For years, marketing strategy followed the linear funnel. A consumer would move from awareness to consideration to purchase, and media allocation mirrored that sequence. Today’s reality is richer and far more complex. Customers explore, evaluate, and decide through a swirl of streaming, scrolling, searching, and shopping—often all within the same hour. At Kainjoo, we see this shift as an opportunity to replace the funnel mindset with influence mapping, a method that reveals how each touchpoint shapes demand and drives measurable outcomes.
BCG’s latest research, paired with YouTube’s data, provides a roadmap for this transformation. Together, these insights show how to measure the influence of each touchpoint, identify mismatches between influence and investment, and harness three powerful drivers—attention, relevance, and trust—to unlock growth.
From Funnel to Influence Mapping
Influence mapping begins by combining two measures: a touchpoint’s impact on purchasing decisions and the consumer’s recall of that touchpoint. This creates a clear view of where a brand truly earns its place in the customer journey.
When marketers align spend with influence, they uncover underutilised opportunities and trim excess from overfunded channels. In BCG’s research, digital video—particularly YouTube—consistently demonstrated influence beyond initial awareness, shaping decisions at multiple moments from discovery to purchase.
Five distinct pathways emerged from the analysis:
1. Find the Best Product
Shoppers here commit significant time and resources to researching options. They compare sources, weigh features, and seek proof before making a higher-stakes purchase.
2. Indulge My Curiosity
These consumers respond to sparks—an ad, a creator’s recommendation, a cultural moment. They explore with openness and often discover brands serendipitously.
3. Shop My Ongoing Interests
Regular browsers stay engaged with their favourite categories, tracking trends and new arrivals through rich, continuous content.
4. Match My Vision and My Means
This pathway balances aspiration with pragmatism. Shoppers search visually, aligning style goals with budget realities.
5. See If It Works
Some buyers start lightly, testing options and refining choices as they approach purchase. They value flexibility and ease in returning or adjusting.
Each pathway reflects different motivations and behaviours, which means each demands a tailored mix of channels, content, and creative partnerships.
The Three Drivers of Influence
Kainjoo applies BCG’s behavioural lens—attention, relevance, and trust—to evaluate how touchpoints work.
1. Attention
This is the consumer’s active engagement with content. YouTube excels here: shoppers are 1.5× more likely to focus on content compared to social platforms and twice as likely compared to streaming services. Whether it’s a short tutorial or a three-hour deep dive, YouTube commands intentional, lean-in viewing.
2. Relevance
Relevance happens when content feels tailored to a person’s interests and needs. On YouTube, content is 1.7× more likely to be perceived as relevant than on social platforms. Creator communities provide depth in niche interests, enabling brands to align precisely with passions and cultural signals.
3. Trust
Trust converts interest into action. Ipsos research shows online users are 98% more likely to trust recommendations from YouTube creators than those from other platforms. BCG’s study found YouTube more than doubles trust scores versus social platforms. Creator-led experiences build credibility through sustained, authentic relationships.
YouTube’s Strategic Advantage
Beyond statistics, YouTube offers a connected viewing environment where mobile, desktop, and CTV reinforce each other. CTV has now become the top way Americans watch YouTube, bringing the scale and impact of television into a digital-first ecosystem.
Campaigns that align with creator credibility and audience context achieve measurable results. Prada’s Demand Gen campaign for its fall/winter collection is a case in point. By targeting high-intent viewers, the brand achieved a 47% increase in add-to-cart actions and a 70% lift in purchases compared to a control group.
These results reflect a broader truth: YouTube plays a role at every stage of the journey—driving discovery, influencing consideration, and catalysing purchase decisions. According to BCG, YouTube is 1.7× more likely to boost brand consideration and 1.6× more likely to drive purchase decisions than social platforms.
Aligning Investment with Influence
Influence mapping exposes when spend and impact are misaligned. Some high-impact channels receive minimal budget, while low-impact channels consume disproportionate resources. By comparing share of influence to share of spend, brands can rebalance allocations and capture untapped potential.
This approach works best when applied to the brand’s priority pathways. For example, a “Find the Best Product” audience might respond strongly to long-form YouTube reviews and independent creator comparisons, while an “Indulge My Curiosity” audience might engage more through short-form creator-led storytelling amplified across platforms.
Matching creative format and placement to the pathway ensures media dollars work harder, while influence mapping confirms whether those dollars land in the right places.
Turning Insight into Competitive Edge
At Kainjoo, we guide brands to translate influence mapping into tangible business outcomes. That means connecting media choices to KPIs like ROI, brand lift, and customer lifetime value. It means designing creator partnerships that deliver attention, relevance, and trust in combination, rather than in isolation.
The winning brands of this era will master this orchestration—aligning content to culture, channels to consumer pathways, and spend to influence. In doing so, they will not only capture attention but transform it into preference, loyalty, and growth.
