The Marketing Architects

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 AI shopping agents make purchase decisions and what the results mean for brands that aren't optimized to be found, chosen, or endorsed by an AI. 

Topics covered: 
[01:45] "What Is Your AI Agent Buying? Evaluation, Biases, Model Dependence, and Emerging Implications for Agentic E-Commerce"
[05:30] AI agents pile onto winner products and ignore everyone else
[07:00] Which AI model does the shopping changes everything
[08:00] How models respond differently to product position on the page
[09:00] Why "Overall Pick" badges dramatically boost selection rates
[09:45] How rewriting a product title drove market share from 0% to 41% 

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast 

Resources: 

Allouah, A., Besbes, O., Figueroa, J. D., Kanoria, Y., & Kumar, A. (2025). What is your AI agent buying? Evaluation, biases, model dependence, & emerging implications for agentic E-commerce. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.02630 
 
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Over half of marketers are targeting sub-segments rather than all potential buyers. And 62% aren't even targeting people over 45, a group that accounts for 50% of consumer spending.

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob tackle one of the most debated questions in marketing: how do you actually reach the right people on mass channels like TV? They dig into why narrow targeting can quietly shrink your business, how creative can do more of the targeting work than your media buy, and what it really looks like to transition from performance digital to TV. 

Topics covered:

•    [01:00] Les Binet and Will Davis research on budget vs. ROI
•    [03:00] Why narrow targeting creates a "death spiral"
•    [06:00] Why TV's business impact has increased as media fragmented
•    [08:00] How creative can target more effectively than media selection
•    [10:00] How a linear TV buy actually works
•    [14:00] Brand building vs. activation
•    [17:00] How to transition from performance digital to TV

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.

Resources:
2025 IPA 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 dig into how branding strategy shapes consumer buying behavior and why the strategy you choose matters less than how consistently you execute it. Topics covered:[01:20] "Impact of Branding Strategy on Consumer Buying Behavior"
[02:50] Why branding does the heavy lifting for fast-moving consumer goods
[03:15] Four branding strategies: corporate, multi-brand, sub-brand and mono
[05:20] When a house of brands beats a branded house
[07:00] Commitment over perfection: why execution determines brand power

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast

Resources: Singh, Balgopal (2013), “Impact of Branding Strategy on Consumer Buying Behavior.”Research Journal of Arts, Management & Social Sciences, March 2013

Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

94% of pricing power comes from how meaningfully different a brand is perceived to be. So why are so many marketers playing it safe?

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob ditch the safe answers and eat progressively spicier hot wings while doing it. Inspired by the format of Hot Ones, each round brings hotter wings and bolder takes on the marketing strategies most people are afraid to question. From the real cost of over-targeting to why your first-party data obsession may be holding you back, these are the opinions your marketing team needs to hear, even if they sting a little.

Topics covered:
[01:00] Research on why playing it safe is the riskiest bet in marketing
[04:00] Low CPMs on TV aren't a red flag
[06:00] Retargeting is overrated and doesn't grow your business
[08:00] Most marketers are over-targeting and overpaying for the illusion of precision
[14:00] Digital attribution set marketers back a decade
[19:00] First-party data obsession is preventing real growth
[22:00] Brands should stop producing TV spots like it's 2006
To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast or subscribe to our newsletter at marketingarchitects.com/newsletter.

Resources:
2025 Ad Age Article: https://adage.com/article/opinion/why-playing-it-safe-riskiest-bet-marketing/2603646/

2025 WARC and Kantar Report: https://www.warc.com/SubscriberContent/article/warc-exclusive/playing-it-safe-is-not-safe-how-the-most-successful-brands-stand-out/en-gb/147826

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 what happens when a brand disappears, and which competitors stand to gain the most when a brand gets permanently pulled from the market.

Topics covered:[01:45] "Filling the Void: How Competing Brands Can Capitalize on a Brand Deletion"
[02:20] Why brands get deleted and how often it happens
[04:00] Who actually benefits when a brand disappears?
[05:30] The highest-return move competitors can make
[07:10] When raising prices backfires
[08:20] What manufacturers should stress-test before deleting a brand

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast

Resources: Keller, Kristopher O., and Harald J. van Heerde (2026), "Filling the Void: How Competing Brands Can Capitalize on a Brand Deletion." Working paper, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of New South Wales.

Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.