All Posts By

BJ Bueno

What’s Wrong With “Brand vs Performance”? Just About Everything.

Brand or Performance?

Long-term or short-term?

Storytelling or selling?

The binary is broken.

Thinkbox’s “Profit Ability 2” study (with Ebiquity, EssenceMediacom, Gain Theory, Mindshare, and Wavemaker), is based on a rigorous analysis of £1.8 billion in ad spend across 141 brands, 14 categories, and 10 media channels.

And the big takeaway?

🧠 58% of advertising’s profit impact occurs after the first 3 months.

So if you’re only measuring short-term “performance,” you’re leaving most of your return off the books.

Most Channels Do Both — But in Different Ways

Linear TV drives the highest sustained profit over time — far more than Paid Social or PPC.

But even channels like Generic PPC and Paid Social have carryover and sustained effects — not just immediate clicks and conversions.

The old “brand vs. performance” divide ignores this nuance.

It’s Time for a Smarter Framework

The researchers suggest moving away from the Brand/Performance binary and toward a better way of evaluating channels:

✅ SCALE

How large of an impact do I need for this campaign?

✅ EFFICIENCY

At what point will I hit diminishing returns?

✅ TIME

How long am I willing to wait for full payback?

This framework helps you understand what each media channel actually delivers — and when.

So yes, use Paid Social. Use PPC. But don’t over-rely on them, especially if you need long-term growth. (Spoiler: many brands are overspending on social by 3X, according to Richard Kirk, who’s shared additional insights from this study.)

Stop Choosing Sides. Start Choosing Strategy.

Your media mix shouldn’t be about Brand vs. Performance — it should be about Brand and Performance, each doing what it does best.

Want to build something truly sustainable?

Map your media against time, scale, and efficiency, and you’ll get closer to the truth of what actually works.

And remember:  If you’re not measuring long-term impact, you’re only seeing half the story.

— BJ  📩 Want to bring this conversation into your leadership team? I’m happy to come in and walk you through the full picture — and how to make your media work harder for your brand. Learn more about our work at www.cultbranding.com.

June 1, 2025 by

Retention Is Having a Moment ✨ — And It Deserves Your Full Attention

Let’s face it: this isn’t the same marketing landscape we were operating in even a year ago.

💸 Budgets are tighter.
🧑‍💼 Teams are leaner.
🛍️ And customers? They’re more cautious, selective, and value-driven than ever.

In this environment, there’s one area that smart brands are doubling down on:

Customer Retention.

Because when new acquisition gets harder and more expensive, your existing customers become your most valuable growth engine.

Why Retention Matters Now More Than Ever

Retention isn’t just a support metric anymore — it’s a core business strategy.

Here’s why:

  • It costs 5–7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
  • Loyal customers are 5x more likely to repurchase.
  • Increasing retention by just 5% can boost profits by 25–95% (Bain & Company).

Retention gives you predictability. Efficiency. Stability.
And right now, that’s exactly what marketing leaders are looking for.

The Metrics That Matter

If you’re ready to shift from acquisition obsession to retention mastery, Robbie Kellman Baxter’s Customer Retention Metrics Kit (📊 see image above) offers a smart foundation.

Here are just a few metrics every brand should be watching:

  • Churn Rate: Are people leaving, and how fast?
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS): Will your customers recommend you?
  • Gross Revenue Retention (GRR): Are you keeping the revenue you already earned?
  • Feature Adoption Rates: Are customers using what you’re building?
  • Time Between Purchases: Are you staying top of mind?

Each one tells a story — not just about your product, but about your relationship with your customer.

Retention Isn’t Just Keeping — It’s Growing

Retention isn’t just about keeping people around. It’s about:

  • Deepening loyalty
  • Increasing customer lifetime value
  • Creating brand advocates
  • Driving additional and repeat sales
  • Reducing reliance on short-term acquisition hacks

When you shift your focus here, everything compounds.

How to Start the Shift

Here’s what I’m seeing from brands that are doing retention right:

✅ They know their metrics and track them consistently
✅ They create intentional post-purchase journeys
✅ They connect product, marketing, and support for seamless customer experience
✅ They reward loyalty — not just first-time purchases
✅ And most importantly, they treat retention as a strategic growth lever, not a back-end support metricHere’s to keeping the customers who already love you — and giving them more reasons to stay.

—BJ

May 30, 2025 by

Ask This One Question Before Approving a Media Plan

Here’s a simple but powerful question I ask every time I review a media plan with a brand team:

👉 How did the idea inform this media strategy?

Most media plans start with audience behavior:
What do our customers watch? Where do they scroll? When are they most likely to see us?

That’s a solid start — but it’s also what everyone else is doing.
If your plan only follows habits, you’ll end up in the same places as your competitors, saying slightly different things. That’s not brand leadership — it’s brand camouflage.

Great Media Strategy Starts with a Great Brand Idea

What separates exceptional brands is this:

They use media not just to reach people — but to amplify the brand idea.

Let’s look at a few standout examples where the idea came first and the media made it real:

Spotify — “Wrapped” Meets the Real World

Spotify’s core idea: You are what you listen to.

Every year, they bring this idea to life with Spotify Wrapped, turning user data into personal stories. But what really sets it apart is how they extend that campaign into physical environments.

They’ve taken over subways, buses, even laundromats with hyper-local, highly specific ads like:
“You played ‘Sorry’ 42 times after your ex moved out.”
 That’s not just advertising — it’s self-reflection turned cultural currency.

It works because the media placements are where life happens — amplifying the idea that our playlists say something deeply personal.

GE — “Unseen Heroes” of Energy

GE’s idea: We power the world in ways you never think about.

Rather than flood primetime with product features, GE placed beautifully crafted content in airports, train stations, and long-form podcast sponsorships — places where thoughtful decision-makers have time to reflect.

Even their film “The Message” (a sci-fi podcast about alien communication) was a storytelling platform that mirrored GE’s own message: We make the invisible, visible.

It wasn’t just smart content. It was placed where curious minds go to think — making the media strategy an extension of the brand’s essence.

Netflix — Turning Culture Into a Canvas

Netflix doesn’t just buy space. It hijacks culture.

When promoting Stranger Things, they didn’t settle for trailers and digital banners. They transformed entire towns, mall storefronts, and even elevators into 1980s Hawkins, Indiana.

In Paris, they took over 100 metro station ads with black-and-white photos — then flipped every single one to vibrant color overnight to promote the new season of The Umbrella Academy.

Why does it work? Because the media becomes the medium of surprise. It mirrors the emotional shifts Netflix is selling. Again, the idea drove the placement — not the other way around.

AT&T — “It Can Wait” Campaign

AT&T’s idea: No text is worth a life.

Instead of just running PSAs, they put their message in parking lots, outside high schools, and within apps teens use the most. They even embedded it into driving simulations at events and used Snapchat filters to simulate distracted driving consequences.

The result? A campaign where the media meets the moment of danger — and reclaims it with intention.

This is the kind of media planning that not only lands — it saves lives.

What Happens When the Idea Leads? You Lead.

If your brand is serious about moving from safe and expected to bold and unforgettable, let’s talk.

My team and I are now offering in-house brand strategy sessions for companies ready to break the mold.

We’ll walk your leadership and marketing teams through the 7 essential frameworks we use to help top brands build powerful, idea-driven strategies that outperform the competition.

💡 Whether you want to pressure-test your positioning, unlock new creative energy, or finally bridge the gap between strategy and media — we’ll help you turn insight into action.📩 Send me a note or visit www.cultbranding.com to start the conversation.

May 28, 2025 by

Why the Most Powerful Medium in Marketing Is Still Underpriced

For years now, many in the advertising world have been ringing the death knell for television. “TV is dying,” they say. “Nobody watches anymore.” “It’s all about digital now.”
But what if I told you that a lot of what’s been said about the value of TV is completely false?

That’s not my opinion — that’s the clear conclusion drawn from decades of rigorous data by marketing effectiveness expert Peter Field.

Peter is known for his work with Les Binet on effectiveness marketing, popularizing the now-famous “60/40 rule” (60% brand-building, 40% activation). He’s a tireless advocate for the power of reach, emotional storytelling, and long-term brand investment.

But one of Peter’s most passionate — and often overlooked — messages is this:

TV advertising is not only still effective — it’s more effective now than ever before.

The Case for TV: What the Data Tells Us

Peter Field doesn’t deal in gut feelings or hot takes. His work is grounded in data — thousands of campaigns tracked over decades through the IPA Databank. And the numbers paint a clear picture:

  • TV delivers unmatched attention: In a world of skippable ads, banner blindness, and silent autoplay videos, TV still commands full-screen, full-sound, often co-viewed attention.
  • TV offers scale and reach: Linear TV still reaches millions in one go. And now, connected TV and BVOD (broadcaster video-on-demand) allow precision layering on top of that reach.
  • TV builds long-term memory structures: The combination of sight, sound, and story in a relaxed environment creates an ideal cocktail for brand-building.
  • TV ads are becoming more efficient: Counterintuitive but true — as TV CPMs have been relatively stable and digital ad clutter has increased, the effectiveness per dollar of TV is rising.

Why This Matters for C-Level Leaders

If you’re leading a brand today, the pressure to chase short-term ROI is relentless. Performance marketing dashboards glow with attribution models, tempting you to pull dollars away from brand-building into ever-more trackable — and often diminishing — returns.

But here’s the cold, hard truth: without sustained brand-building, your activation efforts will hit a wall. You’ll get diminishing returns, increased price sensitivity, and shorter customer lifecycles.

TV, when used properly, is still the gold standard for brand-building. It amplifies creativity. It fuels fame. It adds scale to storytelling. It builds mental availability — the thing that matters most when a customer is ready to buy.

“TV Is Dead” Is Lazy Thinking

Smart marketers know not to mistake change for decline.

Yes, how people watch TV has evolved. Streaming. Time-shifting. Second screens.
But that doesn’t mean TV has lost its power — it means you have to get smarter about how you use it.

The most effective campaigns today are integrating traditional and digital — not choosing between them. TV acts as the tentpole for emotionally resonant, long-term stories that digital can then extend, retarget, and personalize.

Brand Fame Still Matters

Peter Field reminds us that fame is the most effective brand metric, and TV is the most reliable channel for generating it.

So the next time someone tells you that TV is outdated, remember:
The truth isn’t just on your side — it’s on Peter Field’s spreadsheets.

TV is underpriced. It’s the original storytelling machine. And it’s ready to work harder than ever for your brand.

May 26, 2025 by

What Does Marketing Actually Do?

As a branding strategist, I don’t typically advocate isolating marketing as a siloed function—at the executive level, business goals should transcend departmental boundaries. Whether it’s revenue growth, customer loyalty, or market leadership, the goal is the goal. How we get there should be driven by strategy, not departmental lines.

But here’s the reality: As we scale organizations and activate different parts of the business to achieve these goals, clarity becomes power. Especially in marketing—often misunderstood, frequently overcomplicated, and too rarely aligned with executive priorities.

So let’s simplify—strategically.

Before dissecting the various components of marketing, it helps to anchor ourselves with a foundational definition.

So, What Is Marketing?

At its core, Marketing is the act of putting your offering in the world in a way that people understand it, want it, and can get it.

In other words, it’s how you communicate your value to the market.

From a Cult Branding perspective, this isn’t just about transactions—it’s about building emotional resonance, loyalty, and advocacy over time. Marketing is how we begin the conversation with our future Brand Lovers.

Now let’s break down the tactical expressions of that conversation:

The Strategic Functions of Marketing

  • Advertising: Paid amplification of your message. Think reach, repetition, and resonance—at scale.
  • Social Media: Digital word of mouth. A pulse check on your tribe and a platform to inspire belief and belonging.
  • Publicity: Earned attention. Getting the media to spotlight your story because it matters.
  • Public Relations (PR): Managing perception and deepening trust. PR is your brand’s reputation firewall.
  • Market Research: Understanding your audience—not just what they do, but why they do it.
  • Branding: The soul of your organization expressed consistently. It’s the symbol system that unites your internal culture and external perception.
  • Email Marketing: Direct, permission-based access to your customer’s attention. A powerful tool when it respects the relationship.
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Visibility when intent is high. It’s where branding meets behavioral psychology.
  • Content Marketing: Delivering value before asking for anything in return. Great content builds trust and thought leadership.
  • Marketing Automation: Scaling personalization. Efficiency meets empathy.
  • Analytics: Turning noise into insight. Let data illuminate—not dominate—decision-making.

Executives don’t need complexity—they need alignment. 

They need to know how marketing activates business strategy. 

They need to see how it connects to customer intimacy, loyalty, and growth.

So next time someone asks, “What does marketing actually do?”, don’t hand them a 97-slide deck.

Tell them this:

Marketing creates connections. It brings your brand’s promise to life. And when done right, it doesn’t just drive revenue—it builds a following.

And that’s where cult brands are born.

May 23, 2025 by

Why a Brand Strategy On A Page Works

Strategy can feel intimidating — especially when you’re new or facing a messy project. That’s where a Strategy On A Page becomes invaluable.

It distills the key elements of your strategy into one clear, structured format, making the process less overwhelming and easier to navigate.

If you’re just starting out, practicing with this tool helps you break down the big picture and focus on what matters most.

If you’re stuck during research, use it as a prompt to sharpen your questions: 

What problem are we solving? 

What’s the key insight? 

What’s our strategic approach?

If you’re struggling to tell the story, this format provides a simple narrative arc that connects the dots.

At its core, a Strategy On A Page isn’t just a summary — it’s a demonstration of clear thinking, smart focus, and persuasive storytelling.

It makes the unfamiliar, familiar — and that’s what drives great strategy forward.

May 20, 2025 by

Why Great Creative + Smart Media Planning Supercharge Ad Effectiveness

At the recent IPA Effectiveness Conference, Dr. Grace Kite presented some eye-opening research that should grab the attention of anyone responsible for marketing budgets.

When you combine really great creative with really great media planning and buying, you can achieve up to a 4x uplift in discounted cash flow — meaning, the future payback on your advertising spend grows dramatically.

That’s not a small incremental gain — that’s multiplying the return you get from the same budget.

So, what were the key drivers behind this kind of breakthrough ad effectiveness? Here are the top highlights from the day, especially for brands looking to get the most out of their media investments:

✅ Invest in Truly Great Creative
It’s tempting to cut corners on production, especially under budget pressure, but that’s often a false economy.

System1’s example of Yorkshire Tea’s long-running “Where everything’s done proper” campaign showed how powerful it is to have a distinctive, long-lasting creative platform. This applies not just to your big TV ads, but across all creative assets — digital, social, in-store, and more.

✅ Drive Emotional Connection
The most successful campaigns, both short and long term, aren’t just clever — they move people. Emotional connection is a key driver of ad effectiveness, making your brand more memorable and creating stronger consumer loyalty over time.

✅ Commit to Long-Term Creative Platforms
Here’s where many marketers get nervous: sticking with the same creative idea over multiple years. But the evidence is clear — campaigns with long-term creative consistency deliver far better results. That’s because they reinforce memory structures, build brand meaning, and make future marketing more efficient.

The Bottom Line

If you want your media dollars to work harder, the formula isn’t mysterious — but it does require discipline and courage.

You need to:

  • Create truly great, distinctive, emotionally resonant work.
  • Invest in smart, well-planned media that amplifies that work.
  • Stick with long-term creative commitments to build momentum.

When you bring these pieces together, the research shows you can dramatically boost your payback — not just now, but well into the future.

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 18, 2025 by

Stop Jamming Multiple Insights Into One Strategy

You know that feeling when someone gives you five different directions to get to the same place — and you end up completely lost?

That’s exactly what happens when I see a strategy packed with multiple insights.

Let’s be real:

A great strategy needs ONE insight — no more, no less.

Why?

Because an insight isn’t just an interesting fact or a cool observation.

It’s the aha moment that cuts through the noise and shows you a new way around the problem standing in the way of your goal.

When you try to build a strategy on multiple insights, it’s like giving the team five maps for one trip. 

Nobody knows which path to follow, and you end up wandering instead of moving forward with confidence.

Plus, it cheapens the whole idea.

True insights are rare. 

They’re hard to find, and when you pile in a bunch, you’re basically saying, “We couldn’t decide what really mattered.”

May 16, 2025 by

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