Mumbai: A new study released by WARC in partnership with Analytic Partners, BERA.ai, Prophet and System1 has identified eight major barriers preventing marketers from effectively integrating brand and performance advertising strategies to drive stronger business outcomes.
The findings are outlined in The Multiplier Playbook – The CMO’s guide to integrating brand and performance, developed in collaboration with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). The report combines insights from a survey of more than 200 senior marketers conducted between December 2025 and March 2026, alongside data and frameworks from the partners behind The Multiplier Effect study released last year.
According to the report, despite growing awareness around advertising effectiveness principles, marketers continue to struggle with implementation due to cultural, structural, and procedural disconnects inside organisations.
Among the most significant findings:
- 90% of ads are not given enough time to “wear in” and achieve full impact
- 60% of marketers believe the role of advertising is not fully understood by the C-suite
- 49% of organisations continue to operate separate brand and performance teams
- Only 21% of marketers say advertising objectives are fully aligned with C-suite priorities
The report notes that these barriers undermine marketers’ ability to unlock the “Multiplier Effect,” where combining brand-building and performance marketing delivers stronger returns than relying on short-term performance advertising alone.
Previously published data from Analytic Partners ROI Genome found that brands shifting from performance-only strategies to a balanced brand-and-performance approach recorded a median 90% uplift in revenue ROI.
“Since the launch of The Multiplier Effect study last year, it has become clear that the challenges facing marketers are not about knowing the theory. Most CMOs cannot simply change their strategic and investment approach wholesale without overcoming a number of hurdles.
“What is needed is a Playbook – a combination of data, frameworks and real-world examples that help marketers recognize the key “blockers” they might face – and give them some “plays” to help them take action and make progress. The Multiplier Playbook does just that,” said David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC, and SVP Content, LIONS Intelligence.
The report highlights two major areas of disconnect between marketing teams and corporate leadership: the role of brand-building and the purpose of advertising investment.
While nearly 67% of marketers surveyed believe their CEOs consider brand important, only 19% said the C-suite routinely connects improvements in brand equity to tangible business outcomes such as sales growth and profitability.
The study also found that a majority of marketers believe advertising is still viewed too narrowly within organisations, with excessive emphasis placed on short-term efficiency metrics such as platform-specific return on ad spend (ROAS).
According to the report, this fixation on short-term performance metrics risks positioning advertising merely as a “cost of sale” rather than a long-term value creation investment.
Structural silos within marketing departments were also identified as a major challenge. Nearly half of organisations surveyed maintain separate brand and performance teams, while 65% continue to operate with separate budgets for both functions.
Additionally, only 44% of respondents said their teams shared a common language or understanding around growth-driving audiences and integrated objectives.
The report advises marketing leaders to build stronger collaboration across functions by creating unified customer-centric goals and identifying “tentpole moments” that encourage integrated campaign planning and execution.
The study also places renewed emphasis on creativity as a commercial growth driver, arguing that creative consistency, emotional storytelling, and distinctiveness play a crucial role in both long-term brand equity and short-term sales performance.
Challenges remain, however, with 41% of marketers citing perceived risk around creativity and 52% expressing a lack of confidence in advertising effectiveness.
The report recommends that marketers adopt a “fewer, bigger, longer” approach to campaigns while integrating creative development, media planning, and measurement more closely.
Quoting industry perspectives included in the report, Mike Cessario, Founder and CEO of Liquid Death, said, “If you’re a small company, it’s literally reckless to be safe. Trying to mimic a big company as a small company is reckless … because we can’t afford to buy the eyeballs like the big guys do.”
The report also references comments from Laura Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at Instacart, who stressed the importance of creating moments that unite brand and performance teams under common business objectives.
The Multiplier Playbook is accompanied by a dedicated podcast series exploring the report’s findings in greater detail, with the first episode scheduled to launch on May 21, 2026.
