Brand vs Performance: Why the Fight Misses the Point⚖️

A divided Britain. Polarised politics. Widening wealth gaps.

Sounds familiar, right? Plenty of rhetoric about groups who can’t - or won’t - meet in the middle.

But that got us thinking, isn’t the same true for marketing? 🤔 We’ve got our own divisions to wrestle with: fragmented audiences across the media landscape and the big one… Brand vs. Performance.

This is a topic we’ve long been fascinated by and the more we spoke to clients and partners, the more we realised it’s a conversation worth taking live. At the next The Specialist View Live - The Power of And: Brand & Performance, we’ll decode the winning formula behind marketing strategies for entrepreneurial brands that deliver both brand equity and performance results.

Secure your place HERE

Before then, Emma Martin, Managing Partner at The Specialist Works, gives you a tease of what’s to come with her POV on the topic… Why Brand Still Matters

So… the 30-second case for brand? It ensures people know you exist, from your name and logo through to what you actually do. It builds distinctiveness and differentiation so you stick in people’s minds. And, crucially, it primes future customers so they’re ready to respond to performance activity later.

Who wouldn’t want to be in control of what consumers think about you as an entrepreneurial brand – or even if they think of you? Performance: The Bread & Butter

Performance is the engine that keeps things moving. It targets people in-market right now, gives them the right nudge - whether that’s a promo, a reminder or a direction to the checkout - and it pays back fast 💸. It’s also almost instantly optimisable.

Performance activity is designed to shepherd in every buyer who has previously heard, thought, saw, or used you. Just because they’re in market doesn’t mean the sale is guaranteed.

There’s huge skill involved: from audience understanding to category nuance and channel detail. Talking to clients and colleagues, it’s clear that performance strategy and planning is time-consuming, complex, and difficult work. And like everything else in life, there’s never enough money to do it all. Choices must be made about what, how, who and when - so the right volume and value come through at an acceptable CPA. 🎯

Performance activity can be addictive – and not in a good way. Only focusing on the immediate at the expense of lasting brand building means getting stuck in a vortex of constantly chasing leads. Brand activity can help relieve this burden, making the catching easier and even having customers come to you instead.

Brand and performance aren’t competing forces - brand supercharges performance. Done right, brand investment makes lead generation easier, conversion more efficient, and growth more predictable.

The Balancing Act

Now, here’s the real-world dilemma: brand at the expense of performance, performance at the expense of brand… or the unicorn scenario where entrepreneurial marketers get more budget 🦄.

The truth is both sides are fighting for the same thing: To build a bigger, better, stronger business. Both want to engage with audiences in distinctive ways that cement brand codes in consumers’ minds - whether for the next 10 minutes or 10 months. And let’s be honest, both are also trying to defend their budgets from the operations team 😉.

Enter LLMs (and Why Brand Will Win Again)

Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming research assistants for everything - from the closest supermarket to the best holiday deals to the cheapest products. That’s all rational stuff: price, availability, reviews. Perfect for performance.

But just like price comparison websites, rational only goes so far. Consumers don’t just buy cheap. They buy from brands they know, trust and feel good about. In LLMs, as on supermarket shelves, brand and performance - both matter. One without the other is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. 👊

Want to Hear More? 🎤

In the next The Specialist Works Live at our office in Angel, London - we’ll bring together entrepreneurial brands, measurement specialists and media owners to discuss how to build a case and structure that lets BOTH brand and performance thrive.

📅 Join us on October 9th – sign up HERE

---

That’s it for this edition of The Specialist View. We’ll be back soon with more sharp thinking, fresh perspectives, and the kind of media intelligence that helps entrepreneurial marketers turn ambition into action – and impact. Because specialist work is what we do – and as a proudly independent media agency, we’re equally proud of the passionate specialists behind it. Their curiosity, craft and commitment drive everything we deliver, from smarter strategies to standout results. It’s this depth of expertise and energy that sets us apart – helping our clients move faster, think bigger, and demand more from their media.