The full funnel imperative: Why integrated advertising works

Performance advertising is playing an increasingly important role in a marketing landscape dominated by clicks, conversions, and scrolls. However, there’s growing evidence to suggest that focussing on performance alone might undermine long-term business growth.

This article brings together insights from five leading studies to argue that the most effective marketing doesn’t choose between brand building and performance. It takes a full-funnel approach – blending the benefits of both brand building and performance to maximise impact.

The foundation: why brand × performance multiplies returns

The cornerstone of full-funnel thinking lies in recognising what WARC calls the Multiplier Effect. Their research reveals that brands investing in both brand equity and performance advertising see revenue RoI increases of 25% – 100%, with a median uplift of 90%. This isn’t simply about “balancing” spend. It’s about creating synergy where brand-led advertising makes performance advertising exponentially more effective.

This multiplier effect works because strong brand equity fundamentally changes how performance advertising operates. It reduces customer acquisition costs, increases conversion rates, and adds pricing power. Conversely, over-investing in performance creates a “doom loop” where declining returns lead marketers to double down on short-termism, further eroding brand strength and ultimately commercial impact.

But this multiplier effect only works when brands can actually capture and hold attention.

The attention opportunity: From fleeting attention to lasting memory

Research from VCCP and Dr Karen Nelson-Field reveals a significant untapped opportunity: 85% of digital ads receive less than 2.5 seconds of attention, below the threshold for creating memorable impressions. Additionally, 75% of “viewable” ads aren’t actually seen by real people. The key insight is that the media environment itself is the biggest determinant of attention.

Joint research from Havas, Brand Metrics, and Lumen across 9,000 brand lift studies found attention time, not just viewability, is the best predictor of brand lift. They found that aggregate attention time (frequency × duration) correlates directly with increased brand awareness, preference, and purchase intent.

This represents an opportunity for brands that can plan for genuine attention rather than simply buying impressions. By buying formats and placements that actually capture attention (active and passive), with enough frequency, brands can dramatically improve their return on media investment.

The brands that master attention planning are able to unlock the memory-building that makes the multiplier effect possible.

The creative multiplier: quality and distinctiveness amplify everything

System1 and Effie’s research on creative effectiveness reveals a crucial insight: creative quality has a 12x multiplier effect on profitability, second only to brand size as a driver of long-term returns. The highest performing campaigns – those winning Effie Gold and Grand awards – report an average RoI of 12.4:1, double that of finalists.

True creative quality builds distinctive assets that lead to attention planning work. Research from VCCP and Dr Karen Nelson-Field shows that use of distinctive brand assets such as colour, logo, typography and sonic cues, can dramatically increase brand recall, even in split-second exposures. As Dr Nelson-Field explains: “Recognition happens faster when distinctive assets are present. People don’t need as much time to connect the creative to the brand and trigger choice outcomes.” In fact they found that use of distinctive assets dropped the required effective attention memory threshold from 2.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds. As the report stated: this is about becoming scroll-proof, rather than thumb-stopping.

Entertainment builds brand and converts

System1 and TikTok’s research on short-form video demonstrates how these principles converge in real-world application. Far from being just a lower-funnel tactic, short-form video can drive both brand building and conversion when it combines entertainment value with early, natural branding.

The key insight is that entertainment-rich content delivers uplifts in memory (+39% most vs. least entertaining), awareness (2x) and conversion (+50%).

This ‘showmanship’ creates a perfect cycle: attention-planned media delivering distinctive creative assets in entertaining ways all aid in building memory structures, which makes brand advertising spend more effective, which in turn makes performance advertising more efficient.

The full-Funnel framework: integration in practice

These converging insights point to a modern full-funnel strategy built on five integrated principles:

1. Brand × performance integration: Avoid creative silos by building platforms where performance assets reinforce the brand idea and vice versa. Use creative platforms (like Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry”) that work across channels and objectives, creating consistency that builds memory whilst driving conversion.
2. Attention-informed planning: Plan for “attentive reach” not just impressions. This means selecting formats, placements, and creative assets based on their ability to capture genuine attention, using distinctive brand assets to cut through even in high-speed environments.
3. Creativity as core investment: Treat entertaining, emotionally resonant creativity as the primary growth lever, not a gamble. This creative must work harder – capturing attention quickly and building memory structures.
4. Platform-native brand building: Use entertainment-first approaches on platforms like TikTok to build both immediate and lasting effects. This isn’t about adapting TV ads for social—it’s about understanding how brand building works within each platform’s attention economy.
5. Integrated measurement: Build measurement systems that capture the full multiplier effect. For example, incrementality, attention, brand lift, and long-term ROI, rather than optimising for individual channel metrics that miss the bigger picture.

To conclude, the path to sustainable growth lies in integration rather than choosing sides. Marketers who understand how attention, memory, creativity and brand equity work together are able to create sustainable competitive advantages that compound over time.

As Ian Borden, McDonald’s CFO, put it at Cannes Lions 2024: “Brand value is the moat around our business.” Full-funnel advertising is how you build that moat, one memorable, attention-grabbing, creatively excellent ad at a time.

The question isn’t whether to invest in brand or performance, it’s whether you’re ready to multiply their combined effect through truly integrated thinking.

Reports referenced:

WARC – The Multiplier Effect

VCCP and Dr. Karen Nelson-Field – Hacking the Attention Economy

Brand Metrics, Havas and Lumen – What Do 9,000 Brand Lift Studies Teach Us About Attention & Memory?

System1 and Effie – The Creative Dividend

System1 and TikTok – The Long & The Short (Form) of it