Jun 20, 2025

Brand+Demand: Why Performance Branding Is the Future of Healthcare Marketing

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“Our brand campaigns win awards. Our demand campaigns hit benchmarks. But they don’t talk to each other—and I’m tired of justifying that to the executive team.”

A health system CMO said this to us recently—and it echoes what we’ve heard from health plans, provider groups, and digital health startups across the country.

“Member engagement and acquisition are really all that matters. Why would I spend hard-won marketing dollars on branding?”

That’s from a health plan CMO. A familiar refrain.

Across the industry, we’re seeing the same strategic fault line:

  • Brand feels disconnected from business performance.
  • Demand feels like a short-term sprint with no equity left behind.
  • Marketing feels split—with siloed teams and competing KPIs.

At ab+a, we call this the Brand+Demand Divide—and it’s costing healthcare organizations more than clicks or impressions.

It’s costing them momentum, alignment, and enterprise growth.


A Broken System Hiding in Plain Sight

Here’s what’s really happening:

  • Brand campaigns are built to inspire and build affinity.
  • Demand campaigns are engineered to convert and move volume.
  • Rarely—if ever—are they integrated.

This disconnect means:

  • Your most emotionally resonant storytelling never enters the funnel.
  • Your most optimized campaigns carry no brand equity forward.

In a landscape where consumers see 4,000–10,000 ads daily (Forbes), that kind of disconnection isn’t just inefficient—it’s ineffective.

That’s why ab+a created the Brand+Demand Strategy—a growth engine that fuses bold storytelling with behavioral science and performance precision.

Read how we anchor every campaign in strategic purpose with the GiG Model:  Grow. Impact. Good.


What Happens When Brand and Demand Finally Work Together?

The results go far beyond a prettier campaign.

1. The Funnel Gets Shorter.

Trust is built before conversion begins. According to Deloitte, high-trust brands see 88% stronger customer loyalty and faster action.

We’ve seen conversion rates jump 20–30% when brand and demand were sequenced and integrated. Fewer touchpoints. Faster movement.

2. Your Team Starts Pulling in the Same Direction.

No more brand vs. digital. Brand+Demand™ becomes a shared operating system—with one message, one mission, and one set of metrics.

3. You Start to Show Up Where It Matters.

The best-performing message might come from a brand video—but it’s optimized for behavioral response. As McKinsey notes, companies that integrate creativity and analytics grow twice as fast as peers.

4. You Prove Value at the Table.

Brand+Demand™ creates a CMO narrative where creative impact and business outcomes appear side-by-side. That’s how marketing earns not just credit—but control.


What Makes Brand+Demand Different

This isn’t theory. It’s a proven shift:

✅ You already have brand assets
✅ You already run campaigns
❌ You haven’t built the bridge between them—yet

ab+a helps make that bridge real:

  • Structurally, with unified planning tools
  • Creatively, with performance-optimized storytelling
  • Operationally, with connected tech and insight-driven KPIs

Want to see how we do it? Start here: Grow: The Strategic Engine Healthcare Marketing Has Been Missing


This Isn’t Optional Anymore

In a healthcare market flooded with new entrants, rising cost pressures, and value-based reform, only the connected will win.

Brand+Demand  is how you:

  • Stop bleeding brand equity in paid media
  • Make every message do more than one job
  • Turn marketing into a measurable growth engine—one story, one conversion at a time

Ready to see what that could look like inside your funnel?
Let’s make it real with a 20-minute strategy call.

Paula Serios

Paula Serios

Chief Growth Officer and Healthcare Expert

ab+a Advertising is a full-service marketing services agency specializing in the health and well-being sectors. Our work goes beyond solving problems—we inspire progress, elevate brands, and deliver lasting positive impact worldwide. Our AI-enabled GiG model (“Grow Impact Good”) doesn’t just grow your health organization—it creates meaningful change for the greater good. By blending AI-forward strategy, innovative branding, humanity, data-driven insights, we provide purpose-driven growth that impacts your business AND truly matters.

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