“If experience is your most visible investment, it can’t be your least accountable one.”
Tim Walsh, UK Head of Strategy at Momentum Worldwide highlights how too many brands are building incredible experiences — then relying on outdated metrics to prove their value. Continue reading to discover more…
At this year’s Cannes Lions, the message was loud and clear: creativity now comes with a performance clause.
CMOs from Lenovo to Citibank weren’t just celebrating bold ideas. They were demanding measurable ones—AI-powered campaigns that adapt in real time, personalised experiences that justify their cost and storytelling that drives results, not just reach.
We’ve entered a new era. This isn’t just a passing pressure. It feels more like a permanent shift.
Ideas that move people and the numbers. Stories that generate headlines and hard results.
That shift isn’t just happening on stage. It’s reshaping how brands connect, less through ads and more through experiences. The immersive, emotional kind. The kind people remember. And the kind that now sits at the heart of marketing.
That’s not to say that everyone agrees with it.
Some still see effectiveness as a creative constraint.
But this is where we are. High visibility demands high accountability, and brand experience is right at the centre of it.
Experiences now feel like the flagship.
The most public, emotional expression of a brand.
Where customers don’t just see you, they feel you.
But the way we measure it hasn’t kept pace.
The Risk in the Gap
We build every moment with care—sound, story, design, detail—then boil the outcome down to footfall, dwell time and social noise.
Most reports aren’t there to drive clarity.
They’re there to wrap things up.
They say what happened, not what changed.
Did we shift perception?
Build preference?
Drive any kind of action?
If experience is going to keep earning its seat at the table, it needs better answers.
What Smarter Looks Like
The smartest teams are already changing how they measure.
Less volume, more value.
Less proving the past, more shaping what’s next.
They’re not chasing easy metrics.
They’re asking harder questions and getting more useful answers.
The Opportunity
If experience is strategic, then measurement should be built in, not bolted on.
It should define success early.
Guide decisions along the way.
And give teams the confidence to ask:
What did we shift?
What did we learn?
What’s worth scaling?
Because when you measure what matters, the work gets better.
More focused. More credible. Easier to back again.
What We Built
At Momentum, we created XM (Experience Matters), a modular framework that ties what people feel, do and share to what brands care about most: brand equity, commercial impact and cultural relevance.
It’s already shaping how we measure across launches, retail, sponsorship and content.
But more than anything, it gives our clients clarity.
Clarity on what worked.
Clarity on what mattered.
Clarity on what’s next.
So when someone asks, “Did it work?” you’ll have more than a highlight reel. You’ll have the answer.
… which, let’s be honest, travels better than a tote bag from the Croisette.