Product or Brand: What Are CXOs Betting On to Drive Growth?

“Product of course!”

“Product equates scale!”

“Product all the way; the digital-first customer will let you have their time and trust only if your product delivers.”

Yes, all of these hold true. And yet, leaders focused on long-term metrics such as Customer Lifecycle Value (CLV) are reinvesting in the brand piece.

Take Nike, for instance. After two years of going full-throttle on a conversion-led approach with D2C, it is turning the faucet on for brand spends. Its leadership has confirmed investing in “bigger, bolder brand storytelling.” Native D2C businesses too, are seeing the value in establishing a ‘brand-led, beyond commerce’ relationship with customers. Mama Earth now has 100+ offline stores that allow for the exploratory experience. Despite becoming popular owing to ecommerce, boutique businesses such as Chumbak, and the Label Life too, have set up offline shops.

Seasoned leaders are fast realizing the need to balance product marketing with brand marketing.

Top 5 reasons why effective leaders are investing in the brand piece to unlock consistent growth:

• Gen Zs and millennials expect an alignment of values at every touchpoint in their journey.
• As conscious shoppers, be it retail or business purchase, digital-first customers are invested in your brand story.
• Advertising is dead. But authentic, content-led marketing works best when you aren’t hard selling a product.
• A great product gets you repeat customers. A great brand wins you communities.
• Products deliver utility. Brands deliver experiences.

How are they striking this balance? By acknowledging the emergence of Brand Experience (BX).

What is Brand Experience (BX)?

Simply put, BX allows you to design and manage every interaction to reiterate your brand’s unified truth. It includes, but isn’t limited to:

• Touchpoint design
• Performance campaigns
• Reputation management

It aligns all your D2C commerce and marketing tools to define and amplify your unique purpose. But unlike with traditional advertising, branding in a digital-first, commerce environment lets you unlock tangible business benefits. For instance, we were able to unlock 6.5X revenue for a client by building an exceptional BX for its products’ ecommerce launch.

Is BX relevant for my marketing goals?

If you are a growth-focused marketer, 2025 is the year to look beyond product marketing. As buyer fatigue kicks-in and customers look to strike more meaningful connections with businesses, including D2C and digitally-enabled B2B brands, you need BX to foster connections and communities that last.

Explore our case studies or get in touch with us to learn how you can conquer the BX frontier to drive growth.