Why Full-Funnel, Omnichannel Strategies Are Essential in Modern Advertising
In today’s crowded media landscape, brands face a challenge that is both simple and complex: how to capture attention, drive consideration, and convert prospects into loyal customers across multiple touchpoints. Traditional marketing approaches—relying on siloed campaigns in a single channel—are no longer sufficient. Consumers often interact with five or more channels before making a purchase decision, and their perceptions are heavily influenced by the cumulative experience of your brand.
This is where the Halo Effect comes into play, and why a full-funnel, omnichannel strategy is no longer optional – it’s essential.
Understanding the Halo Effect
The Halo Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which positive impressions created by one aspect of a brand influence perceptions of other aspects of that same brand. In advertising, this translates to the way a well-executed, emotionally engaging campaign can elevate perceptions across your entire brand ecosystem.
For example, a consumer who watches a high-quality, emotionally resonant video ad on connected TV (CTV) may perceive your brand as more credible, trustworthy, and relevant. That positive impression doesn’t just stay with the video; it carries over to other channels, increasing the likelihood that they will click on a display ad, engage with your social content, respond to a direct or shared mail offer, or even convert through search marketing.
The Halo Effect isn’t just about sentiment; it’s measurable. Brands that consistently deploy top-of-funnel, high-impact media often see lifts in branded search queries, social engagement, click-through rates, and even conversion efficiency in lower-funnel channels. Essentially, the Halo Effect acts as an invisible amplifier, turning awareness campaigns into drivers of tangible business results.
Why a Full-Funnel Strategy Matters
To leverage the Halo Effect effectively, brands must think in terms of the full marketing funnel—from awareness to consideration to conversion—and orchestrate channels to work together rather than in isolation.
- Upper Funnel (Awareness and Emotion): These channels – with their mass reach and scale – create the first positive impression, generating emotional resonance that underpins the Halo Effect.
- Mid-Funnel (Engagement and Reinforcement): Channels here sustain interest, deepen consideration, build affinity, and reinforce the brand message.
- Lower Funnel (Conversion and Retention): These channels capitalize on the elevated brand perception to drive purchase, repeat engagement, and long-term loyalty.
A full-funnel approach ensures that every touchpoint is interconnected. When strategically coordinated, upper-funnel investments in emotional storytelling improve the efficiency of mid- and lower-funnel channels, creating a cumulative impact greater than the sum of individual efforts.
Channel Roles in an Omnichannel Halo Strategy
Each channel contributes uniquely to building and leveraging the Halo Effect. Understanding the specific role of each channel is critical to designing an effective full-funnel strategy.
1. Connected TV (CTV) / Pre-Roll
CTV and premium pre-roll placements are among the most effective halo generators. High-quality video engages multiple senses, allowing brands to tell a story, convey emotion, and establish credibility. This is especially important in today’s fragmented media environment, where attention is scarce and consumers are increasingly selective about the content they engage with.
Impact on Halo Effect: CTV exposure often increases brand recall, lifts unaided brand awareness, and drives search activity, all of which amplify subsequent campaign performance across channels.
Strategic Tip: Use CTV campaigns to introduce your brand narrative and emotionally resonate with audiences before they encounter performance-driven messages in other channels.
2. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH)
DOOH provides large-scale visibility in physical, real-world environments. Billboards, transit signage, and interactive displays allow brands to reinforce messaging in high-traffic areas while adding legitimacy and trust.
Impact on Halo Effect: Seeing a brand in a tangible, physical environment reinforces credibility, increases top-of-mind awareness, and strengthens the emotional association built through digital video.
Strategic Tip: Synchronize DOOH placements with mobile or CTV campaigns to increase exposure frequency and geographic relevance.
3. Paid Social
Social media enables direct engagement with audiences and provides an interactive environment to reinforce brand perception. Paid social campaigns can retarget audiences with content tailored to their stage in the journey.
Impact on Halo Effect: Social proof—likes, shares, and comments—compounds the Halo Effect by adding peer validation. Consumers are more likely to trust and engage with brands that others endorse.
Strategic Tip: Use social campaigns to nurture consideration and engagement, guiding audiences from awareness to active exploration of your products or services.
4. Digital Display
Digital display advertising keeps your brand top-of-mind through repeated exposure. It acts as a memory reinforcement tool, reminding consumers of prior positive interactions.
Impact on Halo Effect: Display campaigns see higher click-through rates and engagement when audiences have previously encountered your brand via emotionally resonant channels.
Strategic Tip: Sequence display ads after upper-funnel video campaigns to capitalize on the emotional priming provided by the Halo Effect.
5. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM captures intent-driven demand, monetizing the Halo Effect by converting familiarity and trust into action. Consumers who have been primed by prior exposure are more likely to click on branded search results and complete a conversion.
Impact on Halo Effect: Branded search queries often increase following video or social campaigns, lowering cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition metrics.
Strategic Tip: Coordinate upper-funnel campaigns with SEM efforts to maximize the efficiency of paid search and leverage search intent created by awareness-building channels.
6. Mobile
Mobile bridges the digital and physical worlds, offering opportunities for geofenced targeting, app engagement, and real-time activation.
Impact on Halo Effect: Mobile channels allow brands to convert awareness into measurable behavior, such as store visits, app downloads, or location-specific offers, all amplified by previous exposure through other channels.
Strategic Tip: Use mobile to activate audiences already primed by CTV, DOOH, or social campaigns, creating a seamless transition from awareness to action.
7. Shared & Direct Mail
Physical mail remains a highly effective touchpoint, particularly when it follows digital exposure. The tangible nature of mail adds credibility, strengthens trust, and drives response rates.
Impact on Halo Effect: Recipients are more likely to respond positively to shared & direct mail when they already have a favorable impression of the brand.
Strategic Tip: Integrate direct mail with digital campaigns to reinforce messaging and encourage conversions, particularly for high-value or consideration-stage audiences.
8. Acquisition Email
Email is an ideal lower-funnel channel for nurturing engagement into conversion. When recipients have already been exposed to the brand through upper-funnel channels, open rates, click-through rates, and conversions are significantly higher.
Impact on Halo Effect: Prior exposure elevates trust and familiarity, making email messaging more effective and increasing overall ROI.
Strategic Tip: Sequence email campaigns to coincide with awareness campaigns and tailor messaging to capitalize on prior positive brand experiences.
The Power of Orchestration
The key to unlocking the Halo Effect is orchestration. It’s not enough to simply run campaigns in multiple channels; brands must align messaging, creative identity, and timing across the entire funnel.
- Upper-funnel channels (CTV, DOOH) generate emotional resonance and awareness.
- Mid-funnel channels (paid social, display) reinforce engagement and consideration.
- Lower-funnel channels (SEM, mobile, direct mail, email) convert trust into action and build long-term relationships.
When these channels work in concert, each touchpoint enhances the performance of the next, reducing acquisition costs, improving conversion efficiency, and creating a cohesive brand experience that drives long-term loyalty.
Measuring Success
To evaluate the impact of the Halo Effect within a full-funnel strategy, marketers should track both brand and performance metrics:
Brand metrics: Capture the degree to which audiences recognize, recall, and favorably perceive your brand after exposure to awareness-generating channels such as CTV, DOOH, or high-impact social campaigns:
- Awareness lift: Measures the increase in brand recognition among target audiences, indicating the effectiveness of top-of-funnel campaigns in making your brand more visible and memorable.
- Recall: Assesses how well consumers remember your brand and its messaging unaided, reflecting the emotional resonance and strength of the Halo Effect.
- Favorability: Tracks shifts in consumer attitudes, showing whether your campaigns are enhancing trust, perceived quality, and brand credibility.
- Unaided brand recognition: Evaluates how often your brand comes to mind spontaneously in relevant contexts, demonstrating top-of-funnel impact that primes lower-funnel engagement.
Performance metrics: Track how these positive brand impressions translate into concrete, measurable actions across digital and physical channels:
- Click-through rate (CTR): Measures engagement with digital assets—display, social, email, or mobile—highlighting how prior exposure influences users to explore or interact with your brand.
- Conversion rate: Captures the proportion of users completing desired actions, from service bookings and purchases to newsletter sign-ups, indicating the efficiency of mid- and lower-funnel channels.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): Demonstrates the efficiency of your marketing spend, showing how the Halo Effect can reduce acquisition costs by increasing conversion rates among primed audiences.
- Search query lift: Tracks increases in branded or category-specific searches, signaling heightened interest and intent driven by emotional engagement from upper-funnel campaigns.
Tracking these metrics across channels allows marketers to quantify the synergy between emotional, upper-funnel investments and lower-funnel performance, providing a roadmap for optimizing omnichannel strategies.
Conclusion
In an era where consumers engage with multiple touchpoints before making a purchase decision, relying on single-channel tactics is no longer sufficient. The Halo Effect demonstrates the power of emotionally resonant campaigns to influence perception across an entire brand ecosystem. By adopting a full-funnel, omnichannel approach, brands can strategically harness the Halo Effect to:
- Drive awareness and emotional connection
- Reinforce engagement across channels
- Capture intent and maximize conversions
- Build long-term loyalty and trust
The brands that excel are those that view marketing as a continuous, interconnected journey rather than a collection of isolated campaigns. Orchestrating channels to leverage the Halo Effect ensures that every investment—whether upper-funnel storytelling or lower-funnel performance—works together to create maximum impact.
A well-executed omnichannel strategy doesn’t just generate impressions; it generates influence, driving measurable results while building enduring brand equity.