Milena Traikovich is a visionary in the realm of demand generation, renowned for her ability to decode complex consumer behaviors and translate them into high-performance marketing engines. With a deep background in performance optimization and lead generation, she has spent years helping brands navigate the delicate balance between data-driven precision and the art of storytelling. Today, she shares her insights into a significant industry shift: the return to brand-centricity in an era where digital noise is at an all-time high and consumer loyalty is harder to win than ever.
The discussion centers on the evolving landscape of marketing spend, particularly how legacy organizations are reinvesting in long-term brand equity to anchor their digital strategies. We explore the limitations of focusing solely on short-term metrics and the danger of commoditization when companies ignore emotional resonance. Furthermore, the conversation highlights the strategic shift toward a full-funnel approach, where performance marketing is used not to replace brand building, but to capture the intent that a strong brand identity has already cultivated.
With large organizations significantly increasing their marketing budgets to navigate today’s fragmented digital landscape, how are they evolving their strategies to remain relevant across such non-linear consumer journeys?
The evolution we are seeing, particularly with giants like Nestlé India, is a move toward a more integrated philosophy where brand and performance are no longer silos. When you look at the numbers, Nestlé increased its advertising and marketing spends by more than 40% in the June quarter, which helped drive a 25% revenue growth to ₹975 crore. This isn’t just about throwing money at the wall; it’s a calculated response to the fact that a consumer might see a regional recipe reel for MAGGI, read a creator’s post about NESCAFÉ, and then place a quick commerce order all in a single afternoon. To stay relevant in that chaotic flow, brands are leaning into the sensory and emotional constants like trust, taste, and quality that have made products like KITKAT and MILKMAID household staples for generations. By anchoring performance marketing in this deep-seated brand equity, these companies ensure that every digital touchpoint feels like a continuation of a decades-long relationship rather than a cold, transactional encounter.
Many marketers feel forced to choose between the immediate results of performance marketing and the long-term play of brand building, but how can a brand successfully manage the entire funnel to ensure they are creating demand rather than just capturing it?
The most successful leaders, such as those at ITC’s Mangaldeep, treat the marketing funnel as a holistic ecosystem where emotional affinity must precede the final click. ITC’s FMCG business, which saw consumer spending reach nearly ₹37,000 crore in FY26—an 8.8% year-on-year increase—proves that sustained demand is built on a foundation of brand strength. Performance marketing is incredibly efficient at precision targeting and immediate attribution, but it is fundamentally a tool for capturing existing intent; it cannot “manufacture” the desire that leads a person to choose one brand over another. This is especially true as we see younger demographics like Gen Z embracing categories rooted in tradition and devotion, where the decision to buy is driven by a sense of belonging and trust. By focusing on the entire funnel, marketers can use brand building to create that initial preference, ensuring that when the performance-driven ad finally appears, the consumer is already primed to say yes.
As the industry becomes more obsessed with dashboards and real-time ROI, what are the genuine risks of a strategy that prioritizes short-term clicks over the long-term development of a brand’s identity?
The danger of a “performance-only” mindset is that it inevitably leads to the commoditization of the product, where the only thing left to compete on is price. When you listen to the warnings from seasoned veterans at companies like Parle Products, the message is clear: short-term efficiency is a hollow victory if it costs you your pricing power and consumer differentiation. While every advertising dollar must be accountable, a brand built over decades on a foundation of trust and consistency pays dividends far beyond what a single campaign dashboard can show. If you neglect the storytelling that makes a biscuit more than just a snack, you risk losing the emotional “moat” that protects your business from competitors. The cost of chasing clicks at the expense of resonance is a slow erosion of the brand’s soul, eventually making the business vulnerable to every market fluctuation and newcomer.
For challenger brands that are seeing explosive growth, why is the philosophy of being highly selective with platforms and “taking fewer swings” becoming more effective than a traditional blanket-coverage approach?
In a marketplace as crowded as India’s consumer sector, newer players like Lahori Zeera are proving that meaningful growth comes from consistency and aspiration rather than mere presence. Lahori Zeera reported a staggering 73% rise in FY25 revenue to ₹540 crore by being incredibly disciplined about where they show up and how they tell their story. Instead of trying to be on every platform or sponsoring every event, they consciously avoid properties that don’t fit their brand’s specific “flavor,” focusing instead on making sure that every “swing” they take connects deeply with their audience. This cricket metaphor is perfect for modern marketing: it’s about the quality of the connection and the “raw material” of the story, not just the volume of the noise. For a challenger brand, staying focused on adding aspiration and meaning ensures that they aren’t just a temporary trend, but a brand that consumers actually want to keep in their lives.
What is your forecast for the future of brand building in an increasingly data-driven market?
I forecast a “Great Recalibration” where the pendulum swings back from pure data obsession to a sophisticated blend of algorithmic precision and human-centric storytelling. We will see brands stop asking “What is the ROI of this post?” and start asking “How does this post strengthen our pricing power for the next five years?” As AI and automation make performance marketing more accessible and commoditized, the only true competitive advantage left will be the “un-trackable” elements: the way a brand makes someone feel, the trust it has built over generations, and its cultural relevance. The next decade will belong to the marketers who can use data to find the audience, but use the “soul” of the brand to keep them, moving away from the era of the “click” and back into the era of the “connection.”
