Marketing budgets are changing, and so is the way marketers define success.

New research from StackAdapt and Ascend2, based on a survey of more than 260 senior marketers, finds that high-performing agencies are evolving their approach across five core areas: branding, AI, measurement, channel strategy, and tech integration.

Those shifts signal a broader rethinking of how marketing drives growth in today's environment.

If you're leading marketing strategy for your organization or clients, here's how top agencies are getting ahead and what lessons you can take from their playbook.

1. Brand budgets are growing and fueling business results

Brand investment is gaining momentum across the agency landscape: 41% of agencies now prioritize brand-building, with another 22% splitting their budget evenly between brand and performance. Executives show even stronger support, with 31% identifying brand as their top focus, compared with 19% of non-executives.

This shift doesn't come at the expense of performance goals. In fact, high-performing agencies are connecting brand and performance strategies more tightly than ever. They're aligning teams, data, and messaging across the funnel, using various tactics, such as incrementality testing, shared KPIs, and unified campaign planning.

The takeaway? Investing in brand equity can generate both short-term impact and long-term loyalty, especially when paired with precise performance tracking.

Action step: Audit and reorganize campaign planning to unify brand and performance goals:

• Invite all relevant stakeholders—creative, performance, analytics, and strategy teams—to review a current or upcoming campaign.
• Define shared KPIs ahead of launch and ensure brand messaging is interwoven into performance-driven tactics, such as retargeting and direct response.
• Test incrementality frameworks for brand lift to tie awareness efforts directly to conversion outcomes.

2. AI is becoming standard operating practice

Artificial intelligence has moved well beyond early-stage experimentation. Among agencies surveyed, 39% report significant AI integration into their operations, and another 43% are using it alongside manual processes.

Agencies with deeper AI integration see clear advantages. They're more likely to run successful multichannel campaigns and express higher satisfaction with their tech stacks. Common uses include ad targeting (45%), creative optimization (41%), content generation (40%), and performance measurement (39%).

More advanced applications, such as predictive analytics and automated media buying, are also gaining traction.

The most effective teams are moving beyond automating tasks; they are using AI to inform strategy, speed up testing, and make more accurate decisions. Embedding AI across creative and analytics workflows allows them to adapt faster and compete more aggressively.

Action step: Identify one high-impact use case for AI and fully integrate it into your campaign workflow:

• Pick a process—content ideation, audience segmentation, creative versioning, performance optimization—that feels repetitive or slow.
• Map it out, implement a trusted AI tool (e.g., for predictive segmentation or automated creative testing), and train your team on its use.
• Ensure data is clean and centralized first; clean, unified datasets are the foundation for reliable AI insights.

3. Smarter measurement is replacing shallow metrics

High-performing agencies are expanding what they track—and why. Rather than focusing solely on clicks or CPA, they're measuring outcomes: customer lifetime value, brand sentiment, and sales-qualified leads, among others. Those metrics reflect deeper business impact and support more strategic decision-making.

For example, 54% of top performers measure lifetime value, compared with 28% of others. Similarly, 56% track SQLs, whereas the average is just 38%. On the brand side, these agencies are more likely to track sentiment, reach, and impressions to better understand how awareness efforts influence future demand.

In a climate where marketing teams must justify spend, the breadth and depth of measurement offer a crucial advantage. The more clearly marketers can connect their work to long-term value, the more influence they can command across the organization.

Action step: Expand your measurement dashboard to include CLV, sentiment, and SQLs alongside CPA and CTR:

• Update your reporting templates to include deeper business metrics—customer lifetime value, brand sentiment, and SQLs.
• Tie those metrics back to campaign channels and creatives, and hold quarterly reviews to benchmark improvement.
• Use customer segmentation insights to link touchpoints to long-term outcomes and guide optimization decisions.

4. Multichannel campaigns need more than reach

Running across five or more programmatic channels has become common among top agencies. Nearly half of high performers (48%) use five or more channels per campaign, compared with only 33% of their peers.

However, channel count alone doesn't tell the full story. The agencies with the strongest returns are also connecting these channels into coherent, goal-driven campaigns. They align messaging across social, video, CTV, and display; use shared data to personalize content; and build workflows that minimize friction between platforms.

These orchestrated efforts are more resilient to market shifts and better positioned to respond to changes in consumer behavior. When all channels push in the same direction, campaigns generate stronger, more consistent results.

Action step: Run a campaign through five or more channels and align creative and messaging across all of them:

• Design at least one upcoming campaign to use 5+ channels—think social, video, CTV, display, email—and build unified messaging that shifts subtly by touchpoint.
• Use shared tracking and attribution tools to monitor how message consistency drives performance.
• Evaluate whether orchestration helps reduce friction and increases conversions compared with siloed channel execution.

5. Data integration drives speed and precision

Tools alone don't create competitive advantage, but the way they work together does. Agencies that integrate their martech and adtech stacks are outperforming their peers across targeting, creative delivery, and measurement.

Top performers are more likely to use advanced tools—DSPs, attribution platforms, and creative management systems—as part of a connected ecosystem. They report higher satisfaction with their tech stacks and fewer delays in optimization.

The most commonly used tools include CRMs (55%), CDPs (47%), DMPs (43%), and targeting solutions (38%). But true performance comes from combining them in ways that improve segmentation, creative relevance, and data flow across the customer journey.

Integration remains a sticking point. Marketers want AI and automation (52%), real-time analytics (46%), and smoother cross-platform data sharing (42%). Executives tend to focus on strategic alignment, whereas practitioners seek operational fixes, such as compliance and attribution.

The key challenge is no longer finding the right tools but building the right connections between them.

Action step: Audit your current stack for redundancies, consolidate overlapping platforms, and prioritize tools that feed into a unified data ecosystem:

• Conduct a "stack audit"—list all your martech/adtech tools, flag overlapping or underutilized platforms, and identify gaps in data flow.
• Replace redundant systems and invest in tools that centralize data (CRM, CDP, DMP), analytics, and attribution.
• Ensure team members across departments can access and act on the same clean, layered dataset.

Strategy now means integration

Top agencies are moving with focus and intent. They're not just trying new things; they're aligning all parts of their marketing ecosystem—from brand to measurement to tech infrastructure—around shared goals and agile execution.

Each of those shifts reflects a broader truth: Modern marketing rewards cohesion. When brand and performance work as one system, when AI supports both creative and analytics, when tech stacks reduce friction instead of adding to it, teams can move faster and achieve more.

Marketers who treat integration as a strategic priority will be better equipped to lead (not just react) as the landscape continues to evolve.

Want to learn more? Read the full research report.