Having read Physics at Oxford, Les took an M. Phil. in Artificial Intelligence at Edinburgh University. His research there focussed on the use of computer models to study the way human beings process language. In 1987, he joined the Account Planning department at BMP, where he turned his modelling skills to the problem of measuring the effects of advertising. He is currently Head of Effectiveness at adam&eve DDB, and runs DDB Matrix, the network’s econometrics consultancy.

Over the years, Les has worked for a wide range of blue chip clients, including McDonalds, John Lewis, Google, Meta, Lego, Lloyds Banking Group, Mars, Kraft-Heinz, Nestlé, AB Inbev, Diageo, Unilever, Virgin and Volkswagen. 

He has also played an important part in establishing the agency’s reputation for effectiveness, having won more IPA Advertising Effectiveness Awards than anyone else in the history of the competition. 

Since 2001, he has served on the IPA’s Effectiveness Leadership Group, helping to promote effectiveness and evaluation in the wider marketing community. In 2004 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the IPA, in recognition of his services to the advertising industry, and in 2005 he was Convenor of Judges for the IPA Awards.

In 2007, Les Binet and Peter Field published Marketing in the Era of Accountability, a study of the factors that influence marketing effectiveness. Described by The Guardian as “compulsory reading for all serious scholars of marketing”, this research was based on the IPA dataBANK, a database of effectiveness case histories, which Les and Peter helped to design and build for the IPA.

Les is Visitor Professor of Marketing and Business Strategy at Ravensbourne University, London, a member of the Senior Advisory Board at the Journal of Advertising Research and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.