Les Binet
Most marketing budgets are built to show results this quarter, not grow profit next year. Short-term ROI metrics look rigorous but actively mislead investment decisions. Decades of effectiveness case studies show that brands cutting brand budgets in favour of performance channels are trading long-term profit for visible short-term returns.
Les Binet, co-author of the IPA’s The Long and the Short of It, helps senior marketing teams resolve the tension between short-term performance metrics and the long-term brand investment that drives profit growth, drawing on the most comprehensive body of effectiveness evidence in published form.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Les Binet
- The 60:40 brand-to-activation framework he co-developed with Peter Field is the most cited effectiveness benchmark in UK marketing strategy. Organisations use it to build a defensible, evidence-based case for long-term brand investment to boards focused on quarterly ROI.
- His analysis of the IPA Effectiveness Databank covers more than 1,000 case studies across 700 brands, 83 sectors and over three decades of commercial data. No comparable longitudinal evidence base for marketing investment decisions exists in published form.
- The Share of Search metric he developed gives organisations a free, predictive tool for tracking brand health and anticipating market share movements, validated across automotive, energy and handset categories using publicly available Google Trends data.
- Research he presented at the 2025 IPA Effectiveness Conference showed that marketing budget is eight times more important than ROI in driving effectiveness. Most CMOs surveyed believed the opposite – a gap his work directly addresses.
- His grounding in Physics, Artificial Intelligence research and LSE econometrics makes him one of the few voices in effectiveness who can construct, interrogate and critique the statistical models organisations use to evaluate their own campaigns.
Biography highlights
- Co-author of The Long and the Short of It (IPA, 2013) and four further IPA effectiveness reports; has contributed to more IPA Effectiveness Awards papers than any other individual (per the Advertising Association)
- Former Group Head of Effectiveness at adam&eveDDB; joined BMP account planning in 1987 and remained across all iterations of the agency for more than three decades
- Recipient of the IPA President’s Medal (2014), the highest honour the UK advertising industry can award
- Elected IPA Honorary Fellow (2004); Convener of Judges, IPA Effectiveness Awards (2005)
- Board Advisor, Journal of Advertising Research; named in Campaign Magazine’s “40 over 40” (2023)
- MA Physics, Oxford; MPhil Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh; postgraduate Economics (Birkbeck) and Econometrics (LSE)
Biography
The Long and the Short of It, published by the IPA in 2013, is one of the most-cited effectiveness documents in marketing. Its co-author, Les Binet, spent three decades at adam&eveDDB building the evidence that most organisations structure their marketing investment around the wrong metrics.
The research drew on 996 advertising effectiveness case studies across 700 brands, 83 sectors and more than 30 years of IPA Databank data. Its central finding of the “60:40 heuristic” recommended that most consumer brands allocate roughly 60% of marketing budget to brand building and 40% to short-term activation. The report has since been cited in over 70 academic publications and referenced across multiple languages.
Binet’s subsequent work has continued to extend the evidence base. The Share of Search metric he developed gives organisations a free, predictive tool for tracking brand health using Google Trends data, validated across automotive, energy and handset categories. At the 2025 IPA Effectiveness Conference, he presented research with Medialab showing that budget is eight times more important than ROI in driving marketing effectiveness. Most CMOs surveyed believed the opposite.
He read Physics at Oxford and completed an MPhil in Artificial Intelligence at Edinburgh, later adding postgraduate study in Economics at Birkbeck and Econometrics at the LSE. Elected an IPA Honorary Fellow in 2004, he received the IPA President’s Medal in 2014. He serves as a Board Advisor to the Journal of Advertising Research and consults independently through Binet Consulting.
Key speaking topics
- Marketing effectiveness measurement
- Brand building versus short-term activation
- The 60:40 investment framework
- Share of Search and brand demand indicators
- Econometrics and advertising evaluation
- Media effectiveness in digital environments
- Evidence-based marketing investment strategy
Ideal for
- CMOs and senior marketing leaders making significant media and brand investment decisions
- CFOs and finance functions reviewing marketing accountability and budget allocation
- Boards and executive teams evaluating the commercial return on advertising investment
- Strategy, planning and insight functions in organisations with major advertising spend
Audience outcomes
- A clear, evidence-grounded framework for distinguishing short-term ROI from long-term profit growth, and why the difference matters to boards
- Practical understanding of the 60:40 brand-to-activation heuristic and how to adapt it by sector, brand maturity and business context
- A working introduction to Share of Search as a predictive brand health indicator, applicable without specialist tools or budget
- A stronger internal case for protecting brand investment in organisations under pressure to demonstrate immediate measurable returns
- Familiarity with the specific effectiveness patterns – reach, share of voice, emotional advertising – that the IPA data consistently identifies as drivers of commercial results
Talks
An evidence-based examination of how to balance long-term brand building with short-term activation across an evolving media landscape, grounded in decades of IPA Effectiveness Databank analysis.
Key takeaways:
- The general principles for effective marketing that hold across brand types, sectors and digital contexts
- How to allocate budget and select media channels to maximise both short-term performance and long-term brand growth
- How to adapt the established effectiveness rules – including the 60:40 framework – to specific brand and business contexts
A presentation of new effectiveness research showing that marketing budget is eight times more important than ROI in driving outcomes, and why the industry’s focus on efficiency is producing diminishing returns.
Key takeaways:
- Why ROI is an inadequate primary metric for marketing investment decisions, and what to use alongside it
- The evidence on reach, scale and broad-audience targeting as drivers of major commercial effects
- A practical playbook for making the case for budget, ambition and brand building in organisations focused on measurable short-term performance
Videos
Books
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Asia Pacific | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| Europe | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Middle East & Africa | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| South America | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| United Kingdom | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| US East Coast | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| US West Coast | €40000 to €90000 | £35,001 - £75,000 | $50000 - $100000 |
| Virtual | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |