Anton Musgrave, Co-Founder of Futureworld International Ltd, delivered the keynote “CTRL+ALT+DEL – A Global System Reboot.” In his speech, he challenged conventional notions of how businesses should prepare for the future.

Afterwards, Brand Finance was part of a panel discussion covering innovation and brand strategy. The panel included:

• Mike Rocha, Chief Commercial Officer, Brand Finance
• Andre van den Berg, Head of Chief Executive’s Office, Anglo American
• Daksh Gupta, Group CEO of Huws Gray
• Moderator: John M Neill, CBE, former Chairman and CEO of Unipart Group

We covered a range of interesting topics – these were some of the key lessons from the event.

Why do disruptive innovations fail?

We discussed the work of Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, who helped popularise the term “disruptive innovation,” many new ventures fail. Although the widely quoted “95%” failure rate appears more urban myth than established fact, some sources suggest roughly 40% of product innovations fail; others place the figure as high as 70–90%.

Regardless of the precise statistic, Brand Finance’s data-based approach to brand strategy focuses on how firms can maximise the probability of successful innovation:

1. Building an innovation ecosystem
   Samsung has built an innovation ecosystem by investing in research efforts at many levels. From early-stage academic exploration to venture investments in promising start-ups, Samsung covers the entire innovation lifecycle. By distributing the risk and drawing on multiple sources of creativity, they reduce the likelihood that any single failure derails the broader enterprise.
2. Consumer-led innovation
   Bringing customers into the ideation process from the outset increases the chance that fresh concepts meet real-world needs. As an illustration, the Global Hotels Alliance completely revamped its loyalty programme, “Discovery,” by listening to consumer needs and frustrations. By developing simple and transparent “Discovery Dollars,” giving recognition benefits to customers, and adding locally relevant perks, the Global Hotels Alliance significantly boosted the programme’s differentiation in a crowded market.
3. Brand-led innovation
   A strong brand can act as an economic moat, as an asset that helps new products or services stand out. Patagonia’s “Worn Wear” programme reinforces the brand’s environmentally conscious positioning by extending product life. Airbnb’s “Experiences” connect travellers with local hosts in a way that supports Airbnb’s foundational promise of belonging anywhere. Apple’s retail store concept proved transformative by extending the brand’s commitment to user-friendly experiences into the bricks-and-mortar environment. These examples underscore how well-aligned brand and innovation strategies can strengthen the brand and drive revenue growth simultaneously.
4. Staff empowerment
   Beyond Brand Finance’s primary areas of research and work, organisations such as 3M, Google, Atlassian and others have historically empowered significant proportions of staff to spend time on innovative projects. This has led to very successful products like Adsense and Google News.

Balancing performance marketing and brand-building

A perennial topic in boardrooms is balancing short-term revenue gains with long-term investments. In marketing, this is known as the tension between:

• Performance marketing: Immediate, data-driven campaigns aimed at closing sales quickly.
• Brand marketing: Building reputation and awareness among consumers not yet ready to buy.

Brand Finance has found that businesses often focus too heavily on performance campaigns because the immediate ROI is easily measured. However, brand marketing is what creates future growth potential, prompting customers to think of a company first when they do enter the market. Brand Finance data shows that strong brands also correlate with higher shareholder returns and stronger operating margins over the long run.

Evidence-based allocation

Research suggests a 60:40 split (brand to performance) is ideal for many consumer-facing businesses, whereas in B2B it may invert to 40:60. Yet organisations frequently underinvest in brand-building by devoting significantly less than this to longer-term efforts. The risk is a “zero-sum” game: doubling down on quick-win campaigns increases short-term sales but often fails to grow the category or brand’s presence over time.

Making the case for brand investment

In helping clients navigate these trade-offs, Brand Finance uses financial and behavioural modelling to measure brand value, demonstrating how robust brand equity can protect pricing, expand market share, and support profitable innovation.

Looking Ahead

This panel offered a direct reminder: Disruptive innovation is essential, but it should be undertaken carefully and with clear links to customer demand and brand positioning to insure against risk of failure. Similarly, balancing near-term promotional effectiveness with long-term brand-building is a hallmark of resilient organisations.

These principles reflect a mindset of proactively shaping the future—an approach that resonated with the broader theme of the event, “Choice, Not Chance.” By investing in dedicated innovation arms, fostering broad ecosystems, harnessing consumer-led ideas, leveraging strong brand positioning, and embracing a balanced marketing mix, companies can tilt the odds of success in their favour.

This issue was at the heart of our panel discussion: "C-Suite Partnerships for Outsized Growth." Featuring leaders from marketing, finance, and sustainability—Sumit Virmani (Global CMO, Infosys), Jared DiPalma (CFO, Dow Jones), and Jonquil Hackenberg (CEO, Ellen MacArthur Foundation) - the session explored the balance between purpose and performance, short-term results and long-term brand building.

Redefining brand building in a changing landscape

The traditional approach to brand building has evolved from iconic campaigns like Guinness’s surfer advert to an era dominated by performance marketing and real-time data insights. This shift has enabled precise tracking of sales, leads, and other key metrics but often comes at the expense of investments in building long-term brand equity.

Sumit Virmani highlighted this dynamic from Infosys’ perspective, sharing how the company’s growth as the fastest-growing IT services brand in the Global 500 across the last five years stems from embedding trust and purpose into its strategy. He emphasised, “To sustain brand growth over years and decades, it has to start with the business realising how important the intangible asset is for the long-term success of the business.” Sumit spoke about the “confluence of promise, purpose, and performance,” stressing that marketing must deliver on promises while keeping its eye on business performance.

Jonquil Hackenberg provided insights into how purpose-led organisations, like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, navigate a crowded sustainability space to maintain relevance. She explained that the foundation’s mission is deeply rooted in advancing the circular economy, focusing on initiatives such as eliminating plastic waste and encouraging materials to remain in circulation. By bringing forward proof points through innovation and advocacy, the foundation helps brands associate with sustainability while steering clear of greenwashing risks.

Jared DiPalma shared how Dow Jones, a company with heritage brands dating back to 1882, approaches balancing brand legacy with innovation. “Heritage brands carry immense value,” he noted, “but they demand careful stewardship to avoid the risk of losing what makes them trusted.” Jared detailed the discussions between Dow Jones’ CMO, CEO, and CFO in prioritising brand vision and allocating capital, stressing that the company divides its efforts between brand marketing for market share and performance marketing for direct subscriber results. “For performance marketing, every dollar in should see a result. For brand marketing, it’s about building market share,” he added.

The financial case for brand investment

The financial benefits of strong brands are clear. Data from Brand Finance shows that the top 100 global brands outperformed their peers in the MSCI World Index between 2017 and 2025, delivering 21% higher shareholder yield, 22% higher return on equity, and 20% higher operating margins. This is a testament to the role of brands in driving differentiation, pricing power, and customer loyalty.

However, companies must find the right balance between brand building and performance marketing. Research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) suggests that allocating 60% of marketing resources to brand building and 40% to performance marketing yields the best results in consumer sectors. For B2B industries, the ideal split shifts slightly to 45% for brand and 55% for performance. Campaigns that achieve this balance deliver stronger conversion rates and sustained growth over time.

Airbnb offers a particularly compelling example of how brand marketing can drive significant results. During the pandemic, the company made a bold decision to drastically reduce its performance marketing spend, instead focusing on building its brand. This pivot was exemplified by the launch of the "Made Possible by Hosts" campaign in 2021, which celebrated the unique experiences created by Airbnb hosts. The result was a remarkable turnaround: from a low point of $2.4 billion in 2016, Airbnb's brand value surged to $7.0 billion in 2025. This case highlights how a strategic focus on brand storytelling can deliver record financial performance and improve marketing efficiency, even in challenging circumstances.

Sumit spoke to the tensions between short- and long-term marketing objectives, noting, “There is sometimes a conundrum between brand and performance marketing, as people want to see short-term revenue upticks. But consistent investment in the brand is essential to drive long-term market share growth and shareholder gains.” He explained how Infosys leverages marketing technology, AI and data to strike this balance and maintain a sharp focus on both immediate and future outcomes.

Collaboration across the C-Suite

Achieving these outcomes requires more than marketing expertise - it demands collaboration across the C-suite. CFOs play a critical role in scrutinising the ROI of brand investment, while CMOs must ensure they align marketing efforts with broader business objectives. CEOs, meanwhile, must champion a unified vision that integrates brand strategy into overall corporate priorities.

Jared highlighted the importance of setting clear priorities and using data to drive clarity in budget allocation. “We start early by determining the data and insights we’ll use to measure success and aligning the budget accordingly. Data and insight drive clarity,” he explained, underlining the critical connection between marketing and finance teams.

Jonquil shared how sustainability initiatives align with brand efforts, pointing out that the foundation’s partnerships provide real proof points to help brands avoid reputational risks like greenwashing. As an example, she highlighted the foundation’s food challenge, which brought together 60 brands and 140 products under the tagline “With Nature in Mind,” showcasing innovation in upstream food design.

A call for long-term thinking

As economic uncertainty intensifies, the temptation to prioritise short-term wins is understandable. Yet the brands that thrive in the future will be those that continue to invest in long-term brand building as a driver of sustainable growth. This requires a mindset shift as well, as an evidence-based approach to making the case for brand investment.

By leveraging data, aligning with core business goals, and fostering collaboration across the leadership team, companies can unlock the full potential of their brands. The discussion at Davos underscored that the most successful brands are those that embrace cross-functional partnerships, enabling them to deliver value not just for shareholders but for customers, employees, and communities alike.

"How can we make the case for greater investment in building our brand?” It’s a question that has become increasingly complex as the marketing landscape evolves. While iconic campaigns like the Guinness surfer advert once epitomised brand building, today’s strategies are more intricate, requiring a nuanced understanding of both long-term and short-term marketing goals.

The changing landscape of brand building

Historically, building a brand often meant investing in high-impact communications and advertisements. Today, however, the tools and strategies available have multiplied exponentially. Marketing technology now enables detailed measurement and automation, offering businesses an appealing ability to track outcomes like leads and sales. These ‘performance marketing’ tactics provide immediate, quantifiable results, making them highly attractive to business leaders.

In contrast, brand building requires a long-term approach, often without immediate or direct measurability. It focuses on shaping perceptions, creating emotional connections, and fostering loyalty - elements that cannot be easily tracked through dashboards. For less frequent, high-involvement purchases like cars or IT infrastructure upgrades, brand marketing builds mental availability and familiarity for when buyers are ready to enter the market. In contrast, for more frequent purchases, such as chocolate bars, brand marketing can simultaneously drive immediate sales while reinforcing long-term relevance. These dynamics, coupled with advancements in marketing science -such as the understanding of System 1 (intuitive) and System 2 (rational) thinking -reinforce the vital role of brand building in driving sustainable growth.

The evidence: brands drive financial performance

Data consistently supports the argument that strong brands outperform their peers. Between 2016 and 2024, analysis conducted by LGIM, Legal & General’s asset management arm, on the top 100 global brands in our study, achieved, on average:

• 24% higher shareholder yield,
• 18% higher return on equity, and
• 18% higher operating margins compared to mega-cap peers in the MSCI World Index.

Balancing brand and performance marketing

Brand and performance marketing serve distinct but complementary purposes. Performance marketing delivers quick wins, such as clicks or sales, while brand marketing creates sustained awareness, loyalty, and emotional resonance.

Research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) highlights that the most effective marketing strategies allocate 60% of resources to brand marketing and 40% to performance marketing, in consumer industries, and 45% / 55% respectively in business to business. Campaigns that achieve this balance often see higher conversion rates and long-term business growth.

Lessons from leaders

Some organisations have already recognised the need to rebalance their marketing efforts, demonstrating the long-term benefits of prioritising brand equity over short-term performance metrics.

Nike's CEO, Elliot Hill, has explicitly stated that the company is "shifting dollars from performance marketing to brand marketing." This strategy centres on innovation and differentiation in its key markets. Despite experiencing business declines in recent times under the previous CEO, Nike's brand value has shown resilience, sitting at USD29.4 billion in 2025. Similarly, Adidas CEO, Bjørn Gulden, has made substantial efforts to safeguard its brand equity by reducing dependence on short-term performance campaigns.

Airbnb presents a particularly compelling case. During the pandemic, the company drastically reduced its marketing spend, pivoting from performance-focused strategies to brand marketing. This decision, highlighted by the launch of its "Made Possible by Hosts" campaign in 2021, allowed Airbnb to achieve record financial performance while improving marketing efficiency.

From a low point of USD2.4 billion in 2016, Airbnb's brand value surged to USD7.0 billion in 2025, demonstrating how an investment in brand storytelling can yield exceptional results even amidst challenging circumstances.

Building a business case for brand investment

To secure buy-in for brand investment, companies must craft a compelling, evidence-based business case. There are four key ingredients of a successful case:

1. A holistic approach

An effective business case takes a multidimensional approach, presenting evidence from various angles. This includes referencing macro-level insights, such as industry benchmarks and broader market studies, alongside detailed case studies that demonstrate how similar investments have delivered tangible results. Additionally, tailoring the analysis to the organisation’s unique context ensures relevance and increases credibility.

2. Business model specific

Every business operates with its own set of value levers - key factors that directly influence performance. A compelling business case connects brand investment to these drivers, whether they are focused on customer acquisition, revenue growth, market share, or operational efficiency. This alignment ensures the proposal resonates with leadership by demonstrating a clear and measurable impact on core objectives.

3. Collaborative development

Collaboration is essential throughout the process of building the business case. Engaging key stakeholders early to agree on assumptions and define baseline scenarios fosters alignment and trust. By involving decision-makers in shaping the case, companies can secure their buy-in before the final proposal is presented, ensuring that the rationale and methodology are understood and supported.

4. Range-based analysis

Decision-makers often prefer to see potential outcomes framed within a range rather than relying on a single forecast. Presenting best-case, worst-case, and expected scenarios demonstrates a thoughtful and rigorous approach to risk management. This method helps illustrate the potential upside of the investment while mitigating concerns about downside risks, providing a more balanced view of the proposal’s impact.

Case Study: LSEG's brand architecture overhaul

At Brand Finance, we worked with LSEG as part of their process to simplify its brand architecture, which was addressing challenges caused by a fragmented portfolio of over 25 brands, which were costly and time-consuming to build equity in. Stakeholders struggled to understand the company’s identity, and navigate its full offering; for example, only a minority of customers were aware that FTSE Russell was part of LSEG.

A common perception was that LSEG was solely a London-based stock exchange, when in fact the exchange only contributes around 3% of the group's revenue. By focusing on the master brand, the goal was to grow familiarity with LSEG’s breadth of services, enhance marketing efficiency, and better communicate its position as a global financial infrastructure leader.

Brand Finance was engaged to validate the required budget for the transition to the new strategy. Our solution was to evaluate the financial impact of consolidating the brand portfolio, advising on the optimal weight and timing of investment to maximise ROI. This approach supported LSEG’s move towards a master brand strategy, improving market clarity and strengthening LSEG’s position beyond its stock exchange roots. The rebrand was underpinned by a detailed business case, demonstrating the strategic importance of the investment and the expected returns. Following a targeted and multi-channel launch, early stakeholder research shows positive outcomes, with the campaign surpassing targets and enhancing brand recognition.

While the rebrand remains an ongoing multi-year effort, it highlights the importance of a robust business case in giving internal stakeholders the confidence to invest and showcases the impact of a strategic, cohesive brand approach in driving business growth.

Looking ahead

As we start the year, trends indicate a growing emphasis on performance marketing, driven by economic uncertainty and pressure for immediate returns. However, brands that prioritise long-term investment in brand building are likely to emerge stronger, more differentiated, and better positioned for sustained growth.

The challenge lies in bridging the gap—educating stakeholders on the tangible financial benefits of brand investment while leveraging tools, data, and strategies that demonstrate its value in a measurable, actionable way.

By taking a strategic, informed approach, companies can unlock the true potential of their brands, driving business success and shareholder value in the years to come.

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