Why brand strategy MATTERS in 2025: insights from a brand leader [VIDEO]

Overview

🔹 Brand vs. Performance Marketing → It’s not either/or—brand fuels performance.
🔹 Mental & Physical Availability → The brands that come to mind first win.
🔹 Nike & Airbnb Case Studies → Cutting brand spend can backfire.
🔹 Proving Brand ROI → Use econometrics, geo-testing, and brand tracking.
🔹 Winning in a Noisy Market → Stand out or get forgotten.
🔹 5 top tips → Ensure your brand strategy is best in class with these top tips

📺 Watch the full conversation with Lucas Bergman here.

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Humans are complex. Brands bring meaning.

When I was a kid, I used to think that what we bought and liked was just ‘meant to be.’ Maybe it was my Catholic school upbringing that fostered this idea—that everything was preordained, that it was just the way things were.

I probably held onto that belief throughout my adolescence and even into early adulthood (my early 30s, if I’m honest). I liked and bought Snickers because it tasted nice and, well, it was everywhere. Of course it was everywhere—it’s Snickers! It always has been.

But as my career in marketing developed—very much outside the digital realm—I was exposed to media planners, audience insight teams, brand strategists, and creatives. That’s when I realised: none of it is preordained. It isn’t luck, and it most certainly isn’t a sure thing.

Why do we buy the things we do?

I still remember chatting with my mum when I was around 11 or 12, asking her why she bought a particular washing liquid (Ariel) and not another (Persil). This was back in 1993 or 1994, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but I recall her answer: “Whatever is on offer at the supermarket that week and at a decent price.” But I still thought, why Ariel?

This isn’t one of those “#itneverhappened” moments, nor was it a sign that I was destined to become a marketer. But looking back, I guess it shows my early curiosity about decision-making. Why do we choose one thing over another?

Most of the time, we can’t fully answer that question. Our choices are built over time, shaped by subtle experiences and cues we barely notice.

The power of brands in our choices

Think about a specific category. Which brands come to mind first? Fitness—Gymshark. Coffee—Starbucks (unfortunately). Menswear—Barbour. Why those brands? Explaining why isn’t easy. Much of the time, we justify our purchases without really understanding the deeper reasons.

We like to think of ourselves as rational and logical when making decisions about the brands we buy. But the truth is, it doesn’t work like that. It’s not: “I need this, and this advert has reminded me.”

Instead, much of our decision-making is deep-rooted in experiences and exposure to advertising over time. These repeated exposures build powerful mental cues, so that in the split second when you’re making a choice, a particular brand surfaces. It battles through layers of memories and impressions to win your attention.

This is exactly where brand strategy comes into play.

My discussion with Lucas Bergmans on brand strategy

Why brand strategy still matters in 2025

Lucas Bergmans is the kind of marketer who doesn’t just understand brand strategy—he’s lived it. With over two decades shaping household names like Heineken, Pepsi, and Cazoo, he’s had a front-row seat to the evolution of brand-building. In our conversation, we dug into the realities of modern branding: why some companies thrive while others fade into irrelevance, the battle between brand and performance marketing, and the growing pressure to prove long-term investment is worth it.

Brand isn’t a luxury—it’s survival

We like to think we make rational decisions when we buy. That we’re weighing up options, considering features, acting logically. But as Lucas put it, “Brand strategy is about changing attitudes and behaviours. It’s about being the first thing someone thinks of when they’re ready to buy.”

This is where mental and physical availability comes in—the idea that the most successful brands aren’t necessarily the best, but the easiest to recall and access. He referenced Byron Sharp’s work, which emphasises that availability is critical in a fragmented market. “There are so many different channels that drive mental availability now,” Lucas noted. “It’s a battle for attention.”

The performance marketing trap

There’s a growing divide in marketing: brand vs. performance. Performance marketing, with its crisp, immediate ROI, dominates boardroom discussions. But the problem? It only captures existing demand—it doesn’t create it. Brand fuels performance. It’s not either-or; they work best together.

Lucas highlighted this challenge: “Typically, people invest too much in the short term. Whether that’s performance marketing or price promotions in retail stores, it can drive an uplift in revenue week to week, but it causes issues further down the track in terms of plateauing sales and lost profits.”

He cited Nike’s shift in strategy, where they cut back on brand investment and attempted to go direct-to-consumer, only to see smaller, specialist competitors fill the gap they left behind. Another example was Airbnb, which realised they were overspending on performance marketing and shifted focus towards brand-building. “They were too reliant on performance marketing,” Lucas said. The strategy paid off—by strengthening brand awareness, they reduced reliance on paid search and created long-term demand.

Selling brand strategy to CFOs

One of the toughest battles for marketers today is getting leadership to buy into brand investment. “If you’re a public company, you’re judged on quarterly performance,” Lucas explained. “The stock market doesn’t care about your five-year vision.”

His solution? Speak their language. “You need to be able to explain and articulate the value of investing in brand in genuine financial terms, which is not easy, but you can do it.” He pointed to brands that successfully linked brand-building to long-term profitability, showing that without investment in awareness, acquisition costs eventually climb.

Brand salience in an era of noise

It’s never been cheaper to launch a brand. That should be a good thing—but it’s also created an oversaturated market, making differentiation harder than ever. “In the ‘90s, you knew the front-of-shirt sponsors of every Premier League team,” I pointed out. “Now, it’s changing so frequently and there are so many on offer for one club, that no one remembers.”

Lucas agreed. “The brands that win today are either huge incumbents with high awareness or incredibly distinctive newcomers that carve out a niche.” He cited Liquid Death, which built a brand by being deliberately provocative, and Monster, which embedded itself within subcultures.

Measuring the impact of brand strategy

One of the biggest challenges in brand marketing is proving its value. Unlike performance marketing, where results are immediate and trackable, brand investment takes time to show returns. So, how do you measure its impact?

1. Econometrics and marketing mix modelling

Lucas highlighted econometrics as one of the most reliable methods. “You can get to the point where you do very detailed econometrics,” he explained. “It helps you understand the mix of different levers to pull.” The downside? It’s complex, expensive, and typically only done once a year.

2. Geographic testing (GEO experiments)

One way brands measure impact in a shorter timeframe is through GEO testing—running different levels of brand activity in separate regions and comparing sales performance. Lucas shared an example from Pepsi, where they ran different media flighting strategies in distinct regions to isolate the impact of brand investment on revenue. More recently, at Cazoo, they applied this to YouTube advertising, running distinct brand campaigns in different areas to measure lift in awareness and sales.

3. Brand tracking and survey data

If you want to track brand health over time, Lucas recommends brand awareness studies. This means running surveys to track unprompted and prompted awareness, brand recall, and sentiment. It’s not as immediate as digital performance data, but it provides an essential long-term view of brand salience.

4. Incrementally testing in digital campaigns

Even in digital, not all conversions are incremental—some people would have bought anyway. Lucas mentioned the importance of understanding when performance spend is just capturing existing demand vs. creating new demand. At Cazoo, once brand awareness was high, they cut spending on branded search terms because the paid clicks were no longer incremental.

5. The long-term view: measuring over the long term, not short

One of the biggest mistakes brands make is measuring too quickly. “If you measure quarter-on-quarter, you’re missing the bigger picture,” Lucas noted. Brand impact compounds over time, and the right measurement framework needs to account for longer cycles of consumer behaviour.

Why this matters

For brand investment to get buy-in from leadership, it needs to be tied to measurable financial outcomes. The key is balancing short-term metrics (sales uplift, CTR, search demand) with long-term indicators (brand recall, mental availability, market share growth).

Brand strategy isn’t a quick win—it’s a long-term competitive advantage. And when measured correctly, it proves its worth.

The power of consistency

The conversation landed on storytelling—and why brands that stick to a clear, long-term message ultimately win. “Look at Snickers,” I said. “‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ has been running for nearly 20 years.”

Lucas agreed, explaining why brands that commit to a singular message gain compound benefits over time. “If you find a great insight, keep building on it. Don’t reinvent for the sake of it.”

He pointed to KitKat’s ‘Have a break’ campaign as another example—decades old, yet constantly refreshed to stay relevant. Even in new media, KitKat used AI to play on its core brand message, reinforcing consistency while keeping up with trends.

Ultimately, great brand strategy isn’t about chasing the next trend. It’s about embedding your brand into memory structures so that when the moment of purchase arrives, you’re the easy choice.

So, is brand still relevant in 2025? It’s not just relevant—it’s essential. The challenge isn’t whether to invest in brand, but how to do it in a world that demands both long-term thinking and short-term results.