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In this episode of the WARC Podcast, Americas editor Ann Marie Kerwin speaks with Michael Reh from BERA about WARC’s new Multiplier Playbook and how to measure the true impact of brand equity on growth.

FIFA, and sport generally, can learn from the luxury industry’s expertise in creating high-quality experiences, particularly for the premium audiences that drive a significant portion of revenue.  So says Nikolaus von Doetinchem, chief commercial officer at the newly launched Premier Jumping League, which he describes as “the Formula 1 of showjumping”.   Speaking at the recent FT Business of Luxury Summit, he said that luxury and sports share the same DNA, which is rooted in the “excellence of a craft” that provokes strong, positive emotional reactions.   Takeaways    Luxury brands should be very deliberate about which sport they choose to partner with.

When Starbucks Korea launched a merchandise campaign promoting its extra-large beverage tumblers under the name “Tank Day,” a backlash quickly ensued – this is what the controversy reveals about speed, symbolism and local context as emerging risks in marketing.

Brands should stop chasing the algorithm to be distinctive While marketers and agencies trip over themselves trying to figure out what makes a platform’s algorithm tick, one industry stalwart argues that we should be running in the opposite direction to make memorable, meaningful and distinctive content that will stand apart.  Marcus Foley, co-founder of creative agency Tommy, told the audience at Social Day in London that “if the system pulls you left, go right.” His pitch to creatives? Be anti-algorithm.

BERA's Michael Reh and WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin explore how to accurately track and quantify the Multiplier Effect – the compound growth achieved when brand and performance marketing work together. This is the first in a series of podcasts where we will be talking to WARC's partners on last year's report, The Multiplier Effect, and the just-published follow-up report, The Multiplier Playbook. Marketers have long struggled to prove the ROI of brand building, relying on flawed, short-term metrics that erode long-term value. Research reveals that an average of 15% of a company's total sales can be attributed to brand equity.

WARC's Alex Brownsell joins Anna Hamill to explore Meta’s hyper-efficient ad business, evaluate usage across its apps, and assess the performance of Meta campaigns. Meta's ad business funds an aggressive AI programme which, in turn, fuels the flywheel through further increases in ad revenue.  The company is on track to earn nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in ad revenue in 2026 and grow by more than 20% year-on-year. A new platform insight report from WARC Media explores the sustainability of Meta's model and highlights the impact of AI tools on Meta campaign performance.

WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin speaks to David Tiltman and the ANA's Stephanie Fierman about new survey data and what we've learned so far about The Multiplier Effect ahead of the next stage of the project. WARC's research, The Multiplier Effect, proved that stronger brand equity acts as a multiplier, driving greater impact and efficiency for performance advertising. Despite the importance of integrating brand and performance marketing, 62% of marketers reported flat or declining budgets, leading to a shift towards short-term performance metrics rather than long-term brand building. The survey revealed that while 67% of marketers believe the C-suite recognises the importance of brand, only 19% see brand equity as a driver of business outcomes, indicating a disconnect in understanding the value of brand investment.

WARC's Paul Stringer is joined by Recast's Michael Kaminsky to discuss trends in marketing measurement. WARC's new Future of Measurement report explores media's shift to outcomes measurement and how AI is reshaping this. AI is collapsing the distance between measurement and activation, while linking creative decisions with commercial performance is getting easier as methods become more sophisticated. Every marketing team should evaluate the effectiveness of their spending, linking trust and brand awareness to sales, and ensure that claims made by media vendors can be substantiated.