"Culture" is more than a marketing buzz word. It's a growth imperative From infl
By Mikeblack · October 15, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
"Culture" is more than a marketing buzz word. It's a growth imperative
From influencer and brand partnerships to community activations, CMOs everywhere are using #culture to differentiate their #brands in a world where the classic levers of reach, product and price are no longer different enough
But until now, it's been hard for CMOs to quantify the impact of culture-led marketing on the bottom line, in order to justify investment or benchmark how their initiatives are moving growth
That's why I am excited to announce Collage Group's new partnership with ANA Cultural Leadership Alliance to help remove that gap for the industry
Together, we've established a framework that allows brands to link changes in cultural resonance for any target audience with #growth in purchase intent and #revenue opportunity
Using this framework, the ANA Cultural Leadership Alliance has calculated a $250 Billion growth opportunity for the top 246 brand advertisers by improving cultural resonance by 10 pts across all #consumer audiences
Then together, we decided to take our framework a level deeper by measuring what 2 year changes in cultural resonance has meant for the growth of specific brands analyzed across #soda, #QSR, #snacks and #wealthmanagement, looking at Gen Z audiences specifically
Our findings bring the financial value of cultural resonance into sharper focus:
Across the 134 brands studied, gains in Gen Z cultural resonance were associated with $48.4 billion in incremental revenue opportunity, while declines were associated with $14.7 billion
The question for CMOs:
Should #culturalresonance sit alongside awareness and consideration as a core brand KPI, and how can it be operationalized at scale with #culturalintelligence to drive more growth?
Learn more about our framework and Gen Z findings by reading the article I've co-authored with Carlos Santiago from the ANA Cultural Leadership Alliance below 👇
We're excited to share these learnings in person at Association of National Advertisers's #MastersofMarketingConference next week