{"id":226740,"date":"2025-07-25T15:52:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/?p=226740"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:02:14","slug":"brand_building_isnt_just_for_tv_anymore_it_never_really_was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/insights\/brand_building_isnt_just_for_tv_anymore_it_never_really_was\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand Building Isn\u2019t Just for TV Anymore (It Never Really Was)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We sat down with our Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy, Sarah Coften<\/a>, 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<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/span>
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For decades, the unspoken rule in brand marketing was simple: if it\u2019s not on TV, it\u2019s not real brand work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That idea still echoes through boardrooms and budget meetings \u2014 like a hangover from the 90s. But today\u2019s consumers aren\u2019t living in that world anymore. Neither should your media plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Sarah Coften, Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy, puts it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMark Ritson\u2019s 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.\u201d
TV is a tool. Not the tool. And the belief that brand = telly while digital = sales? That\u2019s not strategy. That\u2019s superstition.\u201d<\/p>Sarah coften, Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Not Just Reach – It\u2019s Remembered Reach<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The platforms have changed, yes. But so has attention. And attention, right now, is everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Sarah explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLumen\u2019s studies back it up: if no one notices you, you don\u2019t exist. Gen Z gets this instinctively; they notice the brand that makes them laugh at 7am more than the one airing at 7pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Gen Z, attention is currency – and they spend it wisely. They reward consistency, creativity, and cultural fluency. You\u2019re not buying airtime anymore, you\u2019re earning relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best ads aren\u2019t just those people see. They\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creative Consistency > Channel Comfort<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to break the binary. The idea that brand and performance are on opposite sides of the spectrum is not only outdated – it\u2019s limiting your effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Sarah puts it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrand and performance aren\u2019t separate campaigns, they\u2019re different stages of the same journey. We\u2019ve found that when brand cues carry through into activation assets, conversion gets easier, faster, and cheaper. It\u2019s not just top-down; it\u2019s inside-out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consistency isn’t a tone of voice exercise,  it\u2019s a commercial advantage. Because when the brand you build is the brand people recognise at the point of conversion, you\u2019re not spending, you\u2019re compounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Feed to TV and Back Again<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

TV isn\u2019t obsolete. But the path to it is changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, some of the most effective brand platforms today don\u2019t start on TV – they earn their way there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019re not just laddering up to TV, you\u2019re laddering down to action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what modern planning looks like. Not silos, but systems. Not formats, but flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\nAn<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Planning for Attention, Not Assumption<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Forget the decades-old CPM benchmarks. Planning today means knowing where attention lives, and earning it creatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLumen\u2019s attention data shows what we already feel as planners: the right creative in the right context outperforms legacy assumptions. High attention doesn\u2019t have to mean high spend – it just has to mean high relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe proved the business impact through our MMM study for a Smithfield client, where high-attention formats delivered outsized ROI relative to cost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What worked on TV in 2012 might underperform on TikTok in 2025, not because the creative\u2019s bad, but because the context has changed. Attention isn’t bought. It’s won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So What\u2019s Holding Us Back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not data. Not channels. Not platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe media mix isn\u2019t the issue – mindset is. If you still think brand means telly and digital means sales, you\u2019re not planning, you\u2019re time-travelling. And you\u2019re taking your growth ambitions with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve never had more tools to build brands that scale across platforms and performance curves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrand isn\u2019t a TV ad. It\u2019s a pattern of consistent impressions, emotions, and actions – stitched together across screens, formats, and contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Takeaway<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brand building isn\u2019t dying. It\u2019s evolving.
It\u2019s not about choosing TV or TikTok. It\u2019s about designing systems that work across both.
It\u2019s not about big vs. small. It\u2019s about what builds memory, earns attention, and drives action – wherever it happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is: TV didn\u2019t define brand building. It just dominated it – until now. Because today, the brands that grow are the ones who know: It\u2019s not where you show up. It\u2019s how and how often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s not on TV, it\u2019s not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":226744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-226740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights","tag-pride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226740"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226749,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226740\/revisions\/226749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithfieldagency.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}