In one line
The 60:40 rule says to put about 60% of media money into long-term brand building and 40% into short-term activation. It comes from Binet and Field's analysis of IPA effectiveness cases and is an average, not a law: the best split varies by category, by brand and by how long you judge the results over.
What it does
- Activation (offers, search, retail media) sells to people ready to buy now. Its effect is large in the weeks it runs and fades fast.
- Brand building reaches people who are not in the market yet, so it shows little this quarter. It builds memory, which keeps selling for years and makes buyers less sensitive to price.
- Binet and Field (2013) found that, across the IPA cases, the campaigns with the strongest long-term results put about 60% of the budget into brand building.
- Their later work (Binet and Field, 2018) found the best split varies by category and situation: in the cases they studied the best brand share ran from under half to about 80%.
Business and brand
Impact on the businessP&L, cash, share price
- Judged on one quarter, activation always looks better, so budgets drift towards it year by year.
- Brand building pays back over two to three years: a finance team that only reads this year's return will underfund it.
- Too little activation wastes the demand brand building creates; too much leaves next year's sales without support.
Impact on the brandMemory, loyalty, pricing power
- Memory is an asset: it is built slowly and fades slowly, so last year's brand spend is still selling this year.
- Brands with strong memory hold price better, which is part of brand building's return.
- The split is a means, not a goal: weak creative wastes either half.
Try it
Hold one split for three years
Pick a split between brand building and activation and keep it for three years, with the same total budget each year. See which split earns most over one, two and three years.
Share of the media budget on brand building, held for three years →. Profit after media is gross profit less all media, added up over the horizon.
Notice: Over 3 years, the split that earns most here is 80:20. Over one year it is 50:50, over two 70:30, over three 80:20: the longer you judge it, the more brand building counts. At 60:40 you are €0.42m short of it.
Runs Countermove's market engine: the reference soft-drinks market, three brands, rivals holding their plans so only your change moves the result.
Sources
- Binet & Field (2013), The Long and the Short of It, IPA
- Binet & Field (2018), Effectiveness in Context, IPA: the best split varies by category and situation
- Assmus, Farley & Lehmann (1984), Journal of Marketing Research: advertising carry-over
Teaching this? Teaching notes, a 20-minute plan and homework.