10 Ways to Not Be a Boring Brand Next Year

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.Topics covered: [01:00] Why brand conformity is killing differentiation[05:00] Building AI agent teams for creative breakthrough[11:00] The 60/40 rule for brand vs performance spend[14:00] Hunt for underpriced media to boost efficiency[16:00] Why emotional campaigns outperform rational ones[21:00] Brands that stood out in 2025  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources:  Brand Strategy Insider Article: https://brandingstrategyinsider.com/competing-on-sameness-the-marketing-mistake-of-our-times/ 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 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.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Make Ads Skippable or Not: The Impact of Ad Type on Brand Recall, Salience and Conversion Rate"[03:00] Eye tracking reveals the skip button effect[04:00] Which format drives better brand recall?[05:00] Non-skippable ads win on long-term salience[06:00] The gravitational force of the skip button[07:00] Front-load emotion to stop the scroll  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Bauerová, R., & Kopřivová, V. (2025). The impact of ad type on brand recall, salience, and conversion rate. Silesian University in Opava.   Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

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.Topics covered: [01:00] Why budget is 8x more important than ROI for driving profit[03:00] Defining marketing efficiency vs marketing effectiveness[11:00] Making the case internally for bigger budgets and broader reach[13:00] How this research should change your channel planning[19:00] Balancing efficiency and effectiveness in your marketing mix[21:00] What creativity at scale really looks like  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2025 IPA Effectiveness Conference Article: https://ipa.co.uk/news/go-big-or-go-home/ 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 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.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Going for Gold: Investigating the (Non)sense of Increased Advertising Around Major Sport Events"[01:40] Does ramping up ad spend during events actually work?[03:00] How researchers measured advertising effectiveness around events[04:00] Short-term sales impact drops over 50% during events[05:00] The only way to break through: dominate share of voice[06:00] What does "after the event" advertising actually mean?  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Gijsenberg, M. J. (2014). Going for gold: Investigating the (non)sense of increased advertising around major sports events. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 31(1), 2-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2013.09  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Less than half of ads are correctly attributed to the right brand after viewing. And it takes two to three years of consistent investment before a brand asset truly feels like it belongs to you.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob explore what it actually means to build distinctive brand assets. They dig into Mark Ritson's latest column for Marketing Week, break down the research on what makes assets memorable, and share why most marketers quit way too soon. Plus, test your own knowledge with a distinctive assets quiz.Topics covered: [01:00] What distinctiveness actually means for your brand[04:00] Why creativity and distinctiveness aren't the same thing[09:00] Why you need seven brand cues to boost recall to 100%[14:00] Brands that nailed distinctiveness over decades[18:00] Balancing creative freshness with brand consistency[22:00] How to measure if your assets are truly distinctive  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2025 The Drum Article: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2025/10/06/mark-ritson-we-know-what-distinctive-marketing-looks-now-let-s-agree-what-call-it 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 consumer response to advertising behaves more like a phase transition than a smooth curve. They discuss saturation points, tipping points, and why some channels scale differently than others.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Symmetry Scaling Laws and Phase Transitions in Consumer Advertising Response"[03:00] Three parameters: marketing effectiveness, response sensitivity, and behavioral sensitivity[04:00] Which parameter matters most for TV?[05:00] Testing against traditional models[06:00] Network effects and audience clustering  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Marín, J. (2024). Symmetries, scaling laws and phase transitions in consumer advertising response [Preprint]. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.02175   Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

OpenAI just launched its first global brand campaign. And instead of using algorithms or AI-driven stunts, they turned to the most old-school playbook of all: TV ads. Shot on film. With human directors. Real actors. 30-second spots about everyday moments tied back to ChatGPT.This episode, Elena and Rob break down OpenAI's new TV campaign and what it reveals about the enduring power of brand in an AI-driven world. They discuss why even the most advanced tech companies still need emotional storytelling and broad reach to grow, how AI is already transforming marketing workflows, and what separates strong brand strategy from ineffective branding. Plus, hear their takes on which brands are crushing it today.Topics covered: [02:00] Breaking down OpenAI's new TV ads[10:00] Why tech companies struggle with branding and naming[15:00] Ways AI is already giving marketers superpowers[20:00] Why brand will become even more important as AI advances[28:00] Google's brand strategy and compelling storytelling[34:00] How to keep your brand strong in the age of AI  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2025 The Drum Article:https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2025/09/30/mark-ritson-chatgpt-s-new-ads-show-even-ai-can-t-deny-the-brand-building-power-tv 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 Americans watch over 40 hours of TV and video weekly. They examine how viewing habits evolved from 1992 to 2017, revealing that despite digital disruptions, total viewing time keeps growing—and 92% still happens on TV sets, not phones. Topics covered:   [01:00] "Why Do People Watch So Much Television and Video? Implications for the Future of Viewing and Advertising"[02:00] Average viewing climbed from 35 to 41 hours weekly[04:00] Live TV dropped to 74%, but TV sets dominate[06:00] EEG studies reveal TV's relaxation effect[08:00] Digital video now rivals traditional TV viewing[10:00] Why entertainment trumps complicated messaging  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Wilbur, Kenneth C. 2023. “Why Do People Watch So Much Television and Video? Implications for the Future of Viewing and Advertising.” Journal of Advertising Research 63, no. 1: 16–31. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2023-003   Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Most digital marketers treat brand building like performance marketing. They run two-day tests, allocate 0.2% of budget, or recycle performance creative for reach campaigns. It fails every time.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Kevin Goodwin, SVP of Strategy and Growth at New Engen. Kevin shares how his agency evolved from pure performance marketing to embracing effectiveness principles, why digital gets unfairly dismissed by brand marketers, and the specific ways marketers sabotage their own digital brand-building efforts.Topics covered: [00:04] Kevin's journey from finance to digital marketing at Zulily[00:08] How iOS 14 and rising interest rates forced New Engen to evolve[00:13] Why measurement is critical for digital brand building[00:16] What digital marketers get wrong about brand campaigns[00:20] Why marketers should challenge platforms for better brand-building tools[00:23] Preparing for the death of the click in an AI-driven world  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources:  2025 Tom Roach Article: https://thetomroach.com/2025/01/12/brand-building-in-the-platforms/ Kevin Goodwin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-goodwin-12b4243a/Kevin’s Substack: https://kevingoodwin.substack.com/aboutNew Engen Website: https://newengen.com/ 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 situations where more product options overwhelm consumers and where they help. They reveal how task difficulty, preference uncertainty, and shopping goals determine whether large assortments drive satisfaction or paralyze decision-making.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Choice Overload: A Conceptual Review and Meta-Analysis"[02:00] When task difficulty triggers choice overload[03:00] Why product structure matters more than quantity[03:00] How preference uncertainty amplifies overwhelm[04:00] Decision goals: browsing versus buying[05:00] Why curated stores outperform massive malls  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Chernev, A., Böckenholt, U., & Goodman, J. (2015). Choice overload: A conceptual review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(2), 333–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.08.002  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.