The Marketing Architects

Marketing budgets are a mess right now, says Mark Ritson. His solution? A simple, three-step system inspired by triple-cooked chips: spend 5-10% of revenue, balance long and short-term investment, and measure each piece properly.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob tackle one of the trickiest questions in marketing: how do you set a budget that actually drives growth? They explore Ritson's budgeting system, why marketers struggle to secure investment, and the frameworks needed to justify balanced spending.Topics covered: [01:00] Mark Ritson's three-step budgeting system[04:00] High-growth companies spend far more than 5-10%[11:00] The 60/40 rule and why most brands fall short[15:00] Setting measurement expectations for brand vs performance spend[20:00] How performance backgrounds shape budgeting approaches[26:00] Keeping unallocated budget for real-time opportunities  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2022 MarketingWeek Article: https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-triple-cooked-chips-marketing-budgets/ 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 advertising creates both immediate sales and long-term brand value through an integrated approach that connects thinking, feeling, and doing.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Discovering How Advertising Grows Sales and Builds Brands"[02:00] Do marketers design campaigns for both short- and long-term goals?[04:00] The integrated hierarchy framework: think, feel, do[05:00] Five years of soft drink brand data across 30,000 interviews[07:00] Why this brand's path was experience, then think, then feel[08:00] Advertising's direct impact on feelings and immediate sales  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Bruce, N. I., Peters, K., & Naik, P. A. (2012). Discovering how advertising grows sales and builds brands. Journal of Marketing Research. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.11.0060  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

75% of shoppers say they go to Amazon to find new products, even if they saw the brand elsewhere. Yet many companies still resist being there, missing massive opportunities for growth.This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob dive into physical availability, the often-overlooked "place" in the marketing mix. They explore why D2C brands are rushing back to retail, share real campaign examples where distribution made the difference, and discuss what physical availability means in an AI-first world. Topics covered: [02:00] Why "place" is the forgotten P in the marketing mix[06:00] How D2C brands discovered the limits of digital-only strategies[10:00] Real campaign examples where physical availability made the difference[15:00] Brands doing physical availability right today[19:00] Expanding your thinking about "place" beyond shelf space[23:00] Brands we'd buy more if they were easier to find  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: 2025 WARC Article: https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/4ps---place-physical-availability-the-marketing-factor-youre-likely-overlooking/70102025 AdAge Article: https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/state-dtc-warby-parker-rare-beauty-draper-james/2603761/ 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 the harsh truth about marketers' ability to judge their own brand elements. They explore why we're terrible at predicting how consumers will respond to our logos, colors, sounds, and taglines.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Assessing Branding Strength: Comparing Marketer Judgment and Consumer Data for Brand Identity Elements"[02:00] Only 2% of marketer predictions are accurate[04:00] Why we love our brands like our own dogs[05:00] When marketers actually get it right[06:00] Why teams beat individuals at brand judgment[07:00] Don't trust your gut alone  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Graham, C., & Lowrey, T. M. (2023). Assessing branding strength: Comparing marketer judgement and consumer data for brand identity elements. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 40(4), 977–996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2023.06.006  Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Explore why only 40% of Fortune 500 marketing leaders hold the CMO title, and delve into recent research revealing a rise in CMO tenure. The conversation highlights the evolving challenges CMOs face today, from balancing short-term results with long-term brand strategies to the unique hurdles for first-time CMOs. Discover how creativity and bold marketing campaigns are vital for brand fame amidst fierce competition. Plus, gain insights into how personal passions can shape effective branding in education and sports.

The discussion reveals that third-party audience targeting can fail to deliver better accuracy than random guesses, hitting target audiences less than 25% of the time. They emphasize the stark contrast between first-party and third-party data. Interest-based targeting shows promise over demographic methods. Technical and privacy challenges complicate hyper-targeted advertising, raising questions about its economic viability. Marketers are urged to rethink their strategies and experiment to improve effectiveness.

Mary Kyriakidi, a global thought leader at Kantar, dives deep into the metrics that truly matter for brand growth. She reveals that meaningful difference can drive growth more effectively than mere distinctiveness. Mary warns against the promotion trap that undermines pricing power, urging brands to prioritize meaningfulness. She shares insights from Kantar's Diary of a CMO report, emphasizing the need for CMOs to align marketing with business metrics to gain boardroom credibility. Discover how to treat brand equity as a vital financial asset!

Unpacking the implications of brand simplicity, the hosts reveal how it can lead to heightened consumer expectations. When brands promise simplicity but fall short, the backlash can be severe, creating disappointment. They illustrate this with YouTube TV's confusing interface, which contradicts its simplicity promise. The conversation also delves into the delicate balance between being simple and being vague, shedding light on why straightforward brands may face harsher scrutiny in tough times.

Dale Harrison, a former experimental physicist, shares his insights as a marketing effectiveness expert. He explains how the NBD-Dirichlet model reveals that consumer behavior is driven more by brand recall than by clever marketing. Dale challenges the myth of brand loyalty, suggesting that it resembles polyamorous purchasing habits. He emphasizes the need for reach over targeting to grow market share and discusses the real implications of marketing statistics. Prepare to rethink your marketing strategies with deep research and a mathematical lens!

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 assumption that older consumers stick with older brands. Real purchase data from over 88,000 grocery trips shows older shoppers buy a mix of brands based on size and relevance, not age or nostalgia.Topics covered:   [01:00] "Examining Older Consumers' Loyalty towards Older Brands in Grocery Retailing"[02:00] What the data revealed about older shoppers[04:00] Do these findings apply beyond grocery categories?[05:00] Financial services and credit card research[06:00] Cars, durables, and 25 years of cross-category data[08:00] Your brand preferences are like your closet  To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.  Resources: Phua, P., Kennedy, R., Trinh, G., Page, B., & Sharp, B. (2020). Examining older consumers’ loyalty towards older brands in grocery retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 54, 101893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101893:contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}   Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.