Why even the best brands lose out in the middle – and how advertising that answers… is the answer
By Sam Peters, CEO at Vyde
Every year, brands spend billions on beautifully crafted advertising that drives awareness – and then quietly loses customers in the void of indecision.
We’ve all seen it. A campaign performs well on reach, maybe even on engagement, and then stalls. Consumers show interest but don’t convert. Why? Because most advertising disappears during the most critical moment in the buying journey: the messy, ambiguous space between “I’ve heard of you” and “I’m ready to buy”.
This is the decision dilemma, and it’s where most brands are invisible.
The mid-funnel is broken
Traditional advertising splits the journey in two: brand campaigns build desire, performance channels capture demand. But in-between lies a complex, high-intent stretch filled with unanswered questions. And that’s where consumer momentum is lost.
Google research shows decision-making is taking longer than ever. The buying journey is no longer linear, it’s a maze of micro-moments. In the automotive category, buyers now spend an average of 50 days researching before making a purchase, up eight days since 2021. In travel, 69% of consumers are investing more time planning holidays than they did before the pandemic.
And it’s not just information overload. It’s confidence paralysis. According to Accenture, 65% of consumers feel overwhelmed by choice. They’re stuck not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know.
Consumers have learned to ask
A new instinct has emerged: the instinct to query. Thanks to AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, consumers are being trained to interrogate, compare and validate before they buy. Search is no longer just for the curious, it’s for the cautious. And this behavioural shift is reshaping the expectations placed on brands and media.
Storytelling is no longer enough. Today’s consumers are not just listening – they’re asking. They expect advertising to do more than entertain or inspire. They expect it to guide.
The future of media is interactive, useful and responsive
This isn’t just a shift in creative execution, it’s a shift in purpose. The role of advertising is evolving from grabbing attention to giving answers. It’s no longer just about being seen, it’s about being helpful at precisely the moment it matters.
We’re seeing early signals of this everywhere:
- Google Maps ran a campaign using touchscreens in public spaces to offer live directions and local recommendations. It turned static media into a utility.
- BMW is using immersive 3D configurators that allow prospective buyers to explore every detail of their ideal car, answering complex questions before a salesperson ever gets involved.
- Clinique developed a virtual lab that helps users diagnose skincare needs, serving up personalised product suggestions through interactive, question-led exploration.
These aren’t just novel activations, they’re signposts of where media is heading: towards ads that act like advisors, not billboards.
Advertising that answers is a strategy, not a format
In this new landscape, every question a consumer has, from "Which product is right for me?" to "How does this work?", is an opportunity for a brand to build trust. When brands respond with clarity and utility, they transform passive impressions into active engagement. Curiosity becomes confidence. Attention becomes action.
And this isn’t just good marketing, it’s good economics. Google reports that up to 60% of brand media spend is lost in the mid-funnel due to poor engagement. The cost of being unhelpful is real, and rising.
A new brief for a new era
The challenge now isn’t just to be louder or more creative, it’s to be more useful. Brands must rethink how they brief their agencies, how they measure success, and how they design media to serve real consumer needs.
This isn’t the next trend. It’s the next standard. The winners won’t be the brands with the most famous campaigns – they’ll be the ones that show up when it matters most, not with a slogan, but with a solution.
In a world where consumers are trained to ask, the brands that thrive will be the ones that know how to answer.
