At Nepa’s recent housewarming event, we gathered some of the sharpest marketing minds for an open panel discussion on what’s keeping brand leaders up at night, and what’s helping them move forward. The conversation covered everything from market pressures and media strategy to internal alignment and the meaning of boldness in today’s landscape.
Here’s what we heard – and what we took away.
Growth in uncertain times: the value of holding your nerve
One point of clear agreement: brands that continue to invest in marketing, even when budgets are tight, are the ones that grow in the long run. Several CMOs shared how maintaining brand-building efforts during downturns paid off with faster recovery and stronger share of voice once the market bounced back. Others spoke about the internal work it takes to justify those decisions, using historic data, Marketing Mix Modelling results and case studies to bring the leadership team on board. The lesson? Staying consistent during uncertainty isn’t just about survival. It’s about setting your brand up for the next phase of growth.
“It’s not easy to keep investing when pressure builds. But that’s when the long-term thinkers get ahead.”
Still splitting brand and performance? It might be holding you back
While there was no single answer to how to split brand and performance budgets, the panel showed growing alignment around a new mindset: measuring all marketing in terms of its sales effect – whether that’s immediate or long-term. Some teams keep brand and performance separate, others integrate everything. What matters most is the language. By translating brand efforts into business terms, marketers can more easily secure support and alignment across the organisation.
“When you frame both brand and performance in terms of sales effects, it becomes much easier to prioritise.”
This is where tools like Marketing Mix Modelling become critical, making it possible to measure both long- and short-term impact in a way that’s credible for decision-makers.
Is boldness really brave – or just part of the job?
The topic of “courage” sparked lively debate. For some, being bold meant pushing through ideas that challenged the status quo, even when the results wouldn’t be immediate. For others, especially from the agency side, courage wasn’t something to be celebrated, it was the baseline expectation. Regardless of how it’s defined, boldness was seen as essential for growth. But the discussion made it clear that in many organisations, being bold still requires advocacy, internal storytelling and data to back it up.
“Sometimes, you have to fight for the right to be bold.”
If more dashboards were the answer, we’d all be winning
Despite all the dashboards and reports available today, many marketers on the panel expressed the same frustration: it’s still hard to see what’s working. Or why. The group spoke about the challenges of fragmented measurement, backward-looking reporting and a lack of unified KPIs across teams. Several shared stories of “dashboard fatigue” where more data just leads to more confusion. The clear takeaway: marketers don’t need more data. They need sharper insight and the ability to act on it quickly. Tools like always-on brand tracking, early-warning signals and dynamic dashboards were seen as critical to cutting through the noise.
“We’re drowning in numbers but starving for insight.”
Global vs. local: it depends – but it must be measured
The debate over central control versus local freedom was one of the most divided. Some argued for strict global guidelines to protect brand integrity. Others saw success from empowering local teams to move fast and speak directly to their audiences. The consensus? There is no one-size-fits-all model. But whatever your structure, you need to measure at both levels so that decisions about control vs. flexibility are based on outcomes, not assumptions.
“The right balance looks different for every brand. Insight helps you find it.”
Nepa’s POV: how we help brands move forward
This panel made one thing clear: building a brand in 2025 takes more than creative ideas or the right media mix. It takes clarity. Direction. And the confidence to act on both. At Nepa, we help brands turn data into decisions with tools built to support marketers under pressure to deliver both short- and long-term results. Whether it’s finding the right balance between brand and performance, making sense of fragmented measurement, or building the business case for bolder choices, we’re here to help you move from complexity to clarity.
Curious about how Nepa can support your next phase of growth?
Explore our solutions for Brand Tracking, Marketing Mix Modelling, and Campaign Evaluation, or get in touch to speak with one of our experts.
Published on: 9TH SEP 2025