Brand media delivers an additional 201 per cent return on investment over the long term, a report has found. 

The Integration Effect report, published by the agencies the Good Agency and JAA, and the econometrics company MetaMetrics, examines how brand and response communications can work together to achieve optimal income growth for charities.

The report features analysis of a panel of 58 charities and their tracked income data over a five-year period, as well as a survey of 76 charity marketers between October and November.

The panel study found that the charities involved spent about six times more on traditional direct response media, which aims for immediate and measurable results, than on brand media, which aims to build long-term brand awareness.

But it found that charities saw an additional 201 per cent return on investment in the long term from brand media, on top of a 206 per cent short-term ROI.

This was compared with direct response media, which saw just a 220 per cent short-term ROI, the report says.

“This suggests that brand media has a long-term multiplier effect – roughly two times the ROI measured in traditional econometric studies,” the report says.

The report also found that by combining direct response and brand media, charities could benefit from an additional 0.4 per cent of income – amounting to an additional £32m for the charities sampled in the study.

But the report’s survey of charity marketers found that nearly half of the 76 respondents reported having sufficient or low understanding of how advertising works.

Just 46 per cent of respondents said they had a confident understanding, while only 8 per cent said they had an expert understanding.

The report argues that this shows that nearly half of the sector lacks confidence in how to make integration of brand and response communications work in practice.

The survey found that 97 per cent of respondents believed the best results are achieved when brand and fundraising communications are planned to work together, with 63 per cent saying they had seen proven effects of this.

But just 18 per cent of respondents found integration easy, with 60 per cent saying they had struggled with it.

The report urges marketers to opt for a consideration advertising model, which focuses on aligning brand and response strategies to complement each other.

It says this model will ensure that brand messaging “isn’t just an afterthought, but an integral part of the fundraising process”.

Under this model, marketers and fundraising teams must work together to include a ‘consideration stage’ in the middle of the marketing funnel. 

“By working together to keep your charity top of mind, both brand and fundraising teams can maximise consideration and drive more effective, sustained engagement from supporters,” the report says.

Nilesha Chauvet, managing director at the Good Agency added: “The findings of the report are hugely exciting for the sector. They show that integration must become a strategic priority and give organisations the evidence needed to blend brand and fundraising efforts to unlock greater ROI.”