Dinner with my friend Les

When in London the week of Oct. 5, I made it a point to dine with my friend Les.

On my last trip, Peter Field joined us. We delighted in conversation at a long, sunny lunch on the river.

This week, Les Binet and I dined on lobster at Wilton’s, joined not by Peter, but by another marketing effectiveness aficionado, Rick Stone. We spent several wine-filled hours delighting in each other’s company. And we reveled in a highly engaging discussion on the future of marketing effectiveness. We covered:

• The impact of AI on econometrics

• The changing forces and sources of competitive advantage (which marketing serves to advance)

• Marketing strategies proven to be effective that are likely to morph

If you’re “into” marketing effectiveness, you know there are a handful or two of true effectiveness experts in the world. (You even know them by their first names: Les, Peter, Byron, Roger, Orlando, Karen, and a couple more.)

On this trip, I'm relishing not only one-on-one time with Les, but also his stunning fact-filled presentation at the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Effectiveness Conference. Among his key points:

• The incremental profit generated by advertising is decreasing for many reasons. Les focused on the degree to which advertising is poorly budgeted. It's seldom budgeted based on the outcomes it can provide.

• Financial modeling is rare. Marketing budgets have not yet returned to pre-COVID levels. They continue to miss out on the proven benefits of broad reach, which encompass market penetration, increased sales, and higher profits.

• There is a widespread misunderstanding that ROI is a measure of marketing effectiveness. (It’s actually an efficiency metric.) The increased focus on marketing efficiency prompts people to "think smaller" in ways that stymie accelerating growth and long-term brand building.

• Among the implications of thinking small, economies of scale are never achieved; profit ability (yes, two words) is compromised.

All Les has to say resonates with me as an expert in competitive advantage. Those who think so small that they inadvertently miss out on economies of scale and profit ability really got my attention. It's because the ability to scale is a key tenet of competitive advantage; profit ability is a key metric of having advantage.

No wonder Les has stressed, for years, that the business focus on efficiency metrics (such as ROI) and other short-term metrics AT THE EXPENSE of the real drivers of growth (scale, reach, and true brand-building) are costing companies.

If you're not a follower of the wise and charming econometrician Les Binet, pictured with me here, I highly recommend you follow him on LinkedIn, search online for his white papers and videos, and consider his every word. Not only will you learn a great deal from Les, you'll also gain insight on data to use when arguing for change in your organization that will truly improve marketing performance.