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 challenge the widely held belief that small brands survive on loyal, niche audiences. They reveal why reach, not loyalty, is the real driver of growth for tiny brands.

Topics covered:   

• [01:20] "Tiny Brands, Big Challenges: The Limits of Loyalty and the Role of Penetration in Driving Growth"
• [02:10] What counts as a tiny brand?
• [04:20] Do tiny brands actually have more loyal customers?
• [06:10] What growing tiny brands have in common
• [07:20] Why loyalty follows growth, not the other way around
• [08:00] Why tiny brands need to compete for the whole category 

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

Resources: 
Barker-Trowse, A., Dunn, S., Graham, C., Sharp, B., & Corsi, A. M. (2026). Tiny brands, big challenges: The limits of loyalty and the role of penetration in driving growth. Journal of Business Research, 204, 115864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115864 
 

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Only 2.6% of board directors have marketing experience. So how is marketing really being evaluated at the top? And what can marketers do about it?

This episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Marketing Architects CFO Brent Longwall to break down how finance actually evaluates marketing investments. They cover the root causes of tension between marketing and finance, what makes a marketing pitch credible to a CFO, and how to build a shared language across both functions. If you've ever struggled to justify a brand investment or earn trust with your finance team, this one's for you.

Topics covered: 

• [01:45] Marketing's shrinking influence in the boardroom
• [03:30] The core tension between marketing and finance time horizons
• [07:00] The three numbers your CFO checks every month
• [15:00] What makes a marketing investment credible vs. suspicious
• [23:00] How marketers can speak the CFO's language
• [25:00] What marketers should stop (and start) saying to finance 

 





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

Resources: 
Whitler, Kimberly & Krause, Ryan & Lehmann, Donald. (2018). When and How Board Members with Marketing Experience Facilitate Firm Growth. 10.1509/jm.17.0195?code=amma-site. 
 

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 happens when people feel bombarded by ads on social media and why the real threat to engagement isn't a bad ad. It's platform fatigue.

Topics covered:   

• [01:05] "The Impact of Ad Overload Perception and Social Media on Ad Avoidance Behavior"
• [02:10] The two theories behind why ads push people away
• [03:45] How researchers measured ad clutter, fatigue and avoidance
• [05:55] Why fatigue, not the ad itself, drives avoidance
• [06:45] Three key takeaways for marketers
• [08:00] Why TV advertising sidesteps the ad overload problem 

 





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

Resources: 
Essa Tayeb, M., Chebbi, T., Badawi, A., Ali Toumi, J., & Louail, B. (2024). The impact of ad overloads perception in social media on ad avoidance behavior: The mediating effect of social media fatigue and goal impediment. Management, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.58691/man/197329  
 

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

Tiny brands don't grow through loyalty. They grow through penetration. A study of 400+ brands found that growing brands increased penetration by 135%, compared to just 26% growth from purchase frequency. So where should marketers invest first?

This episode, Elena, Angela, and Rob introduce the MOO, a seven-step Marketing Order of Operations that gives marketers a clear priority sequence for building effectiveness, from defining the competitive playing field to communicating results internally. The team also covers why even small brands can't afford to ignore marketing effectiveness principles and how to balance short-term performance with long-term brand building.

Topics covered: 

• [01:00] Research on tiny brands debunks the loyalty-first growth myth
• [05:00] Step 1: Define your competitive playing field and category buyers
• [07:30] Step 2: Build distinctive brand assets that make your brand recognizable
• [12:30] Step 4: Choose channels for both short- and long-term growth
• [15:00] Step 5: Build a measurement system that matches your objectives
• [19:30] Step 7: Communicate results in the language of the business 

 





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

Resources: 
2026 Money Guy Article: https://moneyguy.com/guide/foo/

Alicia Barker-Trowse, Steven Dunn, Charles Graham, Byron Sharp, Armando Maria Corsi, Tiny brands, big challenges: The limits of loyalty and the role of penetration in driving growth, Journal of Business Research, Volume 204, 2026, 115864, ISSN 0148-2963, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115864.  
 

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 sustainability advertising is so hard to get right and what brands can do to close the gap between what consumers say they value and what they actually buy.

Topics covered:   

• [00:55] "Sustainability Advertising: A Literature Review and Framework for Future Research"
• [01:50] The gap between sustainable intent and action
• [04:00] The three levers of sustainability advertising: ad context, source characteristics, and message design
• [05:30] Why consumers don't trust sustainability claims and when third-party cues help
• [06:15] The sustainability liability: when "eco-friendly" hurts perceived performance
• [07:40] What brands can do to make sustainability messaging actually work 

 





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

Resources: 
Rathee, S., & Milfeld, T. (2023). Sustainability advertising: Literature review and framework for future research. International Journal of Advertising. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2023.2175300 


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

7 in 10 people globally say they're hesitant to trust someone different from them, according to the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer. Trust is getting more personal. So where does that leave brands? 

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob explore what it really means to build a brand in a world where trust is earned through experience, not messaging. They dig into why the gap between marketing promises and reality is so damaging, how to bridge online and in-person brand moments, and what channels like TV do for brand trust that others simply can't. Plus, hear real-world examples of brands that get it right, from Snickers to Disney to Jeep. 

Topics covered: 

• [01:00] 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer findings on consumer trust
• [03:00] How much control marketers actually have over brand perception
• [06:00] Where marketing promises most often break down
• [08:30] Why marketers over-index on comms and under-index on product experience
• [11:00] The moment where brand actually happens
• [14:00] How TV builds familiarity that carries into other channels
• [17:00] Real examples of brands bridging TV and in-person experience 

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

Resources: 
2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Report: https://www.edelman.com/trust/2026/trust-barometer
 

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 narrative ads work even when they say little about the product. The answer lies in image fluency. How easily a story can be pictured shapes how much people like the ad and the brand behind it.

Topics covered:  

• [01:05] "Image Fluency and Narrative Advertising Effects"
• [01:55] The four steps of ad processing
• [03:00] How matching visuals change brand attitudes
• [03:55] Familiar vs. unfamiliar story scenarios
• [04:35] How to make your ads easier to imagine
• [05:00] Why clarity matters more than originality 

 





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

Resources: 
Chang, C. (2013). Imagery fluency and narrative advertising effects. Journal of Advertising, 42(1), 54–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2012.749087 
 

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

Marketers love the idea that premium media makes brands premium. But the research is surprisingly mixed. High involvement content can change how ads land, sometimes helping attitudes, sometimes hurting recall.

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob tackle the debate between premium media and efficient reach. They review mixed research on media context effects, break down the extreme cost differences between premium and standard TV placements, and share when high-profile media genuinely outperforms. Discover why sacrificing reach for prestige might hurt more than help.

Topics covered: 

• [02:00] Super Bowl advertising performance data
• [04:00] The history of premium media and costly signaling
• [09:00] Cost differences between premium and standard TV placements
• [14:00] When premium media actually performs better
• [18:00] Creative requirements for premium placements
• [26:00] Playing "Worth the Premium" game with real scenarios 

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

Resources: 
Norris, Claire E.; Colman, Andrew M.; Aleixo, Paulo A. (2003). Selective Exposure to Television Programmes and Advertising Effectiveness. University of Leicester. Journal contribution. https://hdl.handle.net/2381/3983  

Hartmann, W. R., & Klapper, D. (2016). Super Bowl Ads (Working Paper No. 2139). Stanford Graduate School of Business. https://web.stanford.edu/~wesleyr/SuperBowl.pdf 
 

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 how privacy first advertising changes digital marketing. They reveal that when individual tracking disappears, platforms must rely on user groups instead. This shifts advertising toward probabilistic targeting, like how TV has always worked. 

Topics covered: 

• [01:00] "Reach, Measurement, Optimization and Frequency Capping and Targeted Online Advertising Under K Anonymity"
• [01:45] Privacy forces less tracking, more thinking
• [02:50] How K Anonymity groups users by shared traits
• [04:35] Simulating the trade-off between privacy and performance
• [06:00] Privacy pushes reach-first thinking 

 





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


Resources: 
Gao, Y., & Qiao, M. (2025). Reach measurement, optimization and frequency capping in targeted online advertising under k-anonymity. arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.04882. 


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

A single 30-second Super Bowl spot now costs $8 million. Factor in production, celebrities, and amplification, and total campaign costs land between $15 and $50 million. So, are the ads actually worth it?

Elena, Angela, and Rob break down this year's Super Bowl commercials through a marketing effectiveness lens. They discuss which brands nailed distinctive assets versus those that let celebrity overshadow strategy, why consistency beats spectacle, and what separates memorable ads from forgettable ones. 

Topics covered: 

• [02:00] Classic TV commercial effectiveness errors in Super Bowl ads
• [06:00] Which brands executed distinctive brand assets well
• [11:00] The Pepsi polar bear debate and brand linkage
• [20:00] Patterns across effective ads: product as hero and consistency
• [28:00] Quiet winners that did real work for brands
• [32:00] Key takeaways for brands not advertising in the Super Bowl 

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

Resources: 
2026 Adwave Article: https://adwave.com/resources/super-bowl-commercial-cost

2026 Billboard Article: https://www.billboard.com/lists/super-bowl-2026-time-performers-commercials-everything-to-know/
 

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