Brandformance: A New Name for an Old Game. Let’s Play It Right This Time.

Marketing has always been a game of balancing brand building with performance. Yet, in the digital age, we’ve swung too far into a world obsessed with RoAS and last-click conversions—ignoring the fact that consumers don’t buy in a straight line. ‘Brandformance’ isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a necessary evolution. It acknowledges that great creative, precise targeting, and full-funnel strategies don’t just coexist—they amplify each other. The brands that get this right will unlock scale, efficiency, and long-term impact. The ones that don’t? They’ll be stuck wondering why their performance ads keep hitting a ceiling.

Mr. Kotler while propounding his famous 4 Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Place, Promotion – clearly forgot about the most famous fifth P: Performance ads. The Digital marketing field was built on this foundational belief. Measure, and it shall somehow be managed.

Study after study from numerous MMMs have clearly told that the strength of a campaign roughly falls into this mix:

• 50% Creative
• 30% Campaign & Media Sufficiency
• 20% Brand strength

Those with a persuasive ad that was passably good, were able to ignore the effect of being an unknown brand and sail through with a Performance creative / Reel / Influencer ad + Good campaign execution.

At some point, they hit stagnancy in two ways:

1. The people they were reaching out to – were tired of their ads or had already bought it
2. The next set of audience simply would not trust a brand that a Celeb / IPL / Print / KBC etc wasn’t evangelising to them about – no matter if the same all-knowing algorithm showed the ad to the yet-to-be-converted consumer for the 50th time.

The world it seemed, wasn’t simply divided into the converted and the yet-to-be-converted. It was more like an iceberg with a lot of layers that your single performance creative was talking to, incessantly.

I’m sure if I were to try a little more, and if you aren’t already confused – I could expand on the Iceberg of Consumer Actions My point is that

“while your total addressable market is oscillating in these states – why does your marketing campaign still believe and behave as if people are nicely boxed and flowing down a neat funnel. The marketing funnel is a simplistic construct to ensure the marketer’s life is less chaotic. The consumer doesn’t have to be less chaotic for your sake.”

I’ll give you one thing, ‘Performance Marketing’, ironically, has got a very good brand-building done with its name. The shunning that Branding has got in this space, in the age of D2C brands – meant that a whole new term had to be invented to justify what marketers have been doing for years – Run ads and get sales. It’s catchy, and it’s useful – we will call this Brandformance.

Brandformance represents the intersection, the bridge between the layers of the iceberg mentioned above – that gives the marketer some sensible leeway to stretch beyond their performance marketing budgets to solve specific brand problems and objectives – and box these experiments in the right measurement framework to justify the ROI and sales goals.

At Hiveminds, we are proud of the following pioneering works done in the Measurement space.

a. We used Google Ads Data Hub, a privacy-first Marketing Cloud to understand the impact of Youtube ad views/impressions with Store sales for a leading Indian Jewellery Brand. Previous efforts in this area were probabilistic, correlation & regression related. For the first time in the Retail context, Hiveminds & Google were able to deterministically compare the Buyer email ids, phone numbers – in a hashed format, with the users who had seen a Youtube Ad within their month of sale. We were able to prove that out of the Digitally-influenced Store sales, 81% of them were influenced by a Branding ad on Youtube.

b. For a Retail Mattress Client, with sales happening across D2C website, Own Retail Store, Amazon & Flipkart marketplaces – we were able to prove that 75% of Digitally influenced Store sales happened on own Retail Stores + D2C website, thus answering a core business problem for the client : “Does my marketing effort lead to sales on my owned and operated platforms?”

c. For a QSR client which runs UAC/App ads extensively, we figured that the sweet-spot of running Brandformance happens when the Branding ads run at a frequency of 4+. The audience that saw both the branding ad & the performance ad, interacted at a 2.5x CTR compared to the ones who saw only the performance ad – and the Brandformance cohort converted at a whopping 30% higher rate.

This led to Hiveminds being awarded the Measurement Solutions Agency of the year in 2024.

Taken together, these studies show the following
a. Performance ads when paired with Digital Branding to solve for specific client business objectives can lead to better Performance outcomes 

b. These Performance outcomes are seen across own website, App, Retail stores, and Marketplaces – basically across the distribution channels. Essentially, the audiences that are coming to these distribution channels come in a primed manner when exposed to the Brand communication

c. Branding/Brandformance campaigns shouldn’t be seen as a line-item to be individually reviewed for their own RoAS and Sales – but as the holistic impact they have on your existing sales line items

d. All of this is measurable deterministically, without the need of guesswork or probability or gutfeel. Rather, I want these learnings to be part of your revised gutfeel – so we don’t spout archaic performance marketing stories to the newer generation of marketers.

Building an Effective and Efficient Brandformance Campaign

So, what does it take to run Brandformance the right way? It’s not about throwing money at branding while hoping your performance metrics magically improve. And it’s certainly not about blindly optimizing for RoAS while ignoring brand recall.

“It’s about using brand narratives to drive performance impact and performance insights to refine brand storytelling.”

The execution makes all the difference.

1. First-Party Data and Privacy-First Measurement

We live in a world where cookies are disappearing and privacy-first marketing is the new reality. The good news? Brands don’t have to operate in the dark. First-party data is the new oil, and those who know how to refine it will come out on top.

• Google Ads Data Hub (ADH): Helps brands figure out how branding campaigns are actually influencing consumer actions—without violating privacy laws.
• Google Enhanced Conversions: Bridges the gap between online ad engagement and offline purchases, so brands don’t have to rely on assumptions.
• Meta Server-Side Pixel (Conversions API): Helps brands measure cross-channel interactions without losing data due to browser restrictions.

If your brand still operates on last-click attribution and gut feeling, it’s time to rethink measurement. Everything is trackable, but only if you have the right setup.

2. A Full-Funnel Media Mix That Blends Branding and Performance

If you still think Amazon is just for last-mile conversions or YouTube is just for branding, you’re playing an outdated game. Every major platform has evolved, and brands that stick to old playbooks will struggle.

• Retail Media (Amazon, Flipkart, JioAds): These platforms aren’t just for selling; they now offer full-funnel solutions that include branding.
• Connected TV (JioCinema, YouTube CTV): Your audience isn’t just scrolling on social media; they’re consuming long-form content on TV. Are you showing up there?
• Social Commerce (Instagram, YouTube Shopping, Creator-led commerce): The line between content and commerce is disappearing. Your ads should do more than just sell—they should entertain and engage.
• Google Demand Gen & Performance Max (PMax): AI-driven campaigns that eliminate the guesswork and help brands balance spend across awareness, consideration, and conversion.

What does this mean? Stop treating platforms as single-purpose tools. The future belongs to brands that leverage each platform for its full-funnel potential.

3. Creative + Personalization = The Ultimate Differentiator

If you’re still treating creative as an afterthought, you’re already losing. Performance ads can only do so much if your creative doesn’t make an impact. The new-age Brandformance approach demands:

• Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): AI-driven creatives that adjust in real-time to match user behavior.
• Interactive Video & Personalized Ads: People want experiences, not static ads—shoppable content and immersive formats are the future.
• Influencer-Led Performance Campaigns: Not all influencers are equal. Test different personas and storytelling styles to see what actually moves the needle. Let’s put it simply: Creative isn’t a luxury it is an efficiency multiplier. Invest in it.

4. Measurement Beyond Last-Click Attribution

Here’s the brutal truth—last-click attribution is lying to you. It doesn’t tell you how your upper-funnel efforts are shaping consumer decisions. Brandformance measurement needs a wider lens:

• Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA): Assigns value to all touchpoints, not just the last one before purchase.
• Incrementality Testing: Helps brands figure out whether branding efforts are actually moving the needle, or if performance ads are doing all the heavy lifting.
• Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM): A data-driven approach to see which channels drive long-term business impact.

Stop evaluating branding ads like you would a search ad. Different channels serve different roles, and your measurement strategy needs to reflect that.

Final Thoughts

Brandformance isn’t some marketing jargon—it’s the natural evolution of advertising in a data-driven world. AI-led automation, omnichannel measurement, and privacy-first strategies aren’t trends—they’re the new normal.

The brands that crack the Brandformance code will be the ones that adapt, optimize, and scale effectively. Those who don’t? Well, they’ll keep wondering why their performance ads aren’t scaling beyond a certain point.The rules of the game have changed. It’s time to play smarter.

Case Study Tanishq

Leveraging Ads Data Hub To Map Online-Offline Journey

Problem Statement:

In the high-involvement jewellery sector, where offline sales dominate, Tanishq needed to leverage digital campaigns to boost awareness, e-commerce growth, and offline store walk-ins. Measuring this digital influence was crucial, achieved through Ads Data Hub for their Diwali campaign.

Our Approach:

• Leveraging Ads Data Hub: Integrated 1P data with campaign data using UPDM, assessing the impact on overall sales generated from Google campaigns.
• Data Matching Connection: Uploaded hashed data to UPDM, established a connection in Ads Data Hub, and stored matched IDs in the *-match table.
• Cross-Mapping with Campaign Reach: Employed custom queries to cross-map the matched table with campaign reach, identifying the number of store purchasers.
• New User Connection Setup: Implemented a data matching process for new users, replacing existing options during connection setup.

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Impact

• 77% First time buyers influenced by digital campaigns
• 48% Converted sales from digitally influenced walk-ins
• 81% Contribution of branding campaigns to digitally influenced store sales

Case Study HomeLane

Unlocking Premium Audience Through Highly Targeted Brandformance Campaigns

Opportunity:

Bridge the gap between promises and delivery by building trust through reliable timelines, transparent communication, and quality execution.

Marketing Problem:

• Lack of Trust: Address perceptions of overcharging and underdelivering by large brands.
• Optimal Matches: Align IPL matches with service areas and centers.
• Media Channels: Target audience engagement based on purchasing power.

How We Solved For Success: A Strategic Overview:

• A 4K Connected TV ad featuring M.S. Dhoni highlighted HomeLane’s commitment to user-focused designs, addressing false promises by interior workers.
• Premium users were targeted on Jio Cinema during IPL, leveraging their buying power through a focused media strategy.
• Matches featuring Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Sunrisers Hyderabad were chosen, focusing on cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Hyderabad for high viewership and revenue potential.

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Impact

• 1.5x more leads during selected matches
• 55% Higher Leads
• 30% Higher Website traffic
• 19% Higher Conversion Rate
• 12% Higher Orders Booked