Proof Brand + Performance Drives More Profit Than “Performance” Alone
These case studies show the full system in practice: brand media, paid media, creative, CRO/web merchandising, planning, and Marathon Data measurement. The proof is contribution dollars, scalable demand, and operator-led growth from the Chubbies founders and operators who built the brand past $100M/year and through a nine-figure exit.
Brand + Performance Drives More Profit in the Long Term AND the Short Term
Contribution margin (total revenue − product costs − ad spend) measures the dollars your business actually keeps. It’s the clearest measure of whether growth is profitable — and it’s how we hold ourselves accountable. A media mix can look worse in platform ROAS and still be better for the business if it creates more incremental contribution dollars.
We're Operators, Not Theorists
- We built Chubbies past $100M/year and through a nine-figure exit, so the work is grounded in founder/operator reality
- Losing money for six months while waiting for brand to “kick in” is not a luxury any business owner has
- In every case where we’ve taken over, we’ve seen immediate improvement — not loss
- We start conservatively and expand as results confirm
Better Allocation, Not Added Budget
- Reallocate the least efficient dollars first — no additional budget required
- Orient spend toward incremental new customer growth
- Contribution dollars and margin growth have improved within the first month across our clients
Brand IS Better Performance
- These results come from a proprietary brand-building playbook — not traditional direct response
- Brand campaigns drive stronger incremental ROAS than anything on the DR side
- Brand + performance can create more profit even when the platform dashboard reports lower ROAS
- Marathon’s measurement infrastructure captures brand impact in real time — not quarterly. Every campaign is optimized continuously, which is why the results are both large and repeatable
- The data below proves it across media, merchandising, CRO, retail, and wholesale outcomes
Are these numbers good?
Brand advertising drives more growth than direct response — and you see it right away. Not just in revenue, but in the signals that are hardest to move.
1.93x – 2.39x iROAS on Brand Campaigns
Brand outperformed every direct-response tactic tested in the same accounts, in the same windows. Measured by rigorous causal geo-holdouts — 90% confidence interval lower bound above 1.0x on one test; 97% probability of positive return on the other. The platform dashboard made the brand mix look less efficient. The actual business result was more incremental profit.
+78% to +129% — in Weeks, Not Quarters
Organic branded search is the leading indicator of compounding demand — and it almost never moves meaningfully on short timeframes. On Marathon customers one brand went from 497 to 883 daily organic searches in weeks, reversed a −50% YoY decline into +70%, and another grew 129% YoY. Every search is a future customer the business won't have to pay to reach.
Why these results are so important: Brand advertising drives more growth than direct response — and it happens fast, across multiple dimensions at once. Same accounts, same windows, brand outperformed every DR tactic tested. At the same time, it moved the signal DR can't touch — people searching for the brand by name — on timeframes branded search almost never moves on. Direct response stops when the ads stop. Brand compounds. The hard part is proving when a lower platform ROAS is actually the more profitable choice. That is the playbook Marathon Engine was built to run.
Results at a Glance — by Brand
Every result below comes from work Marathon Engine actually runs: paid media, brand campaigns, CRO/web merchandising, and growth planning. Marathon Data gives the team the measurement layer to see what is working and where to push next.
Incrementality Test Results
Beauty & Skincare (~$100M)
2.39x
97% confidence across Shopify, Amazon, and TikTok Shop. Brand beat every DR tactic tested in the same account, in the same window.
Outdoor Gear (Wholesale)
2.5x
Causal holdout at a major retailer proves brand building materially drives wholesale. 2.5x incremental retail partner revenue lift on brand media alone.
~$40M Food & Bev
1.93x
6-month causal geo-holdout. 90% CI: 1.45x–2.41x, 2.1x higher than blended DR ROAS, with brick-and-mortar lift 2x larger than e-commerce.
Web Merchandising, CRO & Brand Demand
Modern Consumer Brand
~$2M Annualized
Nearly $2M in annualized incremental revenue in the first four months from web merchandising and CRO work powered by Marathon Data.
Heritage Footwear (~$50M)
Brand Search 2.25x
~6K → ~14K organic branded search impressions per day in under two months. CM +37% YoY. Revenue +20% YoY.
Better-for-You Wellness CPG
Brand Search +78%
Pre-campaign avg 497/day → week of Mar 9 avg 883/day. YoY reversed from -50% to +70%. Follower growth 341x.
Operating Leverage
Core Lever
Revenue Per Session
A 10% lift in revenue per session improves revenue and direct response economics without changing the media tactics.
Team Model
Senior Operators
Founder-level strategy and seasoned brand operators stay close to the work: creative, media, CRO, measurement, and business decisions.
Operating System
Marathon Data
GA4, Northbeam, Shopify product economics, COGS, and LTV data inform which tests matter, how to prioritize them, and when to scale.
What We Heard From the Industry — and What the Data Actually Shows
What the Industry Says
- Brand investment means adding budget on top of what you’re already spending
- There will be months of losses before any payoff materializes — it’s a long-term play
- Performance media means direct response — top-of-funnel doesn’t drive measurable returns
- No one has proven this works at scale — results like these are a one-off that cannot be replicated
What the Data Actually Shows
- Top-of-funnel brand campaigns drive stronger incremental ROAS than direct response — proven across multiple brands by rigorous causal holdout tests
- Reported platform ROAS can fall while contribution margin, new customer demand, and total profit rise
- Contribution margin improves in weeks because the least efficient DR dollars are reallocated first — no budget added
- Brand searches, new customer acquisition, and community growth respond in days and weeks, not months
- The results have been replicated across multiple brands, categories, and channels — it is not a one-off
Every incrementality result below was measured by direct response standards — the hardest standard there is. The brand perspective upside is additive: while driving incremental revenue, these campaigns simultaneously build audience, brand searches, and baseline. A 2x return on brand spend is fundamentally more valuable than a 2x return on DR spend — the brand version compounds. That is why Marathon Engine is brand-building first, not ROAS-first.
Modern Consumer Brand · Web Merchandising + CRO · First Four Months
Nearly $2M in Annualized Incremental Revenue from Web Merch & CRO
Marathon Engine treated web merchandising and CRO like a growth function, not an e-commerce backlog. The work was powered by Marathon Data web merchandising analysis and a decade-and-a-half of operator experience knowing which tests are most likely to move revenue.
Annualized Lift
~$2M
Nearly $2M in annualized incremental revenue from the first four months of the engagement.
Timeline
4 Months
Structured test selection, implementation, and monitoring produced early measurable lift.
Core Metric
RPS
Revenue per session became the operating lever, not a buried e-commerce metric.
Data Layer
Marathon Data
GA4, Northbeam, Shopify COGS, product-level economics, and LTV data informed priorities.
Why It Worked
- Marathon Data exposed where site behavior, product economics, and traffic quality were misaligned
- The team prioritized the tests most likely to lift revenue per session, not the easiest tickets to ship
- Senior operators monitored the work closely enough to keep momentum through implementation
- Learnings fed back into media, creative, and growth planning decisions
Why It Matters for Paid Media
A 10% increase in revenue per session is directly related to a 10% increase in revenue and a 10% improvement in every direct response metric that depends on revenue output. That is one of the few levers that can counter rising ad costs without asking the media team to find a new hack.
The takeaway: web merchandising and CRO should sit inside the growth system. When it is left to junior operators or buried behind product launches, brands miss one of the highest-leverage ways to make paid media scale faster and more profitably.
Premium Performance Denim Brand · ~$75M Revenue · DTC + Retail + Wholesale
Where They Started
Total Revenue
Volatile
Up and down week to week — inconsistent YoY comps with no clear growth trajectory
New Customer Revenue
Down YoY
Significant negative comps on new customer acquisition — the engine of future growth was stalled
Contribution Margin %
~18%
A lot of wasted ad spend — heavy investment across Google brand keywords, CTV, podcast, and Reddit with diminishing returns
Decision Framework
Gut Feel
No contribution margin visibility, no incrementality measurement, budget decisions made on platform ROAS
“It’s not formulaic. It’s a gut decision.” — VP Marketing, December 2025
Same Budget. Better Allocation. Better Results.
Smarter Spend Allocation
Reallocated the least efficient dollars into higher-impact campaigns — no additional budget required. Same total spend, fundamentally different outcomes.
Creative That Builds the Brand
Creative that reinforces who the brand is — not generic direct response ads that could have come from any brand.
Measured by Business Results, Not Platform Metrics
Every campaign held accountable by contribution margin, brand searches, and new customer revenue — not in-platform ROAS.
Same budget, better allocation. The returns don’t stop when the ad does. They compound through brand searches and baseline revenue that no direct response campaign can build.
New Customer Revenue Flipped Positive in Four Weeks
Brand Campaigns, Not More DR
Negative → Positive
New customer revenue moved from six consecutive negative YoY weeks to positive by week four after the brand-building campaign work started.
Contribution Margin %
18% → 25.9%
From 18% (prior year) to 25.92% — the highest CM% for any week on record. CM% YoY growth went from roughly flat in January to +44% in March.
New Customer Revenue
Negative → Positive
6 straight weeks negative YoY (Jan 19 – Feb 23). Flipped positive Mar 02 (+11% YoY, $226.53K) and Mar 09 (+4.7%, $220.34K) — both above $220K for the first time since December.
DTC Revenue
Up Every Week
Every single week of DTC e-commerce revenue has been up YoY since Marathon took over, giving the brand-campaign work room to compound beyond one-week paid-click performance.
CM $ Trend (Weekly)
No WoW Decline
Seven consecutive weeks of CM$ growth with no meaningful week-over-week decline across the entire engagement period.
CM $ YoY Growth
~15% → ~65%
Monthly average CM$ YoY growth accelerated from ~15% in January to ~65% in March — a 4x acceleration in growth rate.
No trough. No revenue drop. These results came from brand-building campaigns — not more direct response spend. From the first week, the negative new customer revenue comp started closing. By week four it was positive. Contribution margin has grown every single week. Every other agency said this doesn’t work. This is what actually happened.
Better-for-You Wellness CPG Brand · DTC + Retail
Brand Search Up 78% Since January
Daily Branded Searches
497 → 883/day
Pre-campaign baseline (Jan 1–21): 497/day. Week of Mar 9: 883/day (+78%). Steady upward trend every week since campaign start. YoY reversed from -50% to +70%.
Social Following
341x Growth
From ~2 new followers/day in January to 683/day by March.
Daily Social Shares
+629%
22 shares/day → 161 shares/day in two months.
New Customer Acquisition
Growing
For the first time this year, new customer acquisition revenue is trending up — driven by brand search and direct traffic, not paid click attribution.
Brand search is the leading indicator of a sustainable growth engine. The brand was trending -50% YoY on branded search when we started. Ten weeks later: +70%. This is why Marathon Engine is built around senior operators, creative judgment, and measurement instead of a junior account team. DR spend buys a click that disappears tomorrow. Brand-building creates compounding search volume that keeps lowering acquisition cost long after the campaign ends.
Heritage Footwear Brand · ~$50M Revenue · DTC
Brand Search More Than Doubled Since Mid-January
Brand Search Volume
2.25x
Organic branded search impressions grew from ~6K/day (mid-January) to ~14K/day (mid-March) — a 125% increase in under two months.
Contribution Margin YoY
+37%
Contribution margin dollars growing at +37% year-over-year while brand campaigns scale.
Weekly Revenue
+20% YoY
$1.49M weekly revenue, trending up every week since engagement start.
This engagement started in mid-January 2026 — less than two months ago. Every other agency said this takes months to show up. Organic branded search has more than doubled in under two months. Contribution margin is up 37% YoY. These are current results — not projections. Unlike direct response, these brand search gains persist and compound. Every search is a customer who finds you without being targeted. These numbers are why no one else is getting results like this.
~$40M Multichannel Lifestyle Food & Beverage Brand · DTC + Major Retailer
1.93x Incremental ROAS — Proven by Six-Month Causal Holdout
Adjusted Incremental ROAS
1.93x
Every $1 of brand spend returned $1.93 in proven incremental revenue. 90% CI: 1.45x – 2.41x — entire range above breakeven.
vs. Direct Response
2.1x Higher
Brand incremental ROAS was 2.1x higher than the blended in-platform DR ROAS (0.91x) during the same period. Brand outperformed DR by every measure.
Retail vs. E-Commerce
2x Larger in Retail
Brand is profitable in e-commerce, but twice as profitable in building wholesale. Incremental retail lift was 2x larger than DTC — revenue you cannot reach with direct response ads.
Total Business Revenue
+29% YoY
January 2026 — the full business grew nearly 30% year-over-year while brand campaigns scaled.
This is a 6-month causal geo-holdout — the most rigorous test available. The platforms said 0.91x. The real return was 1.93x. And here’s what makes this fundamentally different from DR: while generating that 1.93x incremental return, these campaigns were also building brand searches, growing the audience, and lifting retail sales in channels with zero ad targeting. No direct response campaign does that. This is the proprietary brand-building playbook — and it outperformed everything on the DR side by every measure. But we have five more case studies showing the same thing.
The Results Replicate Across Categories and Channels
Both results below came from top-of-funnel brand-building campaigns only — no DR. Both outperformed direct response by every measured standard. Two more data points proving this is not a one-off. More case studies are being added continuously.
Global Outdoor Gear Brand · Wholesale + DTC
Causal Revenue Lift at Major Retailer
2.5x
Geo-holdout test measuring brand campaign impact on wholesale sell-through at a major outdoor retailer, excluding all DTC channels. Brand building materially drives wholesale — revenue you cannot reach with direct response.
~$100M Beauty & Skincare Brand · Multi-Channel
Adjusted Incremental ROAS
2.39x
6-month geo-holdout across Shopify, Amazon, and TikTok Shop. 97% statistical confidence that spend is profitable.
vs. Direct Response
Higher Than All DR
Generated a higher incremental return than every DR tactic tested in the same account. Brand outperformed DR across the board.
Maximizing Impact in the First 60 Days
Weeks 1–2
Foundation
- Pixel & data audit — validate billing, tracking, and everything passing to ad platforms. No conflicts or under-firing.
- Validate and define all audience segments optimized for incremental new customer growth
- Campaign structure custom-tailored to your business category, stage, and channel mix
Weeks 2–4
Launch
- Top & upper-mid funnel campaigns live across relevant channels
- Brand model tuning with causal data begins immediately
- Brand-building creative across the whole funnel from day one
Day 30
Model Live
- Measurement model goes live — populated with causal data, updated continuously
- Brand investment scales as results confirm — backed by data at every step
- Creative feedback loop on what drives incrementality and brand value
Day 30+
Scale & Capture
- Scale what works — validated by volume growth, organic sessions, and behavioral confirmation
- Creative iteration with true diversity — more shots on goal, not just DR variations
- Larger funnel ready to capture demand — more people who already know and trust the brand
By day 60, you’re less dependent on the auction — because you’ve built a fundamentally larger body of people who proactively seek you out before they ever see a direct response ad. And the data is clear: this isn’t a sacrifice. Across every client, contribution margin improves in weeks, not months. The full funnel performs better than bottom-funnel spend alone — immediately.
The Information Is Public. The Execution Isn’t.
The Research
The Data Has Been Clear for Years
Binet & Field, Les Binet, James Hankins — decades of rigorous research showing brand investment drives long-term growth. The data is public. The findings are not controversial. Any agency can read the same papers.
The Gap
Most Agencies Won’t Do It
DR is easy to measure and easy to attribute. Brand is harder. Most agencies are structured, incentivized, and staffed to optimize for the metric that’s easiest to show in a dashboard — not the one that actually drives the business.
The Difference
We Built the System to Execute It
Measurement infrastructure that captures brand impact daily — not quarterly. Causal methodology that separates signal from noise. The operational capacity to run brand campaigns the same way most agencies run DR: rigorously, continuously, and accountable to real business outcomes.
This is better performance — not a tradeoff. The measured incrementality on brand campaigns consistently exceeds DR in every account we manage. The difference isn’t the insight — the research is public. The difference is the proprietary playbook and measurement system we’ve built to execute on it, measure it in real time, and prove it works.
What This Builds
What We Measure
Business outcomes, not platform metrics.
- Incrementality — causal measurement of what’s actually driving growth
- Brand Health — branded search volume as the leading indicator of compounding demand
- Contribution Margin — the metric that actually matters for a sustainable business
- Audience Growth — new people who know the brand, expanding the future addressable market
Creative That Compounds
Every piece of creative is measured against business outcomes. What works gets scaled. What doesn’t gets replaced. The learnings compound over time — building a creative system that gets stronger with every campaign.
The Compounding Effect
Every dollar of brand investment creates people who come to you without ever seeing or clicking a direct response ad. They search the brand. They memorize the URL. They come directly.
This stream of revenue grows and compounds over time — reducing dependence on the auction, increasing optionality, and growing owned audiences.
One client saw contribution dollars up 60% in 80 days. Another hit seven consecutive weeks of CM$ growth with no decline. This isn’t a long-term bet — it pays out in weeks.
What Success Looks Like
A fundamentally larger funnel of people who already know and trust your brand — less dependence on the auction, more control over your own growth.
That means: More demand to capture, less cost to capture it, higher margins, and a growth engine that keeps compounding after the holiday.
The Playbook Works. The Proof Is in the Data.
Across Marathon Engine customers — denim, wellness, footwear, food & beverage, outdoor gear, beauty, and web merchandising engagements — the pattern is the same. The highest-leverage growth work improves business economics, not just channel dashboards. Brand campaigns drive stronger incremental ROAS than anything on the DR side. CRO and merchandising lift revenue per session, making every media dollar more effective. These results were not accidents — they were produced by a proprietary operating playbook and measurement infrastructure that no other agency has built.
Immediate Improvement
Every brand saw contribution margin, revenue, and new customer acquisition improve from the first weeks — driven by top-of-funnel brand campaigns, not more DR spend
No Short-Term Loss
Zero brands experienced a revenue drop or contribution margin decline. Not one. This is what no other agency believes — and what this data proves.
Brand Outperforms DR — Every Time
1.93x–2.39x incremental return on brand campaigns alone — higher than every DR tactic tested in the same accounts, proven by independent causal geo-holdout tests with statistically significant positive lift (90% CI lower bound above 1.0x on one; 97% probability of positive return on the other)
Replicated Across Every Customer
This is not a one-off. The performance brand-building playbook has been proven across multiple categories and channels. More case studies are being added continuously.