Combining pipe with exit status in bash shell script

I have this bash shell-script command that causes date to run if make succeeds (terminates with zero exit status) and vice versa:

make && date

but now I want to process its output e.g.

make | sed s/a/A/

If I do

make | sed s/a/A/ && date

date runs even when make fails.

If I instead do

make && date | sed s/a/A/

the sed processes date's output instead of make's.

Would you know of any solution? Thanks!

P.S. I've tried these:

(make | sed s/a/A/) && date

date still runs when make fails.

(make && (date > /dev/null)) | sed s/a/A/

date doesn't run when make succeeds.