Confessions of a reformed performance marketer

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!

Ryan Sullivan, CMO of GoodRx, joins us this week to share why he's a "reformed performance marketer." His journey from performance-obsessed to skeptical data consumer offers valuable lessons for any marketer drowning in dashboards. 

—Elena  

Healthcare advertising is everywhere, but consumers trust almost none of it.      

Most healthcare ads follow the same playbook: wide panning shots, dramatic lighting shifts, and dense medical jargon. This predictability creates a sea of sameness that consumers tune out. 

Why "free marketing" might be the answer.                 

Ryan Sullivan introduces a contrarian idea he calls "free marketing."  

The name comes from two places: it's about freeing marketers from the illusion of control, and it's grounded in free market economics. 

The concept challenges how most marketers think about targeting and control. 

Here's what it means: 

1. Marketers overestimate control. We assemble profiles, stitch together targeting criteria, and build micro-campaigns. The reality? Most variables are outside our control. Someone ran out of gas. Another person had a last-minute need. These moments create opportunities we never planned for.
   
2. Increase surface area instead. Rather than trying to control every variable, focus on reaching the largest pool of people possible. This gives you greater odds of success for reasons you can't always explain.
   
3. Last-touch attribution is lying to you. The name itself admits it's incomplete. Multi-touch attribution sounds better but usually requires so many exceptions and modeling assumptions that it erodes its own premise. GoodRx uses three tools: econometrics for big decisions, experimentation for validation and speed, and platform metrics for short-cycle optimization. Triangulation beats perfection.
   
4. Build distinctive brand assets that compound over time. GoodRx didn't rebrand. They added characters like the Savings Wrangler and Dusty Pete that give people something memorable to anchor to beyond a logo. This creates continuity across campaigns and makes the brand harder to miss. 

Listen in on our discussion.

"GoodRx's New Feel-Good Campaign Seeks to Break Through the Healthcare Advertising Noise" 

This article by Chris Wood for eMarketer examines how GoodRx created a bold campaign featuring the Savings Wrangler and Dusty Pete to stand out in a crowded healthcare advertising landscape.  

Read the article.

On the limits of knowledge.          

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." 

— Friedrich Hayek, economist and philosopher