Not long ago, I found myself across the table from a very enthusiastic marketing director. She’d finally convinced her executive team to greenlight a bold, first-ever TV commercial for their brand, complete with prime-time spots on a major network. The creative was edgy, the budget was hefty, and the hype in the office was palpable. But amid all the excitement, a key question emerged: “How do we know if this is actually going to move the needle?”
She wanted data, hard evidence to prove that her big campaign would justify the spend. But here’s the thing: she’d never run a brand study before. In her words, “We usually launch and hope for the best.” Now, with so much riding on this campaign’s success, hope alone just didn’t cut it. In that moment, she realised it was time to ditch the guesswork and get real answers.
Yet as we talked further, she admitted she wasn’t sure where to begin. “Do we measure before the ads go live? Should we wait until the campaign ends? Is there such a thing as tracking mid-campaign?” These questions weren’t just about data, they were about peace of mind. A multi-million-dollar budget was at stake, and blind spots in brand perception could derail months of creative work if we didn’t act fast.
This sparked a deeper conversation about the power of iterative brand research, pre, mid, and post-campaign. And just like that, the stage was set for a new era of marketing at her company, where strategic insights would guide decisions at every turn. In the sections that follow, I’ll break down exactly why this approach matters, how to implement it, and the small budget shift that can make a massive difference in your next big launch.
As we dove deeper into planning, the marketing director’s anxiety became palpable. She’d been through a smaller campaign a year earlier, a social media push that promised big engagement and brand recognition. Yet, when sales barely budged, the team was left scratching their heads. They had no insight into why the campaign flopped; was it poor targeting, weak messaging, or simply the wrong platform? Without pre or post-campaign benchmarks, it was anyone’s guess.
“That was a smaller budget,” she admitted. “But this time it’s prime-time TV, if we get it wrong, the consequences are huge.” I could see the weight of that responsibility on her shoulders. One miscalculation could mean wasted dollars, confused consumers, and a hard time justifying future marketing spend to the executive team. The stakes were higher than ever.
In the past, many brands simply launched an ad, crossed their fingers, and waited for sales figures to roll in. But in today’s fast-paced market, that’s like flying a plane with no instruments. Sure, you might land safely, but you’re just as likely to crash. By measuring brand health at key intervals, you gain the visibility to correct your course mid-flight, rather than discovering too late that you veered off track. It’s a lesson the marketing director was learning the hard way, and one that would ultimately transform how her organisation approached brand-building campaigns from that day forward.
With the decision made to pursue research, our next task was clear: figure out exactly where the brand stood before prime time. Without that baseline, any post-launch improvements or shortcomings would be mere speculation. The marketing director recalled how, during their last campaign, the team had debated whether brand awareness was already high or if consumers were just indifferent. “We had no idea which it was,” she confessed. “We simply assumed.”
So we rolled up our sleeves and designed a set of baseline measures, focusing on brand awareness, customer sentiment, and even a short pulse on future purchase intent. This meant speaking directly to people who were either current or potential consumers, rather than relying on vague assumptions.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Some stakeholders worried that pausing to do research might slow down the campaign’s rollout. Others balked at the notion of spending a slice of the TV budget on something intangible like brand tracking. But the marketing director stood firm. “If we don’t know where we are, how can we possibly know if we’ve moved forward?” she argued.
Over a few short weeks, we gathered the intel we needed. Initial findings surprised everyone, in some demographic segments, awareness was decent, but brand sentiment lagged behind. In others, people vaguely recognised the name but couldn’t recall a single product. These insights became the campaign’s guiding north star, revealing exactly where the brand needed to connect more deeply. And with those learnings, the marketing director finally felt confident about where they were starting, and where they wanted to go.
As the long-awaited TV spot finally aired, excitement buzzed around the office. The brand message was clever, the visuals were polished, and social chatter lit up. But here’s where many campaigns stall: they ride the initial wave of hype without stopping to see if the message is truly clicking. This time, however, the marketing director refused to fly blind.
Rather than wait until the end of the campaign, we introduced mid-campaign checkpoints, brief surveys and brand sentiment checks that captured how audiences were reacting in real time. Early on, the data suggested that viewers found the TV ad engaging, but they weren’t quite connecting it to the brand’s broader product range. “They love the story,” one report noted, “but they’re unsure what’s being sold or why it’s different.”
Such insights proved invaluable. Armed with this feedback, the creative and media teams made small, quick adjustments on the fly. They added clearer product highlights in new cut-down versions of the ad, emphasising specific benefits that set the brand apart. Digital retargeting ads started pointing viewers to a concise landing page that answered the question, “What does this brand really do?” Almost immediately, brand recall scores in our next pulse check nudged upward, validating the tweaks.
For the marketing director, the most liberating part was the sense of control. Instead of crossing her fingers and hoping the campaign would resonate, she had a feedback loop that kept her finger on the audience’s pulse. This iterative approach didn’t require a massive new budget allocation, just a sliver of the overall spend. Yet the payoff was huge: every real-time insight helped fine-tune the campaign so it could perform at its peak, long before the final credits rolled.
Once the final spot wrapped and the prime-time schedule ended, the real suspense began. Sales numbers trickled in, and the marketing director was eager to see how months of planning, and all those mid-campaign tweaks, had shaped brand perception. Unlike previous efforts, she wouldn’t have to guess. This time, a well-defined post-campaign study was ready to roll.
Within a week, the first wave of results painted a revealing picture. Overall brand awareness had climbed notably among key demographics; many viewers recognised the TV ad and could recall its primary message. But what truly caught everyone’s attention was a noticeable jump in positive sentiment. Customers described the brand as “modern,” “relatable,” and “top of mind”, words that rarely appeared in past feedback. While some pockets of the audience still felt uncertain about the product range, the campaign had undeniably moved the needle.
In the following leadership meeting, the marketing director presented the findings with confidence. She didn’t just have sales figures; she had proof of a stronger emotional connection, better recall, and clear direction for future refinement. Even the finance team, initially sceptical about allocating research dollars, saw how valuable those insights were in quantifying the return on such a major spend. “Now we know exactly what worked,” she told them, “and where we can go further next time.” It was a rare moment of alignment, creative, analytics, and budget holders all shared a sense of accomplishment. And for the marketing director, it was a defining milestone: measuring the true uplift meant she had not only delivered a high-profile campaign but also laid the groundwork for continued growth and innovation.
After seeing how each stage of measurement shaped the campaign’s success, the final question became: “Is research really worth the investment?” For many organisations, research has historically been an afterthought, something they might do if there’s leftover budget. But as the marketing director discovered, setting aside even a modest percentage of the campaign budget could save countless dollars in wasted media spend and missed opportunities.
She broke it down for her team like this: “If we’re putting a million dollars into a TV blitz, isn’t it logical to spend five or ten percent of that to make sure we’re on the right track?” The insight from each baseline, mid-campaign check, and post-campaign review gave her the ammunition to justify every subsequent decision, whether that was doubling down on what worked or quickly pivoting away from what didn’t.
Beyond the immediate dollars-and-cents return, research also paid dividends in stakeholder trust. By demonstrating a methodical approach, collecting clear data, acting on it promptly, and then re-measuring, she won buy-in from other departments who once viewed marketing as purely creative guesswork. In essence, that small slice of the budget didn’t just optimise one campaign; it set a precedent for data-driven decisions across the entire organisation.
Now, her executives no longer question the ROI of market research, they question how they operated without it for so long. And that shift in mindset is where the true value lies: once a company commits to grounding its brand efforts in evidence rather than assumptions, continuous growth and innovation become a matter of course, not mere chance.
When the final campaign results were in and the data had been fully digested, the marketing director stood before her team to recap the journey. The room felt different, more confident, more informed, than it had at the outset. There was no second-guessing or “could have, should have” chatter; there were facts, figures, and new insights that clarified both the campaign’s achievements and its areas for further improvement.
She walked them through each step:
Pre-Campaign Baseline – How setting a clear starting point gave everyone a solid frame of reference.
In-Campaign Checkpoints – Those mid-flight adjustments that turned a good ad into a truly memorable one.
Post-Campaign Analysis – The moment of truth, where uplift was measured and validated.
Ongoing Budget for Research – A small slice of the overall spend that not only protected their investment but actually multiplied its returns.
That’s the roadmap, straightforward yet powerful. Whether your brand is preparing a multi-million-dollar TV blitz or a lean digital push, the principle holds: never be afraid to look under the hood. By checking where you stand before you rev the engine, adjusting course mid-journey, and taking stock afterwards, you ensure your biggest campaigns don’t just make noise, but drive real, measurable results.
For any brand about to embark on a similar journey, whether you’re rolling out a TV spot, launching digital ads, or testing new channels, the lesson is clear: don’t fly blind. A well-planned research strategy can reveal what your audience really thinks, how they’re responding in the moment, and where you can fine-tune your message to drive lasting impact.
If you’re curious about implementing a pre, mid, and post-campaign approach, let’s chat about how Brand Health can customise a plan to suit your unique goals.
Already mid-launch? We can still help you gather real-time insights so you can pivot effectively.
And if you’ve just wrapped up a big campaign but never measured its impact, it’s never too late to start building a data-driven culture.
After all, the only thing more expensive than investing in good research is wasting your marketing dollars on a campaign you can’t measure or optimise. When you let insight guide your creative genius, you transform uncertainty into results, and that’s what real brand growth is all about.
Send us a message to learn how we can tailor a research roadmap for your next big campaign. Let’s work together to ensure you’re never in the dark when it comes to your brand’s performance.