Evidenza

“Brand is dead,” says famous brand Scott Galloway. Jon and I were so appalled by Galloway’s recent anti-brand tirade that we dedicated an entire podcast episode to de-bunking it. Galloway gives great life advice, but his marketing takes are consistently terrible. First and foremost, Galloway gets his facts wrong. He claims that big companies like Amazon don’t invest in advertising, even though Amazon is the largest advertiser on Planet Earth. When Jon Evans politely pointed that out, Galloway moved the goalposts, claiming that Amazon’s spending is all direct response. That’s wrong too --- Amazon spends an estimated $300MM a year on TV ads. Most big brands invest in brand advertising. God bless James Hurman, who did the math and showed that the “big players" Galloway cites represent 7% of global ad spend.  Brands have existed since the dawn of civilization and will exist long after we’re all dead. Brands exist because of a quirk in the human brain --- we don’t want to waste hours evaluating every product, so we default to fast/easy choices (AKA brands). Culture changes. Technology changes. But the human brain hasn’t changed in 300,000 years. And our lizard brains are hardwired to prefer familiar names.   We defend brand with vigor and Italian-Renaissance style on the latest episode of Lab Grown Marketing. Link in the comments. Evidenza

Want to blow a million dollars and get nothing back? Try buying a traditional segmentation study. Few marketing jobs are riper for disruption than segmentation. In theory, segmentation is the bedrock of a marketing strategy. In practice, most segmentations are obscenely expensive, painfully slow, and utterly useless --- especially in B2B. Marketers agonize over minor differences between segments while ignoring the major similarities that drive growth. AI is changing this for the better. With synthetic research, segmentation studies that once took a year can get done in a day. You can: 1) Build a financial map of your market with meaningful, actionable segments 2) Distribute detailed personas across marketing, sales, and product 3) Actually INTERACT with these personas, giving you the customer on demand 4) Do this for every line of business and every market in which you operate. Man-made segmentation is a broken business. Soon every brand will have a lab-grown segmentation. Evidenza

For years, people have told me I have a face for radio. Well, I finally listened. Next week, Jon and I are officially launching our new podcast. We call it...Lab-Grown Marketing. Our goal is to prepare marketers for the synthetic century, a future in which all marketing plans are lab-grown, instead of man-made. We’ll bring together the latest thinking in marketing effectiveness with the newest breakthroughs in AI. Expect mental models galore, synthetic data, and AI-generated guests, like Barren Wuffett (who is definitely not Warren Buffett, because we don’t want to get sued). And we’ll do it all with our signature Italian style and New York sarcasm. Subscribe now before tickets sell out --- link in the comments. Evidenza

Breaking news! Evidenza was just featured in…the Harvard Business Review. The article covers synthetic research, a new category we're helping create with our customers. It captures the opportunity, limitations, and nuances better than anything I’ve read. And it even includes an organic survey of real humans. Bravo to the brilliant authors: Professor Puntoni of Wharton, Professor Toubia of Columbia Business School, and Jeremy Korst of GBK. Synthetic research can’t do everything --- pricing research and longitudinal analysis are the next frontiers. But it can already replicate most forms of quantitative and qualitative research with stunning accuracy, at unthinkable speeds and accessible costs. In B2B especially, it’s bringing data to decisions that were previously based only on opinions. Grazie mille to everyone who has supported us. Link in the comments 👇

Imagine if I offered you a candy bar. You can have a Snickers, a Twix, or a Fjak. Which one do you want? Ok, now think about how fast you made that decision. You made the decision in seconds. On autopilot. You didn’t stop to think about Snickers' brand purpose. You didn’t check chocolate ratings on Consumer Reports. And you sure as shit didn’t choose a Fjak, because you’ve never even heard of the brand. And even if you did want a Fjak, I couldn’t give you one, because Fjak has no distribution in Brooklyn. This is how brands get bought. We buy what's available --- mentally and physically, per Ehrenberg-Bass. Like B2C, B2B decisions are mostly made on auto-pilot. We spend six months building PowerPoints to justify a decision that was made in seconds. If you're a big company that needs CRM, you're thinking about Salesforce or Dynamics. You're not buying from Jimmy's Discount CRM Shack, because you can't buy something you don't know exists. Unawareness is a red flag. Marketers over-think things --- customers don’t. Customers under-think. If you don’t come to mind in Second 1 on Day 1, you’re fjacked. ------- Un-fjak your marketing with Evidenza, the leading synthetic research company.

The Ferrari Paradox There stands Lewis Hamilton, F1's driving don, holding court at Ferrari's ancestral villa. The legendary F40, in Ferrari's signature red, waits at his side. The regal red shutters and iconic stallion flag complete the scene. My first instinct was: "What can marketers learn from this?" Upon reflection: nothing! Every element in the image underscores how unique The Ferrari Formula is: the villa (heritage), the rarity (scarcity), the F40 (engineering), and Lewis Hamilton (fame). Here's why The Ferrari Formula cannot be copied: 1/ Time: The Ultimate Luxury Even billionaires can't buy heritage. Ferrari's legacy was earned through 75 years of racing victories and engineering breakthroughs. No amount of money can compress time or manufacture history. When you buy a Ferrari, you're buying into a legend that began in 1929. 2/ Scarcity: The Waitlist Strategy Every Ferrari sale is carefully controlled. Their waitlists aren't accidents—they're a deliberate filter. Money alone won't get you a Ferrari; you must be selected. And when the world's wealthiest hear "not yet," the cars become even more desirable. 3/ Engineering: Perfection Begets Profit Most carmakers ask "How can we build more?" Ferrari asks "How can we build better?" Their R&D investment per car would bankrupt a normal manufacturer. But Ferrari isn't chasing volume—they're chasing perfection. This obsession with engineering excellence lets them command extraordinary prices. 4/ Fame: The Status Multiplier Ferrari doesn't just attract fame—it amplifies it. They've transcended the automotive category; their prancing horse and Rosso Corsa red are global symbols of excellence. When celebrities buy Ferraris, both brands gain power. When racing legends join Ferrari, both legacies grow. 5/ The Ferrari Formula Each element reinforces the others. Heritage validates. Scarcity intensifies. Engineering justifies. Fame multiplies. It's a self-perpetuating system of brand power built over generations. So there is one lesson, I guess. Some brands can't be copied — only admired from afar. Evidenza

We love a hot contrarian take more than anyone. But "AI is over-hyped" might be the coldest take in the marketing universe. After a year at work in Evidenza's synthetic research laboratory, I can tell you with extreme confidence that AI isn't over-hyped — it's massively, terrifyingly under-hyped. The challenge is that most marketers have no idea how to get the most leverage from AI. It's like giving a Steinway Grand to someone who has never spent a minute practicing the piano. It’s not the piano’s fault that you can only play Chopsticks. In our latest Marketing Week screed, Jon and I debut our three "laws of leverage" for AI. If you play the wrong instruments (ChatGPT), ask the wrong questions ("Brand Awareness"), and only automate the most tactical work (copywriting), then you're bound to be disappointed. AI isn't a bubble — AI denialism is a bubble. And in 2025, that bubble will burst.

While others play Chopsticks, we're conducting symphonies. 

Why B2B is anything but boring As I reach 150 episodes one of the pleasant surprises has been how popular B2B is. If I am honest I was slightly worried whether B2B might be a niche for the podcast but the opposite has been true. A lot of business gets done B2B but from a marketing perspective there isn't that much best practice out there which is why I am delighted to have got some of the world's top B2B CMO's on Uncensored CMO Here are 5 to check out 🤩 Rebecca Hirst is the CMO of EY and we compare B2B with B2C from her experiences at Coke, Samsung and now EY 🤩 Jon Lombardo & Peter Weinberg spent 10 years at Linkedin's B2B Institute and are now shaping the future of B2B marketing with Evidenza 🤩 Antonia Wade is the CMO of PwC and has quite literally written the book on B2B and shares her wisdom here. This is the 5th most downloaded episode ever. 🤩 Colin Fleming know's a thing or two about speed having started as a Red Bull racing driving he led brand for Salesforce and is now at ServiceNow 🤩 Michelle Taite is another B2C marketers turned B2B with some incredible experience on New Balance, Dove and now Intuit Mailchimp All these episodes are amongst the most popular ones on Uncensored and are packed with real insight into the world of B2B marketing And tomorrow I realise a new episode with a surprise B2B marketer being interviewed by one of the former guests below ..... Links to episodes in the comments Kerry Collinge James M.

A new B2B playbook for brand-led growth. With synthetic data, AI can impersonate any kind of category buyer – ‘impersonas’ – giving B2B marketers access to the customer on demand. Peter gave me a demo the other day and I’m dying to get my hands on Evidenza. The future is now 🤓 https://lnkd.in/e-jrnwFJ