Branding Is Dead, Long Live Branding
Branding used to be king. Logos, slogans, color palettes, and brand personalities weren’t just something to put on your marketing materials, they were the foundation of every business. But somewhere between the advent of Google PPC and the emergence of Facebook Ads, branding took a backseat.
Digital marketing made a compelling promise: if you had the right targeting, a decent budget, and a good offer, you could skip the “fluff” and still sell. You didn’t need to spend months on brand positioning or years building recognition. Instead, you could laser-target your audience and grab sales on demand.
And for a while, it worked. But today, so many brands have zero recognition that they are struggling to connect with an audience, even when buying tons of PPC ads.
Table of Contents:
- The Digital Gold Rush: How Branding Got Neglected
- The New Reality of Digital Marketing
- Not Even Big Brands Are Immune: Nike’s Performance Marketing Gamble
- Why Branding Matters More Than Ever
- The Digital + Branding Balance
- How to Bring Branding Back Into Focus
- The Payoff of Brand-First Thinking
- Conclusion: Branding Matters More Than Ever
The Digital Gold Rush: How Branding Got Neglected
The digital advertising boom changed how businesses approached sales and growth. The formula was straightforward:
- Launch ads on search (and later social media).
- Use smart targeting to find ready-to-buy customers.
- Optimize for immediate conversions.
- Scale until the ad performance dropped, then repeat.
For many small and mid-sized companies, branding became an afterthought. Why spend time and money defining a brand identity when you could see ROI from your first ad campaign?
Three big factors fed this mindset:
- Precise Targeting – Ads could find your audience without broad awareness.
- Short-Term ROI Pressure – Startups and SMBs prioritized quick wins to survive.
- Performance Marketing Dominance – Clicks, conversions, and cost-per-acquisition metrics became the holy grail.
Branding felt like something for Apple, Nike, or Coca-Cola—not for the business owner pushing to hit monthly sales targets.
The New Reality of Digital Marketing
Fast-forward to today, and that “just run ads” approach is creating diminishing returns. The digital landscape has shifted in ways that make branding essential again.
1. Choice Overload
Consumers are drowning in options. In nearly every product category, there are dozens—sometimes hundreds—of similar offerings, often at similar prices. Without a strong brand, you’re just another face in the crowd.
2. Rising Ad Costs
Paid media is more expensive than ever. Google, Meta, TikTok, and others are competing for the same advertisers, and CPMs keep climbing. If your ad doesn’t resonate beyond the click, you’re paying more for less return.
3. AI-Powered Search & Shopping
Google’s AI Overviews, Amazon’s AI recommendations, and TikTok’s shopping integrations are rewriting how consumers discover products. Algorithms are more likely to showcase brands with distinct, recognizable identities and positive reputations.
4. Platform Volatility
Between privacy laws, cookie restrictions, and algorithm updates, relying solely on paid targeting is risky. Brands without recognition have no safety net when acquisition costs spike or targeting changes.
Not Even Big Brands Are Immune: Nike’s Performance Marketing Gamble
Nike experienced a notable dip in sales when it shifted away from brand marketing toward performance-focused tactics. In Q2 2025, overall revenues fell by 8% year-over-year, with the Nike Direct digital segment down 13%. The results underscore that deprioritizing brand-building can lead to weakening demand—even for household names like Nike.
Why Branding Matters More Than Ever
Branding is about more than just about making your business look good. It’s about making it memorable, trusted, and sought after.
Here’s why it’s critical in today’s market:
1. Branding Boosts Ad Efficiency
When people already know and trust your brand, they’re more likely to click your ads, engage with your posts, and convert. Strong branding can directly lower your customer acquisition cost (CAC).
2. Branding Creates Customer Loyalty
Price-based loyalty is fragile. Customers who buy only because you’re cheaper will jump ship when a competitor offers a discount. Branding builds emotional loyalty, which is far stickier.
3. Branding Reduces Price Sensitivity
When customers connect emotionally with your brand, they’re willing to pay more. This is why two nearly identical products can have vastly different price points. People aren’t just buying the item, they’re buying the brand experience.
4. Branding Gives You Cross-Channel Power
A strong brand identity travels well. It works on social media, TV, email, podcasts, and even offline events. That consistency amplifies your message and makes your campaigns work harder.
The Digital + Branding Balance
Think of digital marketing and branding as partners, not rivals.
- Digital marketing is the engine that gets your message out.
- Branding is the fuel that makes people care about that message.
Without branding, digital campaigns may grab impressions, but they won’t stick in your audience’s memory. Without digital, your branding efforts might never reach the right people at the right time.
The winning formula? Pairing performance marketing with consistent, memorable branding.
How to Bring Branding Back Into Focus
If your digital strategy has been running on pure performance, here’s how to rebuild your brand muscle.
1. Clarify Your Positioning
Know exactly who you serve, how you help them, and why they should choose you over competitors. Your positioning should be crystal clear in every piece of marketing.
2. Invest in Visual Identity
A recognizable logo, cohesive color palette, and consistent design language make your brand instantly identifiable across platforms.
3. Define Your Tone & Voice
Your messaging should sound like you, no matter the channel. Whether it’s playful, bold, or authoritative, your voice should be distinct enough that your audience could recognize it without seeing your logo.
4. Create Campaign Concepts That Scale
Don’t think of campaigns as “Facebook ads” or “TV ads”—think of them as brand stories that can be told across multiple channels with slight adaptations.
5. Track More Than Clicks
Measure brand awareness, sentiment, and share of voice alongside performance metrics. These tell you whether your brand is growing or just treading water.
The Payoff of Brand-First Thinking
Reinvesting in branding can feel slow at first compared to the instant gratification of paid ads. But the payoff is exponential. A strong brand:
- Attracts customers who seek you out by name.
- Improves your ad performance across every platform.
- Increases brand loyalty and customer lifetime value.
- Shields you from price wars.
In other words, branding turns marketing from a sprint into a marathon. One where your competition tires out long before you do.
Conclusion: Branding Matters More Than Ever
The brands that will win in 2025 and beyond aren’t the ones with the biggest ad budgets. They’re the ones with the clearest, most consistent identities.
Digital marketing might get you the click, but branding is what gets you the customer.
Branding is dead? Not even close.
It just took a backseat for a while. Now, it’s ready to reclaim the pole position.
If your brand has been living in the shadow of your ad campaigns, it’s time to bring it back into the spotlight. At COLAB, we create brand guides and branding campaigns that give you the foundation for consistent, memorable marketing across every channel.
Because when customers remember you, they buy from you.