MUSIC DRIVES ADVERTISING PROFITABILITY

20. 10. 2025 A new study by Massive Music and the IPA details the brand and business effects that highly engaging, fitting, and memorable music can have on advertising performance. Why music matters We know intuitively that great music, from jingles to sonic assets, can lodge in our brains in a way that other media doesn’t. But the… Continue reading MUSIC DRIVES ADVERTISING PROFITABILITY

BINET AND DAVIS: MARKETERS WATCH ROI, BUT BUDGET SIZE IS MORE IMPORTANT

17. 10. 2025 Larger budgets have eight times more impact on effectiveness than focusing on campaign return on investment (ROI). That’s according to new research from the IPA, led by Les Binet and Will Davis. The new research reveals a disconnect between what really drives marketing effectiveness and what marketers believe. That’s one of the conclusions of new… Continue reading BINET AND DAVIS: MARKETERS WATCH ROI, BUT BUDGET SIZE IS MORE IMPORTANT

MARKETERS’ EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS DISCONNECT RISKS ‘DEATH SPIRAL’, LES BINET WARNS

7. 10. 2025 Marketers appear to be misdiagnosing their challenge by optimising for efficiency rather than for profitability, according to a new research collaboration by Les Binet and Will Davis, chief data officer at Medialab. The research gets at a tension in modern marketing: efficiency – typically measured using ROI – versus a longer term investment in brand… Continue reading MARKETERS’ EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS DISCONNECT RISKS ‘DEATH SPIRAL’, LES BINET WARNS

ORLANDO WOOD INTERVIEW: WHY ADVERTISING NEEDS SHOWMANSHIP AGAIN – AN INTERVIEW WITH ORLANDO WOOD

2. 9. 2025 Orlando Wood share his views on the enduring principles of effective advertising, the future role of television, and how brands can rediscover the creativity that fuels long-term growth.

FIVE CHARTS TO END THE TV DEBATE

23. 3. 2025 To drive growth, we must strengthen the brand, says Peter Field. For almost the last twenty years, the performance marketing world has been arguing that brand-building advertising is wasteful and unnecessary; that all a business needs to do is to spend their advertising money at the bottom of the sales funnel. This means using targeted… Continue reading FIVE CHARTS TO END THE TV DEBATE

TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT HUMOUR IN ADVERTISING

22. 2. 2025 Humour in advertising is a powerful driver of brand memorability and engagement. WARC’s India Editor Biprorshee Das dives into why humour works, where brands go wrong, and how to get it right – some key takeaways from the recently published What’s working in humorous advertising report. Humour in advertising is so much more than just… Continue reading TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT HUMOUR IN ADVERTISING

GOOD ADS DON’T WEAR OUT. CONSISTENCY IS A GOOD ALLY FOR BRANDS

13. 2. 2025 Marketers’ biggest vice is their impatience and need for change. But sometimes it’s better to leave things as they are. Why? System1’s research shows that advertising consistency is a major contributor to brand growth. Resisting the temptation to change the advertising once we get bored is not easy for marketers, but it’s worth it. Consistency… Continue reading GOOD ADS DON’T WEAR OUT. CONSISTENCY IS A GOOD ALLY FOR BRANDS

AWARD-WINNING CAMPAIGNS ARE MORE LIKELY TO USE QUANTITATIVE PRE-TESTING

3. 12. 2024 More than half of winners in the IPA Effectiveness Awards are now using quantitative pre-testing, a trend that has been growing steadily over the past two decades. What’s happening More than four in ten entrants to the IPA Effectiveness Awards are using quant pre-testing – and 51% of winners. Previous analysis of the IPA Databank… Continue reading AWARD-WINNING CAMPAIGNS ARE MORE LIKELY TO USE QUANTITATIVE PRE-TESTING

STUDY UK: IPA RESEARCH REVEALS HOW MUCH AVERAGE BRIT INTENDS TO SPEND THIS CHRISTMAS

8. 10. 2024 The average British consumer expects to spend almost £600 (£593.90) on core Christmas-related products and activity – including food, gifts, decorations, socialising and travelling – during the 2024 festive period. This is according to the IPA’s annual Christmas-focussed survey of 2,000 UK adults, carried out by Opinium. The IPA Insight report ‘The 2024 Christmas Consumer’… Continue reading STUDY UK: IPA RESEARCH REVEALS HOW MUCH AVERAGE BRIT INTENDS TO SPEND THIS CHRISTMAS

THREE FACTORS THAT MAKE TV CRITICAL TO EFFECTIVENESS

27. 3. 2024 Attention, emotional clout, and trust are the critical elements of what makes TV effective, says Peter Field in a new report exploring the enduring business impact of television advertising. Why TV (still) matters TV remains a constant of effective advertising, and, increasingly, of profitable companies. “I would argue that any marketer who considers walking away… Continue reading THREE FACTORS THAT MAKE TV CRITICAL TO EFFECTIVENESS

MOOD MATTERS: REACHING TV VIEWERS AT THE RIGHT MOMENT

30. 5. 2023 Reaching people in positive moods can boost the likelihood that people notice, like and believe our ads. So why do so many marketers ignore its power? Joanna Stanley looks at the behavioural science behind mood, and offers ideas to optimise your next campaign. In the story of the Good Samaritan, a Jewish man is attacked… Continue reading MOOD MATTERS: REACHING TV VIEWERS AT THE RIGHT MOMENT

DON’T WRITE TRUST IN MEDIA OFF AS ‘WOKERY’, WARNS PETER FIELD

16. 3. 2023 Trust shouldn’t be written off as some kind of ‘wokery.’” Effectiveness expert Peter Field delivered that warning within a strong business case for brands to invest in consumer trust at a conference held by newsbrands marketing body Newsworks today. Calling the issue of trust in brands a relatively “novel” development among consumers, Field warned that… Continue reading DON’T WRITE TRUST IN MEDIA OFF AS ‘WOKERY’, WARNS PETER FIELD

BRAND-BUILDING ADS BOOST SHORT-TERM SALES, AND NOW YOU CAN PROVE IT

1. 2. 2023 Ten years since The Long and the Short of It was published, new evidence shows that while sales-driven ads deliver few long-term effects, brand advertising achieves both. Everyone in marketing has heard about The Long and the Short of It (TLATSOI) and its authors Peter Field and Les Binet. But, as their grand theory reaches… Continue reading BRAND-BUILDING ADS BOOST SHORT-TERM SALES, AND NOW YOU CAN PROVE IT

WHY EVALUATION IS A KEY COMPONENT TO COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

27. 1. 2023 Channel 4’s Bansri Shah explores why evaluation not only provides the evidence to justify investment into advertising but ensures that money is being spent in the most effective way to ensure continued growth for a brand as part of the IPA Advanced Certificate in Communications Planning. Half my advertising spend is wasted; the trouble is,… Continue reading WHY EVALUATION IS A KEY COMPONENT TO COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

SIX TRENDS FROM THE IPA EFFECTIVENESS AWARDS

23. 1. 2023 From long-term brand-building activity to short-term activations that deliver on more immediate goals, a new WARC report, based on the 2022 IPA Effectiveness Awards, demonstrates how marketers can rise to current challenges. WARC has analysed the metadata of the winning entries to drill down into the themes and trends that are driving marketing success and… Continue reading SIX TRENDS FROM THE IPA EFFECTIVENESS AWARDS

TO MAKE MARKETING THE SOLUTION IN A RECESSION PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE NUMBERS

2. 1. 2023 New data highlights the strategies that succeed in a recession and why advice to avoid going dark is too blunt. Up until last week, talk of recession was just that. Talk. But now it’s actually happening. GDP figures just out show the economy is getting smaller. And so, in every business, fraught conversations are going… Continue reading TO MAKE MARKETING THE SOLUTION IN A RECESSION PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE NUMBERS

NOVEMBER’S CHART OF THE MONTH: DURING TIMES OF ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF COST-EFFECTIVE MEDIA

16. 11. 2022 Given the current economic climate, marketing budgets are increasingly under pressure with every investment needing to be justified. At this year’s IPA EffWorks Global, Les Binet (Group Head of Effectiveness of adam&eveDDB) provided a framework for planning media in economic uncertainty. During the session, ‘Marketing in the post covid economy’, Binet highlighted how short and… Continue reading NOVEMBER’S CHART OF THE MONTH: DURING TIMES OF ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF COST-EFFECTIVE MEDIA

CREATING MEMORABLE CHARACTERS IN ADVERTISING

25. 10. 2022 How character fluent devices support long-term brand building?  From Churchill the bulldog to the Pillsbury Doughboy to Tony the Tiger, there are many classic characters that brands have leveraged over the years. However, over the last two decades, there has been a decline in the use of these distinctive assets in advertising. According to Orlando… Continue reading CREATING MEMORABLE CHARACTERS IN ADVERTISING