How marketing excellence can drive shareholder value – research spotlight

Great marketing is the driving force behind outsized shareholder returns, this is the central finding from research conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (US) with PwC.

Brands with strong marketing capabilities delivered around 79% higher shareholder returns than their peers who mostly focused on making cost-efficiencies the end goal. In addition, high performing marketers achieved annualised returns of about 23%, nine percentage points higher than the market.

What sits behind the differences in stock market outcome?

The research analysed nearly 200 companies, cross checked against Cannes Lions awards to measure creative quality and effectiveness. Using this data, researchers found that value comes from creativity, brand strength and strategic impact, rather than basic cost cutting.

This is because effective marketing creates a financially compounding flywheel effect. Good marketing makes customers recognise and trust a brand, which helps keep them loyal. That loyalty supports higher margins, giving the company more room to invest in better campaigns and smarter use of data.

Good marketing pays for itself and then funds even better marketing, which lifts shareholder returns over time. The topic gains more relevance as AI and marketing begins to dominate boardroom discussions.

Companies that reinvest AI-driven efficiencies into AI-powered creative and activation achieve more than double the profitability of peers according to the research.

"Used narrowly, AI can make marketing less expensive: faster content, smaller budgets, leaner teams. Used strategically, it can make marketing indispensable: unlocking new growth, higher profitability, and greater enterprise value."

Showcase your National Association research

To build a complete global view of research on the shareholder return of marketing, national advertiser associations are invited to contribute their initiatives, resources and ongoing projects on the benefits of marketing excellence to the NAC repository.

Adding this material will strengthen collective learning and build an evidence base on the value of investing in marketing effectiveness.