Half the ad money wasted, but which half? Indian brands face a full-funnel reality check

MUMBAI: Marketing executives have long complained that half the money they spend on advertising is wasted, but the real tragedy of modern digital marketing is that nobody can agree on which half is actually driving the sale. In a media ecosystem where consumers fluidly scroll, stream, and shop in a single breath, Indian brands are finding that their linear advertising strategies are hopelessly out of tune.

A joint playbook titled “From Fragmentation to One View: A Marketer’s Playbook for Full-Funnel Growth” was launched on 9 October 2026 at SMARTIES Unplugged India at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Released by the Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA Global India), WPP Media, and Amazon Ads, the report highlights a major shift in how commercial campaigns are built, measured, and monetised.

Grounded in a comprehensive survey of 126 senior marketing decision-makers, including CMOs (49 per cent), media heads, and agency leaders across major verticals, the report signals the end of the traditional split between “brand building” and “performance harvesting”.

The path to purchase in India has fractured dramatically. Research shows that the number of distinct touchpoints required to influence 80 per cent of a consumer’s purchase decision has nearly doubled, jumping from 12 touchpoints in 2018 to 21 in 2024. Today, urban consumers spend nearly equal time on long-form video OTT streaming (~1.86 hours per day) as they do on traditional linear television (~1.85 hours per day). Furthermore, dual-screening is the new normal: 45 per cent of mobile video viewers and 52 per cent of TV viewers multitask by browsing e-commerce platforms simultaneously.

Digital touchpoints now heavily sway offline purchases too. Prior to buying in physical stores, 72 per cent of personal electronic shoppers, 60 per cent of hotel/travel bookers, 56 per cent of durables buyers, 40 per cent of health food consumers, and 31 per cent of apparel buyers conduct online research.

Yet, media operations remain stuck in rigid silos. While advertiser growth appetite remains fierce, with 80 per cent planning to increase spend in video, 80 per cent in social/creator channels, and 55 per cent in retail media by 2027, execution is severely lagged. A staggering 82 per cent of advertisers admit they have not fully mastered full-funnel execution.

Interestingly, budget size is no guarantee of maturity. Among mega-spenders with annual digital budgets exceeding Rs 200 Crore, only 25 per cent report being “very successful” at full-funnel execution, while 14 per cent admit to failed or unattempted efforts. Meanwhile, the Rs 100 to 200 Crore cohort leads the pack with a 33 per cent “very successful” rate.

The primary culprit? Measurement. The top barrier preventing full-funnel adoption is a lack of unified measurement (cited by 67 per cent of advertisers), which precisely mirrors their top demand: unified cross-channel attribution (69 per cent). Other key operational hurdles include an inability to link upper-funnel ads to lower-funnel sales (48 per cent), cross-channel measurement silos (48 per cent), publisher data opacity (48 per cent), media/audience fragmentation (52 per cent), and internal organisational silos (30 per cent).

Retail media has evolved far beyond basic search ads on an e-commerce checkout page. Now dubbed “Retail Media 3.0”, the medium leverages artificial intelligence, high-intent shopping signals, and rich content formats, spanning Prime Video ads, Fire TV, display programmatic networks, and quick commerce, to connect brand discovery directly to conversion.

59 per cent of surveyed advertisers now view Retail Media as a full-funnel solution rather than a pure conversion tool. WPP Media’s econometric modelling across CPG categories demonstrates that commerce media spend drives sweeping cross-channel impact, generating a 20 to 25 per cent lift in offline sales, a 10 to 12 per cent lift in top-of-funnel brand awareness, and an 18 to 20 per cent boost in consideration.

To help marketers navigate this connected landscape, the playbook outlines a structured 5-point practitioner’s framework:

1. Diagnose: Evaluate funnel leakages across brand health metrics, repeat rates, and brand search share.
2. Architect: Build retargeting bridges between upper-funnel video assets, mid-funnel display cohorts, and lower-funnel search units.
3. Allocate: Commit to top-heavy budget splits and minimum 6-week run-times (avoiding spending 80 per cent or more exclusively on bottom-funnel harvesting).
4. Create: Tailor formats to stages, using storytelling video for awareness, interactive rich media for consideration, and performance ads for conversion.
5. Measure: Track connected KPI lifts across every stage, from brand lift and detail page view rates (DPV) to new-to-brand (NTB) purchase percentage and return on ad spend (ROAS).

The playbook details three extensive advertiser case studies demonstrating full-funnel transformation on Amazon Ads:

• Himalaya (Skincare): Facing a 12 per cent drop in browser-to-buyer conversions, an underperforming cross-sell rate (1.8 per cent vs. peer baselines of 3.8 per cent or more), and a 14.5 per cent deficit in average order value (AOV), Himalaya deployed Amazon DSP video and display combined with AI-led Performance+ audiences. The campaign accelerated unique reach by +30 per cent YoY, lifted consideration by +27 per cent YoY, generated a +35 per cent jump in branded searches, boosted AOV by +3.5 percentage points vs. peers, and delivered a +9.1 percentage point swing in cross-sell along with a +40 per cent ROAS. Among ad-exposed non-buyers, product page views surged by +1065 per cent, add-to-carts grew by +142 per cent, and purchases jumped by +203 per cent.
• Finish (Automatic Dishwashing): Starting from a near-invisible browse base and ranking as a distant #3 in market segment share (~20 per cent share), Finish ran an AI-driven Amazon DSP engine across the funnel. The initiative grew detail page views by 35X YoY and brand browsers by 52X YoY. Total sales skyrocketed by +328 per cent YoY, propelling Finish from the #3 rank to the #1 spot on Amazon.in while increasing average purchase price by +20 per cent. Among new-to-brand exposed prospects, page views expanded by +788 per cent and purchases surged by +321 per cent.
• Cuticolor (Hair Colour): Experiencing cooling sales growth momentum (decelerating from +63 per cent in H1 2025 to +32 per cent in Q1 2026) and a shrinking detail page view base, the premium brand deployed a sequenced cohort strategy using DSP Video, Display, and Performance+ ad units. The full-funnel campaign expanded the brand’s remarketing audience by 150X, tripled browser growth compared to the overall category rate, grew detail page views by +112 per cent YoY, doubled conversion rates, boosted AOV by +81 per cent YoY, and generated a +49 per cent overall sales lift with a 2+ ROAS.

The report highlights that technology alone cannot bridge the gap without structural workplace changes. Marketers are urged to eliminate internal turf wars by establishing single connected marketing budgets owned by a unified P&L holder, adopting shared north-star metrics like Total Advertising Cost of Sales (TACOS) and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), moving agencies toward holistic briefs, and dedicating 10 to 15 per cent of annual budgets to continuous test-and-learn experimentation via data clean rooms like Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC).

As Indian consumers increasingly move between content, commerce and physical retail, the report’s central argument is that brands need to measure how their marketing works together, not simply how individual channels perform. The ability to connect advertising exposure with business outcomes is becoming critical to making larger media investments deliver measurable value.