D2C companies feel constant pressure to deliver sales this month while building a brand that lasts. Spend only on performance and growth gets expensive. Spend only on brand and results are hard to see. The answer is to treat the two as one system, sometimes called brandformance.
What the research says about the split
- Binet and Field's The Long and the Short of It (2013) analysed 996 campaigns from the IPA Effectiveness Awards, 1980 to 2010, and suggested about 60% on brand building and 40% on sales activation. Their 2018 follow-up put the optimum at 62:38.
- The authors say the ratio flexes by category, life-cycle, innovation and channels. Critics note the data is UK-heavy and comes from awards entries, and Byron Sharp has called it unsound. Treat 60/40 as a benchmark, not a law.
- Google's The Effectiveness Equation (2025), as reported by PPC Land, found e-commerce brands' effectiveness peaked at 40 to 60% brand investment. We could not see the underlying report, so this is a secondary account.
- Analytic Partners' ROI Genome (750+ brands, 45 countries) says brand marketing outperformed performance marketing 80% of the time. Analytic Partners sells measurement, so this is vendor research.
- James Hurman argued in June 2026 that 50/50 is the new 60/40. That is opinion citing other studies, not new evidence.
What this means for a D2C brand
Across these sources, the common thread is that neither extreme is best. Where the right point sits depends on your stage, category, margins and runway. A brand with limited cash may lean towards performance first. A brand with strong repeat purchase has more room to invest in brand.
An Indian example, kept in context
Honasa Consumer, the parent of Mamaearth, reported marketing spend of Rs 743.65 crore in FY25, about 36% of revenue, and aims for almost 60% of Mamaearth's contribution to come from offline channels. In Q3 FY26 its ad spend was 30.9% of revenue, down from 34.3%, alongside a higher EBITDA margin. A listed company's mix is not a template for a start-up, but it shows large brands pairing brand-building reach with efficiency.
Practical steps
- Align brand and performance teams on shared goals.
- Test creative systematically and feed learnings into brand work.
- Measure brand health and repeat rate, not just last-click sales. Analytic Partners says last-click can overstate clickable activity.
- Retain customers: repeat purchase is where brand and performance meet.
Final thoughts
Use published ratios as a starting hypothesis, then review the balance against your own results every quarter.
Sources
Alex Murrell, summary of The Long and the Short of It: alexmurrell.co.uk
IPA blog on the 60:40 and 62:38 ratios: ipa.co.uk
B&T, 5 September 2022: bandt.com.au
PPC Land on Google's Effectiveness Equation, 18 March 2025: ppc.land
Adweek on Analytic Partners, 25 October 2022: adweek.com
B&T, James Hurman on 50/50, 17 June 2026: bandt.com.au
Storyboard18 on Honasa FY25 marketing spend, 2 September 2025: storyboard18.com
Storyboard18 on Honasa Q3 FY26, 12 February 2026: storyboard18.com
Where to go next
See our Strategic Brand & Growth Consulting and Performance Marketing & Customer Acquisition services, or read why creative-led growth matters.
