Moving Beyond Vanity Metrics: Proving Brand Awareness Actually Works

Top-of-funnel spend is hard to defend without the right measurement framework. I built one — and the data showed our campaigns were driving brand recognition at more than 3x the industry benchmark.

Brand measurement · Programmatic · StackAdapt · B2B awareness · Niche audience targeting · Demand generation

KEY METRICS

–       +25pts absolute brand lift

–       152% relative lift vs. control

–       14,199 survey respondents

THE SITUATION

The client was an automotive repair software company targeting a highly specific audience: independent shop owners and professional repair technicians. We were running top-of-funnel programmatic campaigns, but like most B2B awareness programs, the results were reported in impressions, CPMs, and video completions — metrics that are easy to dismiss in budget conversations. I needed a way to prove the spend was actually moving the needle on brand recognition, not just generating noise.

WHAT I BUILT

I partnered with StackAdapt to run an in-platform Brand Lift Study over a 30-day window. Rather than relying on expensive third-party measurement tools with long lag times, this approach embedded a single-question survey directly into the programmatic ecosystem where our ads were already running. The methodology was rigorous: a control group was measured against an exposed group who had seen our ads at least twice in a three-day window. The question was simple — 'Have you heard of [brand]?' — designed to isolate awareness lift attributable specifically to the campaign. Before exposure, roughly 1.5 in 10 people recognized the brand. After seeing the ads, that jumped to 4 in 10 — users were more than twice as likely to recall the brand after being served our creative.

WHAT THE DATA UNLOCKED

The positive response rate of 19% — just below the 20-30% benchmark — pointed to meaningful white space still available in the market. I framed it as the clearest possible case for continued investment: the campaigns were working, and the ceiling was higher than where we stood. That argument, backed by real data, shifted the internal conversation from 'is brand awareness worth it?' to 'how do we scale it?'

RESULTS

–       +25.15% absolute brand lift (benchmark: 2-8%)

–       152.51% relative lift vs. control (benchmark: 10-40%)

–       19.10% positive response rate

–       Brand recognition rose from 1.5 to 4 in 10 people after exposure