Marketeers are spending more — and getting less.

• Digital ad costs have exploded: From $130B in 2015 to over $500B by 2025 globally.

• Cost-per-lead (CPL) is rising fast: In 2022, 21 out of 23 industries saw their CPL increase, with an average +19% YoY jump.

• Budgets are increasing, but returns are falling — more spend is required just to stay level.

…and engagement is increasingly fake

• Landing page conversion rates remain stubbornly low — the global average is ~5–6%.

• Form abandonment is rampant — 68% of users abandon online forms, often due to privacy concerns or unclear data use.

• In Google Ads, conversion rates declined by 14% in 2022 — even as click costs rose.

• Vanity metrics like “impressions” or “likes” don’t translate to real action — brands are chasing empty numbers.

Data is scattered. Value isn’t shared.

• Traditional campaigns are linear and extractive — ad → content → form → lead → maybe a call.

• There’s no circular value — for the brand, the audience, or a cause.

• Teams run Brand, ABM and CSR campaigns in silos — instead of as a unified strategy that builds pipeline and brand loyalty.

…and greenwashing doesn’t cut it.

• 94% of consumers say they’re more likely to support a brand with a clear purpose.

• But that support is conditional — they also demand proof:

• Only 4% of consumers trust brands who talk ESG but don’t show it.

• In Europe, especially, there’s growing skepticism of empty CSR claims — with new regulations coming to stamp out “impact washing.”

• The opportunity? People are 4× more likely to trust and 4.5× more likely to recommend a brand that engages them authentically and supports a real cause.