NOVEMBER 18, 2024
The Long Game of Branding: Why the Smartest Companies Play It
By David Cameron, Founder and Managing Partner
Imagine you’re about to buy a new car. Think about the research, the ads you’ve seen, and all those brand names that float to the top of your mind, almost as if by instinct. Now, here’s the kicker: according to research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, only about 5% of people are in this position—actively ready to make a purchase in any given product category—at any given time. And yet, most companies focus their marketing efforts entirely on that narrow slice of the pie, targeting just those in-market customers. It’s like a farmer who continually harvests crops without tending to the soil or even replanting.
This insight forms the foundation of what’s now called the 95/5 Rule, a concept developed by Byron Sharp and his team at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. In short, 95% of potential buyers—people who are your target customers—are simply not in the market for your product today. They might be tomorrow, next month, or next year. But right now? No. They’re just living their lives, blissfully unaware of the need they’ll feel one day that could point them directly to your product. When brands fixate on short-term, sales-driven ads, they’re speaking to only that small sliver of potential customers, leaving the larger part of the market untouched. Heritage brands—those that stand the test of time—understand that they’re not just talking to today’s customers; they’re cultivating relationships for the long haul, planting seeds that might take months or even years to bear fruit.
That’s where Les Binet and Peter Field’s 60/40 Rule comes in. According to Binet and Field, arguably the world’s leaders in marketing effectiveness, the magic number for long-term success is 60%. They found that 60% of a brand’s marketing budget should go toward broad, brand-building activities: the kinds of campaigns that build legacy by creating emotional connections, that make a brand feel timeless, and that make it part of our shared cultural consciousness. The remaining 40%? That’s for short-term sales activations, the ads and promotions that catch the eye of that narrow 5% and drive them to make a purchase.
Now, consider what happens when brands don’t follow this advice. They ignore brand health. They don’t reach out to that 95% who might need them tomorrow. Instead, they pour everything into driving clicks and immediate conversions. The problem? You start winning battles but losing the war. In the short term, you might see a sales uptick. But over time, the brand doesn’t build, and the foundation starts to crumble. Customers don’t remember you when they’re ready to buy. They don’t feel anything when they see your logo, and they have no reason to pick your product over the next guy’s. And when you turn off the sales-driving tactics, the tap runs dry.
A key metric of how healthy your brand is what kind of organic traffic and branded search you get to your site when you aren’t paying to drive it with ads and promotions. And for brands who’ve over-harvested with sales tactics without replanting through brand investment, turning off paid tactics for a day or week can be a terrifying wake-up call.
Think about the heritage brands we know today, the ones that have endured for generations. They didn’t get there by chasing each week’s leads or sales figures alone. At some point in their existence, they’ve invested in engaging and connecting with their consumers. They know that consumers buy brands as much for what they stand for as for what they sell. To reach the 95% of people not ready to buy, a brand must invest today in a memory that pays off tomorrow.
Playing the long game means resisting the seduction of short-term sales spikes and cultivating the loyalty, trust, and recognition that anchor a brand in people’s lives. Like a master storyteller, a brand must build narrative, history, and presence. Based on the work of Binet, Field, and Sharp, there’s no substitute for consistent, broad-reaching, emotionally resonant brand-building. Brands who understand this aren’t just trying to make a sale today—they’re aiming to occupy a place in our minds, and perhaps even our hearts, for the long term.
