Remember: most ads have almost NO effect on sales. Shapiro & co studied ad elasticity for 288 brands by matching TV ad spend to sales lifts from panel data. Ingeniously, they studied 'border towns' — places that straddled a border (state line, county line, etc.) where half a

Wanna hear my new talk? . I'm building out a presentation called "The True Cost of Being a Boring Brand". New evidence, new twists, and new marketing effectiveness fun. I've been trying it out on small scales, but I've put my hat in the ring for SXSW 2026 in Austin in March.

Tight budgets, big brands, and even bigger nerves—this episode, Ethan Decker and Eric Forsyth dive into why the “people work is the work.” Great creative isn’t risky—it’s effective. Dull costs more! Tune in for smart tips on building standout brands. #coverbrand #podcast #risk

OMG she's not real!. Yeah, Maybelline did that in 1930. In 20 minutes people won’t care if she’s real or not. I mean, they know Hulk isn’t real. No, they’ll care about what she evokes, what stereotypes she reinforces, what power dynamics she embodies — and whether she’s

A strong brand is a placebo:.It's not tangible, but it's not zero either. Like the placebo effect, a strong brand can do 3 things:. 1) It can make something more effective. Plenty of medical studies show that placebo medicine, placebo treatment, and even placebo surgery can

DO LUXURY BRANDS PLAY BY DIFFERENT RULES?. Luxury brands: what are they anyway? Do they behave like shampoo and noodles, or are they categorically different? Do they follow the laws of every other brand, or do they float in space like bricks don’t? Are they defying gravity🧹, or

How do you build a singularly-strong brand when you contain multitudes?. In this episode of Cover Brand, Amelia of Z Tasty Life and I talk about how to bring her many creative talents under one umbrella with a single, clear handle. Tune in for a full serving of Cover Brand the

At the other end of your digital media tech stack is a human who just needs to go pee. Remember them. Design for them. Wish them well.

HOW DOES BRAND DIFFERENTIATION AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS?. For decades, the orthodoxy in marketing has been that to compete, brands need to differentiate: offer different things, or in different ways, or for different people. More recently, the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute has asserted

What percent of revenue should a B2B company spend on marketing?. What does good marketing for a B2B construction company even look like?. In the latest episode of Cover Brand, I chat with Jack & Justin from The Caisson Company about stuff like:. - B2B branding.- How to make a

"Direct mail is dead!". Uh, srsly?. Look, direct mail might not work for you. Or maybe you haven't even tried it. Or you tried it and didn't like it. But don't tell Restoration Hardware. The US furniture brand is clearing 20% profits on $3.5Bn a year. How? Not Pinterest. Not

Talk less about BRAVE marketing. Talk more about SMART marketing. If I had a Bitcoin every time I heard someone tell a marketer "we need to be brave!" I'd be rich. But here's the deal: very few PEOPLE want to be brave. Mostly we want to keep our jobs. We want to not look

DO STREAMING SERVICES FOLLOW THE 80/20 RULE?. Like, do 20% of show watchers account for 80% of all viewing minutes?. It’s Ye Olde Pareto Principle. In 1906, Vilfredo Pareto (the ultimate Italian Renaissance Man) noted that 80% of the land (and wealth) in Italy was owned by only

If your brand needs CHARACTER,.then give it a CHARACTER. I mean, a mascot isn't the ONLY way to give your brand character. And there are indeed mascots that have no character. They're boring. Or stiff. Or dead inside. But srsly: if it works for the Government Employees

WHAT'S BETTER, CELEBS OR MASCOTS?. Like, if you have to choose what kind of character you want to invest in and be the face of your brand, should you pick a celebrity spokesperson or a brand mascot?. @DistinctiveBAT crunched some numbers on hundreds of, uh, brand representatives:

What's the #1 mistake when probing your audience's mind?. I did a post for my friends at @tracksuit about how to see if your brand is on brand. The #1 mistake?. Only talking with brand fans. Read more on the Tracksuit blog. Link in comments.

What can we really expect advertising to do? On this episode of Cover Brand, market researcher extraordinaire Carol Kauder and I dive into why it’s so hard for brands to change customer habits. Plus, favorite Glee cover songs. #marketresearch #podcast #marketing

How do you know if your brand is "on brand"?. Have you checked lately?

Happy birthday America! Can we all vote yet?. “All men are created equal” was just a dream in 1776 — a "brand promise", if you will. We’ve worked on living up to it since the beginning. Take, f'rinstance, voting. Back then, only rich white men were allowed to vote: 6% of

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR BRAND IS "ON BRAND"?. “Is this work on brand?”. We’ve all heard it before: the question of whether your Instagram post is “on brand”. Or your photo shoot. Or your radio spot. Usually, it's tested by checking with someone inside the company who knows the