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The Most ABSurd Blog

Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

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?

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

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?

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

The marketing-academia gap

Columbia researchers found a ‘tale of two cities’ between marketing academia and practice—the gap is wide, and getting wider.

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

Who responds to ads?

An NCSolutions study of 50 brands found ads mostly drive current buyers—up to 20X more than non-buyers.

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

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.’

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

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.

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

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.

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

Stories beat montages

System1 found story-driven ads—real characters, real plots—beat flashy montages every time.

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

How fragile is your brand?

Warren Buffett says reputations die fast—but VW’s Dieselgate shows brands bounce back way easier than people do.

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Ethan Decker Ethan Decker

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.

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