The IPA evidence most founders miss

The IPA Effectiveness Databank is the largest repository of marketing effectiveness evidence in the world.

It contains over 1,500 case studies submitted to the IPA Effectiveness Awards since 1980 — covering brands from every category, at every scale, in every market. The entries are written by agencies, judged by effectiveness experts, and represent the best documented cases of marketing driving commercial results.

Most founders have never encountered it. Most marketing teams have not read it systematically. This is an opportunity.

The single most important finding, synthesised by Les Binet and Peter Field in their landmark work The Long and the Short of It, is the relationship between brand-building and activation.

Activation — the short-term, direct-response work of converting existing demand — is efficient. It delivers measurable results quickly. But its effects decay rapidly when spending stops, and it operates only on people who are already in the market.

Brand-building — the longer-term work of building fame, distinctiveness and memory — is less immediately measurable but compounds over time. It reduces price sensitivity, increases loyalty, and creates the mental availability that makes activation work harder.

The optimal ratio, based on the IPA data, is roughly 60% brand to 40% activation — though this varies significantly by category, market share and business maturity.

Most fast-growing businesses in 2026 are running closer to 90% activation and 10% brand. The short-term results often look good. The long-term trajectory is harder to sustain.

The implication is not to abandon performance marketing. It is to understand the system you are operating in — and to make sure some part of your investment is building the asset that makes everything else more effective.