A direct response advertising agency is almost of form of being the cheapest. It's like being the "Amazon" of marketing ( in terms of price). For example, as marketer or business owner, if I have identified that I want a direct marketing agency and I want a pay per lead system; I have also told myself a story of something like this: I want the most amount of leads for the least amount of money. Now I may desire to pay more to insure I have quality leads and to not damage my brand in the long run but once again that's just another cost and risk I am trying to avoid by paying more up front.

The general theme of direct marketing is to lower risk and cost for immediate short term gains.

Now, building brands requires risk, which requires  incurring costs that may not realize any returns now, in the future or ever. Every creative venture or leap worth performing innately caries risk and if you can't dance with the risk you can't build real a brand.

Brand marketing is taking the path less followed. It can be dark and uncharted but sometimes it can be more rewarding. It is certainly more urgent.