The 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 look at new research on nostalgic advertising. They break down when a "remember when" ad sticks in someone's memory, and when a straightforward, factual ad works better instead. 

Topics covered:   
[02:05] "Nostalgic Advertising Enhances Brand Name Recall by Reactivating Brand-Related Autobiographical Memories" 

[02:35] Why marketers need every edge to stay top of mind 

[04:00] Three studies pit nostalgic ads against factual ads 

[05:00] When nostalgia wins, and when it doesn't 

[06:00] Younger versus older adults: who remembers more? 

[07:05] Takeaways for legacy brands and win-back campaigns 

 


To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter. 
 

Resources: 
Thoma, D., & Koziak, J. (2025). Nostalgic advertising enhances brand name recall by reactivating brand-related autobiographical memories, especially for familiar and personally relevant brands. Psychology & Marketing, 42(12), 3306–3318. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.70042 
 

Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Cannes debuted a new award for creative consistency this year. 73 brands entered. Just two won.

This week, Elena, Angela, Rob, Catherine, and Nikki unpack what actually happened at Cannes versus what just made headlines. The team shares why intelligence-gathering, not glamour, is the real reason to attend, and how AI is quietly reshaping ad tech products behind the scenes. They also weigh in on where live sports, retail media, and creator marketing genuinely fit into an effectiveness-driven strategy versus where they're overhyped. Marketers will walk away knowing which Cannes trends deserve real budget attention and which are just award-show noise. 

Topics covered:
[02:00] Why Marketing Architects decided to start attending Cannes
[04:00] The real gap between Cannes glamour and the actual work
[13:00] How AI is quietly reshaping ad tech products
[14:00] Live sports as a growth opportunity, not a silver bullet
[17:00] Why competing streaming platforms are all facing the same challenges
[21:00] Retail media and creator marketing: tools, not full strategies
[24:00] Cannes' new award for long-term creative consistency



To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  


Resources:
2026 The Drum Article: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/andrew-tindall-what-ritson-and-sharp-got-right-and-wrong-at-cannes


Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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 break down why proving ad ROI is far harder than most marketers assume, even with millions of dollars and millions of customers. They also unpack why the Super Bowl might be the hardest ad buy of all to measure.

Topics covered: 
[01:00] "The Unfavorable Economics of Measuring the Returns to Advertising"
[02:00] Why the spirit of ROI gets abused
[03:35] Why customer spending is too noisy to spot small ad effects
[06:00] How targeting bias can inflate results by 30 times
[07:00] Why the Super Bowl isn't a coupon, it's fame
[09:00] Could anyone actually solve the ROI theorem?



To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.
 

Resources: Lewis, R., & Rao, J. (2015). The unfavorable economics of measuring the returns to advertising. The Economic Journal, 125(585), 1–27.  


Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

84% of the time, buyers choose a brand that was already on their radar before they ever started shopping. So why do so many marketing budgets only chase the people ready to buy today?

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob talk with brand strategist and author James Hurman about his new book, Future Demand. James breaks down why brands hit a growth ceiling when they lean too hard on performance marketing. He also explains why feelings outlast facts in memory, and why that changes which channels deserve your investment. Marketers will leave with a clearer case for building demand among tomorrow's customers, not just converting today's.

Topics covered:
[05:00] Defining current demand versus future demand
[07:00] Splitting budgets 50/50 between brand and performance
[12:00] Why American marketers lag on brand-building principles
[18:00] Measuring future demand through brand tracking
[22:00] Why feelings outlast facts in memory
[26:00] The case for creativity in earning attention
[35:00] James's own future demand brand: Land Rover



To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources:
Resources: 2021 WARC White Paper: https://www.warc.com/the-rise-of-digital-commerce 2026
Future Demand Book: https://futuredemand.com/ 
James Hurman’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/

Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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 what triggers the personalization backfire effect and why the same ad can feel helpful one day and invasive the next. 

Topics covered:[01:20] "Triggering the Personalization Backfire Effect: The Moderating Role of Situational Privacy Concern"
[02:45] How the study tested three levels of ad personalization
[04:27] When more personal data actually hurts performance
[06:10] Privacy sensitivity isn't a fixed personality trait
[07:10] Contextual targeting vs. identity-based targeting



To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources:
Kim, H., & Han, S. (2025). Triggering the personalization backfire effect: The moderating role of situational privacy concern. Behavioral Sciences.


Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

This week, we're resharing a favorite episode from the archive. Enjoy, and we'll be back with new content next week!

Our hosts are joined by Nick Asbury, creative writer and author of The Road to Hell: How Purposeful Business Leads to Bad Marketing and a Worse World. Nick challenges brand purpose, arguing it produces formulaic campaigns while the research supporting it is fundamentally flawed.

Topics covered:

• [04:00] How the 2008 financial crash sparked the purpose movement
• [12:00] The real story behind Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign data
• [18:00] Why for-profit companies lack social license to lead causes
• [21:00] Nick's crowdsourced fact-checking of Cannes award entries
• [26:00] Debunking the Gen Z purpose myth after the 2024 election
• [29:00] What respectful marketing looks like without purpose 

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources:
2024 MarketingWeek Article: https://www.marketingweek.com/good-intentions-lead-to-bad-marketing-why-purpose-is-missing-the-mark/

Nick Asbury’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-asbury/
 
Nick's Substack: https://nickasbury.substack.com/



Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

According to WARC, TV drives more sales impact than Facebook video and YouTube. GOVX proved the research to be true, growing orders alongside TV impressions.

Recorded live at CommerceNext 2026, this bonus episode features Marketing Architects Chief Strategic Growth Officer Stacey Hawes and GOVX Chief Brand Officer Aaron Pelander. They tackle one of marketing's toughest challenges: proving TV's impact when its biggest effects don’t show up for months after launch. Aaron shares how GOVX moved from a performance-only mindset to a 60/40 split between brand and performance budgets, and why that shift unlocked new growth. Marketers will also learn which metrics matter and why relying on just one measurement model leaves value on the table.

Topics covered:[00:00] Kicking off the session at CommerceNext 2026
[03:00] Why TV remains one of the hardest channels to measure
[06:00] Short-term metrics for tracking TV's immediate impact
[08:00] Long-term measurement: brand lift, MMM, and incrementality testing
[11:00] Inside GOVX’s mission and its path to TV
[13:00] GOVX’s shift to a 60/40 brand and performance budget
[16:00] GOVX’s results after partnering with Marketing Architect



To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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 packaging redesigns so often backfire, and what actually drives shoppers to pick a product off the shelf. 

Topics covered: 
[01:21] "The Packaging Redesign Modernization Dilemma" 
[03:06] Why redesigns are an expensive, common gamble 
[05:35] Does looking more modern actually boost sales? 
[06:17] Why familiarity beats likability at the shelf 
[07:31] When a redesign makes sense, and when it doesn't 







To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources:  
Caruso, W., Romaniuk, J., Page, B., & colleagues. (2026). The packaging redesign modernisation dilemma: The relationship with familiarity, likeability, and its effect on purchase intent. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 

Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Concern over short-termism has more than doubled in three years, from 25% of marketers calling it the biggest industry issue in 2022 to 55% in 2025. And yet, budget allocation has barely moved.

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob dig into why the say-do gap persists in media planning and what it looks like to build a mix based on marketing effectiveness principles instead. They walk through the 60-40 rule and how to make it your own, what warning signs signal a brand is over-indexed on performance, and why channels like TV and audio earn a closer look when competitors are busy piling into the same digital placements.

Topics covered:
[01:00] The say-do gap and why marketers keep doing what they know doesn't work
[05:22] What rebalancing toward brand building looks like in practice
[07:27] Warning signs your brand is over-indexed on performance
[10:00] How to use reach to grow beyond your existing customers
[12:28] Using share of voice to find channel opportunities your competitors have missed
[14:08] Linear vs. CTV: how to use each as a distinct strategic tool
[17:46] Building a measurement approach that captures both short and long-term impact






To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.





Resources: 

2026 WARC Article: https://www.warc.com/en/article/whats-stopping-cmos-investing-in-brand-building-9ceffeb68530467cb3ecc12959e94670

Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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 dig into a direct experiment comparing TV and YouTube advertising to find out which format drives more attention, stronger emotion, and better brand memory.

Topics covered:

•    [01:40] "TV versus YouTube"
•    [02:00] How the study was designed
•    [03:46] Which platform captures more attention?
•    [05:56] The serial position effect and ad memory
•    [06:36] Your body remembers ads your brain forgets
•    [08:20] What this means for your media mix





To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.


Resources: 
Weibel, D., di Francesco, R., Kopf, R., Fahrni, S., Brunner, A., Kronenberg, P., Lobmaier, J. S., Reber, T. P., Mast, F. W., & Wissmath, B. (2019). TV vs. YouTube: TV advertisements capture more visual attention, create more positive emotions and have a stronger impact on implicit long-term memory. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 626. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00626


Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.