A Manifesto on Modern Performance, for Today's Growth Marketer

After more than three decades of calling myself a marketer, one guiding principle has remained constant: always expect change. Throughout my career, I’ve adapted to countless disruptions, transformations, and reinventions of nearly every facet of advertising and marketing. Change is what keeps me engaged and excited about the work – even with all its inherent challenges.

Yet, strangely enough, one thing has remained remarkably static: Performance Marketing.

Despite the rise of digital, e-commerce, social media, and now AI, the role of performance in most marketing plans has stayed confined to a predictable box. It’s the so-called “bottom of the funnel.” It’s measured by a few KPIs tied to the last mile. And, most notably, it’s kept at arm’s length from “Brand” marketing.

As the (relatively new) CEO of a boutique performance agency, I believe it’s time for this outdated division to end. Keeping Performance in a silo has held back modern marketing. It’s overdue for reinvention.

Here’s the truth: today, all marketing must perform.

This doesn’t mean every campaign should live exclusively in direct response channels or sacrifice building emotional connections with your audience. But in an era where every dollar must be accountable, it’s clear that everything we do – brand or performance – must deliver results.

It’s time for a complete paradigm shift. At Converge, we see ourselves as innovators of performance and, as such, we are “all in” on this this transformation. Through our client work in media, analytics, experience and lead generation, we have embraced the new rules of marketing:

• Erase the line: The divide between brand and performance is a vestige of a pre-digital world. In a consumer-led media landscape, brands have to find ways to earn attention vs. buying it.. That means striking the right balance between telling stories and driving response.

• Forget the funnel – embrace the journey: The path to purchase is anything but linear or one size fits all. Understanding how audiences buy and building campaigns designed to advance that journey is the way we unlock value from every channel.

• Make Measurement King:  Instead of putting measurement at the end of the story and focusing only on standard digital KPI’s, start every plan with a strategic cross-funnel measurement framework. It will ensure that your media and messaging are aligned to your goals and designed for performance.

This is our manifesto. This is how we do Performance for growth marketers. We can’t wait to make everything work for you.