Advertising in America

Every episode, we log the receipts.

The books. The researchers. The real-world brands. The frameworks.

Because if you heard something in Episode 37 that made you think—Ehrenberg-Bass, Orlando Wood, Cialdini, H.L. Bowman, the GEICO gecko, the Budweiser What's Up problem—it's all in the Reference Log.

Not a bibliography. A breakdown of every idea that shaped the conversation, where it came from, and why it matters for your business.

📄 Episode 37 Reference Log — Campaigns vs. Cute & Clever

docs.google.com/document/d/1fRdCdx2bPGBE2asD0lFcpy…

3 days ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

Every claim we make on this show has a name and a citation behind it.

The bias against creativity isn't an opinion. It's a 2012 study out of Cornell that found people unconsciously associate creative ideas with vomit, poison, and agony — on a measurable psychological test.

The committee problem isn't a hunch. It's Solomon Asch's conformity experiments from 1951, followed by Irving Janis's groupthink research in 1972, showing exactly how one dissenting voice collapses a room.

The cost of vague feedback isn't anecdotal. It's 30 years of peer-reviewed work from Teresa Amabile at Harvard Business School — the most destructive input a creative team can receive, documented.

Episode 34's full reference sheet is linked below. Every person, every study, every brand, every campaign mentioned in the episode — sourced, cited, and explained in plain language.

Because if you're going to change how you approve advertising, you should know exactly why the old way was broken.

👇
docs.google.com/document/d/13T3SdafRP62KwtsyJ0W7M5…

🎧 Advertising in America — Episode 34

1 month ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

🔥 NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🔥

The hardest job in advertising isn't writing the ad.

It's approving it.

Most people who sit in the approval seat have zero training. No framework. No criteria. Just a gut feeling, which, science says, is almost always working against the brave idea.

In Episode 34 of #AdvertisinginAmerica, we break down the skill nobody teaches:

How to look at something scary and say yes — for the right reasons.

And why every great ad in history needed exactly one person who was willing to do that.

Turns out, the ad you reject matters just as much as the one you run.

👉 What have you approved lately that actually scared you?

🎧 Episode 34: https://youtu.be/e8s37VEztM8
📱 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
💥 Brought to you by Wizard of Ads for Essential Services

1 month ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

We reference a lot in this episode.
Real books. Real brands. Real behavior.
Because telling you to stop advertising your product and start advertising the feeling isn't a hunch — it's what Kahneman, Zaltman, Byron Sharp, and sixty years of brand evidence have been saying all along.

Here's every source, study, and campaign mentioned in Episode 33 of Advertising in America — all in one place, all linked.
👉docs.google.com/document/d/1YPZboQFnCD_PIHR8UpZlns…

🎧 Don't Advertise Why You Sell. Advertise Why They Buy. — streaming now wherever you get your podcasts.

2 months ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

🔥 NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🔥
You know why you sell what you sell. You built the business around it. You're proud of it. You talk about it in every ad, every post, every pitch.
But here's what nobody tells you: Why you sell is never why they buy.

Coca-Cola knows why they sell: great taste, American tradition, the real thing.
Coke advertises something else entirely: happiness, belonging, human connection. They haven't mentioned the taste since 1868.

Porsche knows why they sell: precision engineering, German craftsmanship, performance.
Porsche advertises something else: the feeling of being a race car driver. They even tune the engine to sound like one.

And if you're in home services?
Your customer isn't buying a new HVAC unit. They're buying the certainty that the problem is handled, the house is comfortable, and they made the right call.

The gap between why you sell and why they buy is where most advertising money disappears. Episode 33 of Advertising in America closes that gap.

👉 Don't advertise why you sell. Advertise why they buy

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

🔥 NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🔥

Every business owner says they want something bold.
Most of them are lying.

Not on purpose... they genuinely believe it. Until the bold idea is sitting on the table in front of them and every instinct they have screams, "Turn back. You'll get fired."

That's the moment the difference happens. Or doesn't.

In Episode 32 of #AiA, we break down why the campaigns you admire most are the ones you would have killed in the room, and what it actually takes to get past that moment. Old Spice. 1984. The Sopranos. All of them terrified the people who made them.

👉 Are you building a brand or are you just approving things that feel safe enough to not get blamed for?

🎧 You Can't Handle Different. (What Clients Can and Can’t Handle)
📱 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
💥 Brought to you by Wizard of Ads for Essential Services

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

🔥 NEW EPISODE ALERT 🔥

You can buy OTT from your radio rep. Your TV station. Your outdoor company. Your digital marketing agency. Probably your nephew who just took a Google course.

And most of them are going to sell you the exact same thing: impressions — dressed up to look like strategy.

We brought in media buyer Beth Radtke and Wizard of Ads' Ray Seggern to talk about what OTT actually delivers, what it costs, and what the industry conveniently forgets to mention when they're pitching you.

Same $5,000 budget. Same geography. One buyer gets 5,000 households. The other gets 25,000.

That's not a typo. That's the difference between knowing what you're doing and trusting the person with a commission to tell you the truth.

👉 If someone is trying to sell you OTT right now, hit play before you sign anything.




🎧 OTT Advertising: The Secret to Dominating Your Local Market
📱 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
💥 Brought to you by Wizard of Ads for Essential Services

3 months ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

🔥 NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🔥

Valpak.
Some call it junk mail.
Others swear by it.

So who’s right?

In this episode of Advertising in America, we break down one of the most misunderstood marketing channels—and why most advertisers are asking the wrong question.

It’s not about whether Valpak works.

It’s about:
👉 Who it actually reaches
👉 When it influences decisions
👉 And why your message matters more than the medium

Because even the cheapest reach in the world is expensive… if it builds nothing.


🎧 Discounts, Data, and Delusion: Rethinking Valpak
📱 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
💥 Brought to you by wizardofads.services/

5 months ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

🔥 NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🔥

Stop chasing the "Hail Mary".

In the premiere of Season 2, we dive into why the "killer ad" is a fantasy that keeps business owners broke and agencies winning awards. We break down the math of real success—like how Apple used 66 variations of the same simple idea to quintuple their market share.

Marketing isn't a one-night stand; it's a courtship. Learn why consistency beats "cool" every single time.

👉 Are you building a brand for the long haul, or are you just chasing a "one-night stand" with a "killer ad"?

🎧Now Streaming SEASON 2
📱 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
💥 Brought to you by Wizard of Ads for Essential Services

5 months ago | [YT] | 0

Advertising in America

Let’s be honest...most podcasts fade out quietly.

Advertising in America didn’t.

Season 2 is officially underway, and we’re coming back with the same philosophy we started with:
✍️ Say the things most marketers won’t.
✍️ Call out the ideas that sound smart but fail quietly.
✍️ And remind businesses that advertising still works… when it’s done right.

No trends. No hacks. No sacred cows left standing.
Just strategy, psychology, and a little Madison Avenue steel.

If you’ve been listening, thank you.
If you haven’t ...now’s a good time to start.

🎙️ Advertising in America
Season 2 starts now.

6 months ago | [YT] | 0