The 60/40 rule: how much should you spend on brand building versus sales activation?
Around sixty percent on brand building, forty percent on sales activation. Here is where that split comes from, why it works, and how it changes for B2B.
The 60/40 rule is a guideline for splitting your marketing budget: around sixty percent on long-term brand building and forty percent on short-term sales activation. It comes from Les Binet and Peter Field's analysis of marketing effectiveness, and it represents the balance that, on average, drives the most profitable growth over time.
IN BRIEF
Around 60% brand building and 40% sales activation is the average optimum for profitable growth.
It comes from Binet and Field's analysis of the IPA databank of effectiveness case studies.
The split shifts by context. B2B is closer to 45/55, and it varies with brand size, category and objective.
Brand building works slowly and broadly. Activation works quickly and narrowly. You need both.
What is the 60/40 rule?
The 60/40 rule says that, on average, the most effective marketing budgets put about sixty percent of spend into brand building and forty percent into sales activation. Brand building is broad, emotional and long-term: it makes your brand memorable and creates future demand. Sales activation is targeted, rational and short-term: it converts demand that already exists into sales now.
Where does the 60/40 rule come from?
The rule comes from Les Binet and Peter Field, who analysed the IPA databank of marketing effectiveness case studies. Their work, including The Long and the Short of It, found that campaigns weighting around sixty percent of spend to brand building delivered the strongest long-term business effects, such as sustained sales growth and improved profitability.
Activation harvests the demand that exists today. Brand building creates the demand you will harvest tomorrow.
Why split brand and activation at all?
Because the two do different jobs on different timescales. Activation harvests the demand that exists today, the small group of buyers who are ready now. Brand building creates the demand you will harvest tomorrow, among the much larger group who are not yet in the market. This is the same logic as the 95:5 rule: most of your future buyers are out of market today, and brand building is how you reach them.
Is it always 60/40?
No. It is an average, not a law. In B2B the optimum is closer to 45/55, with a little more weight on activation, because buying tends to be more considered and sales-led. The right split also shifts with brand size, category, and whether you are trying to grow or defend. Treat 60/40 as a starting benchmark to adjust for your context, not a number to apply blindly.
How do you put it into practice?
A few practical steps:
Separate the two budgets and measure them differently: brand building over the long term, activation on short-term response.
Protect the brand-building budget so it is not quietly raided to hit short-term sales targets.
Measure brand effects over years, not weeks, or you will conclude too soon that they are not working.
Revisit the ratio for your own category, brand size and objective rather than assuming exactly 60/40.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the 60/40 rule in marketing?
The 60/40 rule suggests splitting your marketing budget about sixty percent to long-term brand building and forty percent to short-term sales activation. It represents the balance that, on average, drives the most profitable growth over time, by both creating future demand and converting demand that already exists.
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Who created the 60/40 rule?
The 60/40 rule comes from Les Binet and Peter Field, who analysed the IPA databank of marketing effectiveness case studies. Their work, including The Long and the Short of It, found that campaigns weighting around sixty percent of spend to brand building delivered the strongest long-term business results.
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Is the 60/40 rule different for B2B?
Yes. In B2B the optimal split is closer to 45/55, with slightly more weight on activation, because buying is more considered and sales-led. The ratio is an average rather than a law, and it shifts with category, brand size and objective, so treat it as a starting benchmark.
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What is the difference between brand building and sales activation?
Brand building is broad, emotional and long-term: it creates future demand by making a brand memorable. Sales activation is targeted, rational and short-term: it converts demand that already exists into sales now. Brand building works slowly across many buyers, while activation works quickly among the few ready to buy.
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Getting the balance right between long-term brand building and short-term performance is one of the hardest judgements in marketing, and one of the most consequential. If you would like help making that case in your business, or building a strategy around it, that is what Marketing Means More does. Get in touch for a free thirty-minute conversation.
Written by Mike Biscoe, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and founder of Marketing Means More, a brand and strategic marketing consultancy based in London.
