Your marketing budget isn’t the issue—how you spend it is

During this past Super Bowl, brands poured millions of dollars into 30 seconds of airtime, hoping to capture attention in the biggest advertising moment in the world. It’s a high-stakes bet, one that has fueled legendary campaigns and unforgettable cultural touchstones. The question I hear, especially from non-advertising people: How can you justify spending that much on an ad? While I have a hard time justifying that kind of spending, asking if it's all a waste is the wrong question. A $50 million Super Bowl ad can be worth every penny, while a $100,000 campaign during the rest of the year might be money down the drain. So, how do you get the most value out of your budget, no matter the size? Now, with AI entering the equation, the industry is hyper-focused on squeezing costs out of production. But before we start slashing budgets in the wrong places, it’s worth taking a hard look at where we waste money in marketing and where it can be put to better use. And that means changing long-standing approaches to advertising. Gen Z Career Forum Get practical advice on launching your career and excelling in the industry Register today Here’s my advice on where to start: Make your budget work, not disappear Does a bigger budget really mean better work? Only if you enjoy paying for extra meetings. Pouring more money into a campaign doesn’t guarantee quality, it just adds layers of overhead. A social shoot can cost upward of $90,000, not because production is expensive but because of the sheer number of account managers, strategists and creative directors involved. Meanwhile, a leaner, more efficient team could execute the same project for a fraction of the cost. The budget should be working for the work, not disappearing into unnecessary meetings, extra approval rounds and inflated fees. Instead of assuming more money means more impact, it’s worth asking where the budget is actually going. If most of it covers overhead instead of execution, something is off. Eliminate the middleman mentality Nothing drains faster than paying for people who aren’t doing the work. Too many brands find themselves sitting in meetings full of junior staff with no authority to make decisions while the real experts are absent. The result? Endless back-and-forth, missed deadlines and extra costs that have nothing to do with execution. A brand should be able to clearly define what each person is responsible for. If that’s not possible, there’s already a problem. Without clearly defined roles, brands end up funding overlapping responsibilities, redundant approvals and work that never moves forward. Every dollar spent should go toward making the work better. Don’t try to bring everyone Big budgets don’t go as far when they’re spread across too many agencies. Some brands like to work with multiple agencies, each specializing in one area. While specialization can be a virtue, more agencies can mean more meetings, more strategy decks and more conflicting opinions—none of which make the work better. The signs are easy to spot. A TV campaign launches, but by the time the social agency adapts it, the messaging has shifted. Media, creative and production don’t align, forcing last-minute adjustments that cost more than if they had been planned correctly from the start. The brands that get the most value out of their budgets aren’t the ones with the longest agency roster. They’re the ones that put their money where it matters into making the work, not managing it. Make every dollar work harder Why do brands treat million-dollar campaigns like one-night-only events? Every year, Super Bowl advertisers spend millions on a single spot, but the smartest don’t just air the ad and move on. They plan for every platform, teasers before the game, behind-the-scenes content, and extended cuts for social. If you’re already investing in production, pick up the other assets while you’re there. Shoot for digital, social and any other platform where the message needs to live instead of scrambling for repurposed content later. NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today A campaign shouldn’t disappear after one use. When brands think beyond the initial rollout and build content with longevity in mind, they get more value from every dollar spent. The best work doesn’t just make an impact in the moment but keeps working long after the first airing. Quality shouldn’t depend on budget A large budget doesn’t automatically mean better work, just like a smaller budget doesn’t have to mean cutting corners. The difference comes down to how brands allocate their resources. Brands approach high-budget productions with a level of precision and attention to detail that completely disappears when it’s time to create lower-cost digital content. But why should a TV spot and a YouTube ad be treated differently if they’re both telling the same brand story? A simple place to start is by looking at production quality and eliminating non-production expenses that can make the production budget smaller than it should have been. If you have this mindset, you'll start producing higher-end content for your ads and brand marketing needs. Plus, you'll save yourself from wasteful meetings and paying for overhead. Imagine if your work was more consistent, your budgets stretched further and nothing felt like an afterthought. Super Bowl ad review The best and worst commercials from the Big Game Click here

Your marketing budget isn’t the issue—how you spend it is

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