Stay ConnectedIntroducing a research-first podcast that builds revenue, not condos.
Answer questions on the biggest marketing trends and news with discussions based in marketing, psychology and economics research. Along the way, learn about marketing accountability, category leadership, brand-building and much more.
Featuring a team of experienced marketers whose blueprints for success are marketing strategies actually proven to work.
Copyright: © Marketing Architects
Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.
In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how gift-giving experiences shape emotions, relationships, and brand perception. They reveal why the best brands focus on creating memorable experiences rather than just selling products during the holidays.
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Measuring marketing's impact is hard. There's no silver bullet. And if someone tells you there is, they're probably selling you something that only tracks clicks.
This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Chief Analytics Officer Matt Hultgren to tackle one of marketing's most persistent challenges: measurement. They explore why so many campaigns fail before they even launch, how to balance short-term performance with long-term brand building, and why the best marketers use multiple models to find the truth.
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Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.
In this episode, Elena and Rob explore whether "only at Target" labels actually drive sales or if they backfire. They reveal how exclusive features can sometimes make products less appealing when customers see them as trivial or disconnected from real value.
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Only 15% of brand assets are truly distinctive. GoodRx broke their industry’s mold with a prairie dog sidekick and singing cowgirl. But behind the bold creative lies a data-driven philosophy that challenges everything performance marketers think they know.
This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob sit down with Ryan Sullivan, CMO of GoodRx. Ryan shares his evolution from hardcore performance marketer to someone who questions the very foundations of digital attribution. Learn why he's skeptical of multi-touch attribution, how GoodRx measures success through triangulation, and why increasing "surface area" matters more than hyper-targeting.
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Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.
In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how telling people a product isn't for them can boost interest among the right audience. They discuss why exclusion signals expertise and how persuasive framing builds stronger connections with core customers than traditional persuasive messaging.
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Elderly intoxicated people pay 33% more attention to ads than sober viewers but remember half as much. That's just one reason why optimizing solely for attention can backfire spectacularly.
This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Marc Guldimann, CEO of Adelaide. Marc explains why Byron Sharp is right about attention being wasteful when misused, but wrong about dismissing it entirely. The team explores how attention should measure media quality, not creative sensationalism or audience manipulation.
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Hyper-targeting is paying more to ignore your future customers. That's the reality most brands face today. They've optimized themselves into tiny corners while competitors copy each other into oblivion. That’s just one tip of many in this week’s episode.
Elena, Angela, and Rob tackle why marketing feels so bland and how to fix it. They share 10 research-backed strategies to stand out in 2026, from expanding your audience to investing in underpriced media. Plus, hear which brands broke through the noise this year and what marketers can learn from their bold moves.
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Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.
In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how skippable and non-skippable ads affect brand recall, salience, and conversions. They discover that the choice between ad types matters less than how engaging your creative is, and that the skip button creates surprising attention effects.
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Budget explains 89% of profit variation in award-winning campaigns. ROI? Just 11%. Yet 65% of senior marketers still believe ROI is the biggest contributor to success.
This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob discuss new research from Les Binet and Will Davis that reveals a major misunderstanding at the heart of modern marketing. For years, marketers have obsessed over efficiency: optimizing clicks, proving short-term ROI, and doing more with less. The team breaks down why budget and reach matter more than most realize, how to escape the "death spiral" of shrinking investments, and what it means to go big or go home with your marketing plan.
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Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.
In this episode, Elena and Rob reveal why advertising during major sporting events often backfires. Clutter and distraction crush ad effectiveness before and during events. The sweet spot? Right after, when buzz lingers but noise clears.
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