Abstract

This study examines how firm characteristics relate to the allocation of advertising budgets across the marketing funnel, with emphasis on the share devoted to upper-funnel activity. I develop a multi-stage model in which stage-specific logit response functions depend on firm attributes, implying that optimal allocation equalizes marginal profit per dollar across stages given these underlying differences. Guided by this framework, I construct an imputed measure of upper-funnel intensity and compile a hand-collected panel of 18 large, publicly listed consumer-facing firms, combining annual advertising expenditures with data on profitability, liquidity, leverage, size, and industry. Reduced-form panel regressions show that firm size is the most robust correlate of upper-funnel intensity, with leverage playing a smaller but positive role, while profitability, cash holdings, and inventory turnover display no consistent association. Industry effects remain strong: FMCG and Tech firms allocate systematically more to the upper funnel than Retail and Leisure firms, even after controlling for financial variables. Given the small sample, focus on large advertisers, and reliance on an imputed outcome, the results should be viewed as exploratory evidence on how observable firm traits line up with theory-driven funnel allocations and as a basis for future work using richer data on actual stage-level budgets.

Advisor

Davison, Colin

Department

Economics

Disciplines

Advertising and Promotion Management

Keywords

Marketing, Advertising, Budget allocation, conversion funnel, marketing funnel, optimum allocation.

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

Download

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2026 Othmane Oumnad