The Marketing Architects

More than 40% of American marketers can't define positioning. And 84% of those same marketers rate themselves as above average. Both can't be right.

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Mark Ritson, marketing professor, consultant, and creator of the Mini MBA. Mark walks through his new research with Ipsos on US marketing knowledge, explains why formal training is the single biggest predictor of marketing competence, and shares the one concept every marketer should prioritize. The conversation also covers market orientation, how AI is reshaping marketing careers, and what it takes to stay relevant in the years ahead.

Topics covered:
•    [01:00] Ipsos study reveals the US marketing knowledge gap
•    [04:00] Why formal education is the top predictor of marketing success
•    [08:00] Where marketers can find good training today
•    [13:00] Market orientation as the most important concept to learn
•    [17:00] How AI will reshape marketing careers and roles
•    [24:00] Byron Sharp and Mark Ritson's upcoming Cannes Lions session
•    [27:00] What the rise of AI means for the agency world

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

Resources:

2025 Adweek Article: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/two-thirds-of-american-marketers-would-fail-a-basic-marketing-test/

Mark Ritson's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markritson/ 

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 examine how large language models like ChatGPT recommend vendors. They unpack why visibility in AI-generated lists doesn't always mean credibility, and what marketers can do about it.

Topics covered:[01:00] "Visibility is Not Equal to Credibility: Self-Promotion Bias in LLM Generated Recommendations"
[02:30] Three patterns brands use to game AI rankings
[03:50] What ChatGPT admitted when pushed for sources
[04:30] Can better prompts fix the problem?
[04:50] Takeaways for marketers and brands
[05:30] The talent show analogy

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast

Resources:
Sangra, T. (2026). Visibility is not equal to credibility: Self-promotion bias in LLM-generated recommendations. She Innovates AI Research. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6598718

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

Telling people not to listen drove three times more podcast listeners than telling them why they should. That's behavioral science at work, and most marketers are barely scratching the surface of it.

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob are joined by Phill Agnew, host of "Nudge," the UK's number one marketing podcast. Phill breaks down the hidden psychology that shapes how consumers think and buy, from why visible effort makes your brand more valuable to how scarcity can be applied in ways that go far beyond a "limited time offer." You'll walk away with principles you can apply immediately... and a few that might change how you think about advertising altogether.

Topics covered:

•    [03:00] The labor illusion: why showing your work increases perceived value
•    [05:00] What System 1 vs. System 2 thinking means for marketers
•    [12:00] Costly signaling and why TV advertising commands trust
•    [17:00] The mere exposure effect
•    [24:00] Distinctiveness vs. differentiation and how to stand out
•    [33:00] Scarcity done right: the KFC Australia example.
•    [40:00] The Pratfall Effect and why admitting weakness builds brand likability.

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

Resources:

Buell, R. W., & Norton, M. I. (2011). The labor illusion: How operational transparency increases perceived value. Management Science, 57(9), 1564–1579. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1376 2018

The Choice Factory Book: https://www.richardshotton.com/the-choice-factory

Behavioral Business Book by Richard Chataway: https://www.amazon.com/Behaviour-Business-behavioural-science-business/dp/0857197347

Phill Agnew’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/

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 whether the annoyance caused by overexposed ads actually fades over time and what that means for when and how brands should measure campaign effectiveness. 

Topics covered:
[01:20] "Ad Wearout...Wearout: How Time Can Reverse the Negative Effect of Frequent Advertising Repetition on Brand Preference"
[02:40] What happens when people see your ad too many times?
[03:30] Halloween spiders and a field experiment on frequency
[04:00] Memory vs. annoyance: which one lasts longer?
[05:30] Why being "in market" changes everything
[06:20] What this means for brands with long purchase cycles

To learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcast

Resources:

Kronrod, A., & Huber, J. (2019). Ad wearout wearout: How time can reverse the negative effect of frequent advertising repetition on brand preference. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 36(2), 306–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2018.11.008

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

Zoom has incredibly high brand awareness. But that's actually part of the problem. 

This week, Elena, Angela, and Rob sit down with Kim Storin, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Zoom, to dig into one of marketing's most counterintuitive challenges: too much awareness for the wrong thing. Kim shares how she diagnosed Zoom's perception problem, rebuilt the brand's health measurement from scratch, and launched a campaign strategy rooted in category thinking, humor, and hard data.  

Topics covered: 
[02:30] Mental availability vs. awareness 
[06:00] Reinventing brand health measurement to track new buying cohorts 
[08:30] "Brand to demand" and why Kim refuses to separate the two 
[11:00] Marketing in the dark funnel and the shift toward a zero-click world 
[15:00] Building a new category narrative around Zoom 
[19:00] The thinking behind the "Take Back Lunch" and Zuma Head campaigns 
[24:00] How AI-driven B2B search is changing citation strategy, content and credibility 

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

Resources: 
2011 Byron Sharp Article: https://byronsharp.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/mental-availability-is-not-awareness-brand-salience-is-not-awareness/

Kim’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlystorin/