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The Most ABSurd Blog
What Should You Focus on First: Revenue or Profits?
A massive EU study of 650,000 firms found the winners weren’t chasing growth—they started with profits first.
Do Heavy Buyers Stay Heavy?
NPD found that nearly three-quarters of buyers are light buyers—the universal Banana Curve strikes again.
We Need Emotional Content
Everyone says ‘make emotional ads’—but as D’Arcy O’Neill asks, which emotion do you actually want people to feel?
Is Advertising a "Tax for Being Unremarkable"?
If this is true, why is Amazon — clearly a pretty remarkable company, a TECH company, and seemingly ubiquitous — why is it the largest advertiser in the US today, spending $16.9Bn last year on ads?
Funky Taglines Are Good Taglines
Most taglines sound nice but mean nothing—while the great ones actually make you think of the brand.
What Your Media Says About Your Brand
Where you advertise shapes how people see your brand—and Thinkbox found TV sends a very different signal than social.
How considered are those purchases?
Big purchases should mean big consideration—but DMEautomotive found most buyers barely shop around at all.
The marketing-academia gap
Columbia researchers found a ‘tale of two cities’ between marketing academia and practice—the gap is wide, and getting wider.
Who responds to ads?
An NCSolutions study of 50 brands found ads mostly drive current buyers—up to 20X more than non-buyers.
How does brand building work?
Grace Kite and Tom Roach found the classic ‘long and short’ pattern holds up—but with a twist I call the ‘ramp and bump.’
Is there cross-media synergy?
Thinkbox found multi-channel campaigns really do work—each medium boosts another by about 8%, with TV leading the pack.
Do 'generations' exist?
BBH Labs found Gen-Xers have less in common than Guardian readers or crossword fans—so maybe generations aren’t such a thing after all.
So you want people to share your ad
Want people to share your ads? Jonah Berger and Daniel McDuff’s global study found one emotion beats them all.
Stories beat montages
System1 found story-driven ads—real characters, real plots—beat flashy montages every time.
How fragile is your brand?
Warren Buffett says reputations die fast—but VW’s Dieselgate shows brands bounce back way easier than people do.
So you want an "ownable" brand asset...
Everyone wants ‘ownable’ brand assets—but Ehrenberg-Bass’s global study of 1,200 elements shows few are truly unique.
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.
The science of Zoom fatigue
We all know Zoom fatigue is real—and it’s not just mental; our brains simply aren’t built for nonstop eye contact, self-view, and talking heads.
The wiggle room in marketing science
My latest for Contagious digs into the wiggle room between marketing’s laws and the creativity that breaks them.
What's better than a logo in an ad?
You’d think slapping your logo on an ad boosts recall—but Ipsos found other brand cues work way harder.