Report: Paid media drives 28 percent of brand equity

The findings are based on analysis of brands featured in Kantar's Most Valuable Global Brands 2026 study.

Global branding agency JKR and marketing data and analytics company Kantar have released a report examining how customer experience contributes to brand equity.

Titled Be Distinctive Everywhere. The Experience Edition, the report combines Kantar's research with JKR's branding expertise to provide marketers with a framework for strengthening brand performance through customer experience.

According to the report, only 28 percent of brand equity is built through paid media, while direct and indirect customer experiences account for the remaining share. The findings suggest many organisations may need to reconsider how they allocate marketing investment.

Customer experience linked to market share growth

Kantar's research found that brands which improve and amplify their customer experience are 2.5 times more likely to achieve significant market share growth. The report also concludes that the combination of distinctive branding and customer experience contributes more to brand differentiation than communications or any other factor measured.

The findings are based on analysis of brands featured in Kantar's Most Valuable Global Brands 2026 study.

Report highlights changing role of brand touchpoints

Mark Chamberlain, Global Managing Director, Customer Experience, Kantar: "For too long, experience has been the underfunded, undermeasured side of brand building. We have clear evidence of not just how much experience contributes to brand equity, but which touchpoints carry the greatest weight. That gives marketers something they have never had before: the intelligence to make confident, data-backed decisions about where to invest in experience to drive meaningful brand growth. That’s fundamental when trying to influence both people’s and agents’ interactions with brands."

The report also notes that experience touchpoints are becoming increasingly important as large language models draw on these interactions to develop their understanding of brands, increasing the importance of delivering consistent customer experiences.

JKR introduces brand experience framework

Alongside the report, JKR introduced its Distinctive Experience Cycle, a framework designed to help brands align positioning, creative expression and customer experience around a shared brand belief.

The framework consists of three elements: Distinctive Position, which establishes a brand belief aligned with both the organisation and its audience; Distinctive Expression, which translates that belief into a recognisable brand identity; and Distinctive Experience, which delivers consistent customer interactions that reinforce the brand's positioning.

Lee Rolston, Global Chief Growth Officer, JKR: "Knowing which touchpoints drive equity is only half the equation. The other half is building the creative and strategic infrastructure to act on it consistently. With JKR's Distinctive Experience Cycle, we give brands the system to coordinate every expression and experience around a single belief and be distinctive everywhere."

www.jkrglobal.com

www.kantar.com

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