The definitive guide to Brand Lift

Brand lift study data provides a tool for brands and agencies to optimize the ROI on their advertising

Great marketing isn’t just about launching campaigns—it’s about unlocking their full potential. While metrics like impressions and clicks offer surface-level insights, they don’t reveal whether an ad actually influenced perception or intent. Brand lift measurement changes that by quantifying the shifts in awareness, favorability, and purchase intent that your advertising creates.

What You Will Learn in This Guide

This guide empowers you with everything you need to know about brand lift, from how it works to how you can leverage it to enhance your advertising strategy.

1. What is brand lift?
2. How do you know who has seen an ad?
3. How do you measure the real impact of an ad?
4. What makes brand lift different from brand tracking?
5. What does brand lift tell us about the success of an ad?
6. How can I use brand lift in my organization?
7. How does DISQO approach brand lift?

What is Brand Lift?

Brand lift is the incremental change in consumer sentiment resulting from an ad campaign. It measures shifts in key brand metrics—awareness, favorability, and purchase intent—by comparing those exposed to an ad against those who weren’t.

What is brand lift measurement?

It quantifies how people’s sentiments toward a brand change after being exposed to an advertisement. A brand lift study explores how exposure to your ad changes:

• Aided awareness – do people recognize the brand when prompted?
• Unaided awareness – do people recall the brand without prompting?
• Ad awareness  - do people remember the ad?
• Message association  - do people associate the messages with the brand?
• Brand familiarity  - how well-known is the brand?
• Brand favorability - how is the brand perceived?
• Brand preference - is the brand preferred over others?
• Brand consideration - is the brand considered in the product category?
• Purchase intent - do people intend to buy the brand?

Why does this matter? Traditional performance metrics like click-through rates don’t tell you if an ad actually influenced perception. Brand lift provides this missing insight.

How do you know who has seen an ad?

Understanding who has seen an ad is crucial for evaluating campaign success, but traditional tracking methods—like third-party cookies and mobile IDs—are no longer reliable. With evolving privacy policies and shifting technology, traditional tracking methods struggle to keep up. Some browsers block cookies by default, consumers opt out of tracking, and publishers limit third-party tracking on their sites. This shift presents an opportunity for more reliable, consumer-first measurement approaches.

A better approach is first-party, identity-based measurement, which directly connects ad exposure with real consumers across all platforms. Unlike cookie-based tracking, this method ensures brands get a complete, deterministic view of who has seen their ads and how they respond.

What you should look for in a brand lift partner:

• First-party data – Fully consented, direct from real consumers.
• Deterministic measurement – No guesswork, just precise exposure tracking.
• Cross-platform reach – Seamlessly measure ad impact across social, CTV, digital, podcasts, radio, and more.
• Future-proof approach – Stay ahead of privacy changes while gaining accurate, scalable measurement.

How do you know the impact of an ad?

To measure true impact, brand lift studies compare two groups:

• Exposed group: Consumers who saw the ad.
• Control group: Similar consumers who did not.

Brand lift uncovers the incremental lift your campaign generates by analyzing shifts in awareness, favorability, and intent. This insight provides:

• Actionable Insights: Learn what works best—by audience, platform, frequency, and creative.
• Faster Optimization: Adjust in-market campaigns in real time.
• More Confidence: Know which media investments actually drive results for you, or your clients.

What makes brand lift different from brand tracking?

While brand tracking monitors perception over time, brand lift measures the impact of specific ad campaigns.

What does brand lift tell us about ad success?

Brand lift helps marketers answer:

• Did the ad deliver its intended message?
• Which creative elements resonated most?
• How did different audience segments respond?
• Which media placements were most effective?

See it in action:

• Case Study: Propelling Brand Growth for Josh Cellars
• Case Study: A top apparel brand measured social ad effectiveness and drove incremental lift in purchase intent.

How can I use brand lift in my organization?

Brand lift insights fuel smarter strategies across teams.

• Creative teams – Refine messaging based on what resonates most.
• Media planners – Allocate budgets to the most impactful platforms.
• Ad operations – Optimize campaigns while they’re still live.
• Analytics teams – Connect ad exposure with broader brand performance.
• Media partners – Prove the effectiveness of their advertising channels.

How Does DISQO approach brand lift?

DISQO’s identity-based, first-party measurement unlocks deeper insights to measure with confidence:

• 100% consented, direct consumer data, so no reliance on cookies.
• Deterministic measurement that proves ad exposure and impact with precision.
• Seamless cross-platform insights into digital, TV, social, podcasts, and beyond.
• Real-time optimization for in-market campaigns.
• Superior and embedded experts to empower your successes
• Flexible metrics that help you measure what matters most

Ready to measure what matters? Explore DISQO Brand Lift Now →