Hello...Hello! 👋🏻
Nothing kills credibility faster than walking into the CMO's office with a "16-point brand lift" from a vendor that doesn't pass the sniff test.
Reality check: For established brands, anything above 5 points should trigger your BS detector. I’ve also seen CEO’s scoff at a 3% lift with a “not worth our time” comment. The reality is that the Coca-Cola brand was built over 133 years of consistent marketing.
🚨 The 5-Point Rule
Before presenting double-digit brand lifts to your CMO, verify you have:
✅ Extremely low baselines (brand awareness under 20%)
✅ Large budgets with long duration (6+ months, $500K+ spend)
✅ Highly targeted audiences (focused demographics/segments)
For national brands, lifts above 5 points should trigger immediate validation questions.
Validation Checklist ✔️
Ask your team to have these before the meeting:
What was our unaided brand awareness pre campaign?
How does our brand consideration compare Year over Year?
What's the margin of error on this brand study/data?
Did we test against a true control group?
Was it a vendor study or 3rd party?
Does the report show a lift in points or percentages? You want points.
How many individuals were lifted?
Why This Matters 🫡
Established brands rarely see massive lifts. Coca-Cola doesn't jump 15 points from a single campaign.
Celebrate incremental, sustainable growth that compounds over time. It's hard to be patient, but it's worth it.
This Week's Challenge
Review your last brand lift study. Does it pass the 5-point reality test?
If not, dig deeper before your next campaign review.
What's the biggest brand lift claim you've seen that made you suspicious? Hit reply…I love your war stories.
Cheers,
Alec
P.S. Small, consistent lifts build brand empires. Inflated metrics build unemployed marketers. If you need help building your empire, contact Tim @ScaledOn. 🫡
P.P.S. Looking to upskill your team? New team pack has just dropped. AI for Teams.
