Business Growth Strategies For CEOs: Top CMOs On Marketing Strategy Implementations

The Contrarian Brand Play: Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Invest in Brand

Fri, Sep 18, 2026 | Posted by Doug Bell

Executive Takeaways

Most companies are cutting brand spend to fund rising paid acquisition costs. That is the wrong response.
Brand awareness now drives AI citations, and AI citations drive Day One shortlist inclusion.
Google's redesign of Search makes brand recognition more important; AI systems favor brands users already know.
The companies investing in brand while competitors pull back are building advantages at lower cost.

Part 4 of our four-part series on the evolving AI search landscape and what B2B leaders need to know to stay competitive.

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The Solution to Mediocre Marketing? A CMO Leading Multiple Niche Agencies

Thu, Apr 26, 2012 — It sounds like a great idea to turn your business's entire multichannel marketing campaign over to a single large marketing agency, doesn't it? You simply tell the agency, "Here's our target market, this is our brand, here's how we would like to position ourselves. Now go create the content, buy the media and help us grow." And the agency promotes itself as a "full-service" provider capable of handling every detail of your marketing from soup to nuts. So why are the results so frequently lackluster?

Growth Insights for CEOs

The Contrarian Brand Play: Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Invest in Brand

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The Solution to Mediocre Marketing? A CMO Leading Multiple Niche Agencies

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