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The Most ABSurd Blog
What’s a “brand story” good for?
Do you really need a brand story—and would you even know your toilet paper’s if you heard it?
Wanna grow market share?
You can grow by getting more buyers or getting buyers to buy more—but the research makes it pretty clear which one really matters.
What’s the ingredient to success nobody wants to talk about?
Half of new businesses fail within five years—and the secret ingredient behind who makes it and who doesn’t is plain old luck.
What’s the breakout brand of the century?
What’s the unlikeliest success story in one of the toughest categories? I’m betting on Tito’s.
Is There Brand Loyalty to Colleges?
We think college is a loyalty purchase—pick a school, love it forever—but the data tell a much messier story.
How fragile is your brand?
Warren Buffett says reputations die fast—but VW’s Dieselgate shows brands bounce back way easier than people do.
Small brands don't have loyal fanbases
The data is clear—small brands don’t have super-loyal fans; they just have fewer buyers who buy less often.
CPG loyalty and the pandemic
Pandemic or not, NCSolutions shows brand loyalty hasn’t changed much—growth still comes from new buyers, not heavier ones.
How do you measure the success of a Super Bowl ad?
Every year we crown Super Bowl ad winners—but whether they ‘worked’ depends on which scoreboard you’re watching: surveys, buzz, sales, or just your gut.
Bad data takes you confidently in the wrong direction
The biggest problem in marketing isn’t bad data—it’s looking at the wrong data, and doing it confidently.
Do TV ads impact sales... at all?
A massive study of 250 grocery brands found TV ads barely move short-term sales—good ones pay off in the long run, not week to week.
“But my category is different….”
Even in tourism, the laws of brand science still apply—because growing destinations isn’t that different from selling detergent.
Little loyalty in hospitality too
Turns out your favorite hotel, cruise line, and airline aren’t all that different — a new study shows most hospitality brands win by being generic, not unique.
Loyalty can't die
Nielsen says “disloyalty is the new black,” but the truth is, shoppers have always been brand hoppers — switching’s not a trend, it’s human nature.
Online brands are flocking to TV
Purple’s pouring money into TV because they actually want to grow big—and TV, the “dying” medium no one watches anymore, is still one of the best ways to do it.