The commercial power of brands - research spotlight

A new study "The Commercial Power of Brands in the Digital World" conducted by Kapero for ANFO (Norway) and Mediebedriftene, analyses 13 well-known Norwegian brands that together invested 123 million NOK in Google Ads. The aim was to better understand how brands affect the effectiveness of keyword searches.

In the research brand and non-brand searches were separated, this showed that while on the surface, Google seemed to drive around 60% of traffic, conversions and revenue. In reality, much of that value came from people who already had the brand in mind and actively searched for it by name. What the research points to is that brand strength is the driver of online sales.

This groundbreaking research saw ANFO pick up a WFA President's Award at the 2026 Global Marketer Week in Stockholm, with the analysis highlighted as a model that can travel to other markets because it quantifies the bias in last-click reporting and gives marketing and finance leaders a better shared basis for decisions.

As an example of the level of analysis available from the research, non-brand conversions were, on average, six times more expensive than brand conversions, and in some cases up to 30 times. Brand keywords delivered around eight times higher ROAS than non-brand, yet 80% of spend was still going to the weaker side of the equation.

Ninety percent of revenue typically came from just 5% of keywords, which consumed about half the budget; the remaining 95% delivered only 10% of results while eating the other half and adding complexity.

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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.