Problem

The Head of Global Branding at a leading U.S. bank — serving 200M+ customer accounts with a $100M+ annual media budget — couldn't quantify the impact of marketing on brand equity metrics like Reputation and Preference. The bank's exceptionally long purchase cycle made it nearly impossible to attribute top-funnel activity to downstream results, leaving budget allocation across products and channels largely guesswork.

Solution

The bank used Darwin to establish a baseline understanding of how marketing influenced brand affinity metrics, and to model how budget should be distributed across products (Card, Bank, Brand) and channels to drive sustainable portfolio-level growth. Analysis spanned the entire customer journey, assessing the impact and efficiency of every touchpoint from brand-level to product-specific campaigns.

Insight

• The halo effect is real and measurable — advertising for one product positively influenced customer perception and performance of other products within the same brand, amplifying overall brand value beyond what any single campaign could achieve alone

• Digital outperforms TV for brand equity — contrary to traditional assumptions, digital channels proved more effective than TV in driving brand affinity metrics like Reputation and Preference

• Portfolio thinking changes the allocation logic — once halo effects were quantified, the case for rebalancing spend across Card, Bank, and Brand initiatives became clear and defensible

Results

• +6 pts total uplift in brand equity over one year

• Reputation score lifted from the 60s

• Card and Bank Preference both lifted from the mid-30s

• Shifted from TV-first to digital video and CTV strategy across all divisions

• More nuanced budget distribution across Card, Bank, and Brand initiatives by funnel stage