Why it’s time for brands to rethink impact

Impact is everywhere. It’s in mission statements, annual reports, and corporate values. It’s even in our own positioning—Mahlab is where deep curiosity creates business impact.

For too long, impact has been reduced to a catch-all term, used interchangeably with reach, awareness, or engagement. But true impact isn’t just about being seen. It’s not about scale for scale’s sake. 

Dentsu’s Year of Impact report highlights a key shift: brands are moving from the broadcast era—where success was measured in sheer reach—to the precision era, where performance metrics reigned supreme. Now, we’re entering the algorithm era, where AI plays an outsized role in determining what audiences see, when they see it, and how they engage.

This is the year businesses will be forced to move beyond surface-level definitions and get serious about how they measure, create, and sustain meaningful impact.

From chasing attention to creating resonance

81% of consumers say the best way for brands to stand out and earn their loyalty is to surprise and delight them in unexpected ways. Yet many businesses are still focused on visibility rather than value—optimising for clicks, impressions, and engagement, but not for meaning or memorability.

In an era where platforms are prioritising hyper-personalised, predictive content, simply being seen isn’t enough. Audiences are tuning out brands that show up in predictable, transactional ways. Instead, they’re engaging with those that offer deeper, more compelling storytelling—brands that give before they ask.

This is why brands are reinvesting in high-quality, strategic storytelling. It’s why niche communities and creator-generated content are outperforming broad-reach campaigns, and that includes for B2B brands. And it’s why the companies that treat content as an asset, not just an acquisition tool, will be the ones that see real relationships and ROI from it.

Take Salesforce’s Agentforce campaign. Featuring Matthew McConaughey, it used storytelling to take AI from a technical abstraction to something that feels practical and essential. The Super Bowl spot Dining Alfiasco used humour and star power to drive home the consequences of a world without AI agents.

The takeaway: Impact isn’t about who sees you. It’s about who remembers you, and what they remember you for. Brands can achieve this by prioritising storytelling that connects emotionally, leveraging data to personalise engagement, and ensuring content is distributed in the right channels to reach the right people at the right time.

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From algorithm-driven sameness to strategic differentiation

As AI continues to reshape media, it’s creating what Dentsu describes as a “pivot to algorithm planning.” In other words, media distribution is now shaped by machine-led decision-making. AI determines not just what audiences see, but what they don’t.

This presents a major challenge: AI is brilliant at efficiency, but it struggles with originality. It optimises for what’s worked before, reinforcing patterns rather than breaking them. The result? A sea of brands producing content that looks and sounds the same.

Leaders need to recognise that AI can be a powerful tool—but it’s not a strategy. The brands that make an impact with AI will be those that invest in real differentiation, resisting the temptation to let it dictate their entire content and media approach. They’ll use AI to enhance execution, but keep creativity, storytelling, and brand identity firmly in human hands.

Knowing your audience is more important than ever. Brands are shifting to what Dentsu calls “algorithm-based creative content”—using audience intelligence to develop stronger, more resonant assets before they ever enter an automated system.

By going to market with refined creative, brands give algorithms better material to work with—ensuring their content gains more momentum. It’s a shift from volume to precision—fewer, higher-quality assets that can be adapted for different audiences, creating deeper engagement over time.

Impact isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about creating something unmistakably yours, for the people you want to reach.

The takeaway: Use AI to enhance execution, but ensure storytelling, brand identity, and strategic direction remain human-led. Invest in audience research and data-driven insights to craft content that stands out, rather than blending into algorithm-driven sameness.

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From short-term performance to sustained influence

In an increasingly transactional digital world, businesses need to ensure they’re playing the long game. 

Too many brands are trapped in a cycle of short-term performance marketing, prioritising immediate gains over long-term brand trust and credibility. The consequence? When consumer trust is fragile and market conditions shift, these brands have little equity to fall back on. Balancing immediate performance with long-term impact is called for. This means investing in stories and experiences that build loyalty, not just conversions. 

It also means prioritising trust and transparency, especially when 84% of consumers expect brands to disclose when AI is involved in interactions. Fashion retailer Mango faced backlash for using AI-generated models without transparency, sparking concerns about false advertising and job displacement. While its CEO, Toni Ruiz, defended the move as a way to streamline content production, the controversy underscored how a lack of disclosure can damage brand credibility more than the efficiency gains are worth. 

Redefining impact requires moving beyond a set of quarterly metrics to an ongoing effort to shape perception, influence decision-making, and maintain relevance well beyond the next campaign cycle. Short-term performance may win the battle, but long-term credibility wins the war.

The takeaway: Balance short-term gains with long-term brand-building. Invest in always-on marketing efforts like thought leadership and community engagement while using performance marketing strategically. Prioritise transparency and trust to create lasting relationships, not just one-off conversions.

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Businesses have a choice. They can continue treating impact as a vanity metric, chasing fleeting attention and incremental gains. Or they can redefine it—focusing on resonance over reach, differentiation over efficiency, and long-term influence over short-term wins.