The Awareness Effect

Beyond Clicks, Beyond Algorithms — The Power of Being Known

In today’s fast-moving marketing landscape, it’s easy to believe that success lies in short-term wins. The race for clicks, likes, and conversions often feels relentless. But the truth is, while performance marketing tactics deliver quick results, they rarely build long-term value on their own. The brands that achieve real, lasting success understand something far deeper — it’s not just about being seen, it’s about being known.

Presence matters. Recognition matters. Trust matters. And when all three are working together, that’s when brands really start to win — not just offline, but across digital channels too.

This is something Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and one of the most influential voices in modern marketing, has long championed. As he said recently on the Uncensored CMO podcast:

“I think if you look at the value of a company being famous rather than obscure… it manifests itself in so many ways it’s impossible to put a value on it.” **

It’s a powerful reminder that marketing isn’t just about selling products — it’s about creating familiarity, trust and even desire long before a purchase is made. And that level of brand fame isn’t built through fleeting social media impressions or paid search alone. It’s built through presence — meaningful, memorable, and sustained.

The Smartest Brands Aren’t Chasing Clicks — They’re Building Presence

While it might seem that the marketing world is dominated by a race for instant results, the most successful brands know better. They understand that while performance marketing has its place, it’s presence that builds longevity. Presence means being seen, recognised, and trusted in the right environments, long before a customer is ready to buy. It’s not about shouting louder or spending more online — it’s about showing up in meaningful spaces, consistently and with care. It’s about being woven into the lifestyle and aspirations of your audience, becoming a brand they know before they need you, and feel good about when they do.

At Engine House Media, We See This Every Day

Across Cornwall, Devon and the South West, we see this play out time and time again. The brands that thrive aren’t simply those with the best targeting or the biggest ad budget. They’re the ones with visibility that extends beyond a digital screen. They’re the names our readers encounter when flicking through Cornwall Living over their morning coffee or when exploring the beautifully curated pages of Drift in their coastal retreat. These brands have understood something vital: that trust isn’t built in an instant — it’s built in moments. Moments of discovery, of inspiration, of genuine engagement within environments that their audience values deeply.

Print Does This Exceptionally Well

In a world that often feels overcrowded and noisy, print offers a rare sense of calm. It demands attention in a way that digital cannot. A magazine like Cornwall Living or Drift isn’t something to be scrolled past or forgotten — it’s chosen. It sits on coffee tables, in holiday homes, in hotel lounges, and it lingers in the places where memories are made. In print, your brand isn’t one of a thousand distractions — it’s part of a carefully crafted narrative. It lives alongside inspiring stories, beautiful imagery, and content readers genuinely want to spend time with. That context gives your brand credibility. It creates space for your story to breathe and to be remembered.

Magazines Like Cornwall Living and Drift Aren’t Fleeting Social Content or Interruptive Ads — They’re Experiences

When a reader encounters your brand in Cornwall Living or Drift, it’s not as an interruption to their day, but as part of an experience they have chosen to immerse themselves in. These magazines have become trusted companions for our audiences — guides to a lifestyle they aspire to, and a lens through which they discover new places, products and ideas. To appear within these pages is to appear within that aspirational world, not fighting for attention, but elevated by association. It’s an entirely different relationship to the transient nature of social media content. It’s a presence that endures, long after the moment has passed.

They Tell a Story Before a Single Click Ever Happens

And that’s the most compelling thing of all. Before your digital campaigns ever land, before your social content is seen, before anyone has Googled your business, print has already done the most important job of all — it has told your story. It has planted the seed of recognition. The result is that when your future customer does see your ad online, they’re not meeting you for the first time. They’re meeting a brand they already recognise, already feel they can trust. That familiarity makes every click cheaper, every ad more effective, and every customer journey that little bit easier.

Print & Digital Aren’t Opposites — They’re Multipliers

That’s why the smartest brands aren’t choosing between print and digital — they’re using them together. Because when you align presence and performance, you don’t just reach more people; you reach people better. This is what The Awareness Advantage model calls growth efficiency — the ability to convert more customers, more often, for less spend.

Here’s how that looks in practice:

Magazine Advertising → Builds awareness and trust offline

Social Media Advertising → Retargets a warm audience already familiar with your brand

Performance Advertising (like Meta or TikTok ads) → Converts at a lower cost because you’re not a stranger anymore

Organic Social Content → Deepens engagement and turns awareness into loyalty

It’s a win-win. This is The Awareness Advantage in action: offline credibility fuelling online performance.

The Data Doesn’t Lie

The Tracksuit Awareness Advantage study puts clear numbers behind what brand marketers have felt intuitively for years. It found that brands with just 40% awareness are already 43% more efficient at driving online conversions than brands operating at 30%​. Raise that awareness to 60%, and conversion rates on platforms like TikTok improve by up to 2.86x compared to brands stuck at 20%​.

In other words, the more people know your brand, the more affordable and effective your digital ads become. It's a virtuous circle that proves one thing above all: brand presence drives performance.

Or, as James Hurman, Co-Founder of Tracksuit, put it:

"Brand is the foundation on which performance success is built: the stronger the brand, the stronger the foundation."​

Why Engine House Media is Perfect for Building Awareness That Performs

At Engine House Media, everything we do is designed to create this kind of presence. We believe in making memories — not just impressions. Our magazines, whether Cornwall Living with its wide-reaching lifestyle focus, or Drift with its design-led luxury storytelling, are crafted to deliver more than visibility.

They deliver belonging. They place your brand into the hands, homes and holiday moments of affluent, engaged consumers across Cornwall, Devon and the South West. Consumers who choose to spend time with our content, who trust what they read, and who are ready to engage with brands that become part of their story.

Final Thought: Fame is a Luck Multiplier

Greg Hahn once said: "Fame is a luck multiplier." And when it comes to marketing, that’s exactly right. The more people know your brand, the more everything else starts to fall into place. Customers find you faster. Ad spend goes further. Sales convert quicker. Loyalty grows deeper.

But this isn’t just theory — it’s a strategic advantage backed by years of industry wisdom and fresh data alike. Awareness changes everything. It removes friction from every stage of the customer journey. It makes marketing more efficient, sales more effortless, and brands more resilient.

It’s not created by accident. Fame is crafted — through stories well told, presence well placed, and moments well chosen.

That’s exactly what Engine House Media exists to do.

Ready to Give Your Brand The Awareness Advantage?

Get in touch with Engine House Media today and let’s talk about how we can help your brand show up — beautifully, meaningfully, and memorably — across every platform that matters.

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Access TikTok & Tracksuit's Awareness Report