But how many times did you show the brand?
"Show the brand in the first two seconds!"
"Show the brand at the end!"
"Show the brand more!"
"Don't show the brand so much, it makes us look desperate!"
Here's some great data from Millward Brown (now Kantar) about the effect of QUANTITY and LOCATION of brand mentions in ads on brand linkage.
In short: they see no correlation between those things. Yowza!
What they DO see is that brand linkage goes up when the brand is integrated into the story. At minimum, during the most important moment of the story. At best, throughout.
Here's a good example of a very effective spot from M&Ms: https://lnkd.in/ep6y-W7
Caveats, of course (it’s research!). But it’s cool data & compelling findings.