Even the world’s most recognized brands, from Apple to Nike, continue to invest heavily in marketing. At first glance, this might seem unnecessary—after all, these companies have already achieved top-of-mind status among consumers. However, ongoing marketing efforts are crucial for maintaining their position, staying relevant in an ever-changing market, and ensuring sustained growth. But how do these brands determine whether their continued success is a result of their well-established reputation or marketing efforts?

Marketing measurement is a critical component of any strategy, allowing businesses to understand the effectiveness of their campaigns and optimize for better results. However, measuring the impact of marketing efforts for a well-known brand poses unique challenges compared to less established or non-branded products.

For popular brands, organic traffic and brand recognition are already high. This creates a paradox: the brand is so entrenched in the consumer's mind that it's difficult to discern the impact of additional marketing efforts. Consumers may naturally gravitate towards these brands without any recent marketing influence, making it tough to attribute sales or engagement spikes to specific campaigns. As a result, traditional marketing metrics can become less effective, leading to the need for more sophisticated measurement techniques.

Who Came From Marketing vs. Who Came From Branding?

Similar to the chicken and the egg analogy, here is a popular brand dilemma. Can they contribute their revenue to the strong standing brand reputation or the latest marketing campaign?

One of the biggest challenges in measuring marketing effectiveness for a well-known brand is distinguishing between what results from ongoing branding efforts and what can be attributed to recent marketing campaigns. Branding and marketing are intertwined, but they serve different purposes. Branding builds the long-term image and reputation of a company, while marketing drives short-term actions and engagements.

For instance, a spike in sales during a promotional period could be due to the brand's established trust and loyalty rather than the marketing campaign itself. On the other hand, a well-executed marketing campaign might only slightly elevate sales because the brand already enjoys a significant baseline of organic purchases.

Even the most recognizable brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi still pour resources into aggressive advertising. Why? Because maintaining dominance and relevance in the market requires constant visibility. Yet, many up-and-coming businesses hesitate to invest in advertising. Here’s why established giants persist with their ad campaigns even with a strong reputation. 

The Power of Staying Top of Mind

Think about the last time you saw an ad for Coca- Cola or Pepsi? You probably ask yourself why do they even need to spend money on advertising when they already secure such a big chunk of the pie? 
 

• Maintaining Brand Excellence aka Brand Recall and Recognition
  Continuous advertising keeps brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi at the forefront of consumers’ minds when they think of soda, reinforcing their dominance.
   
• Maintaining Top-of-Mind Awareness 
  Even with a strong brand reputation, it’s important for companies to remain top of mind. Competitors are always vying for consumer attention, and a lapse in marketing could give other brands the opportunity to take the lead. Continuous marketing efforts ensure that these brands are the first that come to mind when consumers think about a particular product or service category.
  
  Like many industries the beverage industry is fiercely competitive. Aggressive advertising enables these big brands to protect and grow their market share by keeping their presence constantly in view.
   
• Fending Off Competitors
  In competitive markets, no brand can afford to rest on its laurels. New competitors are constantly emerging, and established brands must continue to market aggressively to protect their market share. By consistently engaging with their audience through marketing, these brands prevent competitors from gaining a foothold.
   
• Staying Relevant in a Changing Market
  Markets are constantly evolving due to new trends, technologies, and consumer behaviors. Even the most iconic brands must adapt to these changes to remain relevant. Marketing allows them to stay connected with their audience, introduce new products, and align their brand with current cultural trends. Without consistent marketing, even a well-established brand could quickly become outdated or lose its appeal.
   

Marketing Lessons from Major Brands
 

• Consistent Branding
  Established brands maintain a uniform message across all platforms, building trust and familiarity. New businesses should aim for the same cohesive brand communication.
   
• Leveraging Multiple Channels
  Coca-Cola and Pepsi leverage both traditional and digital marketing channels. New businesses should adopt a similar multichannel strategy to expand their reach.
   
• Innovation in Advertising
  Big brands are always innovating in their advertising strategies. New businesses should also embrace innovation to stand out in a crowded market.
   
• Measuring the Impact: Brand Recognition vs. Marketing Spend
  For brands with established reputations, it’s crucial to understand whether their ongoing success is due to their strong brand recognition or their continuous marketing efforts. Here are some ways they can measure and analyze the impact:
  
  - Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is a statistical analysis technique that helps brands understand the impact of their marketing activities on sales and other key performance indicators (KPIs). MMM can disentangle the effects of different marketing channels and identify which ones contribute the most to brand success. By comparing periods with high and low marketing spend, brands can assess how much their success depends on marketing efforts versus inherent brand strength.
  
  - A/B Testing and Controlled Experiments Brands can run A/B tests or controlled experiments in different markets or segments by varying marketing spend and measuring the outcomes. For example, by reducing marketing spend in one region while maintaining it in another, a brand can observe differences in sales, brand recall, and customer engagement. If brand recognition alone is strong enough, the market with reduced spend should perform similarly. Significant performance drops would indicate that marketing is a key driver.
  
  - Incrementality measurement is a powerful method for assessing the true impact of marketing efforts by isolating the effects of marketing from other variables. INCRMNTAL bridges the measurement gap with the first-ever incrementality measurement platform powered by causal AI. Leveraging proprietary causal AI models, INCRMNTAL’s platform continuously assesses the impact of every marketing tactic, eliminating the need for experiments or A/B testing. It’s an always-on incrementality measurement of marketing contribution and marginal performance. Incrementality testing is particularly useful for understanding how much of a brand's success can be directly attributed to its marketing spend versus its existing brand strength.

Why “traditional”measurement  won’t cut it? 

Traditional measurement techniques often fall short for well-known brands because they tend to over-attribute results to marketing campaigns. Metrics like Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) or Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) can be misleading when a brand's organic presence is strong. Every sale or engagement during a campaign period might be attributed to the campaign, even if the brand's inherent pull is doing most of the work. This misattribution can lead to incorrect conclusions about campaign effectiveness and misguided marketing decisions. To overcome these challenges, marketers for well-known brands should focus on incrementality measurement. Incrementality measurement isolates the true impact of marketing efforts by determining what portion of the sales or engagement would not have occurred without the campaign.
Some of the biggest brands in the world's main marketing objective IS generating incremental revenues. 

Market and Measure like a Top Brand 

Major brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi invest in aggressive advertising to stay relevant and dominant. While new businesses might face budget constraints and uncertainties, they shouldn’t shy away from effective advertising. By learning from established brands and embracing innovation, emerging businesses can build awareness, drive sales, and establish a strong market position. In short, advertising is a crucial investment in future growth and success as long as you are aware of what marketing dollar is moving the needle.

Even brands with strong reputations and top-of-mind awareness continue to invest in marketing because it’s essential for staying relevant, maintaining market share, and driving growth. However, it’s equally important for these brands to measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts to understand whether their success is a result of brand recognition or ongoing promotional activities. By leveraging techniques like Marketing Mix Modeling, and A/B testing, and Incrementality Measurement, brands can gain valuable insights into the true drivers of their continued success and make informed decisions about their marketing strategies.