New Research Shows This Business Input Can Boost Your Profit 21x

This expert opinion by Lou Dubois, founder of Lou Dubois Consulting, was originally published on Inc.com.

While many marketers and small business owners obsess over targeting algorithms, A/B testing conversion rates, and optimizing ad spend across platforms, they’re also ignoring the single factor that new research says can multiply profit by 21x.  

It’s not AI. It’s not personalization. It’s creativity. More specifically, it’s emotional creativity executed consistently over time. The new research, released by digital advertising company System1 and Effie, evaluated over 1,200 campaign outcomes, totaling $139 billion worth of marketing spend, and ad data from over 200,000 people, from challenger brands to massive organizations. And it revealed that many companies have it backwards, ranking targeting as their number one priority when in actuality it only delivers a 1.1x profit multiplier, on average. On the flip, creativity, ranked dead last in terms of prioritization by many respondents, can deliver an average of 12x-21x impact. 

The research denotes that 60 percent of marketers lack confidence in their team’s creative abilities while they continue to double down on tactics they do feel comfortable about—clicks, impressions, and conversion rates, among others. And listen, that seems justifiable. Creativity feels subjective and risky. Targeting feels scientific and controllable. Those short-term metrics provide instant dopamine hits. Brand-building through emotional creativity requires patience, with effects compounding over months and often years.  

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the new research is exactly that: consistency compounds creativity. The research tracked brands over five years, measuring 13 consistency factors, including creative idea tenure, agency tenure, brand asset consistency (logos, colors, etc.), tone of voice/positioning, cross-channel consistency and more.

Some core findings that really stuck out: 

• Creative Quality: 12x profit multiplier 

• Audience Targeting: 1.1x profit multiplier 

• 41 percent of respondents called out creativity as “a risk” versus an asset. 

• Zero brands with inconsistent creative execution grew brand distinctiveness 

• Emotion-driven ad campaigns delivered 52-57 percent more business results across the U.S., U.K./Ireland and European markets 

• Campaigns with top-quartile emotional ads were 4x more likely to report incremental profit after 3+ years  

The most consistent brands (based on the factors above) achieved: 

• 2.9x profit multiplier vs. least consistent 

• 8.8 average ROI vs. 2.1 for inconsistent brands 

• 17.6 percent achieved incremental profit vs. 6.1 percent 

The research also shows campaigns chasing short-term objectives deliver single-digit profit percentages, while emotional, brand-building campaigns hit 33-45 percent profit rates after 18+ months. But in a world where every leader wants results now, how do you justify a long-term investment in creativity? Many are applying the wrong time horizon, saying “yes” to tactics that feel productive but deliver at minimum 1/12th the return.  

By investing in creative consistency, you’re not just marginally improving results, you are changing your potential profit trajectory.  

And that’s really the big question and opportunity here. It’s the “say no” framework that so many businesses struggle with. The hardest “no” in business is avoiding the constant temptation to pivot, to rebrand, or to chase the latest new platforms or tactics. The potential 21x multiplier comes from betting big on creativity and more importantly on staying the course over an extended period of time. Contrary to popular belief, consistency isn’t boring, it’s compounding.