Overview
In the U.S. service industries where salespeople facilitate transactions (e.g., B2B services, financial services, real estate), building a strong brand is a long-term endeavor. Recent peer-reviewed studies and reputable reports highlight how Share of Voice (SOV), creative quality, and time contribute to brand strength. They also compare long-term brand-building to short-term activation (direct response) marketing. Below, we compile findings from the past decade, with an emphasis on timelines and effectiveness, and clear citations for each point.
Share of Voice (SOV) and Brand Growth
Share of Voice (SOV) – the share of advertising spend your brand commands in its category – is a proven growth driver. Research shows that brands investing above their market share (i.e. achieving Excess Share of Voice, ESOV) tend to gain market share. For example, an analysis by Binet and Field finds that for every 10-point SOV lead over your market share, you gain about 0.5% of market share per year (Binet & Field, 2013). Larger “brand leaders” can see even bigger gains (up to ~1.5% share growth per 10-point ESOV). This rule-of-thumb, echoed by Nielsen’s studies, underlines that budget share matters – brands that “punch above their weight” in ad spend grow faster (Binet & Field, 2013).
Optimal budget allocation:
Industry experts recommend allocating about 60% of marketing budgets to brand-building and 40% to short-term activation. This 60/40 split, originally published in an IPA study by Binet & Field, has become a widely cited guideline for sustained brand growth. The logic is that consistent investment in brand (share of voice) above a threshold is needed to build mental availability and future demand, while the remaining budget drives immediate sales activation. In practice, this means even sales-driven businesses should reserve a significant share of spend for broad-reach, brand-focused campaigns if they aim to grow market share long-term (Binet & Field, 2013).
Creative Quality and Brand Impact
Money alone isn’t enough – creative quality of advertising dramatically amplifies brand-building effectiveness. A 2020 Journal of Marketing meta-analysis (Rosengren et al.) confirmed that more original, engaging ads improve memory and sales impact significantly. Kantar and WARC (2023) provided striking evidence: the most creative, effective ads generate over four times the profit of less creative ads (Kantar, 2023). This implies that emotionally engaging ads in the right context can dramatically boost the long-term impact of your brand-building efforts.
Research in B2B marketing also supports the idea that professional buyers respond strongly to emotional and creative messaging – they form emotional connections with brands and carry those biases into purchase meetings (WARC, 2023). Bottom line: investing in better creative (testing ads, using brand-building emotional appeals, consistent brand assets) multiplies the effectiveness of the budget spent, making brand growth more likely.
The Role of Time: Brand Building vs. Activation
Another recurring finding is that brand building takes longer – longer than direct-response marketing – but yields more durable growth. Les Binet and Peter Field famously describe this as “the long and the short of it.” Short-term activation campaigns (e.g. promotions, targeted lead-gen ads) drive quick spikes in sales from consumers already in-market, whereas brand campaigns work more slowly, by priming future buyers with awareness and positive associations (Binet & Field, 2013).
A practical rule is the 6-month horizon: campaigns where the majority of sales impact comes within 6 months are considered activation, whereas brand campaigns see most of their payoff after 6 months of running. In other words, brand marketing is a long game – its effects accumulate over quarters and years, rather than days or weeks.
Les Binet’s research shows that brand-building is slower but delivers more sustained, lasting results. This is important in high-involvement service sectors, where only a small fraction of potential customers are ready to buy at any given moment. According to research by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, roughly 95% of B2B buyers are out-of-market at any given time, making brand advertising a necessary investment for future sales (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, 2020).
Long-Term Outcomes vs. Short-Term Gains
Does brand building actually pay off more in the end? Research from the past decade says yes. A core finding of Binet & Field’s work (based on dozens of cases) is that brand-led campaigns drive stronger long-term business outcomes – like market share, pricing power, and profit – than purely activation-focused efforts (Binet & Field, 2013). Importantly, brand-building ads can also drive short-term sales (they’re not just “fluff”): new evidence shows well-crafted brand campaigns often produce an uptick in short-term sales while simultaneously building long-term equity, whereas sales-driven ads (e.g. price promotions) deliver fleeting gains and little to no lasting brand lift.
Concrete metrics illustrate the superior long-term payback of brand marketing. In one single-source study of a financial service (Ally Bank), researchers tracked how branding influences translated to sales over time. They found that consumers whose brand favorability was increased through advertising were 6x more likely to open an account than others – and this uplift persisted for at least 6 months after the campaign ended (Ally Bank, 2020).
How Much Longer Do Brand Efforts Take? (Quantifying the Gap)
Quantitative estimates vary by industry, but research gives a sense of the time scale difference between brand building and activation:
Brand campaigns typically need 6–12+ months to show most of their payback, whereas activation campaigns show results within 0–3 months.
The impact of brand advertising decays slowly, meaning brands that invest consistently in share of voice gain more traction over time. By contrast, short-term sales-driven ads often lose their effectiveness after just one or two campaigns (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, 2020).
Conclusion
Recent research continues to reinforce that brand-building is key for sustainable long-term growth, especially in service industries. Businesses should balance brand-building efforts (focused on long-term awareness, trust, and recognition) with short-term activation marketing (focused on immediate conversions). The key to success lies in investing in both areas, with a strong emphasis on creativity and consistency in brand-building campaigns.
References:
Binet, L., & Field, P. (2013). The Long and the Short of It: Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing Strategies. IPA.
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. (2020). The 95:5 Rule of B2B Marketing.
Kantar. (2023). The Effectiveness of Creative Advertising.
Rosengren, S., et al. (2020). Meta-Analysis on Creative Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Marketing.
WARC. (2023). How Emotional and Creative Ads Drive Long-Term Sales in B2B Marketing.
