This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
This week, we're exploring why marketing effectiveness remains elusive for most brands, even when the data is crystal clear. Simon Peel, former Global Head of Media at Adidas, joins us to explain the psychological and structural forces working against long-term thinking.
—Elena
70% of people choose immediate rewards over delayed gratification.
This explains why marketers naturally gravitate toward short-term metrics and immediate ROI, even when long-term brand building delivers greater returns.
Why marketing effectiveness feels impossible.
Simon Peel didn't mince words when he stood on stage and admitted Adidas had been wasting millions on digital advertising. And how it was time for marketing beliefs to change. Here's what he learned about making effectiveness stick.
- Biology works against us. Humans are naturally wired for short-term thinking. Psychologists call this hyperbolic discounting bias, and it explains why marketers consistently choose efficiency over effectiveness.
- Financial structures reinforce bad habits. U.S. companies have been required to report quarterly earnings since 1934. When CEO compensation is tied to quarterly results, long-term brand building becomes a reduced priority.
- Vested interests resist change. Digital teams built around performance metrics won't easily abandon the systems that justify their existence and career advancement.
- Change requires massive internal evangelizing. Most people aren't "in-market" for new ideas, so Simon's team had to reach everyone repeatedly with training, newsletters, and free books until people were ready to listen.
- Attribution models are unreliable. Adidas ran eight different attribution models simultaneously and all of them told different stories. Only econometric modeling revealed the truth, with brand activity driving 65% of sales.
The solution isn't just knowing the research. It's accepting that real change requires reshaping entire organizations, a process that can take years to complete successfully.
“Adidas: 'We over-invested in digital advertising'”
This Marketing Week article dives into Simon Peel's effectiveness transformation at Adidas, revealing how the brand discovered that performance marketing was cannibalizing growth and what they did to fix it.
Truth over Trends
“In the long run, it is far more risky to adhere to convention than it is to rely upon the truth. "
— John Maynard Keynes
