We sat down with our Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy, Sarah Coften, to discuss why we need to rethink what long-term marketing really looks like in 2025 and why modern marketers must stop time-travelling and start laddering…
For decades, the unspoken rule in brand marketing was simple: if it’s not on TV, it’s not real brand work.
That idea still echoes through boardrooms and budget meetings — like a hangover from the 90s. But today’s consumers aren’t living in that world anymore. Neither should your media plan.
As Sarah Coften, Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy, puts it:
“Mark Ritson’s made it clear: TV still delivers, but it’s no longer the sole route to long-term brand impact. Brand building is about consistency, not channel nostalgia – and media plans need to reflect how real people consume today.”
Sarah coften, Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy
TV is a tool. Not the tool. And the belief that brand = telly while digital = sales? That’s not strategy. That’s superstition.”
It’s Not Just Reach – It’s Remembered Reach
The platforms have changed, yes. But so has attention. And attention, right now, is everything.
As Sarah explains:
“Lumen’s studies back it up: if no one notices you, you don’t exist. Gen Z gets this instinctively; they notice the brand that makes them laugh at 7am more than the one airing at 7pm.
For Gen Z, attention is currency – and they spend it wisely. They reward consistency, creativity, and cultural fluency. You’re not buying airtime anymore, you’re earning relevance.”
The best ads aren’t just those people see. They’re the ones people remember. And those impressions are just as likely to be built in Stories, Reels, or YouTube Shorts as they are in an ad break during Bake Off.
Creative Consistency > Channel Comfort
It’s time to break the binary. The idea that brand and performance are on opposite sides of the spectrum is not only outdated – it’s limiting your effectiveness.
As Sarah puts it:
“Brand and performance aren’t separate campaigns, they’re different stages of the same journey. We’ve found that when brand cues carry through into activation assets, conversion gets easier, faster, and cheaper. It’s not just top-down; it’s inside-out.”
Consistency isn’t a tone of voice exercise, it’s a commercial advantage. Because when the brand you build is the brand people recognise at the point of conversion, you’re not spending, you’re compounding.
From Feed to TV and Back Again
TV isn’t obsolete. But the path to it is changing.
In fact, some of the most effective brand platforms today don’t start on TV – they earn their way there.
“We’ve found that some of the most effective creative platforms start in social, where ideas are pressure-tested in real time. When something resonates there, it often earns the right to scale into bigger brand formats, including TV.
Done right, brand building moves both ways – from the feed to the sofa, and back again. When creative is connected across formats, channels, and funnel stages, you’re not just laddering up to TV, you’re laddering down to action.”
That’s what modern planning looks like. Not silos, but systems. Not formats, but flows.
Planning for Attention, Not Assumption
Forget the decades-old CPM benchmarks. Planning today means knowing where attention lives, and earning it creatively.
“Lumen’s attention data shows what we already feel as planners: the right creative in the right context outperforms legacy assumptions. High attention doesn’t have to mean high spend – it just has to mean high relevance.”
“We proved the business impact through our MMM study for a Smithfield client, where high-attention formats delivered outsized ROI relative to cost.”
What worked on TV in 2012 might underperform on TikTok in 2025, not because the creative’s bad, but because the context has changed. Attention isn’t bought. It’s won.
So What’s Holding Us Back?
Not data. Not channels. Not platforms.
“The media mix isn’t the issue – mindset is. If you still think brand means telly and digital means sales, you’re not planning, you’re time-travelling. And you’re taking your growth ambitions with you.”
We’ve never had more tools to build brands that scale across platforms and performance curves.
“Brand isn’t a TV ad. It’s a pattern of consistent impressions, emotions, and actions – stitched together across screens, formats, and contexts.”
The Takeaway
Brand building isn’t dying. It’s evolving.
It’s not about choosing TV or TikTok. It’s about designing systems that work across both.
It’s not about big vs. small. It’s about what builds memory, earns attention, and drives action – wherever it happens.
The truth is: TV didn’t define brand building. It just dominated it – until now. Because today, the brands that grow are the ones who know: It’s not where you show up. It’s how and how often.