New global study, The Brand Reset expands dentsu’s Attention Economy expertise, linking attention, brand equity and sales for the first time, challenging the industry’s fixation on short-term performance

Dentsu today launches The Brand Reset, a major new study challenging how the industry currently values video. At a time when marketing has been challenged to increasingly shift investments towards performance metrics such as clicks, conversions and impressions, The Brand Reset argues that brand building has been neglected.

Developed in partnership with Kantar and Lumen Research, the study is the industry’s largest dataset of its kind and the first to establish a quantified link between attention, brand equity and both short- and long-term sales outcomes. Drawing on analysis across ten next-generation video platforms alongside Linear TV in the US and UK, the research provides new evidence for how modern video environments contribute to sustained brand growth.

The study builds on dentsu’s earlier Attention Economy research, extending its focus beyond short-term outcomes to demonstrate how attention translates into lasting commercial impact. In doing so, it provides marketers with the quantitative proof points that have often been missing in conversations with CFOs and boards, where long-term brand investment has struggled to compete with more immediately measurable performance channels.

Headline reveals from The Brand Reset include: 

1. Digital video (including short-form formats) delivers multi-year brand building effects. Directly challenging the widely held assumption that Linear TV is the only channel capable of driving long-term growth.
2. A single exposure has the potential to result in long-term brand building. It’s estimated that a single exposure to a brand’s ad could result in, on average, a 1%-5% increase in sales with the brand over the following three years.
3. Connected TV has the power to build brands on par with Linear TV. This marks an important structural change in the media landscape that reflects how audience behavior has evolved and upends the perceived superiority of Linear TV.
4. Second for second - voluntary attention works harder than forced attention.  While skippable formats have lower impact when viewed for 1-2 seconds, their impact surpasses non-skippables if attention is sustained, i.e., people choose to watch the ad instead of moving on, or away, from it.
5. Attention matters but doesn’t have to be continuous. Moore attention reaps greater brand-building effects. However, after 20 seconds, attention delivers little additional impact, which calls into question the assumption that more attention is always better.

“While marketers intuitively recognize that brand building captures attention and is critical in creating long-term demand, achieving stakeholder buy-in for it has often fallen short and performance-driven investments have felt like a safer bet, too often taking precedence,” said Will Swayne, Global President, Media, dentsu. “The Brand Reset finally offers marketing leaders a framework to make a quantifiable and tangible case for why and how to invest in building their brand through video in a world where planning for attention is paramount.”

Beyond the findings themselves, dentsu has integrated the dataset underpinning the study into its Global Planner tool, enabling teams to apply attention-based insights directly to channel and format-level decision making. This allows planners to move beyond traditional distinctions such as linear versus digital or short-form versus long-form and instead design media strategies based on how different environments contribute to brand growth over time.

Marketing effectiveness expert Les Binet, who advised on the research, said, “The Brand Reset has re-legitimized long-term brand building in digital video. It gives planners a coherent way to think about modern video effects and reopens an important industry conversation about long-term value.”

The findings challenge several long-standing assumptions about how video advertising works in the modern media landscape. While television continues to deliver strong brand-building effects, digital video, including short-form formats, is shown to generate multi-year brand impact, directly countering the idea that its role is limited to driving clicks. Crucially, the research demonstrates that a single exposure to video advertising can contribute to long-term sales uplift, with modelling suggesting an estimated 1%–5% increase in brand spend over a three-year period compared to no exposure. The study also highlights a structural shift in viewing behavior. Connected TV environments are now capable of delivering long-term brand effects close to those of Linear TV, reflecting the migration of audiences towards streaming platforms and the growing maturity of their advertising ecosystems.

This comes at a time when CMOs are navigating a growing set of tensions. According to dentsu’s 2025 CMO Report, marketers are under increasing pressure to deliver short-term results while proving long-term growth, balancing the need to win the algorithm with the risk of losing brand distinctiveness, and being asked to predict future performance with data that often lacks clarity. The Brand Reset reframes how the industry should think about attention itself. While higher levels of attention are associated with stronger brand outcomes, the research finds that returns begin to diminish beyond approximately 20 seconds of active viewing. This challenges the premium often placed on longer formats and suggests that the quality of attention, rather than its duration alone, is what drives effectiveness: The findings also point to a more nuanced understanding of skippable formats. While these formats can deliver lower impact at very short viewing times, they can outperform non-skippable formats when viewers choose to continue watching, highlighting the growing importance of voluntary attention as a driver of brand equity; attention matters but doesn’t have to be continuous.

“Ultimately, The Brand Reset, amplifies dentsu’s depth of knowledge in attention and enables our media experts to evaluate their planning choices holistically. It breaks down barriers in historically disjointed planning approaches,” concluded Will Swayne. “Our dataset enables advanced planning on a level playing field with teams able to deploy a common planning currency and a consistent set of business metrics represented by Kantar Brand Power.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Antonia Colins, Global Head of PR & Communications, Practices
+447711375405
antonia.collins@dentsu.com

THE BRAND RESET REPORT IS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD HERE

ABOUT THE REPORT

This study combines Lumen's definitive attention data, Kantar's decades of expertise in pre-testing, brand tracking and financial performance and expert commentary from industry pioneer, Les Binet who wrote the rule book on attention and the bottom line. Our analysis is underpinned by a dataset broken down into second-by-second effectiveness, allowing us to understand precisely when and where impact is generated. This level of granularity enables more informed planning decisions, placing the power of attention at the center.

Mike Follett, CEO at Lumen remarked 'dentsu transformed the world of advertising with their Attention Economy project, leading where the rest of the industry has now followed. With the Brand Reset project, they have ushered in a new revolution in our understanding of how attention drives results - adding long term results to short term performance - further cementing their position as the world's leading media giant and experts in attention.’

ABOUT LUMEN RESEARCH
Founded in 2013, Lumen Research helps media buyers minimise ad waste and maximise return. Lumen’s attention technology is powered by proprietary eye-tracking data from 50+ countries, delivering actionable attention predictions and custom attention models that help advertisers invest in working media and drive real outcomes.

For more information, visit www.lumen-research.com

ABOUT KANTAR
Intelligence for Brand Growth

Kantar is the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business. We deliver the intelligence needed to power brand growth.

We provide the signals that help organisations act quickly and confidently. We empower brands to make effective marketing decisions based on predictive evidence. And we help them craft powerful growth strategies rooted in the connection between consumers, brands and enterprise value.

All this is powered by our uniquely robust human and synthetic data, our unrivalled IP, our AI-native platform and the team of global brand experts that bring this all together.

ABOUT DENTSU INTERNATIONAL

Part of Dentsu Group, Dentsu International is a network designed for what’s next, helping clients predict and plan for disruptive future opportunities and create new paths to growth in the sustainable economy. Dentsu delivers people-focused solutions and services to drive better business and societal outcomes. This is delivered through six global leadership brands - Carat, Dentsu Creative, Tag, dentsu X, iProspect and Merkle, each with deep specialisms.

Dentsu International’s radically collaborative team of diverse creators unifies people, clients and capabilities through horizontal creativity to help clients create culture, change society, and invent the future.

Powered by 100% renewable energy, Dentsu International operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 46,000 dedicated specialists, and partners with 95 of the top 100 global advertisers.

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