The Marketing Architects

Did you know poultry is the third most popular pet in America, behind dogs and cats? It's surprising stats like this that reflect the rural lifestyle trends driving growth at Tractor Supply Company.This week, Elena and Rob talk with Kimberley Gardiner, CMO of Tractor Supply. Learn how she measures marketing impact through business outcomes, builds teams grounded in humility, and why she rejects the brand versus performance marketing debate. Plus, hear the undeniable impact of connecting directly with customers.Topics covered: [04:00] Transitioning from automotive to Tractor Supply marketing[10:00] Using marketing strategically as a business driver, not cost center[15:00] Investing marketing dollars for measurable returns[18:00] Customer metrics that matter: traffic, transactions, basket size[22:00] Why brand marketing versus performance marketing is a false choice[26:00] What Kimberley learned about rodeo after joining Tractor Supply  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2024 MarketingWeek Article: https://www.marketingweek.com/marketers-improvement-financial-fluency/Kimberley Gardiner’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberley-sweet-gardiner/ 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 challenge the common myth that 80-95% of new products fail. They reveal that while failure rates are significant, they're about half as bad as widely believed, with context and resources playing crucial roles in determining success.Topics covered:   [01:00] "How Common is New Product Failure and When Does It Vary?"[02:00] One in four fail within the first year, 40% by year two[03:00] Why big, competitive categories have higher failure rates[04:00] Growing categories surprisingly show more failures than stable ones[05:00] Brand size and trajectory impact new product survival[07:00] Why retail creates natural barriers that improve odds  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Victory, K., Nenycz-Thiel, M., Dawes, J. et al. How common is new product failure and when does it vary?. Mark Lett 32, 17–32 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-021-09555-x   Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

A German professor compiled a list of 55 questionable Cannes award entries. And he’s far from the only one. Yet the industry keeps creating marketing to win awards over actual performance.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob 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/?originalSubdomain=uk 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.

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 cringeworthy ads spread faster than good ones. They reveal how vicarious embarrassment drives word-of-mouth and why brands might benefit from being talked about badly rather than not at all.Topics covered:   [01:00] "That's So Cringe-Worthy: Understanding What Cringe Is and Why We Want to Share It"[03:00] The difference between empathetic embarrassment and cringe[04:00] Why Pepsi's Kendall Jenner ad generated more discussion than polished Super Bowl spots[05:00] How social comparison drives cringe sharing[06:00] Brand loyalty as a shield against cringe backlash[07:00] Recovery strategies for cringeworthy moments To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Escoe, Brianna & Martin, Nathanael & Salerno, Anthony. (2025). That's So Cringeworthy! Understanding What Cringe Is and Why We Want to Share It. Journal of Marketing Research. 62. 10.1177/00222437241305104.   Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Big brands don't narrow cast. They want to be known everywhere their category can be part of your life. And there's a reason for that strategic choice.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by research professor Jenni Romaniuk from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science. Jenni breaks down why consistent distinctive assets matter more than aesthetics, how mental availability drives brand growth, and why targeting light buyers is critical for long-term success. Plus, learn why differentiation might not be as important as you think for building a successful brand.Topics covered: [04:00] Origin of distinctive assets research and why good branding matters[12:00] When brands should change or evolve their distinctive assets[19:00] What category entry points are and why they drive mental availability[23:00] How to prioritize category entry points for maximum impact[28:00] Why light buyers are essential for risk mitigation and growth[33:00] Why differentiation might not be necessary for brand success  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2022 Contagious Article: https://www.contagious.com/iq/article/jenni-romaniuk-on-distinctive-assetsJenni Romaniuk’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenni-romaniuk-2746884/?originalSubdomain=au 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 discover that authenticity in advertising isn't what most marketers think it is. They explore four distinct dimensions of authenticity and reveal why the most "real" ads don't always drive the best results.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Does it Pay to Be Real: Understanding Authenticity and TV Advertising"[02:00] The four dimensions of authenticity in advertising[03:00] Why brand essence beats heritage and realism[05:00] When unrealistic ads outperform everyday scenarios[07:00] How product type and brand size affect authenticity strategy[08:00] Why user-generated content isn't always the answer  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Becker, Maren, Nico Wiegand, and Werner Reinartz. “Does It Pay to Be Real? Understanding Authenticity in TV Advertising.” Journal of Marketing Research. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022242918815880 Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Real buying decisions are habitual. They're often emotional. Nudges assume people carefully weigh options, but in reality, they just grab what's familiar or easy.This week, Elena and Angela explore the gap between behavioral theory and marketing reality. They discuss why popular psychological insights like loss aversion, anchoring, and choice architecture often fall short when applied to actual campaigns. Plus, they share which behavioral principles still work in real-world marketing and why mental availability beats nudges for driving sustainable growth.Topics covered: [01:00] Why behavioral economics experiments don't always translate to real marketing [04:00] The most powerful behavioral principle that works repeatedly [06:00] How Apple masters anchoring and framing to shape perception of value [09:00] Why real buying behavior is habitual and emotional, not deliberate [11:00] The behavioral economics principle that's been overhyped [13:00] How mental availability compares to behavioral tactics like nudging [15:00] The one behavioral insight to keep in your marketing toolbox  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2024 Behavioral Economics in Consumer Decision-Making Study: https://mideastjournals.com/index.php/mejelss/article/view/4  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 discover how our brains decide whether we like an ad in just three seconds, revealing that early emotional impact matters more than dramatic endings for advertising success.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Neural Signals of Video Advertisement Liking: Insights into Psychological Processes and their Temporal Dynamics"[02:00] How fast people decide if they like or dislike an ad[03:00] Brain activity shifts from emotion to social cognition to evaluation[04:00] Early neural signals predict population-level ad performance[05:00] First 10 seconds matter more than the ending[06:00] Why early branding beats waiting until the end  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Chan, Hang-Yee, Maarten A. S. Boksem, Vinod Venkatraman, Roeland C. Dietvorst, Christin Scholz, Khoi Vo, Emily B. Falk, and Ale Smidts. 2024. “Neural Signals of Video Advertisement Liking: Insights into Psychological Processes and Their Temporal Dynamics.” Journal of Marketing Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437231194319 Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

A 2020 study found that only the right brand architecture strategy maximizes reputation spillover while preventing underinvestment. But most companies make this critical decision based on emotion rather than data. This week, Elena, Rob, and Director of Brand Beth Kuchera explore when to use one brand across everything versus splitting them up. They reveal the five ways brand architecture impacts business success and share why getting this wrong can waste expensive "brain space" that's impossible to recover. Topics covered: [01:00] Research on branded house versus house of brands strategy[05:00] Five ways brand architecture helps or harms your business [10:00] Strategic upsides and downsides of branded house approach [14:00] Creative challenges of extending versus building new brands [17:00] Resources as the most important decision-making factor [24:00] Measuring brand effectiveness across multiple products  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Yu, Jungju, A Model of Brand Architecture Choice: A House of Brands vs. A Branded House (May 28, 2020). Yu, J. (2021). A model of brand architecture choice: a house of brands vs. A branded house. Marketing Science, 40(1), 147-167., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3116284 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3116284  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-created brand nicknames can backfire when brands adopt them officially. They reveal why "nickname branding" hurts performance across key metrics and shifts power dynamics in ways that damage brand perception.Topics covered: [01:00] "BMW is Powerful, Beamer is Not: Nickname Branding Impairs Brand Performance"[02:00] What nickname branding means and why brands do it[03:00] Speech Act Theory and power dynamics in marketing[04:00] When trying to be cool backfires spectacularly[06:00] Competent vs. warm brands and nickname effects[07:00] Transactional vs. communal messaging with nicknames  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Zhang, Zhe, Ning Ye, and Matthew Thomson. 2024. “BMW Is Powerful, Beemer Is Not: Nickname Branding Impairs Brand Performance.” Journal of Marketing 89 (1): 135–??. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429241266586  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.