Zombie Metrics: Numbers That Won't Die

Between 60% and 75% of buy-side marketers say their core measurement approach falls short. And no one's measurement fully covers every paid channel.This week, Elena, Angela and Chief Analytics Officer Matt Hultgren dig into zombie statistics: numbers that get debunked but keep getting repeated. They start with the Rule of Seven, then turn to the scarier ones hiding in dashboards. Hear why CTV is so hard to measure, how attribution windows can mislead and why last-click still lingers. Plus, learn how to talk to your CFO about uncertainty and how multiple models help you replace a metric you've outgrown.Topics covered: [01:00] The Rule of Seven and its murky origins [03:00] What the data says about extra exposures [05:00] IAB's State of Data 2026 findings [08:00] When last-click still makes sense [11:00] Why CTV is so hard to measure [12:30] How attribution windows skew results [14:30] Killing zombie metrics with multiple models [15:30] How AI will change measurement To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: IAB State of Data 2026 Report: https://www.iab.com/insights/2026-state-of-data-report/ 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 two-and-a-half-year experiment with a semiconductor company's ads. Every ad dollar brought back about $12 in revenue, but less than half arrived within three months. They cover why existing customers drove most of the payback and how to match your measurement window to your sales cycle.Topics covered: [01:50] "Long Lags and Large Returns: Experimental Evidence from Advertising to Businesses" [02:30] Why B2B buyers are a tough crowd [03:20] Switching ads on and off across U.S. markets for two and a half years [04:00] A return on ad spend of 12, and the payback lag [05:10] Existing customers returned $34.60 per ad dollar, new ones $1.40 [06:00] The approved vendor list and why paperwork slows new buyers [06:50] What marketers should do about the lag To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter. Resources: Thomas, M., Goic, M., & Kalyanam, K. (2025). Long lags and large returns: Experimental evidence from advertising to businesses. Management Science. 71(10):8750-8766. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.02661  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Political ad spend is projected to hit $11.07 billion this election cycle, according to eMarketer. That's a 21.4% jump over the last midterm. And broadcast TV alone will claim more than half of it. This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob break down where that political money is flowing, from Senate races to swing states like Michigan. They cover how rising demand for TV inventory could squeeze nonpolitical advertisers this fall. Rob also traces the history of political advertising, from Eisenhower's first TV jingles to today's AI-generated attack ads.  Topics covered: [00:00] Political ad spend breaks midterm records this cycle [01:00] CTV becomes political ads' fastest-growing channel [02:00] Senate, House, and local races drive the surge [05:00] Rob's history lesson on political advertising [09:00] AI-generated ads take over the 2026 campaign trail [10:00] What Berkeley research reveals about ad effectiveness [13:00] Why TV wins on emotion and credibility  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2026 Campaigns & Elections Article: https://campaignsandelections.com/voices/the-2026-midterms-are-where-ai-meets-the-tv-ad/   2026 NPR Report: https://www.npr.org/2026/09/16/nx-s1-5953990/ai-political-ads-2026-midterms   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 question whether paying Google to show up for your own brand name creates new sales. They dig into field experiments showing branded search ads mostly take credit for purchases brands would have won anyway.Topics covered:   [01:20] "Do Brands Need Search Advertising?" [01:50] Do you click the paid result or the organic one? [02:25] Nine field experiments across eight D2C brands [03:40] Turning off branded ads: zero effect on sales in 20 tests [04:35] The fake mattress brand experiment [05:30] Where to move your search budget instead To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Beknazarova, I., Cohen, J., Driesener, C., Hartnett, N., & Bellman, S. (2027). Do brands need search advertising? Journal of Business Research, 218, 116485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116485  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

By October, a quarter of shoppers are already hunting for gifts. That's 15 million more people than two years ago. If you wait until Q4 to launch your holiday campaign, you're late to the race. This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob unpack our 2026 holiday shopper trends report. They explore why trust can't be built in six weeks, how B2B brands should approach stretched year-end buyers, and what AI shopping means for this season. Plus, learn how to measure always-on investment and hear the team's favorite holiday commercials.Topics covered: [00:30] Holiday anticipation now starts in June [03:45] Why trust can't be manufactured in six weeks [06:45] B2B buyers are holiday shoppers too [09:15] ChatGPT's conversion rate and AI shopping agents [14:50] Share of voice when the room is quiet [16:00] Measuring the impact of always-on investment [21:45] The team's favorite holiday commercials  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2026 Marketing Architects Report: https://na2.hubs.ly/H083tlz0 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 new research testing whether AI-generated ads can stand in for real production during pretesting. They cover what two studies found about recall, brand attitude, and brand choice, why disclosure didn't move the numbers, and the screening step marketers shouldn't skip.Topics covered:   [02:10] "Pretesting with AI-Generated Static and Video Ads" [02:35] Why pretesting matters before you spend production money [03:00] Inside the two studies [04:35] Zero meaningful difference in recall, attitude or brand choice [05:05] Telling people an ad is AI changed nothing [06:30] Where AI pretesting still has limits  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Bellman, S., Ourradi, S. A., & Varan, D. (2026). Pretesting with AI-generated static and video ads. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-67219-0 Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Saatva grew to more than $150 million on one channel: non-branded search. Then hundreds of competitors flooded the mattress category and costs skyrocketed.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Saatva CMO Joe McCambley to talk about what happened next. Joe explains the statistically significant relationships he tracks between channels, why $200,000 a month in podcast advertising moved branded search within weeks, and how a WARC-led curriculum got his board comfortable with upper funnel spend. Plus, hear why he'd rather blanket the universe than target individual consumers.Topics covered: [03:30] The physical laws that predict brand growth [07:00] What forced Saatva up the funnel [15:00] Owning restorative sleep in a crowded category [18:45] How the Olympic sponsorship came to be [23:15] What marketers should look for in a CEO [29:00] Mining 150,000 sales calls with AI [32:15] Joe's most contrarian marketing opinion  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter. Resources: 2026 ClickZ Article: https://clickz.com/saatvas-cmo-on-how-the-la28-games-bet-paid-off/273219/ Joe McCambley's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemccambley/   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 why five analysts can hand you five different ROI numbers for the same campaign. They explain why averaging those numbers hides the truth, and how to match your measurement method to the size of the decision in front of you.Topics covered:   [01:40] "Making Effectiveness Work" [02:20] Three ways to measure ad effectiveness [02:40] Why triangulation is a trap [04:10] Test and learn can more than double returns [05:15] Long-term ROI was 2.2 times the 12-week read [05:45] The case against last click attribution  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Duckworth, S., Charles, N., & Stoddard, D. (2024). Making effectiveness work. Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/effectiveness/ipa-effectiveness-conference-2024/making-effectiveness-work  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

73% of people think they should have an estate plan. But only 26% actually do. So how do you get consumers to act on something they'd rather avoid?Recorded live at Brandweek, CEO Angela Voss sits down with Trust & Will CMO Dale Sperling. They break down five ways the digital estate planning brand builds trust at scale, from TV's signaling power to warm, human creative and sonic branding. Plus, hear how sticking with one campaign helped drive an 89% lift in unaided awareness since 2023.Topics covered: [01:00] Why trust drives purchase decisions [04:00] How TV signals legitimacy [05:30] Building creative around relatable life moments [07:00] Inside the Make It Count campaign [10:30] Running linear and CTV as one TV strategy [11:30] Why consistency pays off in brand building [13:30] What's next for Trust & Will  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2024 Kantar Article: https://www.kantar.com/inspiration/advertising-media/trust-in-media-the-new-publishing-battleground2024 System1 Report: https://system1group.com/blog/the-extraordinary-cost-of-dull Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts 

Buy a brand, and it shows up on your balance sheet. Build one, and it doesn't. Wharton professor Dave Reibstein thinks that's backwards.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Dave Reibstein, the William S. Woodside Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School and co-author of Marketing Metrics. Dave explains how to put an actual number on brand value, whether you take it in price premium, volume, or some mix of both. He shares 10 years of research on how country branding shapes trade, tourism, and investment, plus why "Made in Italy" still sells shoes. Plus, hear the team pitch which country they'd take over as CMO.Topics covered: [03:00] Research on customer capital and talent risk [06:00] Why marketing metrics need standard definitions [07:30] What brand value looks like as a number [09:30] Balancing promotions against long-term brand building [12:00] The management behavior that moves results most [13:30] Why every country should manage its brand [19:30] Dave's case for brand value on the balance sheet  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2021 Journal of Finance Study: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3187850Dave Reibstein’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-reibstein-34269/ Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.