For the last decade, marketers have been living inside dashboards. Rows of performance metrics became the north star. ROAS, CPA, CTR — if it didn’t move a performance metric, it didn’t matter.

Things are changing.

Here’s the truth: performance alone isn’t performing anymore. Costs are up, signals are blurred, attribution is murky, and audiences are harder to track than ever.

Brands that relied exclusively on “the algorithm” are hitting a wall.

And suddenly, every smart team is rediscovering something (not so) new:

Brand building is back — and it’s carrying the long-term growth agenda once again

Let’s talk about why.

1️⃣ Performance Has Hit the Plateau Phase

The early days of performance marketing felt magical. Cheap audiences. Clear signals. Endless optimization.

But over time, the system matured… and margins shrank.

What’s changed:

Acquisition costs continue rising
Signal loss from privacy changes limits platform learning
Auction competition drives CPMs higher
Narrow targeting gets less effective each year

And the shift is already underway: in a recent U.S. survey, 61% of marketers say they plan to increase long-term brand-building investment in the year ahead, signaling a broad move away from over-reliance on performance alone.¹

👉 When performance becomes more expensive, more volatile, and less predictable, marketers need a counterweight.

Enter: Brand.

Whirr POV:

Performance is the engine.
Brand is the fuel.
One without the other? You stall.

2️⃣ Brand Drives the Demand That Performance Converts

Performance marketing is great at finding intent. Brand marketing is great at creating it.

Strong brands:

Increase click-through rates
Improve conversion rates
Lower acquisition costs
Lift all performance creative
Expand category entry points
Make audiences care before they even shop

👉 The strongest performance machine in the world can’t convert demand that doesn’t exist.

New data² reinforces this:

83% of U.S. CMOs still view their brand as a core commercial asset, even as short-term pressure intensifies
But, only 55% dedicate 60% or more of their budgets to long-term brand-building

Translation? Marketers believe in brand; they’re just under-investing in it.

Whirr POV:

Brand warms the room before performance walks in.

3️⃣ Creative Is Now the Most Powerful Lever in Paid Media

Algorithms are converging. Targeting is commoditized. Everyone has access to the same tools.

So where do teams actually differentiate? Creative.

Not just “pretty creative.” But creative that:

Builds memory structures
Reinforces a distinctive asset
Delivers a single, sharp benefit
Works in the first 0.5 seconds
Creates mental availability
Is instantly recognizable

👉 Brand building gives your creative a spine. And performance needs that spine more than ever.

Whirr POV:

Creative is no longer the variable — it’s the advantage.

4️⃣ Attention Is the Scarce Resource. Brand Earns It.

Research shows today’s knowledge workers are switching between apps up to 10 times per hour, and sometimes hundreds of times per day — a clear indicator of how fractured attention truly is.³

They scroll faster, tap faster, and forget faster.

👉 Performance ads speak to needs. Brand ads speak to feelings.

And feelings stick longer than formats.

Utility gets the click
Emotion gets the memory
Memory drives long-term preference

This is why modern brand building must be:

Simple 🔴 Visual 🔴 Distinctive 🔴 Human 🔴 Consistent 🔴 Useful

Whirr POV:

Brand earns attention
Performance harvests it

5️⃣ Long-Term Growth Is Built on Mental Availability

The Ehrenberg-Bass concepts of salience and mental availability haven’t changed — but their relevance has sharpened.

Even so, U.S. marketers are tightening budgets: projected growth in brand-building spend is expected to slow from 9.6% to 5.5% year-over-year, according to The CMO Survey.⁴ That makes strong strategic fundamentals — and a clear case for brand — more important than ever.

Brands with strong mental availability get:

Lower search costs
Higher organic demand
Better refer-rates
Higher return on ad spend
More resilience during downturns

👉 Brand building is a compounding asset. Performance is a transactional one.

Teams need both to scale sustainably.

Whirr POV:

Strong brands stick
Sticking drives sales

The Whirr View

We’re entering a new era: one where brand and performance aren’t rivals — they’re co-pilots.

Performance keeps you efficient.
Brand keeps you growing.

When you invest in both, you build systems that:

Attract the right audience
Earn attention
Create emotional connection
Strengthen conversion
Future-proof media
Reduce reliance on unstable auction dynamics

Brand building isn’t a “nice to have” anymore — it’s a competitive moat. And for teams ready to shift from reactive dashboards to strategic storytelling, the opportunity has never been bigger.

Whirr would love to help you build your brand to sustain performance. Reach out today so we can set up a discovery call!

References:

Association of National Advertisers (ANA), “US Marketers Confident Heading Into 2025” (2025). <https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/pr-2025-10-confident>
NielsenIQ, “CMOs Face a Reputation and Results Reckoning: NIQ’s 2026 Outlook” (2025). <https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/2025/cmos-face-a-reputation-and-results-reckoning-according-to-niqs-2026-outlook/>
RingCentral, The Connected Workplace Report, 2025. <https://netstorage.ringcentral.com/documents/connected_workplace.pdf>
The CMO Survey, U.S. Brand-Building Spend Trend Analysis (2025). <https://www.warc.com/content/feed/us-spending-on-brand-building-slows/en-GB/8710>

Brand Building Is Back. Here’s Why It Matters More Than Ever.

For the last decade, marketers have been living inside dashboards. Rows of performance metrics became the north star. ROAS, CPA, CTR — if it didn’t move a performance metric, it didn’t matter.

Things are changing.

Here’s the truth: performance alone isn’t performing anymore. Costs are up, signals are blurred, attribution is murky, and audiences are harder to track than ever.

Brands that relied exclusively on “the algorithm” are hitting a wall.

And suddenly, every smart team is rediscovering something (not so) new:

Brand building is back — and it’s carrying the long-term growth agenda once again

Let’s talk about why.

1️⃣ Performance Has Hit the Plateau Phase

The early days of performance marketing felt magical. Cheap audiences. Clear signals. Endless optimization.

But over time, the system matured… and margins shrank.

What’s changed:

And the shift is already underway: in a recent U.S. survey, 61% of marketers say they plan to increase long-term brand-building investment in the year ahead, signaling a broad move away from over-reliance on performance alone.¹

👉 When performance becomes more expensive, more volatile, and less predictable, marketers need a counterweight.

Enter: Brand.

Whirr POV:

Performance is the engine.

Brand is the fuel.

One without the other? You stall.

2️⃣ Brand Drives the Demand That Performance Converts

Performance marketing is great at finding intent. Brand marketing is great at creating it.

Strong brands:

👉 The strongest performance machine in the world can’t convert demand that doesn’t exist.

New data² reinforces this:

Translation? Marketers believe in brand; they’re just under-investing in it.

Whirr POV:

Brand warms the room before performance walks in.

3️⃣ Creative Is Now the Most Powerful Lever in Paid Media

Algorithms are converging. Targeting is commoditized. Everyone has access to the same tools.

So where do teams actually differentiate? Creative.

Not just “pretty creative.” But creative that:

👉 Brand building gives your creative a spine. And performance needs that spine more than ever.

Whirr POV:

Creative is no longer the variable — it’s the advantage.

4️⃣ Attention Is the Scarce Resource. Brand Earns It.

Research shows today’s knowledge workers are switching between apps up to 10 times per hour, and sometimes hundreds of times per day — a clear indicator of how fractured attention truly is.³

They scroll faster, tap faster, and forget faster.

👉 Performance ads speak to needs. Brand ads speak to feelings.

And feelings stick longer than formats.

This is why modern brand building must be:

Simple 🔴 Visual 🔴 Distinctive 🔴 Human 🔴 Consistent 🔴 Useful

Whirr POV:

Brand earns attention

Performance harvests it

5️⃣ Long-Term Growth Is Built on Mental Availability

The Ehrenberg-Bass concepts of salience and mental availability haven’t changed — but their relevance has sharpened.

Even so, U.S. marketers are tightening budgets: projected growth in brand-building spend is expected to slow from 9.6% to 5.5% year-over-year, according to The CMO Survey.⁴ That makes strong strategic fundamentals — and a clear case for brand — more important than ever.

Brands with strong mental availability get:

👉 Brand building is a compounding asset. Performance is a transactional one.

Teams need both to scale sustainably.

Whirr POV:

Strong brands stick

Sticking drives sales

The Whirr View

We’re entering a new era: one where brand and performance aren’t rivals — they’re co-pilots.

When you invest in both, you build systems that:

Brand building isn’t a “nice to have” anymore — it’s a competitive moat. And for teams ready to shift from reactive dashboards to strategic storytelling, the opportunity has never been bigger.

Whirr would love to help you build your brand to sustain performance. Reach out today so we can set up a discovery call!

The Quiet Channels Driving Outsized Impact

Post-Performance Marketing: What Comes After the Dashboard Era