Applied Brand Science

Home
United States
Boulder, CO
Applied Brand Science

We cut through brand bullsh*t with brand science. We show business leaders how to use brand science to build & grow thriving brands.

06/18/2026

Ever notice how we get completely sick of our own ad campaigns and kill them off right when they might finally be working?

De Beers launched "A Diamond Is Forever" in 1948, and it basically became part of the English language. Now that cheap lab diamonds are everywhere, they’re testing out a new message. But the lasting power of that original campaign teaches us two uncomfortable marketing realities.

First, we need to worry way more about campaign wear-in than wear-out.

And second, buyers don't always want a bargain. In biology, there's a concept called "costly signaling."

An engagement ring is supposed to be painfully expensive—that's how the buyer proves they actually care. Sometimes the high price isn't a barrier; it's the whole point.

06/17/2026

If your last research readout didn't make anyone in the room at least a little uncomfortable, it probably wasn't a deep dive.

Good data should surprise you sometimes. If yours never does, it might be time to ask different questions.

Upgrade your intuition with brand science.

06/16/2026

You've been putting your energy into marketing, what if the real problem is upstream?

Price, place, product, promotion — not four separate decisions, one system. And if your price signals one thing while your distribution signals another, no amount of advertising fixes it.

New Cover Brand episode. Siri Schubert Nicolella built a genuinely better pillow from scratch — and the real challenge turned out to have nothing to do with the pillow.

Link in comments.

06/11/2026

There is this lingering myth that a new product lives or dies by its launch campaign. We put so much pressure on the creative, hoping a clever ad will make people flock to the store.

But when you actually track the math behind 225 brand launches, the results are pretty sobering. Advertising is one of the weakest drivers of early success. The real heavy lifter is just broad distribution.

Buyers are tired humans, not calculating machines. They rarely go out of their way to hunt down a new brand—they just toss whatever is on the endcap into their cart.

It takes the pressure off, honestly. You don't need to engineer a viral miracle to succeed. You just need to do the unglamorous work of making your brand incredibly easy to find.

06/10/2026

If your brand could swap logos with your nearest competitor and nobody would notice, you've got a bland building problem, not a brand building one.

Your distinctive assets are what your buyers use to find you in memory. If those assets look like everyone else's, your buyers' brains have nothing to grab onto.

Sign up for the Irregular Newsletter to get insights like this, semi-weekly.

06/09/2026

Your ABM strategy, your growth hacking playbook, your lifecycle marketing framework — if removing the label doesn't change what you actually do, the label isn't doing anything.

Laura Dodds and I spent an episode arguing about whether marketing subgenres are useful or just expensive tree-peeing. Turns out the answer is: sometimes one, usually the other.

Find the secrets to Holistic Marketing in this episode of Cover Brand -- wherever you get your pods.

06/04/2026

Think about the last time you bought a computer. Did you meticulously compare every single brand on the market?

Probably not. McKinsey data shows the average buyer only considers 1.7 brands for computers. Even for massive purchases like cars, it's under 4.

We love to think our customers are out there deeply researching our category. But the truth is, we are mental misers. Our brains burn a lot of energy, so we take the easiest shortcut to a decision. If most brands are decent, we pick what's "good enough" and move on.

Realizing that buyers aren't ignoring your features takes a lot of the pressure off. You don't have to win a debate. You just have to be easy to remember.

06/03/2026

You floss regularly, right? Sure you do.

Your buyers have the same relationship with the truth about their own behavior that you do. It's called wishful recall, and it's completely normal.

Keep that in mind when you look at your survey data. It's useful — just not the whole story.

06/02/2026

Wonder why your eco-friendly product got great survey scores and zero shelf velocity? John Pabon has a pretty direct answer, and it has nothing to do with your product.

New episode of Cover Brand on the say-do gap, radical transparency as an actual brand strategy, and why Patagonia leads with "everything we make pollutes" — and wins.

Listen if you're trying to figure out what your buyers actually do versus what they tell you they do.

05/28/2026

Think about the last time you watched a gorgeous, funny TV ad... and then completely forgot what it was selling.

We’ve all done it. As marketers, we sometimes treat our own brand name like a rude interruption. We whisper it at the very end, hoping people will just figure it out. But buyers aren't calculating machines—they're just busy humans conserving energy.

A fascinating study out of the Netherlands showed that subtlety doesn't build memory. To actually get people to remember your brand, you need to say it out loud and show it at the same time. Doing that just three times in an ad spiked brand recall by 56%.

It's a relief, honestly. You don't have to be endlessly clever. You just have to make it easy for people to remember you.

Address

Boulder, CO
80304

Website

https://appliedbrandscience.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Applied Brand Science posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Applied Brand Science:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Advertising & Marketing Company in Boulder?