For years, marketers across Asia-Pacific have been told the same truth: the brands that win balance short-term sales activation with long-term brand building.
Yet a new report from WARC and LIONS suggests that while marketers understand this principle intellectually, most organisations still struggle to execute it in practice.
The study, titled “The Twin Pace Effectiveness Gap,” offers a sobering diagnosis of marketing effectiveness in APAC.
Based on a survey of 375 senior marketers and agency leaders across nine regional markets, the research reveals a widening gap between what marketers believe about effectiveness and how their organisations operate.
In short: the industry knows the rules of effective marketing — but organisational realities keep breaking them.
The “Say–Do” Gap in Marketing
One of the report’s most striking observations is what researchers describe as a “say-do gap.”
Across the region, marketers widely acknowledge the value of sustained brand investment.
In fact, nearly nine in ten respondents agree that consistent brand platforms drive sustainable growth.
Yet when it comes to day-to-day execution, the numbers tell a different story.
Only 47% of agencies say client briefs are grounded in those brand platforms.
Somewhere between the strategy deck and the campaign brief, brand thinking is getting lost.
Anyone working in Malaysia’s marketing ecosystem will recognise the pattern.
The boardroom conversation may celebrate brand building, but by the time the brief lands at the agency, the KPI has quietly become something else entirely: clicks, leads, conversions — and fast.
The result is a system optimised for immediacy rather than endurance.
The Legacy of Asia’s High-Growth Era
Part of the explanation lies in history.
For decades, Asia’s markets expanded so quickly that short-term tactics often delivered reliable results.
When economies were growing at breakneck speed, operational agility and rapid activation could drive sales almost immediately.
But the report argues that many organisations are still structured for that earlier era of easy growth, even as markets mature and competition intensifies.
Today, growth is harder to come by.
Yet the systems governing marketing decisions — budgets, reporting structures, and performance metrics — remain rooted in a high-growth mindset.
The mismatch is creating what WARC describes as a structural barrier to effectiveness.
The Measurement Problem Nobody Talks About
If there is one statistic in the report that should make every CMO pause, it is this:
Less than 10% of organisations measure campaign performance beyond six months.
Think about that for a moment.
Brand building is widely understood to deliver returns over years, yet most marketing measurement frameworks barely extend beyond a quarter.
The consequence is predictable.
When organisations are forced to justify spending using only short-term metrics, they naturally prioritise what is easiest to prove rather than what creates lasting growth.
Or as the report puts it, decision-making often defaults to what can be measured quickly instead of what matters most.
In boardrooms across APAC, this dynamic quietly tilts the balance toward performance marketing even when leaders intellectually believe in the value of brand.
Why Governance Matters More Than Creativity
Perhaps the most important takeaway from the research is that the effectiveness gap is not primarily a marketing problem.
It is an organisational one.
According to WARC, governance structures — how decisions are made, how results are evaluated, and who holds accountability — are the real forces shaping marketing behaviour.
Short-termism is reinforced by:
These forces push marketing teams toward defensible decisions rather than ambitious ones.
The irony is that many marketers already know what the right answer looks like.
They simply don’t operate in systems designed to support it.
The “Twin Pace” Model
The report’s proposed solution is deceptively simple: organisations must learn to operate at two speeds simultaneously.
WARC calls this the “twin pace” approach — balancing:
Short-term optimisation: Performance marketing, sales activation, and tactical campaigns.
Long-term brand investment: Consistent brand platforms that build mental availability and pricing power over time.
The key is not choosing one over the other.
It is building organisational systems that allow both to coexist.
This requires changes far beyond the marketing department:
In other words, effectiveness needs infrastructure.
What This Means for Malaysian Marketers
For marketers in Malaysia — where digital performance metrics dominate boardroom discussions — the report lands with relevance.
Many brands here are caught in the same cycle:
Campaigns designed for quarterly results.
Creative ideas built for immediate traction.
Budgets tied to short-term ROI.
Yet the brands that truly shape culture from global giants like Apple and Dove to regional success stories are almost always those that commit to long-running brand platforms.
The lesson is clear.
Marketing effectiveness is no longer just about better campaigns.
It is about better systems for making marketing decisions.
The Real Challenge Ahead
The WARC report ultimately raises a deeper question for the industry.
If marketers already know what works — balancing long-term brand investment with short-term performance — then the real challenge isn’t knowledge.
It is courage.
Courage to redesign internal metrics.
Courage to defend brand investment in a spreadsheet-driven boardroom.
And courage to operate at two speeds in a world that still rewards only one.
Because until organisations change how marketing decisions are made, the effectiveness gap will remain exactly that — a gap between what we know and what we do.
Share Post:
Haven’t subscribed to our Telegram channel yet? Don’t miss out on the hottest updates in marketing & advertising!
