Structural barriers are holding back effectiveness in APAC finds WARC in latest research

The “Twin Pace” Effectiveness Gap is a new survey-led study by WARC, the global authority of marketing effectiveness, that looks at the forces shaping today’s effectiveness culture in APAC.  

Drawing on fresh and original survey data from senior marketers and agency leaders, the research

provides the first quantified diagnosis of why effectiveness principles are widely understood yet

inconsistently applied in practice across the region.  

Closing this gap requires governance, not just marketing intent. Organisations need to redesign decision rights, evaluation windows, and success metrics so brand investment can be justified alongside performance — enabling teams to operate at twin paces rather than defaulting to short-term optimisation. 

Rica Facundo, Managing Editor – Asia, WARC, says “Our Pace Principle study confirmed that long-term brand building supercharges short-term performance, even in Asia’s fast-moving and dynamic markets. With this knowledge, why isn’t it happening more consistently in practice?  

“The answer, as this new report explores, is rarely just about marketing itself – it’s a governance issue. The research uncovers the barriers behind the “say-do” effectiveness gap and identifies universal challenges while grounding them in the unique forces shaping marketing effectiveness in APAC. This report validates APAC marketers’ daily challenges with local insights, paving the way to close gaps and unlock the region’s marketing potential.” 

Key blockers to an effectiveness culture in APAC highlighted in ‘The “Twin Pace” Effectiveness

Gap  study are: 

• Short-termism is an APAC marketer’s legacy mindset from a previous growth era  

Over a third (36%) of brands identify short-term pressures as a barrier to brand investment, while more than half (55%) of agencies report clients prioritizing short-term activation over long-term brand building 

For decades, growth in APAC was structurally abundant, making operational speed and short-term performance reliable strategies for success. Short-term metrics worked because returns surfaced quickly in expanding markets. Today, growth is slower and more competitive, but many organisations are still optimised for a high-growth era that no longer exists. This creates a mismatch between how growth now happens and how decisions are still made. 

The opportunity is not to abandon performance, but to upgrade the growth model. Organisations need to shift from operating at a single pace to designing for twin paces — balancing short-term optimisation with sustained brand investment, supported by governance and measurement systems built for today’s growth realities. 

• APAC marketers believe in brand — but it’s not translating into the brief   

Nearly nine in ten marketers agree that consistent brand platforms drive sustainable growth, yet less than half (47%) of agency respondents say briefs align with brand platforms  

Across APAC, marketers believe in brand platforms. Nearly nine in ten respondents across both brands and agencies agree that consistent brand platforms drive sustainable business growth. However, in practice, briefs are only sometimes grounded in platforms and are not translating into the rest of the advertising supply chain, revealing a disconnect between strategy and day-to-day execution. This is amplified by the region’s scale and diversity.  

Fewer than half (47%) of agencies say briefs align with brand platforms due to short-term pressures, budget constraints, measurement systems, incentives, and a lack of unifying brand platforms, making it difficult to sustain long-term brand investment even when conviction exists. The result is a persistent gap between what organisations say they value and what they can prioritise in practice.  

The DNA and operating models of an organisation carry different assumptions about what brand is, where it lives, and how actively it should be applied daily. This helps explain why brand thinking is often lost in translation. APAC is home to a wide mix of organisational types – APAC as execution hub, manufacturing mindset and scale-up growth – each optimised for different priorities. 

• The measurement gap undermining marketing confidence in Asia 

Less than a quarter (23%) of agencies measure brand briefs on both short- and long-term outcomes. Less than one in ten (9%) measure beyond 6 months. 

Many APAC organisations recognise the importance of marketing effectiveness, but confidence breaks down at the point of measurement. Less than a quarter (23%) of brand briefs are measured on both short and long-term objectives and less than 9% of brands and agencies measure a campaign’s performance beyond six months. 

While short-term metrics are widely available and easy to defend, fewer teams can consistently produce decision-grade proof that connects marketing investment to sustained business outcomes. In hierarchical, high-scrutiny environments, this inconsistency pushes decision-making toward what is easiest to measure rather than what matters most for long-term growth.  

Closing the measurement gap requires moving beyond fast, proximate metrics to build evidence that is credible, comparable, and trusted across markets and leadership layers. Organisations need measurement systems designed to support twin-pace decision-making — capturing both immediate performance and the cumulative effects of brand over time. 

Methodology of the research  

The report is based on an online survey of 375 senior marketers and agency leaders across nine countries in APAC conducted in November 2025. Countries surveyed included India, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.  

‘The “Twin Pace” Effectiveness Gap’ report is available to read in full here. It includes all survey findings and practical insights to help brands and agencies of every level apply these ideas to their own work. An accompanying podcast will be available from 5 March, and a webinar on 19 March. 

The report is a follow-up to WARC’s widely acclaimed landmark study, The Pace Principle myth-busting guide for marketers of what works in Asia, released last year.