South Africa, June 8 -- Marketing has spent too many years asking for belief when it should have been building proof.

It has asked the Board to believe in awareness. It has asked the CFO to understand engagement. It has asked the CEO to accept that brand equity takes time. It has also asked sales teams to trust that the leads are good, even when the sales numbers do not follow.

And, too often, it has done all of this while reporting on impressions, reach, likes, comments, click-through rates and cost per lead as if these were the same as profitable growth.

They are not.

They are signals. They are touchpoints. They are useful, but only when they are connected to the commercial result they are meant to influence.

This is the uncomforta...