Sleeping Barber - A Marketing Podcast SBP 150: The 8 Fundamentals of Effective Marketing
There's a lot of marketing effectiveness research out there. Binet and Field. Byron Sharp. Jenni Romaniuk. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. Karen Nelson-Field. Peter Field. System1. The Effies and the IPA databank. If you're trying to absorb all of this while doing your actual job, it's overwhelming.
So we're making it simple: Eight fundamentals. These aren't tactics or channels. They're the underlying truths that emerge when you look at decades of research across thousands of brands, dozens of categories, and 50+ countries.
In this episode, V and Marc break down:
- Strong Force vs. Weak Force - Why only 5% of buyers are ready to purchase right now, and why you need to build memory with the other 95%
- Growth Comes From Reach, Not Loyalty - Why big brands aren't more loved, they're just more bought
- Easy to Mind, Easy to Find - Mental and physical availability: being thought of and being findable
- Bothism: Balance Short & Long - Why you need both brand building (60%) and sales activation (40%)
- Creativity & Emotion Multiply Effectiveness - Why emotional campaigns are 11x more effective than rational ones
- Fame & Consistency Build Memory - Why you should stop rebranding and commit to distinctive assets for decades
- Making Promises & Building Trust - Why your entire organization needs to deliver on what marketing promises
- Investment Drives Return - Why share of voice predicts share of market
The pattern across all eight? They require playing a longer game than most marketers are willing to play. Time and consistency win. These are the laws of gravity for marketing—you can ignore them, but they're still operating.
Whether you're in B2B or consumer, whether you're a CMO or running a small marketing team, these fundamentals apply. The question isn't "Do these apply to my business?" It's "How do I apply these to my specific context?"
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction & Overview
"We took 39 sources... synthesized it all into eight fundamental principles"
01:04 - Episode Opening
V and Marc introduce the episode and explain what fundamentals mean
03:36 - List of 8 Fundamentals
Quick overview of all eight principles
04:36 - Fundamental #1: Strong Force vs. Weak Force
How advertising actually works - the 5/95 rule
11:46 - Fundamental #2: Growth Comes From Reach, Not Loyalty
Why penetration beats retention
19:06 - Fundamental #3: Easy to Mind, Easy to Find
Mental and physical availability
27:45 - Fundamental #4: Bothism - Balance Short & Long
The 60/40 split and why you need both
38:03 - Fundamental #5: Creativity & Emotion Multiply Effectiveness
Why emotional campaigns are 11x more effective
46:31 - Fundamental #6: Fame & Consistency Build Memory
Distinctive assets and the danger of rebranding
54:14 - Fundamental #7: Making Promises & Building Trust
Why your whole organization owns the brand promise
01:00:11 - Fundamental #8: Investment Drives Return
Share of voice predicts share of market
01:08:22 - Synthesis & Wrap-Up
The pattern across all 8: Time and consistency
REFERENCES
Strong vs. Weak Force
Advertising: Strong Force or Weak Force? Two Views an Ocean Apart https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02650487.1990.11107151
The weak force school vs the strong force school https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/swocc/the-weak-force-school-vs-the-strong-force-school/en-gb/88053?
Les Binet How Advertising REALLY works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9EDJs3evCI
Andrew Ehrenberg Advertising: Strongly Persuasive or Nudging? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288306321_Advertising_Strongly_persuasive_or_nudging
Byron Sharp, Malcolm Wright & Gerald Goodhardt Purchase Loyalty is Polarised into either Repertoire or Subscription Patterns https://www.marketingscience.info/wp-content/uploads/staff/2015/08/7539.pdf
Growth Comes From Reach, Not Loyalty
Byron Sharp: "How Brands Grow" (Chapters on Double Jeopardy and penetration) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560
Romaniuk & Sharp: "How Brands Grow Part 2" (B2B evidence) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-Including-Emerging/dp/0190330023/ref=pd_bxgy_thbs_d_sccl_1/140-1332947-4400340
Ehrenberg-Bass: Decades of analysis across 50+ countries https://marketingscience.info/marketing-theory-evidence-practice/
Binet & Field Long & Short of It: Brand penetration is the primary driver of share growth https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Short-Balancing-Long-Term-Strategies/dp/085294134X
Marketing’s 60/20 Pareto Law Byron Sharp, Jenni Romaniuk, Charles Graham https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338094423_Marketing's_6020_Pareto_Law
Easy to Mind, Easy to Find
Byron Sharp: "How Brands Grow" (Chapters on Double Jeopardy and penetration) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560
Romaniuk & Sharp: "How Brands Grow Part 2" (B2B evidence) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-Including-Emerging/dp/0190330023/ref=pd_bxgy_thbs_d_sccl_1/140-1332947-4400340
Ehrenberg-Bass: Decades of analysis across 50+ countries https://marketingscience.info/marketing-theory-evidence-practice/
Herbert Simon’s work on Satisficing https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/satisficing.asp
The market-based assets theory of brand competition https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096969892300317X
Jenni Romaniuk: "Building Distinctive Brand Assets" (mental availability framework) https://www.amazon.ca/Building-Distinctive-Brand-Assets-Romaniuk/dp/0190311509/ref=sr_1_1
B2B Institute and Jenni Romaniuk: Category Entry Points in a B2B World https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute/cep-in-b2b
Binet & Field: Fame beats uniqueness from the Long & Short of It https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Short-Balancing-Long-Term-Strategies/dp/085294134X
Karen Nelson-Field, Adam Morgan & Peter Field The Cost of Dull Media https://www.amplified.co/resources/cost-of-dull
Bothism: Balance Short & Long
Mark Ritson coined the term: https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-bothism-cure-marketers-fascination-conflict/
Binet & Field: "The Long and the Short of It" (the foundational work on this) https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Short-Balancing-Long-Term-Strategies/dp/085294134X
Binet & Field: "Effectiveness in Context" (updated findings) https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/reports/effectiveness-in-context-free-download
Mental & Physical Availability Byron Sharp: "How Brands Grow" (Chapters on Double Jeopardy and penetration) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560
5 / 95 Rule John Dawes https://marketingscience.info/the-955-rule-why-b2b-growth-starts-long-before-the-purchase/
WARC the Multiplier Effect https://page.warc.com/the-multiplier-effect-report
Creativity & Emotion Multiply Effectiveness
The B2B Effectiveness Code https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute/the-b2b-effectiveness-code
Binet & Field: "The Long and the Short of It" (creativity analysis) https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Short-Balancing-Long-Term-Strategies/dp/085294134X
Lions & WARC Creative Effectiveness Ladder https://www.lionscreativity.com/creative-effectiveness-ladder
Paul Dyson & Kantar - The advertising multipliers that matter are not what marketers think https://www.kantar.com/inspiration/advertising-media/the-advertising-multipliers-that-matter-are-not-what-marketers-think
System1 & IPA The Power of Compound Creativity https://system1group.com/compound-creativity-system1-ipa
System1 & Effies The Creative Dividend https://system1group.com/the-creative-dividend
Peter Field: "The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness" (creativity declining over time) https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/publications-reports/the-crisis-in-creative-effectiveness
IPA The link between creativity and effectiveness https://srh.agency/assets/documents/dispatch-1466161111_Creativity_and_Effectiveness.pdf
Karen Nelson-Field: "Attention Economy" research (emotion drives attention) https://www.amazon.ca/Attention-Economy-How-Media-Works/dp/9811515395
System1, Peter Field & Adam Morgan The Extraordinary Cost of Dull https://system1group.com/the-extraordinary-cost-of-dull
System1 & WARC: How Creativity Boosts ROI - emotional response predicts long-term effectiveness https://system1group.com/how-creativity-boosts-roi
LinkedIn B2B Institute: "The Effectiveness Code" (emotion in B2B) https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute/the-b2b-effectiveness-code
Fame & Consistency Build Memory
Jenni Romaniuk: "Building Distinctive Brand Assets" (the definitive work on this)
Binet & Field: Fame beats uniqueness or persuasion https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Short-Balancing-Long-Term-Strategies/dp/085294134X
Byron Sharp: "How Brands Grow" (consistency in execution) https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560
VCCP UK & Karen Nelson-Field Hacking the Attention Economy https://www.vccp.com/uk/news/2025/may/hacking-the-attention-economy-vccp-media-and-dr-karen-nelson-field-reveal-1-5-second-formula-for-effective-digital-advertising
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute & Nicole Hartnett What happens when brands stop advertising? https://marketingscience.info/when-brands-stop-advertising/
Nielsen Budgeting for the Upturn - does Share of Voice Matter https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2009/budgeting-for-the-upturn-does-share-of-voice-matter/
Promise & Meaning Create Trust
Kantar: BrandZ analysis (meaningful brands grow faster) https://www.kantar.com/campaigns/blueprint-for-brand-growth
Edelman Trust Barometer (trust in brands declining, but matters for purchase) https://www.edelman.com/news-awards/only-one-third-of-consumers-trust-most-of-the-brands-they-buy
B2B Institute & Roger Martin Promise to the Customer https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/b2b-institute/making-a-promise-to-the-customer
B2B Institute & Roger Martin Promise to the Business Customer https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/marketing-solutions/resources/pdfs/making-a-promise-to-the-business-customer-final.pdf
Investment Drives Return
Binet & Field: Excess Share of Voice (ESOV) research https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Short-Balancing-Long-Term-Strategies/dp/085294134X
IPA: Recession marketing analysis https://ipa.co.uk/initiatives/effworks/effworks-ft-reports/advertising-in-recession
John Philip Jones Ad Spending: Maintaining Market Share (eSOV) https://hbr.org/1990/01/ad-spending-maintaining-market-share
IPA, Les Binet & Will Davis Go Big or Go Home https://ipa.co.uk/news/go-big-or-go-home/