The Marketing Architects

Brace yourselves. This week, we’re covering a highly debated marketing topic: targeting strategy.  Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by VP Strategy Dan Cleveland to talk about misconceptions around narrow vs broad targeting, problems with hypertargeting, and how CTV targeting is changing the game for TV advertisers. Plus, hear about a new targeting method Dan created with the help of machine learn...

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 revisit the traditional divide between brand and performance marketing. Then, they explore how advertising effectiveness is now being redefined...

Did you know marketers will spend more than $650 billion on online ads this year? Or that a surprisingly massive chunk of this spending will be completely wasted? This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob discuss Bob Hoffman’s recent book, Inside the Black Box, which highlights one of the dark sides of online advertising—ad fraud. As marketers, we all know ad fraud is a problem. But it might be even worse...

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 discuss the relationship between marketers' intuition and data-driven decisions in ad effectiveness. Listen in as they discover whether instinct...

Does mass reach marketing still have value in a world where digital advertising lets brands target their bullseye customer alone? This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are discussing the importance of broad reach for business growth, driving long-term demand, and truly effective marketing. Inspired by P&G’s Mark Pritchard’s recent comments on what efficient and effective marketing looks like, they...

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 the reasons behind TV advertising's ongoing success—despite all the buzz around digital. Learn more about Peter Field's insights into w...

Ready to talk politics? Well, political advertising anyway.  This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are exploring how marketers should think about the impact of political ad spend in 2024. (There’s no actual politics allowed). This year, US political ad spend is expected to surpass $12 billion, setting a new record... That’s triple what was spent on the 2016 election, and it’s already affecting media a...

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 advertising can impact stock prices and boost investor confidence. Research shows successful campaigns often lead to higher stock va...

63% of TV advertisers doubt their ability to accurately measure TV’s impact. And it’s not just TV. Top-of-funnel marketing channels are notoriously hard to evaluate. But accurate attribution isn’t impossible. This week, Elena and Angela are joined by Director of Analytics Jordan Rossler to break down the report “Everything Wrong with TV Measurement.” They’re covering attribution best practices for...

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. Once upon a time, Elena and Rob decided to explore the meaning of “brand love” and the use of powerful storytelling. They discovered that brands with a strong story create mea...

Can marketers tap into psychology to improve the effectiveness of their work? Well, there’s a reason why Dr. Robert Cialdini’s psychology book Influence is a marketing and sales bestseller. Whether you realize it or not, psychological principles are applied in marketing all the time. This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are reviewing the six psychological lessons found in Dr. Cialdini’s classic book....

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 why some brand names are better than others. Like how the rhythmic and repetitive sounds of names like Coca-Cola, Kit Kat, and Lululemon...

How much has marketing really changed in the last decade? It might not be as much as you think. This week, Elena and Rob are covering what’s next in marketing, from how younger generations are making new demands of businesses to why it's so hard to keep up with the latest AI developments. But they’re also talking about what doesn’t change. And how marketing for the future is sometimes about focusi...

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 are going back in time... sort of. They’re covering nostalgia, what it is, and why it’s become a common and highly effective tool in advertising...

At any time, only 5% of a B2B company’s potential customers are in-market. That’s a small group. Which means marketing to the other 95% might be pretty important... In this episode, Elena and Angela are joined by Peter Weinberg, former Global Head of Development at The B2B Institute from LinkedIn. They’re talking about the contrarian ideas Peter researched and popularized during his time at Linked...

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 are talking all things TV advertising. There have been plenty of marketers announcing “TV is dead” over the last decade, but what does research...

Is primetime really the “prime” time for TV advertisers? What does research say about subliminal advertising? And is personalization actually worth the effort? In this episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob look at some of the biggest myths and misconceptions in the marketing industry and tackle what research says about each. A word of caution... listening to this episode could challenge deep-rooted beli...

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 discuss a study reviewing behavioral advertising’s impact on consumer welfare, with some surprising results. Hint: behavioral advertising’s not...

The rise of video-driven social platforms. Evolving privacy regulations limiting advertisers’ access to targeting and reporting data. Meta’s dominance finally facing challengers... Social media is changing for good. In this episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob unpack the evolution of social media marketing, influenced heavily by Facebook's introduction of dynamic, algorithm-driven experiences. The conv...

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 our inaugural Nerd Alert episode, Elena and Rob get meta by reviewing research on marketing research. They’re looking at the current state of marketing research and why res...

The old 80/20 rule is simply wrong. The top 20% of buyers actually account for only 50% of sales. So is brand loyalty still the secret to efficient growth or is the smart move to pursue new customers? In this episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob discuss the ongoing debate about whether it’s better to focus on building brand loyalty or driving new customer acquisition. The team reviews studies highlight...

Programmatic advertising is bigger than ever. AI’s transforming media buying. Ad fraud continues to grow. And now, MFA (made for advertising) sites have emerged as top contenders for ad dollars. Clearly, there are a few reasons to be concerned about media quality. In today's episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob are addressing the impact of AI on digital advertising, the rise of made-for-advertising (MF...

Kim Kardashian and Skims. Snoop Dogg’s 'smokeless’ stunt for Solo Brands. And of course, celebrity-packed Super Bowl commercials. What’s the true power of star power in advertising? This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are discussing the benefits (and risks) of using a celebrity to promote your brand. Because while celebrities can drive strong attention to your ad, they typically come with high price...

As a marketer, going all-in on digital can seem like a safe choice. After all, 72% of marketers say digital campaigns are easier to measure than traditional channels. But is digital alone actually what’s most effective? This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by SVP Partnerships Jordan Mauer to discuss the ideal balance for online and offline channels. Jordan’s marketing experience includes w...

It’s hard enough to agree on definitions for “reach” and “frequency.” Consensus on the ideal balance between the two is just about impossible. The internet is undeniably divided over this topic, but Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined this week by VP of Analytics Matt Hultgren to finally settle the debate. Which drives better business results—broadening your audience reach or increasing the number o...