vs. Marketing

Branding and marketing are fundamentally different disciplines. 

They serve distinct purposes, operate on different timelines, and impact your business in unique ways. 

While they must work together to build a powerful, sustainable brand, failing to understand the difference between them can sabotage growth, dilute your message, and reduce your long-term impact.

Let’s begin with a clear distinction:

Branding is why you exist. 

Marketing is how you communicate that reason.

Branding is the soul of your organization. It’s the essence of what you believe, the values you uphold, and the story you tell about who you are. It’s embedded in your culture, your customer experience, and your point of view. Branding is strategic, emotional, and enduring.

Marketing, on the other hand, is tactical. It’s the deployment of tools, messages, and campaigns that promote your products or services. It’s how you gain visibility, drive traffic, and generate short-term action. Marketing is execution—it’s dynamic, responsive, and measurable.

This distinction reveals a simple truth: branding builds relationships; marketing initiates transactions.

You can market a product effectively and generate sales, but unless your brand communicates something meaningful—something that resonates with people on a deeper level—those customers won’t come back. Loyalty isn’t built through clever slogans or optimized conversion funnels. Loyalty is built when customers see a reflection of themselves in your brand’s identity.

Another key distinction lies in their time horizons. Branding is long-term. It’s about building equity and positioning over years. It’s what your organization becomes known for. Marketing, by contrast, is short-term. It’s the campaign you launch this quarter, the offer you test this week, the impressions you track by the hour.

When businesses over-invest in marketing and under-invest in branding, they often find themselves in a cycle of diminishing returns. They’re chasing clicks, fighting for attention, and optimizing for conversion—without investing in the emotional connections that actually create durable growth. Eventually, their messaging becomes fragmented, their values unclear, and their market position vulnerable.

But when branding and marketing work together—when the why and the how are aligned—something remarkable happens. Your marketing efforts become more effective because they’re anchored in meaning. Your customers respond not just because you reached them at the right time, but because your message mattered.

This alignment is what separates cult brands from transactional ones. Brands like Disney, Apple, and Netflix don’t just market products. They stand for something. They deliver a consistent experience rooted in a strong identity, and their marketing simply amplifies that identity across every channel.

Ultimately, branding is the being. Marketing is the doing.

Branding defines your trajectory—where you’re going and why it matters. Marketing defines the steps that get you there.

So no, we shouldn’t separate them. But we must stop confusing them. Because only when both are understood and integrated can a brand truly lead, inspire, and grow.

In a world where attention is scarce and trust is everything, branding and marketing are not just business tools. They are levers of belief, loyalty, and human connection. And if you’re building a brand designed to last, that distinction isn’t just helpful—it’s foundational.

P.S. If this hits home, check out Cult. Creative. — our new live white paper on building culturally magnetic brands. No PDFs. Just inspiration, research, and iconic TV spots, all in Google Slides. [Click here to request access.]

May 9, 2025 by

The Best End Line Was Never Written—It Was Experienced at Disney

What’s the best brand line I’ve ever come across?

It’s not one you’ll find in a slogan.

It’s what you experience the moment you walk into Disney.

Disney has used taglines like “The Happiest Place on Earth” or “Where Dreams Come True,” but that’s not what makes it iconic.

What makes Disney unforgettable is that it delivers on those promises—without having to say them out loud.

That’s the difference between marketing and meaning.

Most brand slogans today? They’re polished, inoffensive, and completely forgettable:

“Because you’re you.”
“We care.”
“Tomorrow. Today.”

None of these say anything real. They’re engineered by committees, tested to death, and stripped of all conviction. They sound like they’re trying to be everything to everyone—and in doing so, they stand for nothing.

Here’s the hard truth: If your brand doesn’t stand for something meaningful, no tagline will fix that.

At The Cult Branding Company, we’ve spent decades studying what makes customers fall in love with brands—why they tattoo logos on their skin, travel cross-country to attend brand events, and refer products like they’re spreading gospel.

It’s never because of a clever turn of phrase.

It’s because the brand reflects something they believe in.

Take Disney. People don’t return year after year because of a line on a brochure.

They come back because of what Disney represents: wonder, care, consistency, magic—and a level of intentionality so detailed that it creates memories that last a lifetime.

You don’t need a slogan when every touchpoint delivers your message.

That’s what most modern marketers forget.

They chase efficiency. They A/B test language. They cut creative corners to hit quarterly KPIs.

And then they wonder why no one cares.

If your brand needs a line to explain itself, ask a better question:

What do we actually stand for?
What experience do we consistently deliver?
What emotional territory do we own in our customer’s life?

Because cult brands don’t start with slogans.
They start with belief.

And once you get that right, the words become obvious—if you even need them at all.

P.S. If this resonated with you, don’t miss our latest white paper: Cult. Creative. It features cutting-edge research on building culturally magnetic brands in the age of distraction—plus a curated collection of some of the best TV spots ever made to inspire you and your team. You won’t download a PDF—you’ll view it live, right in Google Slides. Click here and request access to explore the work.

May 6, 2025 by

How Exploration and Evaluation Shape the Path to Purchase

If you want to build a brand that customers love—not just buy—you need to understand how people actually make decisions.

Contrary to what many dashboards suggest, purchasing isn’t a straight path from ad to cart. It’s more like a loop—an emotional, non-linear journey of curiosity, consideration, and sometimes confusion.

We call this journey the “Messy Middle.”

The Two Mental Modes in the Messy Middle

The latest behavioral research shows that people shift between two distinct mental modes on their path to purchase:

  • Exploration – a wide-ranging, open-ended search for possibilities. It’s imaginative. Emotional. People want to discover what’s out there, what feels right, and what surprises them.
  • Evaluation – a narrowing down of choices. It’s more deliberate. Rational. Here, people compare options, read reviews, visit pricing pages, and try to make “the best” decision.

Now here’s the kicker: every action your customer takes—on search engines, social platforms, review sites, or marketplaces—falls into one of these two modes.

This means every experience you create, every message you deliver, and every asset you design needs to align with one of these mindsets.

Are you inspiring curiosity? Or are you helping customers feel confident in their choice?

The Trap of Assuming Logic Wins

Most brands cater almost exclusively to Evaluation mode. They flood their pages with comparison charts, star ratings, testimonials, and case studies. These are important, no doubt.

But if you don’t earn attention in Exploration mode, you won’t make it to Evaluation.

And in today’s crowded markets, the brands that spark fascination and intrigue are the ones that win hearts—and wallets.

How Cult Brands Work the Loop

Cult Brands do this differently. They build stories, values, and symbols that invite people into Exploration. They feed curiosity and provide meaning. Then, when it’s time to evaluate, they provide clarity and trust.

Think Netflix or Trader Joe’s. These aren’t brands people simply compare. They’re brands people feel something about. That emotional connection starts in Exploration—and makes Evaluation a formality.

What This Means for You

As a brand leader, ask yourself:

  • Are we only showing up during Evaluation—or are we sparking interest during Exploration?
  • Do we understand what motivates our customers emotionally before they rationalize their choices?
  • Are we creating content and experiences that meet both mindsets?

The goal isn’t just to be the logical choice—it’s to be the brand they want to believe in. And that means playing a more nuanced game.

One that understands that people aren’t data points—they’re human beings.

And as long as that’s true, Exploration and Evaluation will always guide their journey.

It’s your job to show up powerfully in both.👋 I’m BJ Bueno, branding strategist and author of The Power of Cult Branding. If you’re looking to build lasting brand relationships, explore more insights at CultBranding.com.

May 4, 2025 by

Why Cutting Low-Converting Traffic Starves Your Future Growth

In today’s performance-obsessed marketing culture, optimization feels like the golden rule. We measure, we A/B test, we trim the fat. We narrow our targeting to the most “efficient” segments. It feels smart. Clean. Precise.

But there’s a problem: what feels like smart marketing on a dashboard is often the first step toward starving your future.

Let me explain.

The Dashboard Deception

We’ve all been in the room when a team proudly reports on how they’ve optimized their campaigns by cutting “low-converting” traffic. They beam as they show higher CTRs, better ROAS, cleaner funnels. It’s a dopamine hit for the data-driven mind.

But zoom out. What’s being cut is not just inefficiency—what’s being cut is discovery.

That top-of-funnel “inefficient” traffic? That’s tomorrow’s loyal customer. That mobile evening browser? She’s not converting today—but she’s getting to know your brand. And when she’s ready to make a purchase—likely on a desktop, likely in the morning—you may have already cut the thread that connected her to you.

The Hidden Cost of Hyper-Efficiency

We’ve worked with some of the world’s most beloved cult brands. One pattern we’ve seen again and again is that they don’t treat attention like a transaction. They treat it like a relationship.

Relationships require patience. Not everyone converts on the first touchpoint—or the fifth. But if you’re only investing in people who are ready to buy today, you’re ignoring the journey that leads them there.

And more importantly, you’re handing tomorrow’s buyers to your competitors.

Building for Tomorrow

Too often, marketers focus only on quick wins—optimizing for immediate conversions while unknowingly shutting down the pathways that lead to long-term growth. When discovery moments—like evening mobile browsing—are ignored or undervalued, the brand misses a crucial chance to make an early impression.

Instead, the brands that win are the ones planting seeds. They understand that someone browsing on their phone at night might come back the next morning on a desktop, ready to convert. That trust, built quietly over time, is what drives tomorrow’s results.

This is the “messy middle” that Google describes—a nonlinear, emotional journey filled with loops, detours, and returns. If your brand isn’t showing up early in that journey, you may never be in the running when the final decision is made.

CEOs: This Is a Leadership Issue

The temptation to prioritize short-term gains is strong. Your board wants results. Your team wants wins. But leadership isn’t about chasing the nearest carrot—it’s about having the courage to invest in long-term value.

Ask yourself:

  • Are we cutting spend that builds awareness simply because it doesn’t convert fast enough?
  • Are we designing our customer experience to support exploration and evaluation, or are we fixated only on conversion?
  • Are we building loyalty, or just transactions?

Remember: cult brands aren’t built on conversions. They’re built on connections.

The Cult Branding Mindset

Cult brands don’t optimize people out of their funnels. They create magnetic experiences that pull people in. They understand that brand love is a journey—and they’re willing to invest in it.

If you’re serious about building a loyal following, stop starving your future pipeline in the name of short-term efficiency. Get curious. Get expansive. Play the long game.

You’re not just building for today—you’re building for tomorrow.P.S. Want to see what bold creativity looks like in action (without sitting through another dull pitch deck)? Cult. Creative. is our latest live deck—packed with killer ideas, unforgettable ads. View it in Google Slides—no downloads, just instant inspiration. [Request access here.]

May 2, 2025 by

The $4 Trillion Blind Spot: Why Creative Quality Is Your Real ROI Problem

We’ve entered a marketing era obsessed with optimization.

Media teams are targeting down to the decimal. Audience segments are sliced to the molecule. Programmatic budgets are tweaked daily to squeeze out fractional gains in click-through rates and conversion metrics.

And yet, amid all this precision, we continue to overlook the most critical—and most wasteful—aspect of advertising.

The idea itself.

According to new research from Adam Sheridan (Ipsos) and Jones Knowles Ritchie, an astonishing 85% of advertising dollars are spent on assets that aren’t truly distinctive.

That’s nearly $4 trillion globally—spent on creative that fails to leave a mark.

Let’s pause there. 

In a world where marketers fight over budget and ROI, we’re funneling the vast majority of our investment into assets that people don’t remember, don’t recognize, and don’t associate with our brands.

How did we get here?

Recognition Is the First Principle of Branding

As Sheridan notes, we’ve become so focused on the bottom of the funnel—trying to extract an extra 0.01% conversion bump—that we’ve forgotten the first rule of brand building:

If people don’t know it’s you, it doesn’t matter what you said.

Recognition isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the foundation. It’s what makes everything else—trust, preference, loyalty—possible. And yet, we continue to allocate massive budgets to media while underinvesting in the creative elements that actually drive memory.

Distinctiveness Is Difficult—But Not Mysterious

Let’s be honest: creating distinctive, ownable advertising is hard. You can’t always predict what will become iconic.

But we now have clear evidence of what increases your odds:

  • Ipsos found that high-performing creative uses a broader mix of brand assets 34% more often than low-performing ads.
  • Sound, fluent scenarios, recurring characters—these can generate up to 9x more branded attention than a logo alone.
  • The best ads aren’t just “branded” at the end—they feel like your brand from the very first second.

And yet, we’re still measuring logo placement and brand mentions as if that’s what creates recall. It’s not.

Creative Quality + Media Quality = Profitable Growth

Too often, creative and media are treated as separate silos. But they’re not. They’re co-dependent. The best media strategy in the world can’t rescue bland creative. And brilliant creative won’t perform in the wrong channels.

Real, sustainable brand growth happens when you pair distinctive creative with high-attention media.

Think radio. Think print. Think TV. These are the channels that drive memory, narrative, and emotion. They’re not just media buys—they’re brand-building engines when used with intention.

Time to Rebalance Our Attention—and Our Budgets

As marketers and brand leaders, we’ve spent the past decade mastering efficiency. Now it’s time to master meaning.

Because brand growth doesn’t come from better clicks, it comes from deeper connections. From storytelling. From memory. From being truly, unmistakably you—over and over again.

So the next time your team is reviewing media performance or creative strategy, ask a different question:

Will anyone remember this ad next week?
Will they remember it’s us?

If the answer is no, go back to the idea. That’s where the ROI really lives.

P.S. Want to see what bold creativity looks like in action (without sitting through another dull pitch deck)? Cult. Creative. is our latest live deck—packed with killer ideas, unforgettable ads. View it in Google Slides—no downloads, just instant inspiration. [Request access here.]

April 29, 2025 by

Why Your CFO Should Care Deeply About Your Brand

In many organizations, brand is still viewed as the domain of marketing—something colorful, creative, and occasionally nebulous. But in today’s competitive landscape, that view is dangerously outdated. The truth is this: your brand is a financial asset.

And it’s time the CFO paid closer attention.

A strong brand does far more than differentiate your company in the marketplace. It enhances almost every key business metric that matters to the CFO:

  • It lowers customer acquisition costs by creating recognition and trust before a sales conversation even begins.
  • It commands pricing power by anchoring value in the minds of customers, often allowing for premium margins.
  • It increases customer lifetime value by deepening loyalty and retention.
  • It reduces talent acquisition costs by attracting employees who want to be associated with a purpose-driven brand.
  • And it protects market share, serving as a moat against newer or cheaper competitors.

In other words, brand strength shows up not just in marketing dashboards, but in the P&L and the balance sheet.

This is especially true in legacy businesses. Consider First American, a company with more than 130 years of history and billions in revenue. Its CMO, Chelsea Sumrow, understands the delicate balance required when managing a brand with such deep roots. In her words:

“Don’t get stuck in old routines.”
“Test, learn, pilot, and fail fast.”
“Effectiveness is about outcomes over outputs.”

It’s a message every CFO should hear: legacy shouldn’t mean inertia. Innovation isn’t a threat to brand value—it’s essential to sustaining it. That’s why the most successful heritage brands are the ones that invest in experimentation while staying true to their core identity.

Too often, CFOs and CMOs speak different languages. One talks in margins and ROIs; the other in emotion and storytelling. But when you look closely, brand investment and financial performance are tightly linked.

In fact, numerous studies—including those from McKinsey and Kantar—show that companies with strong brands outperform their peers in revenue growth, profit margins, and shareholder returns.

So here’s the bottom line:

If your brand vanished tomorrow, would anyone notice? Would your revenue suffer? Would your customers still know who you are—or care?

If the answer is yes, then you have a real asset worth protecting and growing. And that makes brand a matter not just of marketing strategy, but of financial stewardship.

It’s time to bring the CFO into the brand conversation—not as a skeptic, but as a strategic partner. Because in today’s world, a brand is not a cost center. It’s a growth engine.

And those who understand that—at every level of leadership—will be the ones who win.

April 27, 2025 by

What 9,000 Studies Reveal About Attention—and Why It Matters More Than Ever for Cult Brands

We now have the clearest evidence to date that attention drives brand outcomes—and the implications for digital strategy are huge.

In the largest study of its kind, Lumen Research, Havas Media Network, and Brand Metrics analyzed 9,000 brand lift studies to explore the link between attention and memory in digital campaigns.

📊 The results? Jaw-dropping.
Let’s break it down:

🔥 Key Findings:

  • Attention time is the best predictor of brand preference and intent.
  • Aggregate attention time matters more than just reach.
  • Frequency boosts attentive reach and total attention time.
  • Different attention strategies lead to different brand outcomes.
  • And—most importantly—attention directly correlates with brand lift at every stage: Awareness, Consideration, Preference, and Action Intent.

💡 What This Means for Cult Brands:

If you’re building a brand people love—not just one they buy—this research is gold.

Because attention = connection.
And connection = memory.
And memory = loyalty.

Shortcuts and shallow impressions won’t cut it anymore. It’s not about being seen—it’s about being remembered.

At Cult Branding, we believe in earning attention—through story, meaning, and authenticity. Now we have 9,000 studies saying: You’re right to invest in depth over reach.

👏 Huge kudos to Mike Follett and the team behind this.
If you’re a CEO or brand leader, it’s time to revisit how you measure success—and how your brand earns a few more seconds of attention each day.

Want help building campaigns that don’t just perform—but stay in the minds of your customers? Let’s connect.

April 25, 2025 by

What £1.8 Billion in Ad Spend Teaches Us About Building a Cult Brand

We’ve always said cult brands are built on emotional connection, not just conversions. Now, the data backs it up.

A major new report, “Profit Ability 2: The New Business Case for Advertising,” was recently released, analyzing £1.8 billion in advertising spend across 141 brands and 14 sectors from 2021 to 2023. When presented, marketers sat silently, scribbling notes nonstop for an hour.

Here’s what stood out—and why it matters for CEOs serious about building long-term brand loyalty:

Long-Term Branding Delivers the Biggest Payoff

💡 60% of advertising impact comes from long-term brand building.
Sound familiar? 

That’s the same 60:40 rule from Binet & Field. The best ROI isn’t overnight. It’s over time.

Want a loyal customer base? Tell a compelling story. Build meaning. Be consistent. Harley, Apple, Nike—none of them scaled through short-term hacks.

Stop Thinking in Terms of “Performance Channels”

No channel is purely for performance or brand.
Instead, ask:

  • How fast do I need a payback?
  • What scale am I after?
  • How efficient is this channel for my goals?

Cult brands treat every media decision as strategic, not tactical.

Traditional Channels Still Win

TV. Print. Audio.
These came out on top in effectiveness. Yet brands are shifting away from them every year.

Want the insider move for startups? Use radio.
Affordable. Intimate. Mass reach. It’s a wide-open opportunity few are taking.

Know Your Category Dynamics

Don’t copy the biggest brand in another industry.
The research dives into how ad performance shifts by:

  • Gross margins
  • Innovation pace
  • Purchase cycles
  • Distribution strategy

Cult brands are self-aware. They build media strategies based on where they play—and how customers behave.

Bottom Line for CEOs:

This research confirms what we’ve seen for decades:
🧠 Long-term thinking creates brands people love.
💬 Performance comes from meaning, not manipulation.
❤️ Media works best when your message comes from the heart.

So—what story are you telling?

And are you giving it enough time to matter?

April 22, 2025 by