Brand versus performance? Is this really the fight?

Campaign ME

6 days ago

Our industry loves a good debate. And over the past decade, we have been having one – around brand and performance. You either build emotional connections, or you drive measurable action. You either play the long game, or you deliver this quarter's numbers. Pick a side.
We have been pushed into silos, particularly since measuring the business impact of digital ad investments became a mainstream approach in marketing.
This shift gave rise to new structures within marketing functions – structures where on one side we have the brand team, armed with storytelling, culture and creativity. On the other, we have the performance team, armed with dashboards, attribution models and media efficiency targets. Different teams. Different budgets. Different KPIs. Often working in isolation, or worse, at odds with one another.
This divide has led to ineffective decisions. Performance marketing wins favour because it is easier to measure and appears more efficient. Brand marketing often gets deprioritised because its impact takes longer to surface. But in truth, neither works in isolation. And both are incomplete without the other.
At its core, marketing is becoming more fragmented, and measurement is becoming more difficult. Over the last few years, we have seen a shift: from measuring everything to measuring what is measurable. And that shift risks missing what truly matters.
Here is my view.
All marketing is performance
Because what matters to the businesses we work with is growth. If it does not move the needle in leads, conversions, sales, profit or customers, then it does not matter. It might look great. It might even win an award. But if it does not deliver outcomes, it does not sustain for the longer term.
The marketing world is evolving as fast as the technology behind it. CMOs are rewriting the growth playbook in real time. Retail media is exploding – new, closed ecosystems are emerging not just globally but also in our region. Budgets are shifting beyond Meta and Google for certain industries where the conversion cycle is relatively longer. Creators are emerging as scalable media channels. Large language model (LLM)-optimised search engine optimisation (SEO) is gaining traction. Search is being redefined, with inbound traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity and others increasing month over month. We are moving from a search-driven world to an intent-first, moment-driven ecosystem.
It is time to rethink everything. Modern marketing is transitioning from brand-versus-performance to marketing performance, and from the age of channels into the age of outcomes. The lines between brand and performance will blur. Not because one will replace the other, but because both must integrate to drive sustainable momentum.
What happens to creative in a brand-meets-performance ecosystem?
Real marketing power emerges when brand fuels performance storytelling, and creativity is held accountable to business outcomes.
I believe the industries poised for growth will be those that embrace performance storytelling –where personalisation is no longer optional, but essential.
Why does brand versus performance matter now more than ever?
This shift demands that we stop thinking in silos of 'brand' versus 'performance' ownership.
I have sat in meetings where marketing was reduced to a cost line, and I have watched marketers defend million-dollar brand campaigns with metrics like reach, impressions and video views. It is not their fault. That is what the industry has rewarded.
But chief financial officers do not buy into narratives. They buy into outcomes.
That is where our narrative, 'Always Relevant' comes in. It is not just a line we use at Platformance. It is how we operate. Instead of chasing awareness for awareness' sake, we look at moments that matter. What are people searching for, talking about, buying into today? Not as a campaign cycle. As a living, breathing ecosystem.
And when relevance is the goal, brand and performance have to work together. Not as separate campaigns, but as part of the same motion. Your brand generates demand. Your performance activity captures the demand. When the two are in sync, marketing starts delivering like a growth engine.
The reality?
Most companies do not need more ads. They need more alignment – between the creative and the commercial. That does not mean you ditch brand entirely for sales-led tactics. It means you build a brand that sells. And a performance engine that does not forget the power of advocacy.
One of the best campaigns I have seen recently in the month of Ramadan did not shout out with a multi-million dollar marketing drive. But it landed because the product, the message, the channel and the timing were all built around a single truth: relevance beats noise.
So we need to move beyond the question of 'what does the brand stand for?' and ask something more direct: 'what does the brand do for the business?'
That is the future of marketing I believe in.
And if we get it right, we will stop debating about 'brand-versus-performance' entirely.
Because the customer does not care which team made the ad.
They just care it works.
By Waseem Afzal, Founder, Platformance